Provence, Parts 2 and 3

We got a bit of a late start on Thursday, so instead of going to the market in Nyons as originally planned, we headed for Avignon for a day of sightseeing.

After arriving, we went to see the Palais des Papes, or in English, the Palace of the Popes. For a number of reasons, mostly concerning safety, the Pope temporarily moved to Avignon, France from Italy. They of course built a grand palace for the Pope in Avignon, which is still standing. Though the tour was informative, the building itself wasn't all that impressive. However, its importance in history is certainly hard to ignore.

We then went to see the Pont Saint Bénezet, a bridge from the 12th century that spanned over the Rhône river. Although most of its original 22 arches across the river have been destroyed (there are now 4), it is a popular tourist site since there was a song written about it.

The following day, we headed out right away in the morning for a market in Carpentras. This was an excellent decision, as there were so many stalls that I'm sure we didn't see all of them. The vendors were selling all sorts of things from locally grown produce, to rotisserie chicken, linens and tableclothes, and of course herbs and soap. Mom went on quite the shopping trip, that's for sure.

While at the market, we bought food for a picnic lunch, since we went from there to a driving tour in the Côte du Rhône region. We took a bit of a detour off from the original route, which put us on some very narrow roads back towards Avignon! We did find some scenically located picnic tables along the route where we stopped to have our lunch.

From there, we made a quick stop in the city of Orange, where it turns out there wasn't much to see. We continuted on to Avignon which is where we dropped off the car and took the TGV, which travels at 200mph, back to Paris for the night.

Our hotel room at the Mariott was definitely a huge change from the incredibly tiny ones we had been in! Unfortunately, we didn't arrive at the hotel until just before midnight, and we had to wake up at 6am the next morning to make sure that Mom had enough time to get to the airport for her flight out.

I certainly had an excellent time travelling all over France, and I know Mom did as well. After her flight took off, I had one day to rest in Paris before my last big trip before school starts - to Morocco!