avignon, france

In order to get to Avignon we had to connect through Lyon. From Lyon to Avignon required a reservation, which we weren't able to make from Geneva. When we got to Lyon and went to make the reservation, we found out that the next train we wanted was full for our pass type and we would have to wait for the next one in a couple hours. The only thing is that train was also DELAYED a couple of hours which would make it past midnight by the time we got into Avignon. However, the lady was able to make us an exception for us and get us on the quicker train anyways only because the other one was delayed. We paid our reservation fee for the delayed train, but she printed us tickets for the "full" train. We caught a lucky break with that one!

We checked the departure board and made our way to the right track. When looking at the board, you have to go by final destination city, and in this case our train would continue on and end up in Marseilles. There were a few other trains going to Marseilles as well, via different in-between cities. When we got all settled into our seats on the train, it moved a little bit and we started to panic because there should have been 10 minutes left until we were supposed to leave! We second guessed ourselves and thought maybe we had gotten on the wrong "Marseilles" train because there were others departing right around the same time. We quickly grabbed our things as gracefully as we could and ran off the train, only to re-check the board and realize that we WERE on the right one. ARGH. It really must have been quite the spectacle, trying to juggle our packs, day packs and our dinner and drinks that we had just bought to eat on the train, lol.

When we got to Avignon it was windy and COLD. We arrived at the TGV station, which is a bit out of the actual city, so we had to wait for the shuttle bus into town. We hadn't booked a place to stay, but we were able to find one easily enough. Since it's pretty much the low season now, we've been able to find one star hotels lately for quite cheap, cheaper than hostels sometimes. The rooms are very basic of course, usually just a little larger than the bed itself, with a small bathroom and sink. Good enough for us though!

We were going to use Avignon as a base city to go on a couple of day trips around the rest of the Provence region, but we spent the first day exploring Avignon. In the 1300s the Vatican moved the entire headquarters of the Catholic Church to Avignon, and the church built 3 miles of protective wall with 39 towers around the town, along with housing for cardinals and residences for the entire Vatican office. We walked through the Place du Palais and saw the Palace of the Popes. There was also a large park on the hill with a great view of Avignon and it's famous bridge that was partly destroyed by a flood.