Day 7

Rocher des Doms, Avignon 1:44 PM 6/27/10

We are sitting at a garden on top of an ancient wall that protects the city of Avignon. Yesterday we got off the train and walked from the station to Avignon, except we went the long way around and it took us forever. We finally got to the city. First we saw these stone walls all around the city center (called Avignon Intramuros which means inside the walls). We went in and found a beautiful town with small winding streets, cute cafes and relaxing parks. I wanted to rest a bit, but we needed to find a place to sleep so we walked through the city. We found Rue de Saint Andre and took a picture of it. Then we exited the walls and walked along the Rhone river. we passed a bridge and were thinking about crossing the river at the next bridge, because there looked to be a beautiful park on the ther side, but when we got closer to the bridge we realized that it didn't go all the way across. The bridge went three quarters of the way across the river and stopped. We kept walking toward it anyways. We found some steps leading up the rampart. We headed back to the completed bridge and found a camp ground on the other side of the river. I felt elated to be staying somewhere legally with a shower and laundry facilities and no fear of being woken up in the middle of the night and kicked out.

We eschewed our plans to stay ina hotel Sunday night and decided to camp for three nights here next to Avignon. Our camp site is really neat! There are trees everywhere creating a canopy over the area.

The next day we slept in and got ready to go back to Avignon. I just cannot get over the beauty of this city. It is very peaceful and mellow, but with history at every turn. It's hard to imagine living among the past. We walked around the walls of the city and toward the back we found stairs leading to the top of the ramparts. We climbed higher and higher and the view became more and more amazing. We got to an area that opened up into a plaza and there was a site seeing monument. We went over to see what we had been looking at and found that the castle looking structure on the other side of the Rhone was Fort St. Andre. I looked out at it and around and I realized that you rarely ever meet St. Andres in the US. You'd have to be crazy to leave such a beautiful place.