Avignon, France

Another train trip-this time from Paris to Avignon, France.  It's in the Provence Region of France, known for its delicious food. 

A couple photos taken from our train window

We arrived in the charming town of Avignon and noticed the Parisian trend of setting up tables and chairs facing the street traffic continued.  It really is the best way to enjoy a snack or afternoon coffee. 

We went to the show at the Palace of the Popes.  The history of the 100 years the Pope lived in Avignon was explained in a light show projected on the walls inside the palace courtyard.  Narration was in French, but we got the gist.

Before the show

Some photos of the show:

We rented a very spacious apartment - this is the night time view out of the bedroom window.

Here it is in the day time

We didn't realize we ordered so much food for lunch!

We walked around the border of the city just inside the city walls.

After cutting through this sneaky little door way, we found a huge staircase.  Knowing you cannot walk on the city walls like we did in York, we said, let's just climb the stairs to see how high we can go.

Half way up the stairs selfie (that's the Rhone River in the background)

Quacker Jack with the Rhone River in the background

Oh, we climbed all the way to the top and there was a lovely park to enjoy!

This is a view of the city looking down from the park.

A little pond with fish in the park

Another pond with lots of ducks

We hung out on a bench in the park and read (I might have dozed off at one point).

A view of the other side of the city from the park

On top of the Palace of the Popes

Some photos of the Palace of the Popes

Another food shot-we found a tapas place and had a scrumptious dinner!

This is one of the pedestrian streets in Avignon (used by people on foot and motocycle).

Just another view out of our bedroom window

We visited Les Halles one morning and bought different local foods for lunch.  Our eyes might have been bigger than our stomachs.

A typical street in Avignon

We rode the water ferry across the Rhone River to the park on "Europe's largest river island" in the middle of the Rhone River.

These 4 arches are all that is remaining of a bridge that previously spanned the Rhone River and the island in the middle.  Floods and such have washed away most of it now.

J found a sneaky little cove inside the city walls.

Here are some streets in Avignon:

Here is a meal I cooked with supplies we bought at Les Halles.  A whole fish, salad,  sauteed mushrooms, bread and goat chesse.  I was really delicious if I do say so myself.

We took a wine tour with Francois, and learned SO MUCH about wine and the Rhone River Valley.  We are regular wine snobs now.  haha

This is the soil in most of the Rhone River Valley.  They call the rocks potatoes.  In some places, the rocks go 20 meters deep into the ground.  J earned ten points by knowing that they got there via a glacier.  He's so smart. 

We stopped in vineyards along the way and got to taste some of the grapes straight off the vine.

The vines are very low to the ground in this area; this helps the grapes receive heat from the rocks and stresses them, which makes better wine. 

I can still hear Francois saying "Chatue neuf du Pope".

There are 7 flavor families found in wines and within those families, 84 different tastes and scents.  This poster shows all 84.

Francois gave us behind-the-scenes tours at the wineries we visited.  We got to visit the aging rooms and see how the grapes are processed in order to become wine.

Walking down into an aging room at one of the wineries. 

We were very impressed to see the wine maker's personal stock included bottles from the 1970s.

Hanging out with a couple cute guys and a huge aging cask

Remember how we were so impressed with the owner's personal stock with bottles from the 1970s?  When Francois brought us into the owner's real personal stock, I couldn't help but squeal. 






Those bottles are from 1920.  Holy cow.  Francois said they opened a bottle recently and it was delicious.

Suddenly, 1970 isn't so impressive.

An olive tree

Just a 120 year old grape vine

A wine cask from the 1400s we saw at the wine museum

More large casks at our last vineyard of the day

These cellars have been in use since the 1600s and you can tell!  Isn't it just gorgeous in there?

Seriously large wine cask

This is the chateau of our final stop-the one with the cellars that have been in use since the 1600s.  Gorgeous!

Their vineyards

 We greatly appreciated the pace of life in Avignon after our stay in Paris.  It was a bit slower and much less crowded (but there were still plenty of tourists).  We joked that we ate our way through the city-not a bad way to spend a few days.  Now, off to Cannes to enjoy the coast of southern France!