Avignon

We were up and off out quite early this morning, and there's a nip in the air of an early morning. We got the bus to Avignon, same bus as Pont du Gard, just a bit further.

We were last in Avignon when we travelled in our Combi van (Eric) in the early 90s. In fact, we happened upon a huge celebration for the 'vendange', with all the masters of the wineries of the Côte du Rhône being given rapturous welcomes on the balcony of the Pope's Palace - and a 'son et lumière' show extraordinaire. There were gallons of the new Beaujolais being drunk, but as we were 'camping' in the van by the city walls, we didn’t partake. Besides, we didn’t know it was free.

We took the wee tourist train round the city, and it was good value - it went round in the wee narrow lanes where you wouldn’t think it was possible. We saw the famous 'Pont d'Avignon', which we didn’t see last time.

Sue went for a look around the Palace (we'd done it last time), JR went for a wander, and I had an ice cream in the sun and watched everybody. We then decided to have lunch. We've never really had wonderful 'plat du jour' experiences, though our Francophile friends have and swear by them. So... should we have a mediocre forgettable meal with a view or without a view... we chose the view. Chicken and cold floppy chips. No vegetables. Yum...

Home again on the bus. After a slight panic of Sue losing her keys and having to phone the person looking after the flat, who didn’t have spare keys, and was going to have to phone the owner in India... then she found them! We popped round to the Place aux Herbes for a vino and watch the sky turn dark blue and the lights on the trees come on. Nice.

Planning tomorrow's trip. Possibly Nîmes.