Stardate: -314178.253801103

This morning, we decided to check out Villeneuve, you know, the town just across the River Rhone with the giant building? We left to catch the bus, which was a little walk, but not bad. It was at the bus stop mistake number one was made. We decided to walk to La Chartreuse since the bus was not coming for another 15 mins. It really did not look that far on the map. Plus, it is Europe. When things look far, they really are not!

About 1/4 of the way across the bridge, we saw the bus fly past us, and we all just thought, "shit." Needless to say, walking there took a little longer than anticipated. By the time we reached the tourist office, it was almost time to head back to Avignon to check out of our hostel on time. There was no time left to see La Chartreuse and everything else was closed. Oops!

Upon return to the hostel, we gathered our belongings, which, or course, I forgot my phone charger. We went to check out and the man behind the desk told us since we did not pay, the computer system was stuck on the previous day. He was basically blaming us when no one even asked us to pay. We even had our money out and ready to be taken from the clerksmen....oh well.

As mentioned before, our hostel was a 10 min. walk to the gare and we actually caught the next train to Arles, so we did not have to wait around with nothing to do! It was only a 20 min. train ride and it really just kinda snuck up on us. We thought we were going to miss it so we scrambled out there and the French man in our little compartment thought we were nuts.

We began our walk to the hostel, which turned out to be quite a hike, especially with all of our giant bags! However, the hike was worth it, because when we got there, it was fantastic...mostly because it was a hotel. The room was very big, it had a pool, and we had our own little patio looking into the courtyard. It had very "South of France" feel since there were palm trees and little lizards that look like the ones from Florida. The room was decorated in a lovely bright pink and orange pattern. Kristi accurately described it as a, "teenage girl's bedroom." Spot on.

Naturally, I was extemely tired and wanted to take nap, but the girls would not allow me to do so. We left right away to do some touristy stuff. The first order of business was to get some lunch....we were sooo famished. We found a lovely little place that was moderately inexpensive, but not really. It was finished with a lovely dessert of pistachio icecream and brown sugar and pecan icecream. Both flavors were fucking fantastic and I am glad I was American and got both flavors.

Sufficiently energized, we made a plan of action to go to the tourist office to get a map and ask questions about the passes in the city. Along the way, we stumbled upon a little place with a nice little fountain and a lovely church. It was set perfectly in front of a beautiful blue sky backdrop. You cannot go anywhere in France without finding somewhere to be!

After the T.O., our first stop was the Roman Arena. It was not the grandest of the Roman Arenas, but there is absolutely nothing as old in the US. Well, there probably is but we destroyed whatever remnants of American Indian culture that survived. Once inside, it was surreal to think that people were sitting where I was sitting 4,000 or so years ago. The building was so well engineered it is still used today for "bull fighting." The top also provided breathtaking views of the city and surrounding areas.

Next on our agenda were the Thermes, or Roman Baths, if you will. This was very interesting as well. I have never seen them before. There was not much left, but the bones were still there. But I will tell what was still there, a cat who decided this was a good place to live. Well, i really wanted to pet it, but this 4 year old and his mom beat me to it. But when he finished I swooped in. He was ignoring me, so I tapped his tail, ever so lightly, and he looked at me like I was crazy and mini-attacked my hand! Thankfully no skin was broken. That's just what I need...to go to a French hospital and not be able to tell them what the hell happened.

The finished our Roman monument tour with the Ampitheater. It was 1000s of years old, but still used for concerts today! Absolutely fantastic. Earlier in the week, I caught wind that Van Gogh painted "Cafe Terrace" in Arles. This is one of my favorite paintings and probably my favorite Van Gogh. I told the girls we had to see it and it was magnificient! A lot of the cafe has been remodeled to look like the painting. We then went to another Van Gogh inspiration place: a former mental hospital. I have never seen the painting before, but it was still cool to see the originals.

This took up the entirity of our day and the weather was beginning to turn bad. We headed back to the hotel and grabbed dinner from a grocery store along the way. The rest of the evening was very quiet and we watched CNN Europe. I thought it was interesting to get a different perspective on world events...usually caused by the US. Sleep followed very soon after.

Stardate: -314181.44805580843

The trip to Avignon was a total success! It was partly due to Cari, but mostly due to me. We arrived into the Gare Centre and our hostel was only a little walk from there, no more than 10 minutes. We arrived at the hostel about noon and we just dropped our bags off because our room was not ready at the time.

