Welcome to Avignon!!
While I was still sleeping in Paris, Z went out and got us some breakfast! Oh the joys of jet-lag and waking up at 4 AM ;) haha I actually adjusted fairly quickly to the time difference, but it took him a whole week to get over jet-lag =p haha
mmm pastries in Paris. Spot on.
We hopped on the train after our breakfast, and after what seemed like a quick nap, we woke up in Avignon!
I was constantly in awe of this city. There was so much history wherever we looked, and it truly felt like we were transported back in time. I think of all of the cities that we've visited to on this trip, Avignon is definitely one my favorites!
We used almost exclusively Airbnb for our European travels, and we loved being able to come back after the day's adventures and crash in a home, make dinner, etc. Of course, the fact that our Airbnb places were usually in really amazing locations and that they were pretty affordable really helped as well ;) In Avignon, we stayed in Bruno's Studio, which was literally right behind the Pope's palace, and that really tickled our inner history nerds. We would highly recommend staying at Bruno's studio because as you can see in the picture above, you simply walk outside of the front door, and right in front of your eyes, is the Pope's palace! You also get serenaded by an accordion player during the day in that little alleyway that leads to the palace, and that's pretty charming as well ;)
As soon as we got to the studio, we unceremoniously tossed our bags in, and left to go explore this magnificent city.
First stop? Our backyard, aka, the Pope's palace. During the 14th century, 7 popes resided here in Avignon instead of in Rome, and this was their palace. The scale of this place was just... jaw dropping.
There is also a beautiful cathedral attached to the palace.
I didn't take a picture of the actual cathedral out of respect, but people were taking pictures of this little cove, so I snapped a little photo as well.
On top of the hill, you will find a nice little cafe, a waterfall, and some really incredible views of Avignon.
You can either admire the bridge from afar, or pay a little fee to go walk on it!
Having had our fill of the bridge, we returned to the Old Avignon, partly because my foot was having issues, and partly in search of some gelato. I didn't realize how much walking we were going to be doing in Europe, but my iphone tells me that we walked for more than 7 miles a day usually. This is not a normal amount of walking for me during my day to day musician life, so yeah... I did something to my right foot during the very first day, and for the whole duration of the trip, my right foot was in pain haha. I think in the future, I may increase my walking mileage a little more gradually before embarking on a trip like this ;) If you're planning a European travel of your own, be prepared to walk miles and miles! It didn't really feel like that much though because we were so distracted by the amazing views.
Ever since our friend Kate Lemmon told us about cutting out sugar from her diet and experiencing amazing results, Z and I have been trying to do the sugar-diet as well. We have had some varying degrees of success, but we definitely failed miserably in Europe. We actually didn't even try, because, hello, gelato!
MMMmmmmmmmmmmm. the best. so good. I think we had a gelato almost every day in every city we visited, and we have our post-vacation bodies to prove it! haha The thing about sugar is that it's very addicting, so it has proven to be pretty impossible to get back to cutting out sugar since the trip. ah well, we'll try again now that we're back in the U.S. and there isn't a tempting gelato shop at every street corner.
We stayed at Avignon for the longest amount of days during our trip, and we absolutely loved just going outside and doing our favorite thing; the aimless wandering. Though we really enjoyed our wanderings in Paris, there is something really special about wandering around Avignon. The buildings, the way the sunlight hits the buildings at all hours of the day, the street performers, getting lost and finding so much history in every random nook and cranny, the painted windows, the gelato, the really cheap and amazing freshly baked bread every morning... I could go on and on...
Avignon, you are going to hold such a special place in my heart. Thanks for being our home base during the majority of our trip to South of France!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful rest of the week!
-Janny
No comments:
Post a Comment