Avignon France- The Windy, Chilly City!

February 29th

The day for Avignon was February 4th, now this is such a cute little town.....it was sunny and warm and..........FALSE....IT WAS NOT SUNNY OR WARM.....IT WAS FREEZING....IT WAS THE COLDEST PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN........IN MY LIFE.......ok now it was a cute town that is true, but it was NOT WARM....it was frigid which is why this blog is titled, the windy chilly city. Because not only was it cold but it was windy...mixing wind and cold does not go together at all!! We survived it because we are warriors but it took LOTS of layers...the picture is of samantha and myself....we were both wearing around 6-8 layers plus scarves plus hats...and we were still cold...we're also from Texas :)  

Anyways...so the day started with a hardy breakfast...after breakfast we left our hotel and went out for a freezing cold walk to Palais des Papes or the Pope's palace!!! This place is HUGE and gorgeous and so medieval, it's wonderful!!! a little background on the palace. The Palais construction began in AD 1252. Avignon became the residence of the Popes in 1309, when the Gascon Bertrand de Goth, as Pope Clement V, unwilling to face the violent chaos of Rome after his election (1305), moved the Papal Curia to Avignon, a period known as the Avignon Papacy. Clement lived as a guest in the Dominican monastery at Avignon, and his successor Pope John XXII set up a magnificent establishment there, but the reconstruction of the old bishops' palace was begun in earnest by Pope Benedict XII (1334–42) and continued by his successors to 1364. The site, on a natural rocky outcrop at the northern edge of Avignon, overlooking the river Rhône, was that of the old episcopal palace of the bishops of Avignon. The Palais was built in two principal phases with two distinct segments, known as the Palais Vieux (Old Palace) and Palais Neuf (New Palace). By the time of its completion, it occupied an area of 11,000 m or (2.6 acres). The building was enormously expensive, consuming much of the papacy's income during its construction.

The picture below is the group huddled in the fire place of the dining room!! Hip on coals as we called it!!! :)

After going to the palace we headed out to find lunch, this is where we decided to be cheap and bought a baguette and some fruit, so sadly i don't have a food recommendation for Avignon, it was so cold we went to the supermarket and back to the hotel to eat!!! Once we ate and met up with everyone we headed out huddled onto a shuttle and headed to the train station...got on the train and went to Marseille...Avignon was fun, it was something we had never seen, and the cold was something most of us had never experienced....So i hear that you remember a place for the food and weather....the food was great but the weather....not so much, i still look back on it and have fond memories of shopping at H&M for more clothing and if anything fighting the wind and cold is now something to look back and laugh about!! :) 

So long Avignon!!!!!

Thanks for your time :)

A bientôt 

Emily O. :)