Avignon

Finally found a good cup of tea for himself so we are breakfasting the same place each day, if they run out of croissants you pop into the bakery and buy something then eat it with your coffee at the cafe, very civilised.

The French bus system only runs locally so in order to get to Avignon we had to take our rental car, the buses don't cross from one region to the next except in the major cities and then not always.

So we headed off, the sat nav taking through the centre of some lovely small towns as always and then rejoining the main road. We manged to avoid the toll road at least.

Avignon was great we parked under the Palace of the popes so emerged into the sunshine in the heart of Avignon. We did the palace tour first as I remember being impressed when I was here with Shirl. I am pleased with how much French I can remember and I have had no trouble being understood so far. ( three years at high school , always knew it would come in handy, shame I cant say the same about the German ).

The Palace is amazing (http://www.horizon-provence.com/palais-des-papes-avignon/index_palaceofthepopes.htm) for some idea. They certainly knew how to live it up,

huge rooms, massive feasts... one of the information boards listed the food from one feast and it included 10,000 hens.

We spent the morning there and then headed back into the sunshine for lunch in the square outside the Hotel de Ville ( Town Hall ) where we watched the weddings, there were three lots of brides, grooms and guests waiting, every now and then a bell would sound and the next lot would file in and the previous group would come out take some photos and head off to the reception. great entertainment.

Then we went to the Pont St Benezet, best known from " sur la pont d'avignon" song.

We went up to the chapel attached to the palace and they were having a service, a priest on an organ would chant then 4 nuns would sing the replies. It was a lovely sound. The nuns ( all young) were in full habits, of the long black type, the one closest to us had jandles on under hers.

The churches are always good to visit as they are lovely and cool and have some great stained glass.

A walk around the city, it is quiet once you leave the main roads although all of the area within the walls of the old town are very restricted for vehicles as they are so narrow.

Finally about 6 we headed back to the car and off to Salon, our last night there tomorrow off to Nice to meet Shirley who is flying in from NZ for a holiday and we have managed to coordinate 2 days with her.