July 13 we awake in Avignon. A very busy city with a lot of people.
Here's the view from the boat in the morning.
The skies have finally cleared and it's going to be a great day.
Today we're going on what they call an "optional tour" - that means you have to pay for it. We're going to vist the Pont Du Gard. And then some touristy village.
Pont is Bridge in French.
Now if you don't want to pay for an optional tour you can go on the included walking tour of the city you're in or you can go walking around on your own (silly) or you can stay on the boat (dumb).
The optional tours cost about 40 Euros per person. Not outrageous but not cheap either. They are informative though and you (usually) get a pretty good guide who provides a lot of good info.
The Pont Du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct across the Gardon river. It was built in the first century AD to carry water to the town of Nimes. Most of it was underground except this portion that cosses the river.
The tour to the Pont Du Gard was pretty good but we would have preferred to have more time there. Instead we we're rushed a bit and herded off to a tourist town. I sometimes wonder (and I may have said this before) if the guides bet a kick back from the secondary sites we go to.
The tree in the next picture is close to one thousand years old. I left the girl in the picture to give it some scale. It really is not a big tree - height wise - but it is very thick.
A bunch of shots of the bridge.
The old tree again. Without the girl.
After the Pont Du Gard they tooks us to this quaint French village for awee walking tour and then free time (shopping).
We never bought anything except two beer.
Some random shots:
If you look at the guy in white in the middle and then look three people to the left you see a guy in a blue shirt sitting on the edge of the fountain. That's the 90 year old guy I mentioned before.
After this tour, which took place in the morning, we had a walking tour of Avignon where our boat was parked.
Avignon is another ancient town that has been populated by a variety of peoples for over two thousand tears. The old section is surrounded by ramparts.
In the 1300s seven Popes resided in Avignon. Although not all of them were recognized as true Popes I belive the first couple were. They lived in unbelievable luxury in a huge palace. Their cardinals had fantastic private homes built nearby. I hope they all enjoyed it because I'm sure those that paid for this luxury undoubtedly led lives of poverty. Hopefully each person's final reward was the inverse of his experience while still above ground.
This is the front of the op's Palace. It obscurred by all the umbrellas because there is a huge celebration going on in the entire village today. Musicians, magicians, beggers and bums everywhere.
A couple bummer dogs. The ittle cup beside the yellow blanket is where you put your coin.
The courtyard as seen from the entrance to the Pope's Palace.
From this window the Pope would issue his blesssings on the people below. Lucky buggers!
This is a model constructed to show what the Pope's Palace looked like in it's entirety. Wonder what the monthly mortgage payments were..ooops..forgot.
When the Pope had company he would use this room for dinner. Apparently he sat at the far end by himself with a big knife on the table beside him. His guests sat along each side of the room. None of the guests were allowed to have knives and were served portions that were already cut up.
Another shot of the front of the palace from the other side.
And a shot of the Pont Du Avignon from the high point above the Palace.
