17/07/2009
An exciting day today, will meet up with Ash in Lyon tonight after seeing him off to Europe earlier in the year. We packed up, checked out, and dropped the luggage off at the railway station. Put it in a locker (after getting it scanned) to hold it till we were ready to head out to the TGV station (later in the day) and then headed straight across the river to Villeneuve-les-Avignon (a charming medieval village, that was the city of cardinals in the XIVth century) on bus no. 11. Wandered into the old town and visited the Collegiale church and its cloister before chilling in the square and enjoying some coffee & pastries (we’re hoping all the walking we’re doing is keeping the weight gaining capabilities of the food at bay). Walked into, but didn’t visit the Chartreuse Notre-Dame-du-val-de-Benediction (Carthusian Monastery), and then wandered to the tower Fort Saint-Andre (but didn’t pay to visit).
Caught the bus back into Avignon, but got off early and walked the last bit across the second bridge, good to see the town from that view point. Decided to visit Pont d’Avignon (Pont St-Benezet) the medieval bridge (or what’s left of it) that has had an interesting history. Found the audio guides useful, but a little constrained with how you could use them.
Anyway, then it was up through the wall to the gardens of the Palace of the Popes, another coffee and then into the palace along with LOTS of other tourists. Another audio guide but this one was even worse! Difficult to find and match the commentary with the rooms/points of interest, but it was still impressive. The leaders of the church sure did it in style back in the good old days. The scale of things is amazing, huge buildings, the Great Chapel, all the rooms (with their special purposes, like counting all the money), the Cloister etc. and all fairly sumptuous with the Courtyard of Honour filled with seating for performances later in the week. Then a quick visit to the Cathedral (with the tomb of a pope) and wandered back through town to find a church that wasn’t open. Grabbed some food for on the train, picked up bags and headed out to the TGV – all the connections went so smoothly we ended up with a 40 minute wait in the impressive Avignon TGV station.
Into Lyon a little late but great to meet Ash at the station (he’d packed a bag for us with some food for the fridge in the apartment and a bunch of public transport tickets). He took us to the apartment and then headed off to work while we settled in and freshened up. We then wandered through town and along the river (as the sun set with some spectacular clouds) to Le Maori Bar (which has a Facebook group) to catch up with Ash and have a hamburger and a beer (or two). Met an Aussie & a New Zealander who wandered past and dropped in for a drink. Wendy’s written the next post to expand on our arrival in Lyon.
