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Published: September 17th 2017
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Flowers decorating a bike basket
Running errands has to be better when you keep flowers in front of you Geo: 43.9486, 4.80597
Madam Assad walked me around my new apartment. It's terrific. It's located right next to the wall of the city. For me this means that if I ever
really get lost, I can walk around the inside of the wall of the city until I find my way home. The city is small enough that it fits neatly and readably onto a small map which Aida was kind enough to highlight for me. After she left I unpacked and looked more closely at some of the art on the wall. All of the drawings and paintings were done by her sister. I like them very much and am impressed by her talent. Aida stocked the apartment with tea, milk, sugar and red wine. She somehow intuited my favorite tea and how I take it. This is a good omen, I am sure.
I was a little fried from jet lag and having no idea what people have been saying to me for most of the day, so I made some tea and took a short break. I know more Spanish, German, Italian and Turkish than I do French, so I've been finding myself really scrambling to talk here. I reach Double decker carousel
You can climb to the second level or ride one of the many cool things on the first floor. The horses can rock front to back if you want. for phrases and I keep coming up with ones in the wrong language. I probably know a little more French than I think I do, but they are almost all food words. I think Lucy will be taking the linguistic lead on this vacation. I wish I knew for certain when she will arrive. I don't think it will be until tomorrow night.
By 3:00 or so I decided it was time to go have a look around. It turns out that Avignon is an incredibly walkable city. I can easily reach the Palais du Papes (Pope's Palace) on foot in just a few minutes. There is a very large pedestrian area in the center of town with churches, theaters, restaurants, shops and a double-decker carousel that is just incredible. It even has spinning cups like on the Disney World teacup ride. It turns out that the gelato place in Paris that I loved has more than one location. Yes! I can have flower-shaped gelato any time I want.
There was not one, but two weddings going on in the city center and I watched part of both of them. For one of them they rang the church bells. The tall
Old and elegant carousel
This is the headpiece on the carousel in the town center of Avignon buildings and the narrow streets really help give the bells pack an acoustic punch. For the other they decorated a line of cars with ribbons and flowers and drove off down the street with horns blaring. The brides were beautiful and there were some interesting hats in the crowd.
One of my goals for the outing was to see if I could lay my eyes on the train station I will use for the return. It's right outside the gate to the city, so it was pretty easy to find. I can walk there easily, but maybe not with luggage.
I found a very nice public garden in the courtyard of a church which was well worth exploring. From checking out the trees, I can tell you that the olives are just starting to ripen in Avignon. I decided that I didn't want to be wandering around alone after dark and didn't really feel like dining out alone this evening, so I started keeping my eye out for a good to-go meal as I worked my way home along a different route. It was tough going having to stop at every bakery trying to weigh which quiche was the one to come
Theater in Avignon
I read the date on this, but now it escapes me. I'm pretty sure it predates Europeans in America. home with me, but I endured. As it turned out, Aida once again came through and the bakery she recommended and marked on the map was the best looking one I saw all afternoon.
That wraps it up for today. The sun is setting behind the wall and I am warming my little quiche in the oven.
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kew
non-member comment
Yum Olives! If you have to bring us home olives bring us those, Yum!