It's high time I update this thing again, especially now that I've visited a new city: Avignon. My sister and I chose Provence for our winter vacation because we'd both never been to the southeast region of France, and we both had a general interest in the city. After only about 20 minutes, I knew I was going to love the area. Not only is Avignon known for its annual theatre festival, the city is close enough to see the Pyrenees in the distance which provides for a great background, and the Palais des Papes (Pope Palace) is one of the sites the city is best known for. Outside of the Palais, you can walk around after climbing a dizzying amount of stairs (had to pause several times on the way up) but the view is absolutely worth it. There is a little grotto-like place with a waterfall and a stone cliff that you can climb to get the best view all around. We felt similar to a mountain goat trying to balance on the stony, steep steps. Feeling the wind blowing your hair and breathing the fresh air from the heights was something I haven't felt in a long time (and can't really get in the flatlands in Aiguillon). It was exhilarating and enough to get me to want to come back and experience it again.
The first few nights were spent shopping and walking around the city, familiarizing ourselves with the area. As it is a few days from Christmas, we were welcomed with the beautiful icicle lights that hang from the trees and the other Christmas decor throughout centre ville. The Place d'Horloges is adorned with the Christmas market, and it's hard to walk past the man roasting chestnuts without wanting to taste some. I acutally had my first taste tonight, and I can finally make sense of the lyric 'chestnuts roasting on an open fire'... and appreciate the nutty wonder that seems to be everywhere at this time of the season. I also was tempted to indulge myself in a bit of vin chaud, which would have accompanied a nutella crêpe quite well, but as I was short on change the first couple days I decided against it.
I was pleasantly surprised when my paycheck came in a few days early- I had been worried because I was getting low again, and didn't know if we were going to get paid before Christmas or not. This relieved many worries (and I was able to get some more Christmas shopping done, even mailed out some presents the same day). I have a few more that might have to wait until I get home to deliver though, because of the weight it might be too expensive to ship. Anyway, I finally found some good gloves and other things that have long been on my list at H & M, so I gave myself a little Christmas present this morning while Michelle was at the hotel writing e-mails.
Our hotel, in Centre Ville, was a great place to spend the few days in Avignon. We opted out of breakfast (6 Euro every day) and decided it'd be much cheaper to just buy a pain 'o' chocolat and a coffee in Centre Ville (which is exactly what we did). We found a Carrefour where we bought things for dinner, and brought the food back to the hotel to eat. The three nights were spent walking around in the rain with our umbrellas (thankfully during the day it wasn't consistently raining) but we didn't stay too long outside because a dry, cozy hotel room seemed much more appealing to us.
We took the bus today to Villeneuve-Lez-Avignon, which was a smaller town across the Rhône (river) and about a 5-10 minute bus ride from Avignon. We had a good walk this morning as we took the bus to the last stop and walked all the way back down towards the Office du Tourisme, and by that time we were ready to head back. We still hadn't seen the Palais at that point (the highlight of our day) and we wanted to get there before it closed. The rain was starting in on us again, so that told us it was time to go.
I am already planning my second trip back, and shooting for seeing a show next time (it didn't fit the schedule this time around). I'm planning on seeing my friend in Nice in March, so that might be just around the right time to pop back into this wonderful city.
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