Okay, folks - we're on to Avignon!
Tuesday, June 6
We had brunch at the Carousel Café (I smuggled in my GF pain du chocolate) and then we went over to Tulieries park where we sat in reclining chairs and read books and watched the pigeons. Our train to Avignon was supposed to leave at 3:36, so we got an Uber at 2:00 to get there early. However, traffic was a nightmare, apparently from Le Manefestation (protests), and it soon became apparent that we were going to miss our train. I was trying to calm Glenn the whole time, which is quite a role reversal for us.
Anyway, by some miracle, we arrived at the train station at 3:15 and then had to run through the station, asking non-English speakers where our track was. We got through the line to the track at like 3:26 but couldn’t find our car to board. A nice woman explained we were on the SECOND TRAIN, sitting behind the first train, which was a far run away (dragging suitcases). Bottom line, we made it on board in time. We couldn’t believe it.
We sat next to a nice family from Kansas. The older man’s grandfather had served in WWI and he had been on multiple trips seeing all the battlefields in France where his grandfather had fought. He was also full of advice for us.
The high speed train is one of the most comfortable ways to travel ever. We were going over 180 mph (Glenn tracked this on his phone below) through the French countryside and you could barely feel you were moving.
After about 3 hours, we arrived in Avignon, only to discover that our car rental place had given our car away (apparently, Glenn had booked it too early – his only mistake of the trip so far.) We tried two other rental places, and finally got a nice car with Sixt and drove to our hotel.
This hotel (Hotel D’Europe) is gorgeous - we loved everything about it. Glenn says it is the oldest hotel in France.
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| This is an enclosed courtyard before you enter the lobby. |
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| Walls of confederate jasmine! Wish you could smell it! |
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| Glenn loved our old room key |
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Our little balcony
 | | Another little courtyard below |
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This was definitely the most "French" place we stayed at and we loved it so much! Later, we walked through Avignon and ate Chateaubriand in the plaza in front of the Palace of the Popes. Avignon is gorgeous.
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| Some Roman ruins just on the side of the road |
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| The Palace of the Popes (more on this later) |
Wednesday, June 7th
Today, Glenn walked three miles before I woke up, so here are some of his morning pictures around Avignon. (This first little park I visited with him later.)
For our daytrip, Glenn drove us about a half hour to Vaucluse, a quaint little town with lovely spring that looks almost like a Cenote. The spring feeds a river with rapids (that kayakers practice on) and then becomes a placid river that is a gorgeous shade of green. The river is surrounded by giant cliffs of limestone, and there is an old paper mill there.
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| Lots of ice cream and candy stands along the path to the srping (yes, we had ice cream!) |
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| Also gorgeous restaurants and cafes by the water |
Here are some of the kayakers practicing in a course set up in the rapids (and a video if you'd like to see the action.)
And this is inside the old paper mill.
We got back, took naps, and headed down to the Michelin-starred restaurant at our hotel patio for dinner...
Nope, nope, nope. Chad had warned us against eating anywhere fancy, but we found out (too late) our hotel restaurant had two options – a 5 course or 6 course meal that probably cost more than our golf cart. You didn’t get to choose what you ate. This resulted in a “Fear Factor” type situation…(although these meals look pretty)...
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| Amuse bouche: raw tuna with cream and turtle eggs (eeee) |
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| Course one: a cold shrimp with turtle eggs in some weird sauce with fancy cucumber |
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Course two: fried fois gras in an onion shell covered in black tea
(This reminded me of a Simpsons episode where someone at a fancy restaurant said, "I would like a single plum, floating in perfume, and served in a man's hat.") |
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| Course three: swordfish in a butter sauce and a raw oyster |
We don't have pics of all the other courses, but course four was a truffle(?). Then there were 3 mini desserts including raspberry sorbet, ice cream with apricots, and some bitter candy that looked nice.
Sadly, Glenn and I were pretty grossed out by everything. The swordfish and the truffle were the only things I could get down easily. We polished off a bottle of wine way too soon.
Glenn’s face after eating the oyster made me laugh out loud and skip mine entirely.
I’m not very adventurous food-wise and was proud of myself for making it through dinner and Glenn had me laughing throughout. But we both felt kinda gross afterwards. That is probably our last super gourmet meal.
Thursday, June 8th
Oh, Glenn got some lovely pictures of Avignon this morning while I slept peacefully in my cozy french quarters.
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| This is a view of the Rhone River |
I mean, Avignon - pretty darn gorgeous.
So, once I got up, we walked back over to the Palais of the Papes (Palace of the Popes) to explore. Apparently, there was a period of like 300 years when the Avignon was determined to be the center of the Roman Catholic Church instead of the Vatican, and a bunch of Popes lived here. This was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel and there is a big square out front full of cafes and restaurants and there was a guy singing American jazz in the plaza (not shown in this pic).
We walked through the Palace (avoiding the tour and just meandering around on our own). It was pretty empty inside, but impressive. We weren’t allowed to take pics in any rooms that had paint, which were, of course, the nicest rooms. We took this pic before we saw the sign!
We then drove our car across the Rhone and had cafe & galettes (buckwheat crepes – gluten free) for lunch.
Then we headed about an hour and a half away to the Abbey Notre Dame De Senanque, where monks grew lavender and sold soap, etc. for the church. The drive was twisty up narrow roads and high in the mountains. I was disappointed that we spent so long getting there, spent 18 Euros getting in, and we walked through the entire place in less than 6 minutes. The lavender was not blooming yet either. It was nice, but not “drive through the mountains fearing for your life for three hours” nice.
Anyway, came back, took a nap, and read some on the porch. Our dinner was at a little place called Fourchette, and it was amazing. They made sure everything was gluten free for me and translated the menu into English.
Next, we head to Cannes, with multiple stops along the way. Stay Tuned!