From there, we walked down the main street, but everything was closed, because it was Sunday. Apparently, the French take their day of rest very, very seriously. We walked the length of Avignon and it was at the other end of town where all the good stuff was. We wanted to check out the Musee du Petit Palais first, but it was closed for lunch. So, we walked around the park that was in the city. It overlooked the town and gave picturesque views as the signs suggested. I could have sworn I saw an Alpe, but Cari and Kristi refused to believe that school of thought.....

We continued around the park and gardens and it was very pretty. Flowers were in bloom still and the trees still had their leaves. It was not the prettiest I have seen, but still quite nice. Other parts of the park offered views of Villeneuve. It was the neighboring town across the River Rhone and past a little island the River created. In Villeneuve was La Chartreuse, which the park gave great views of. La Chartreuse was first a monestary turned Pope hideout turned prison turned tourist attraction. That's a pretty fantastic history for a building if you ask me, which none of you did. It was during our walk around the park when we really started talking about very relavent issues: who our favorite Top Model is. It was nice discussing some of my interests with people who could keep up.

When we descended the hill, the art museum was open and we decided it was time to go in. I was excited to see some of the art that would never be found in the US or by US painters. We went to buy our tickets, and for some reason, the ticket man thought Kristi and I were a couple. I do not know how he thought that because we really were not even standing close to each other. I even told him we were paying separetly, but I guess people only hear what they want to hear. As for the museum, it was kind of a let down, sad enough to say. It was advertised as early Roman architecture and sculptures spanning into more modern artists. The first room was in fact Roman sculptures, but they were mostly of Jesus and saints, and, well, we all know how I feel about that. The rest of the room was this 14th Century Pre-Renaissance religious crap paintings. Most slash all of them looked the same and I did not understand all the religious references.

All of them were of baby Jesus suckling Mary's boob that magically spouted from her neck. Is that how it works? Despite heinous interpretations of female anatomy, the worst part of the musuem was when a tour guide found out we were American. He claimed to speak perfect English. He gave us a little tour around some of the galleries, but I did not understand about 95-97% of what he said. He kept trying to make American culture references, but he never really made the connection...bless his little heart. He also explained different colors Botecelli used, including "red firemen," "blue policeman," and "yellow poste," which is a reference to "post office yellow." He discussed a painting with us and explained why Mary had a "strong hand." Imagine a hand being mangled through a meat grinder and there you go. Apparently, Botecelli was a sculptor and did not know how to paint hands...at least, that is what I could pick out.

After that, we went to the Palais des Papes. It is the largest Gothic palace in the world. Really, it was quite impressive, if I say so myself. I am always amazed at how grand the rooms can be. My favorite room was the Tanil. It had a huge ceiling completely covered in wood paneling and was rounded. The Pope would have his huge parties there celebrating big events. It was absolutely magnificient. It was also crazy to think that thousands of people from hundreds of years of history had been in that room, celebrating and what not. I also liked the Popes' bedroom. It had a beautiful blue wall with gold branches painted, leaves, birds, and squirrels painted on it. The top of the palace also provided beautiful views of the town and surrounding areas.

From there, we went to the Pont d'Avignon. Cari really wanted to dance on it, which she and Kristi did, as per the song. I enjoyed hearing about the history of the bridge and of St. Benezet, which I believed none of it.We returned to the hostel after that. The room was glorious. Painted a cheery bright yellow...but not "yellow poste..." with stencils of olives, very provencal. It was at this point I fell asleep. I did not get much sleep the night before and, let's be real here, I love napping. After I woke up, it was dinner time. We were all starving at this point so w decided to go to the Irish pub down the street. How French! We also had a lovely "get-to-know-you" conversation, since we did not know each other. Needless to say, we were at the restaurant a very long time.

We headed back to the hostel and I told myself I would take a shower, but I did not want to. I was just too tired to get out of bed when after I laid down. I asked Cari to read from her travel book what we were going to do in Arles, but I'm pretty sure I was asleep and just kept agreeing with her. I had no idea what she said and could recollect nothing. However, me sleeping did not stop me from correcting her grammar and pronunciation of English words....a teacher's work never stops, right? She will learn one day.