.............not all those that wander are lost..............

Friday 1 January 2010

Sur le pont..................

The weather here since Christmas has been a bit grey and lifeless - not so good for the fair weather skiers among us.......... So John and I set off last Monday in our small camper van to visit Avignon. We found a campsite right opposite the town which was open and full of camper vans a good deal bigger than ours!

Of course the first place to visit is the famous bridge. Rather a grey day in Avignon too but the history made up for it.



The French authorities obviously have a different view of risk assessment.  We thought that in the UK the children would have to wear crash helmets and harnesses.





We spent the whole day walking (well maybe trudging at times) around the streets of the old town. The medieval walls are still intact and a good number of the buildings are really ancient.

The second day we visited the Palais des Papes. This is an extraordinary 12th Century palace with cloisters and great banqueting halls etc. You can see it in the background in the first picture above. We were about 3 hours wandering around listening to an 'audio tour' machine.

There's a garden laid out high above the town with fabulous views and a limestone grotto to climb on.
Finally we arrived back at 7.30 pm  on New Year's Eve and had barely made it to the door when our neighbours dragged us in for drinks and food until 11.30. We refused their invite to go down to a discotheque for more merrimaking and went back home for a few whiskies to welcome in the New Year. Hence today I have a rather fuzzy head! And all the Christmas chocolates seem to have disappeared............




Oh dear, the Gremlins have arrived and I can't add any more photos at the moment........I'll try later.





1 comment:

Piglet said...

Ooh, yum! What sort of food did the neighbours offer you? Please tell all...

(Can you tell I've not had dinner yet?)

What a beautiful place! My sister spent about a year, afair, in Avignon just after school. I'll check with her in a mo that I've not misremembered. That tour sounds great. I love museums and old houses and stuff.

*envy*