Amazing Avignon

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The wind had really gotten up by the time we'd showered and changed and were ready to hit the town. Timing climbing off the boat was an issue as it was pulling away from or pushing into the wall with every gust. We all got off in one piece and went across the road, our hair (well, mine and Becky's, Fred and Mike are both members of the shaven head/ 'combover for the 21st century' club) being whipped across our faces as we struggled against the wind.
Inside the town we were sheltered somewhat by the city walls (Avignon is a fortified town) and wandered around looking for somewhere to eat and drink. We found a funky little latino bar on the corner of a square and ordered food and cocktails. It was rammed and we were surprised to see a big group of lads in their late teens/early 20's who were clearly out on the pull sharing bottles of wine. They had several ice buckets of rose on the table in front of them. I love the metrosexuality of the French – I can't imagine my brother and his mates sharing bottles of pink wine on a night out, despite the fact they all care a little too much about their hair!
After our food and numerous cocktails (the food took ages and the waitress kept suggesting different ones for us to try – how could we have refused?) a salsa night began. People partnered up on the dancefloor to receive instruction from a slick looking skinny fella in tight trousers and a t shirt that looked as though it had been sprayed on. We watched bits and pieces of the lesson and I began to shimmy a bit in my seat.
“No” said Mike before I could even say anything.
I noticed Fred shimmying too. Mike and Becky didn't want to dance so they stayed and drank more while me and Fred strutted our stuff. We went up and joined in the salsa for a bit, doing litle spins, shimmies and hip wriggles in time with the others. We were awesome. Or maybe it was the cocktails, I'm not sure. We had a laugh though. As the night wore on and more alcohol was imbibed, we all went up for a dance. Mike was his usual drunken dancing self – far more confident than usual, believing he was the incarnation of Patrick Swayze and throwing me all over the place. I very nearly had someone's eye out. We gave up and went back to our table. Before long Fred and Becky joined us too.
We left when the bar was closing and were instantly blown sideways. The wind had become ferocious. We tucked our heads in and walked back to the boat against the freezing north wind, our eyes streaming. Fred learnt the hard way to use a wallet when he stopped to light a fag. He pulled his lighter out of his coat pocket and lots of paper came flying out with it and whipped up on the wind and away. He soon realised the paper was his money and he and Becks chased it down the street.
Mike and I had carried on walking while they stopped and had not realised this had happened til later. I think he managed to save a bit of it, but lost over 100 euros to the wind.
The following morning we explored the town, starting at the city walls and fortress and making our way to the town square, lined with restaurants and bars and hosting several little market stalls. Mike bought me some earrings after I dropped several massive hints (“I want those earrings” was the one that worked). One of those statue performance artists was stood on a little plinth. He was dressed as a soldier, all in brown, and was perfectly still until someone dropped money in his hat, at which point he would march and shout stuff before robotically halting again. He wasn't that good to be fair. A little further on was another one, this time dressed in terracotta robes and a headscarf and painted terracotta. I think he was supposed to be a sheikh or something. I don't know what he did as I didn't see anyone put any money in. But he was really good at being still.
We were all tired from our long day and night so decided to take the land train tour instead of walking too much. The next one was leaving in 15 minutes so we mooched around the square a bit and people watched. Becky and Fred had told us they were moving in to a house together in December and were disagreeing about a dog. Becks wanted one, but Fred said he didn't unless it was a big blokey dog (because Fred is a big blokey man, obviously). Becky had been saying she'd like an Airedale, but Fred didn't know what they looked like. We saw one being walked while we waited for our tour and Fred said he might want one. We then spotted the performance artists agsain, but this time on their break. They chatted to one another outsid a little shop whilst one had a fag and the other had a sandwich. It made us all chuckle to see them on their break, and even more so that they had their break together – it was like they were some sort of shitty street entertainers club.
The tour was good and we saw all of Avignon and learnt a lot about it. Fred didn't because he fell asleep half way through. We passed the papal palace where the pope had lived centuries ago when he couldn't live in St Peters for a while (I forget why, maybe they had decorators in). We saw the golden St Marie (Jesus' mum, they call her Maire, we call her Mary) on the top of the palace and learnt that she was the patron saint of Avignon and that Avignon was the most catholic city in France. That explained the church on every corner, some of which were stunning. We also saw a cool statue of an elephant standing on his trunk, right next to the tour stop.
That night we were invitied to a party on a barge on the quay. A Scottish guy working on it came by and invited us, saying it was their end of season do and we were welcome to go along. We decided that we would. We never made it though. After eating a late lunch/early dinner in a restaurant in the town square we came back to the boat and had a glass of wine. We popped Extras on and sat down out the back. We all fell asleep and completely missed the party … I guess the busy days and nights had caught up with us.
The next morning before we left for the med we went into town to eat and Skype home and I sung Sous le Pont D'Avignon under the bridge while Fred filmed it. You can't hear it as the wind was so strong, but we had fun! We all agreed that we loved Avignon and wanted to visit there again – hopefully without the mischevious mistral for company.

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