Avignon

Two hours and forty five minutes is all it takes to go from grey, rainy Paris, to hot, sunny Avignon.


View from the pont to the Palais des Papes

After stopping off at the hotel we followed the town ramparts around the city to the famous pont d'Avignon, or more accurately the Pont St. Benézet. Our admission ticket included entrance to the Palais des Papes on the same day, so we trekked over there to get started on the equally detailed audio tour.


The palace is immense, and by the time we made it through we were more than ready for the wine tasting that was being offered in the wine store in the basement of the palace (sometimes France really has it figured out).


We had dinner on a terrace in the courtyard of the Eglise St. Pierre. The food was so-so but the view was breathtaking.


The next day we picked up our rental car (free upgrade to a BMW! All of sudden everyone wanted to drive!) and drove up the Rhone valley to Chateaufneuf-sur-Isere to visit the tasting room at Jaboulet. Our host was incredibly enthusiastic, and definitely set the bar high for all our subsequent tastings (none of which were as enjoyable as our first--well, our very last in Chateauneuf du Pape was pretty good).



We had a great lunch by the river in a nearby town and then drove down to a tiny town called Mirmande, which we learned from the road signs was a ville perché , and it quite literally was perched on the side of a mountain.



At the top of the town there was an old church and a little cemetary, as well as fantastic views of the countryside.







We had an amazing dinner in the courtyard of our adorable hotel.




We weren't able to sign the guest book the next day when we left because the cat was napping.


The village of Mirmande, taken the from the car as we were leaving. You can see the church at the very top. It poured rain that morning, so we were glad we had explored the town the day before.

There's more to come, so stay tuned...