New favorite phrase in French: Tout va bien! All is good!
After two days in Avignon and one in Arles, we are starting to get the hang of being in the south of France. In fact . . .
After two days in Avignon and one in Arles, we are starting to get the hang of being in the south of France. In fact . . .
You know you’re in France when:
- You order your breakfast in French because there’s no choice of language: Une baguette et un cafe s’il vous plait. And you actually get what you wanted! And the flakiness of the croissant is a work of art.
- You eat every meal outside at a little table, relishing the sound of people fluently speaking French around you, and the slight chill in the air, and the sound of church bells chiming.
- You have a glass of local wine with every meal except the one you had the cafe at.
- You once in a while have a scoop of ice cream for lunch because you can’t figure out what the other items on the menu are.
- Your legs have gotten very strong without even thinking about a stair master or treadmill workout.
- You are happy you brought lace up shoes that can handle the cobblestones, and you don’t really care that they look a little dorky.
- You get to where you rather fully expect that the street names will change every block, I mean every curve.
- Train announcements are in French, German, sometimes Italian, and English. And the ones in English you can’t really understand.
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| Rooftops of Avignon through stained glass from Palais des Papes |
In Avignon, we’ve walked through the palace where nine different Popes lived for 60 years in the 14th century when they moved out of the Vatican in Rome. We’ve walked on a very famous broken bridge and have been trying ever since to get the song out of our heads! We’ve walked for miles and miles, up and down ramps and stairs and hills to see beautiful views of the Rhone River. We’ve enjoyed fabulous food and great Cotes du Rhone wine. In Arles we’ve marveled at a Roman arena and we've stood at outlooks where Vincent Van Gogh set up his easel to paint.
