Surprisingly, it only takes five hours to get from Strasbourg to the south of France by train. This means than Kat, Malou, and I arrived in Avignon by just a few minutes after noon on Friday. We checked into our lovely hotel, ate lunch, and then set off to explore Avignon.
Immediately it was clear that we were no longer in Alsace. The south of France features more tortured trees with twisted trunks thanks to the mistrals (strong, cold winds) that plague the area. Luckily, the mistrals stayed far away during our visit. The towns are made of pale cream-colored stone that are a far cry from the timber wood facades and colors of Alsatian residencies, but are much more "French." Three minutes into our walk down the main street of Avignon, Kat mentioned that this town was exactly the picture she had in her mind of France before arrival, and I agreed.
Our first stop was at the Pont d'Avignon (the Avignon Bridge). Malou spouted out a lot of history that I've already forgotten, but what I did retain was that it was half-destroyed to stop the King's army from entering the city, and that there is a famous children's song featuring the bridge. Malou insisted on singing it (and tried to make us sing it as well). It goes:
Sur le pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse tous en rond
Apparently everyone dances in circles on the Avignon Bridge (that's basically what the song is saying). Malou was the only person who I saw dancing--bowing and curtsying--but when she started singing, a few passing French tourists joined in to Kat and my's further amused embarrassment.
After the bridge, the three of us moved on to the Palais des Papes (the Palace of Popes), an impressively large fortress-palace that oversaw the elections of six popes in the 1300s. It fell into disuse after the papacy moved to Rome, and over time it has been a prison, military barracks, stables, and the site of a counter-revoutionary massacre in 1791. We toured through the largely empty palace (it's been sacked a few times) and while it was beautiful, I found it to be a little boring. As you can imagine, all the frescos were religious--and partly destroyed--and the rooms were pretty bare...
We found a way onto the roof of the palace, though, and I really enjoyed looking at all the tiny gargoyles chipped into the rock. The view from the top of the palace was also quite breathtaking.
By the time we finished touring the popes' palace, it was pretty late. The three of us grabbed some ice cream, then headed to the hotel for a quick rest before going to dinner.
Dinner was amazing. Malou managed to find a restaurant (Vin sur Vin) that was holding a special three-course wine tasting night, and they had three spots left. Even though it was a little over budget (30 euro per person), it was a fantastic deal because the dinner was absolutely first class. Anyways, Holy Cross paid for it (as they paid for our trains and hotels, which is why we stayed in classy 3-star hotel rooms and not hostels). I felt a little awkward at first because I hadn't really brought fancy clothes and the rest of the wine tasting's clientele were older couples who were dressed up (and French, of course). Malou, however, has no qualms about talking to anybody, so the three of us were soon chatting away with the group of women sitting next to us.
Vin sur Vin had brought in a very enthusiastic wine expert to explain all of his selections and talk about the arid region that they came from. We started off with a white that I found to be super dry and not especially to my taste but of which I ended up having two and a half glasses. The appetizer was this three-layer zucchini-tomato-sour cream thing that was absolutely delicious and quite refreshing. The main course brought cod steamed in a plastic bag with a light cream sauce, asparagus, lemon, and zucchini... I don't really like fish, but this was the best I've ever eaten, and I would have willingly ordered more. This was accompanied by a rose wine that I really disliked, unfortunately. Desert was a jar of fresh strawberries in a creamy mouse that had pastis (a licorice-flavored liqueur that is very typical of the south of France) mixed in, paired with a red wine that I didn't even try, but which Kat said tasted like fire.
After day #1 in the south of France, I learned three things: that Avignon is a town of theaters and theater festivals, that the song entitled "Sur le Pont d'Avignon" really gets stuck in your head, and that even after eight months in France I am still the person who enjoys the food much more than the wine at any and all wine tastings.
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