Dancing in the Rain

Breakfast!

 We woke up to some lovely treats. Jim went out in search of a bakery in Sarrians to find us something for breakfast. Now in France there are two kinds of bakeries - Pattissiers and Boulangers. The Pattissiers only make pastries, while the Boulangers make bread. Guess which one he found? He said the saleslady gave him a funny look when he said that the raspberry/fig tarts were for breakfast!

Today we decided to head out to Avignon. The weather forecast wasn't looking too good (more rain) and we decided that it might be a good idea to do an inside activity, like visit the Palace of the Popes. As we drove into Avignon, it began to rain harder and harder. I have rarely seen it rain as hard anywhere else - it literally comes down in buckets, bouncing off the pavement. We drove around for a while looking for a parking spot close to the Palace so we wouldn't have to walk so far, but although there didn't seem to be many people about, there were cars parked everywhere. We ended up at the parking garage at Les Halles - an indoor food market kind of like the St. Lawrence market in Toronto.

It was still raining way too hard to even contemplate stepping outside, so we walked around the market a bit looking at the stalls,

The vegetables all looked so fresh and brightly coloured

There was a stall that just sold spices. The smells were amazing! Of course we bought some "herbes de Provence".

 It was hard to find a place to sit to have coffee since the place was full of people seeking shelter from the rain, but Jim and Stephen found an oyster bar and decided to have a little snack. Here they are, eating oysters and drinking wine at 10 o'clock in the morning. Only in France......!

 The Palace of the Popes was quite magnificent. A lot of history here. I found it interesting that the Queen actually sold the city to Pope Clement IV. Imagine governments nowadays selling cities as a way to raise money!

 Here's Jim, Stephen and Liz enjoying their audiophones ;-)

This was the tile floor in the Pope's study. Of course I saw a lovely quilt pattern. (Elaine remember this!)

Unfortunately it didn't stop raining while we were inside the palace. As a matter of fact, it looked like it was coming down harder (if that was even possible). We only had 2 umbrellas between the 5 of us (Jim and I being the only pessimists in the group) but not to worry - they were selling plastic ponchos right at the exit! And let me tell you, they were making a killing.

Here is our soggy "parade" heading down the street,

Touring Avignon was very educational. As we were driving around the outside wall (which is VERY cool - it is almost completely intact and surrounds the inner city) we saw some vans with hearts spray painted on the front.

Good thing we had Stephen with us to explain what they were because otherwise we would never have known. Apparently there are ladies who sit in the front seat of these vans and men come up to them, they talk for a bit, then they both go into the back of the van. A little while later they come out and the lady sits in the front seat again. Very enterprising ladies I should say! (and there were lots of these vans!)

You can't go to Avignon without going to the Pont d'Avignon, where everyone dances. Well not quite everyone. But Liz and Stephen were very good sports and danced for me so that I could take a picture. Jim was also a good sport and danced with me for a bit. Well you know I had to!

Here is the Pont d'Avignon. It only goes halfway across the river - after the 16th century they never repaired it.We found our first geocache in France very close by and another one in a garden nearby. Yay, we have now doubled the amount we found in Italy! (yes, we only found one there)

After Avignon we headed to St. Remy de Provence, a pretty little town with Roman ruins that is the birthplace of Nostradamus. On the way down the street to see the house where he was born, we noticed this cat strung across the wires. My first thought was, "Oh no!" because I really thought that it was dead, but no, it was just sleeping! We know that for sure because he opened one eye to look at us and flicked his tail as though telling us to just go away and let him nap in peace. He became quite the sensation as people around us noticed him too - I'm sure his picture is going to show up all over the world!

And sorry, no picture of the house where Nostradamus was born - the cat was much more interesting!

We found a neat little restaurant for dinner (well Stephen found it, we kind of trust him with these things). Jim and I ordered a seafood soup with mussels, calamari and crab. I seriously thought the crab would be in chunks but no, it came whole! Steve said that I could eat it but I decided to let him have it, because I'm nice that way. (Yeah right - I just wasn't brave enough!)

After dinner we went to find the roman ruins of Glanum. We had to go because Boris had bought a magnet earlier in the day with a picture of the arch on it and he couldn't rightfully put it on his fridge without actually having seen it. I thought that since it was a significant historical landmark that it would be lit at night, but when we got there the place was in absolute darkness. Well we weren't going to leave without seeing the arch so Jim just turned the car to face it and turned on the high beams!

Did you notice - no rain ponchos! We could actually see the stars. Bet there'll be sun tomorrow!