As the old song says, "Sur le Pont d'Avignon," I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to visit it while staying with my host family on my second weekend. Our first stop was the Pope's Palace, built between 1335 and 1378.
As we toured the rooms and adjacent gardens, we worked with the "history pad," an iPad that displayed us the original items of furniture and much more. Furthermore, we might engage in virtual hide-and-seek and other entertaining pastimes. At lunchtime, we went to dine at "La Cuisine de Papa" and enjoyed the well-known "quenelle," a fish "meatball" served with Nantua sauce.
Then, it was time to pay tribute to Avignon's half-destroyed bridge (which had collapsed after several floods). We sang the "chanson" as loudly as we could while standing there (no surprise we noticed so many suspicious facial expressions; our little performance must have been ridiculous).
The final port of call was, without any question, the main touristy square with hundreds of little shops and marketplaces, restaurants, cafés, and even a carousel. As we were leaving Avignon, we took a last glance at the city's fortified walls before it vanished into the twilight.
À très bientôt!
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