Avignon Day Trip

Monday was a holiday in France, however not letting that stop our travels we headed for the SNCF Train Station in Arles for a day trip to Avignon. We knew there were two trains leaving shortly after 9:00 am. We arrived a few minutes after 9 am and got in a line up for tickets as we haven’t quite figured out the SNCF ticket machines. We knew we were cutting it short for the 9:18 train and as luck would have it the person two in front us had a list of questions and as we got to the ticket window the 9:18 train was leaving the station. Oh Well, there is the 9:50 train! As soon as we bought the tickets there was an announcement that the 9:50 train was delayed 15 mins, then 30 mins, then 40 mins, then 1 hr and finally 1hr 30 mins….. to make a long story short we boarded the 9:50 train at 11:05 am. The trip takes about 18 minutes to Avignon. Once there we visited the Tourist Information, got a map and headed off to see the sights. So, what’s the most visited sight in Avignon? Well of course it is the Pont Saint-Benezet sur la Rhone. Famous for the song “Sur la Pont Avignon”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZUzzWlvn1w , we tried our own version but thankfully for you readers we couldn’t get it to load into our web page. The bridge at Avignon was built in the 12th Century and was the first to cross the Rhone, it was destroyed by an ice dam/storm in the 17th Century. We crossed the Rhone River on a small free ferry for a walk along the bank opposite the Pont and to take some pictures. Avignon is also home to Palais des Papes or Palace of the Popes; sometime in the 1300 – 1400 the Catholic Church moved from Italy and set up this Palace for it’s Pope. Then the Italians complained, so for a while they had 2 Popes from about 1378 – 1417 until they settled the internal dispute and went with 1 Pope and moved him to Vatican City. In Avignon you hear a lot of English being spoken in the shops, cafes, and streets. However in Arles it is very rare to hear English spoken anywhere and it actually catches your attention when you hear it. Avignon is much larger, busier and more of a tourist town than Arles. It is defintely been restored and updated more than Arles and is quite pretty, we would defintiely return. However we are used to less crowds after a few days in Arles, so we were happy to get back on the train to quiet little Arles at the end of the day.