Wow, another Interrail post, and it’s about time! (If I keep up this pace, I won’t be finished before June.)
After Nice, Max and I made our way North, heading for Paris, but incorporating Avignon into our itinerary. We didn’t spend the night – we arrived there by TGV in the early morning, and left again in the evening, to take the last TGV to Paris – but this small stop-over, in retrospect, feels like an important part of the trip, and if I remember correctly, Avignon even made it into the top 5 of places visited in 2010.
Avignon is famous for its annual theatre festival, and it’s important to know that on July 13th, the day we spent there, this festival was in full spate - that means that not only were the streets plastered with theatre posters, but also were they filled with actors, thespians, mimes, some of them in full dress up, who spent the daytime advertising for the plays of the evening. There was a carnivalesque sort of atmosphere, very appropriate for the quaint little town with its winding cobbled streets, and its medieval architecture. Of course we didn’t miss the papal palace – which featured an interesting exhibition by Miquel Barceló – and what’s left of the famous bridge. (Although I think we refrained from dancing on it?)
But enough text, let’s have the pictures.
Max is being touristy in front of the Hôtel de Ville.
Theatre - That’s what it’s all about!
A Miquel Barceló sculpture in front of the Papal Palace.
Model of the Palace. (I love models. <3)
Inside the palace. The expression of the man in the background, who has just realised that a photo is being taken, is pretty priceless.
That’s what I call a well-kept lawn.
Cheese-shot.
Ah, stained glass!
Ah, Christian art!
Not so Christian art. Barceló being positively heathen.
Heathen.
Square.
What’s up there? I don’t even remember.
Some rock-architecture-symbiosis, and some more theatre posters.
Voilà, le pont.
More of a pier now ...
The papal palace from the outside ...
There is always a flea market.
