Avignon

This weekend, USAC took a trip to Avignon, one of the major cities in the southern region of Provence. We met at Gare Part Dieu at 6:50 a.m. for (yet another) early-morning start. Our tickets were for a TER train, which is a slightly less nice train line that tends to make more stops and doesn't assign seats. The train itself was vintage, with red velvet booths like something out of Harry Potter, though less magical. Because Part Dieu was the first stop, we were all able to get seats within the same car. Many people dozed for the two and a half hour ride, but I worked on an essay for my literature class, as well as a translation for the Translate Iowa Project's Translate-a-thon, in which we do volunteer translations for the Iowa City community.

We arrived at our hotel around 10 a.m. and dropped off our bags in the luggage storage room. The hotel served us breakfast. Then we set off for a guided tour of Avignon. Our lovely guide Léonie took us through the city, which was once known for its textile industry. We stopped at a library that was once the palace of a cardinal and still features frescos on the walls and ceiling; while many of the cardinal palaces of Avignon have fallen to ruin or been completely destroyed, the library is housed in one of the biggest of the remaining ones. We also saw several hôtels particuliers, or urban mansions/townhouses inhabited in the past by the aristocracy. The hôtels particuliers are now in various states of upkeep and disrepair; some are still private residences, while others have been converted into apartments or completely abandoned. Our guide also explained a little bit about the Avignon Papacy, the major historical period Avignon is known for. Due to a conflict between the papacy and the French king that ended in the conclave being forced to elect the Archbishop of Bordeaux--who would become Clement V--as pope, the papacy was located in Avignon from 1309 to 1376. Seven French popes resided in Avignon. Gregory XI eventually brought the papacy back to Rome, but after his death two years later, relations deteriorated between his successor Urban VI and a group of cardinals. This caused the Western Schism. Another line of this time illegitimate popes moved back to Avignon. The last antipope lost support in 1398, and the Schism ended in 1417.

Léonie left us under the shade of some trees in new green bloom at the edge of the Papal Palace's forecourt. We had about two hours of free time for lunch. Since we had eaten such a large second breakfast, we decided to skip lunch and go shopping at an outdoor jewelry market and some thrift stores. On the way back to the Papal Palace we got ice cream. Then, we were able to tour the Papal Palace at our own pace with tablet guides. The tablets allowed you to follow the tour's path on a map, as well as see blurbs of history and play little games. If you scanned QR codes throughout the visit, the tablet would show you recreations of what the rooms looked like when they were occupied by the papal court. While this technology made the visit more interactive and deepened the available information, it was disappointing to see grand historical rooms filled with tourists barely looking up from their tablets. The architecture reminded me of a bigger version of Mont-Saint-Michel's abbey, though I can't say I enjoyed it nearly as much because of the overall structure of the tour. (And I should have eaten lunch. Despite not being hungry during a reasonable lunch period, that changed by 3:30 p.m.) Following the Papal Palace, we used the same tickets to see the Pont d'Avignon (Avignon Bridge), which is famous because of this song, which accompanies a dance not shown in the video. The bridge has been washed away by the strength of the Rhône River (the same river that goes through Lyon) several times, and at one point they didn't fix it, so the bridge only crosses part of the river.

We did a little more shopping and returned to the hotel. I was in a four-person room with several friends. We made a wrong turn at the top of the stairs on the way to the room and ended up going into room B112 instead of room C112. The room only had one queen-sized bed in it, which was clearly wrong. It was also a tad concerning that our key opened a room that wasn't ours. We eventually figured out we needed to go back the other way, then way down to the end of the hall. There, we found an entire six-person suite! There was a room with two bunk beds, a separate room with a queen bed, a bathroom, and a kitchenette with a six-person dining room table. It was really a shame we were only there for about half an hour in between checking in and leaving for dinner, an hour of getting ready for bed, seven hours of sleep, and the time it took to pack up in the morning. None of us wanted to blatantly claim the queen bed, but I ended up in it. (Yay!) For dinner, we had Japanese food, and I tried mochi, a little dessert made of rice and various fillings including red beans and sesame. It was actually quite good!

The next day, we had breakfast at 7:30 and departed in a coach bus by 8:00 to go to L'Isle sur la Sorgue. There, despite the constant rain, we visited a provincial market. The market sold seemingly everything, from clothes to antiques to food. We stopped at one stall selling sundresses and skirts. The vendor asked were we were from, and a friend said we were American. I added that we were students in Lyon, and for a moment he thought I was French until I said I was also American! I bought two dish towels for 10€, and as we were returning to the bus, I saw two other stalls selling the exact same dish towels for three for 10€. Disappointing, but two for 10€ was still a pretty good deal.

We then went on to Le Sentier des Ocres, a hiking area in the town of Roussillon. Some of the group split off to sit in a café, shop, and have lunch due to the rain. The rest of the group opted for the twenty-minute hiking trail, in lieu of the forty-minute. The area is named for the ochre stone of the rock formations, which turns them a rusty, striated red and orange. Another area nearby is actually called Le Colorado Provençal. Following the hike, we had galettes for lunch and explored the city a little bit.

We were meant to continue to another small town called Gordes, but because of the rain, we went to a nearby lavender museum instead, as Provence is known for its lavender. There, we learned about the difference between "lavande fine" and "lavandin." Lavande fine requires more specific growing conditions, which results in a much smaller harvest; it's of higher quality and is used in essential oils, perfumes, and similar products. Lavandin is much easier to grow and tends to be used to mask chemicals, as in laundry detergent. Synthetic advancements have led to a decline in lavender production, but farms like Le Château du Bois, which runs the museum, are devoted to continuing to produce the real product with an attention to authentic quality. After the guided tour, we sampled various products like essential oils, lotions, and perfumes in the gift shop. Lavender works as an antiseptic, a stress reliever, a pain reliever, and more, which is why there are so many beauty- and health-related products. I didn't get anything at the gift shop, as the products were much more expensive than Washington Island lavender back home. But it smelled very good!

We boarded the bus once again to return to the train station in Avignon. There, we had some free time before the train departed. The free period was between around 4:00 and 6:00 p.m., which was an awkward time. None of the restaurants were open for dinner in time for us to be served, but we weren't going to return to Lyon until 8:40 p.m. We ended up getting KFC. I've never been to a KFC at home, so I'm not sure whether it was better or worse; it was at least enough dinner to be satisfied. At the train station, our program director Stefano asked an employee which car we'd have the best chance at getting seats together in, as the train was coming from Marseille and already partially full. TER trains occasionally overbook, and since there are no assigned seats, you risk not getting a seat, much less a seat with your group. Thankfully, we were able to get seats within the same car again, as the train wasn't overly full. When we arrived in Lyon, I wasn't lucky with public transportation as I had been returning from Marseille. The tram wait wasn't long, but it was a twenty-minute wait for the bus. I eventually made it to bed around 10:30, just in time to wake up the next morning at 6:00 a.m. to start the week anew.