Lindsey Blog 7

"AVIGNON"




I fell in love! Avignon, the untold city of beauty, is a place of major historical significance. Its beauty blew me away, and I mean literally ‘blew’ me away since the wind was ridiculously strong this day. But wind or no wind, the city of Avignon is by far one of my favorite places I have visited during my time here in south France.


The morning that we left, June 19th, I arrived to the bus stop ON TIME!! As we sat on the bus waiting for departure, out in the yonder distance we see Dr. Pelley sprinting to the bus, just hoping she does not get left behind. Jeremie, our tour guide has no sympathy for the stragglers, so she was one lucky duck. Anyways, we began our travel to Avignon, another eventful bus ride with the spectacular tour videos on its history and sights, and might I add that these videos have the best special effects I’ve ever seen. Actually I’m lying. These movies are probably the worst filming since “Bill Nye the Science Guy”, which is why I will not be missing these bus rides. So we finally arrive to Avignon and get to the Palais des Papes. Standing in the presence of its enormity took my breath away.



This is a picture of me after arriving in the main plaza where the Palace stands. This is actually the side where the Cathedral stood, the building continued much further down. Jeremie first took us into the Cathedral and gave us a tour of the Romanesque art and its architecture. We learned that many of the paintings that were once hung here in the dwellings of this church are now hung in the Louvre. Much of the paintings that were on the ceilings had begun to vanish, but you could still see some of the immaculate work. It made me really visualize the beauty and glory that was once displayed in this Cathedral. Now turning into a ghost of the past, it amazes me how much you can continue to feel the presence of royalty in such an ancient piece of art work.


After going into the Cathedral, we were taken on a little walk to the top of a look- out point. This is where I honestly fell in love with the region. Looking out onto the Rhone River, with the Alps to the east and the Massif Central to the west, the beauty seemed liked it continued forever. I honestly could have been content standing here and breathing in the tranquility of beauty that was bestowed here.


This picture was taken on the look- out point. I think that there was an overall feeling of admiration throughout the group as we gazed at the spectacle.


After eating some lunch, canard et asperges actually, we were back off to tour the Palais des Popes. This was a very great learning experience, as we were given our guided audio tour throughout the palace. The thing that stood out to me the most was probably the fact that the Pope was mainly considered the King or supreme ruler. Being treated like royalty with all of the finest foods and most exquisite robes, not mentioning the large amounts of gold and silver, while his people were left to wither. I’m sure this is exactly how God intended it to be. But minus the fact that the Popes abused their power, the palace was magnificent, especially since it was built in twenty years. Just think, people were really intelligent enough to create such a masterpiece without the use of computers or calculators.


I believe that I could not have put my twenty five Euros to anything better here. Again, I fell in love with the city and its surroundings. It was a great excursion and getting placed on my top experiences here in France!