From the Beaches of St. Tropez to the Walled City of Avignon

St. Tropez was amazing. The beaches were absolutely breathtaking. We spent the day there mostly. After that, we started on our way to Avignon. Thanks to Peter (yes, we brought him with us), we took the long way and a couple of detours before arriving here around 6:30pm.

Avignon is so different..basically the whole town is inside a fort-like wall. There are a few entrances to the town around the perimeter...our hotel is directly across from one of them. You can cover the diameter of the town in a 15 minute walk. We got some great pictures and enjoyed an evening stroll along the the Rhone River. We followed that up with dinner and then drinks, including the best Capirinah's I've ever had. Tomorrow we're headed to the Chateau-de-Massilan out in the country. Not sure if I'll have an internet connection out there so....

Today's musings by Amit:

One of the key places that I wanted to see was Avignon. It has an important part of European

history as it was the home of the Popes for several decades. We have an opportunity to walk the same hallways that the Popes did. Several rooms in there are maintained in

 similar way to how it was centuries ago, but the architecture of the buildings....they're really a castle on the outside with massive walls in a defensible positions. Clearly, the popes were preparing for battle, should that become necessary. The rooms inside show the non-religious side of being being a Pope and running the Papacy. Secret rooms where money and documents could be stored. Rooms for the financial and the basic functions that were necessary to run this government. Makes you wonder what's in Vatican City!

The city of Avignon is a quaint little town that's started inside the walls of the Palais and expanded to outside them. Many of the streets are too small for two cars side-by-side.

That night we ate in an Orange Restaurant near the Palaid des Popes (it was both called Orange and was completely orange on the inside - I mean everything - the furniture, the walls, everything!) and had yet another bottle of wine. I think we've had at least 1 bottle every night we've been here! To top it off, I wanted

 Tiramisu....and it came out as raspberry flavor! French Tiramisu = Raspberry Mousse served with raspberry sorbet (see pic on the right). Regardless, it was good! On our way back, we came across a church that had the arches lit up. We'd noticed this church on our way in, but didn't think much of it I noticed the moon provided a great background and quickly snapped off a few pictures.