The last several nights have been late ones! And that means that we can easily fall behind on our blogging. Parents, no need to worry, we are simply taking more time for our adventures than for our blog :]
Anyways, the 20th started out a bit slow. It took some more fumbling around with Francesca’s GPS (our car) before we were finally able to get on the road to the old French town of Avignon! It took about an hour and a half to drive there, but we did find our way. Upon arrival in the center of town, we were excited to see the ancient wall surrounding the old city.
Our first goal of the day was to try and find the tourist office to see if they had any guided tours of the older parts of the city. As soon as we turned towards to very center of town, we noticed that there was some sort of lively festival going on. (End-of-story-ruin-er: We never did find out what festival it was). There were people bustling everywhere and there were all kinds of booths and mini-markets set up along the street. The streets were so full of people going everywhere that it definitely was stressful trying to maneuver around the narrow streets in Francesca, which happens to be larger than most other European vehicles. It took some searching and block circling, but we finally found a spot a few blocks away to park our beloved Francesca!
Amanda and Francesca!
After parking we then wound our way back onto the main drag and hunted for the tourist office. We did eventually find it after pushing ourselves through crowds of random people, and we even began to notice that some were wearing theatrical costumes. We peeked inside the tourist office, and noticed a rather lengthy line, so we decided to find food first, and then get info.
We only had to go across the crowded street to find a decent restaurant where we eagerly plopped ourselves down for some lunch!
With bellies full, we then made our way back across the street and were pleasantly surprised to find that the lengthy line had dissipated and we only had to walk up to the next available lady to assist us. With my sister's fluent French, it was a seamless process to get the info we needed about tours around the city. The woman gave us a map, clear directions, and info as to the tours that were available. We decided to head towards one that was only about 30 minutes long and was cheap!
We took a few moments to study the map and then headed out in the direction that we needed to go. Our path took us down streets and through squares that were full of the festival. All along the sides of the streets; little pockets of people would gather to watch whatever artist was showing off their talents. Whether it be a musician, dancer, painter, or comedian, they were all putting on shows and were a joy to watch. We paused for a bit to watch two guys playing instruments. One was jammin' on a banjo, the other was playing some sort of horn. (sorry, I'm not very good with brass instruments!)
Moving on from them, we came across this musically talented family putting on a wonderful show in English! It was strange at first to listen to the songs in English and not French, but it was fun nonetheless. They were a beautifully blended family with obvious talents. The woman was playing guitar and singing, the man was playing a guitar, one of the boys was beating on some sort of drum, and another boy was break dancing. They were so much fun and we definitely enjoyed watching them!
This boy had some super great dance moves!
Very talented family!
Moving on, we finally found the spot where we were supposed to start the tour, and then we learned we still had 30 minutes before it began! So, what do 3 women do with 30 minutes in France? We get ice-cream of course!
With ice-cream consumed and 30 minutes spent, we went back over to start our tour! So, quick but important side story here. As Kyla and I have been traveling, we have noticed, in more than one city, these little tiny tourist trains going around. Every time we saw them, we would make fun of them. I mean come on! It's a little train full of tourists, how can you not make fun?
Anyways, so we look at where our tour starts, and then Kyla and I's hearts stop beating. Wanna guess why? Yup! It's a mini train tour. OH my lanta! We cringed, laughed, and shook our heads all at the same time. What are the odds that we spend our trip making fun of such tours, and suddenly, there we were, about to get on one. Oh the irony!
So we begin to get on this train, but it was rather full, so we couldn't all sit together. Amanda took an open seat that she found, and Kyla and I ended up sitting next to this elderly couple from the UK. They were very nice and the lady knew alot about the history of France so she just kept telling us all of this somewhat random information. She was a cutie!
This little mini train is also one that has headsets that you wear so that you can hear the information in your language. Unfortunately, Kyla's wasn't working for some unknown reason, so she and I shared mine.
The tour itself was pretty quick and simple, it just drove around showing us the sights at about the speed of Disneyland coaster. More than once Kyla and I hoped that if maybe we just put our hands up, it might make the ride that much more thrilling. Needless to say, the elderly UK couple was a bit bumfuzzled as to what these two crazy American girls were doing while on a mini train. Truth be told, we really weren't sure either.
On the mini train.
The Pont du Avignon...it really is a bridge to nowhere!!
Once our tour was up, we checked the time and saw that we didn't have much longer before our parking time limit was up! So, we began to make our back to where Francesca was. And of course, along the way, we stopped a few other performances to take it all in. One was really cool with these two guys, with heads full of dreads, playing very authentic and unique music. They were using a myriad of instruments that may or may not have included a didgeridoo, harmonica, drums, and guitars...nearly all at once!
The other performance we caught was of this vibrant couple doing different dances such as tango and salsa. They were excellent!
Once reunited with Francesca, we clambered in to figure out how to spend the rest of our day. Kyla had a light bulb moment and asked how far the Pont du Gard was from where we were. We plugged that in to the GPS and discovered that it was only 27km (amazing!) from where we were! It took about 2.3 seconds of decision before we began to drive out of Avignon in search of Pont du Gard.
The place itself was quite easy to find, and then we discovered that parking was super expensive, 18 Euro! But we figured split between the three of us, and considering that there was no entrance ticket, it really wasn't all that terrible. Parking was breeze since it was later in the afternoon, and we even allowed ourselves a few moments of rest in the car before we walked over to the Pont du Gard!
Grabbing a couple bottles of water along the way, it was only a bit down the walkway before the Pont du Gard first came into view! And my oh my is it grand!! It is an ancient aqueduct that was built by the Romans sometime during the 1st century AD. It is the highest of all the Roman aqueducts and it is the best preserved. It is three tiers of arches, totaling a height of 160ft. It really is so cool to see!
Pont Du Gard!!
yay!
SO cool!!
There were many places where people have carved their names or dates from centuries past...no biggie
The river below!
Me, taking photos
cutie Kyla!
Along one side of the river (which is now a popular swimming location), there are several beautiful olive trees growing. There is a plaque next to one that says this tree is from the year 908. Yea, an 1100 year old olive tree just sitting there, no biggie.
Kyla and the tree
All 3 of us!
me and the tree
the Olive tree with the Pont du Gard in the background
We definitely took our time taking in the site, strolling around, and Amanda even managed to sit down and draw her view of the scenery!
After soaking in the awesomeness, we noticed that once again, our bellies needed tending. So we embarked for the town of Nimes to find food.
The cathedral in Nimes
Dinner was a bit difficult to find as we drove around streets and tried to find places that weren't too terribly expensive. We eventually ended up at a decent restaurant and we each ordered a pizza! Amanda and I also had some wine to go along with it!
With our meal consumed and the day spent, we finally drove back to our hotel and crashed! Twas a successful one indeed!
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