France Day 9: Avignon (June 25, 2012)

We got up and packed up our things and checked out of our hotel.  We got to the Gare de Lyon (train station) with out any problems and got our train tickets.  We arrived in Avignon and found the shuttle that goes to the center of town and our hotel was just moments away from where the bus dropped us.  It really was a very smooth travel day and we were able to get where we needed to with out any complications or stress.  

Avignon is a wonderful little town.  It is an old medieval city so it is surrounded by a large stone wall.  At a certain point in history (I don’t know the dates) there was some confusion about who the pope should be and so for a time there were 2 – one that was centered in Rome and one that was centered in Avignon.  So here in Avingon is a palace called Palais de Pape, which is where the pope lived.

Then the Ponte d’Avignon (bridge) and sang the song, "Sur le Ponte D'Avignon" which I used to teach my little Suzuki voice students.

We also did some souvenir shopping, sat and ate some ice cream (it is considerably hotter here than in England, Normandy or Paris).  We had a quiet dinner in our hotel room and then repacked our bags for our bike tour.

The wall of the city from inside.

One of the gates into the city.

The city wall from outside.