I got up yesterday at about quarter of six (in the morning) so that I could get to the Gare du Lyon by 6:45. It was clear that there were plenty of late night partiers on their way home from the night before. Our train left from Paris at 7:16, and I fell asleep for most of the time. I finally woke up when we got to Avignon just before 10!
From the moment we left the train station, it rained just about the entire time. We got on the bus, and Martine tried to figure out how to adjust the weekend's schedule in response to the bad weather. We still went to Uzes -- which is a lovely little town about an hour (?) from Avignon. Prof. Lecomte gave us a short tour of the town and we ended in a little market in the center of town. I had probably about the most "French" lunch possible. I, along with Alex, Cynthia, and Kelsey, bought bread, chorizo sausage (ok, so not so French), and a hunk of delicious parmesan cheese, and divided it all. We found a place to sit underneath the overhang of the buildings, and it was beyond delicious....Afterwards, a bunch of the girls found a cafe to get some hot chocolate -- which given the dreary weather, was a good pick-me-up!
After our drinks, we made our way back to the bus, and again, found out that we had to adjust our plans once again. We set off for Villeneuve les Avignon (across the river from Avignon) where we toured a chartreuse (basically an abbey), and also a factory that produces olive oil! Most of it's made my machine now which wasn't so interesting, but we got to taste two types of olive oil and a balsamic vinegar (which was my favorite).
After that, we drove back to Avignon to check in to our hotel -- which was facing the Palais des Papes (not too shabby!), and we also ate dinner at the hotel -- which was not great, but decent! It was an appetizer of eggplant something-or-other, and then chicken breast with a small portion of potatoes gratin and some sauteed vegetables. And then for dessert -- apparently, Martine had ordered half of one dessert and half of the other. Well, one of them was sliced pineapple, and the other was molten chocolate cake. I'll let you guess how that turned out.
Given that I'm about to literally fall asleep, I'm going to say good night! I'll tell a bit about today tomorrow -- but here are some pictures in the rain -- never been so happy to have my Bean Boots!
A bientot!
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