Avignon - City of Popes

After my late afternoon/night walk through Dijon the day before, I was very happy to not have to get up straight away and make my way through a busy metro network to catch a lift in a rush. I woke up around 8 and then after a quick session online and some breakfast, I headed back to the train station car park.  There I met Guilliame, who I had arranged with on covoiturage the previous night to take me to Avignon in his car. One of his conditions was that I kept my bag on my lap the entire journey, ~420 km as he couldn’t fit me in the car otherwise, I soon found out this was because he had his 2 dogs in the boot. Also sharing the car was woman in her mid 20’s, who was fast asleep when I got in and slept the whole time until Guilliame woke her in Lyon, where she alighted and we carried on our way.

The car trip was initially done in the fog, with visibility only 30 or 40 metres and the temperature down around -5, however we still clung to the speed limit of 130 kilometres an hour on the autoroute. Despite their crazy driving in traffic, I’ve noticed the French on the open road are actually very good at keeping left even when doing the limit and allowing faster cars a lot more freedom than in Australia where we clog all the lanes. As we approached Lyon however, the fog began to lift and suddenly we were above it, looking over white cloud that filled valleys and seeing the occasional tree protrude as if growing on the cloud mass. Fortunately for me, who was freezing, the temperature as we arrived in Lyon cracked 0 degrees and the sun came out and started to warm the frosty ground.

We stopped a couple of times during the trip and then as the sun was going down  and temperature plunging (from 12 degrees to 6 degrees in an hour), Guilliame pulled into a big shopping centre carpark and announced that we’d arrived in Avignon. To me it certainly didn’t look like the photos but after a brief ‘discussion’ (barely spoken a word of English while using covoiturage) he dropped me a little closer next to a bus stop. I waited here for over half an hour before a bus arrived and then took that into the city. Finally I got to the train station in Avignon where I thought I was going to be dropped off initially and started walking towards the accommodation I had booked on Airbnb, by this time however my laptop, camera and Samsung had gone flat and I had to call my Uncle in Switzerland for directions and the house’s address.

Finally I arrived around 7:30 pm (been pitch black for over an hour by this time) and was greeted by Marie (a very crazy cat lady who spoke extremely fast and excitedly in French) who showed me the house and my room, on the 2^nd floor which was quite nice furnished and large too. After unpacking my laptop and other things to be put on charge I walked to a small pizzeria in the old part of town and had the regions pizza (which was topped with potatoes…….).  Then it was back home to sleep J

The next morning, I slept in once again as I had booked 2 nights in Avignon and so knew that I had the whole day and half of the next to see the main attractions in Avignon. Once I got up I skipped breakfast and headed up to the Palais des Papes (a huge structure built over 800 years ago when the hierarchy of the church moved to Avignon for almost 200 years).  During the walk there I passed through ancient old gates in the battlements of the old city; while electricity and modern luxuries have been brought in, almost all of the buildings inside of the battlements are more than a few centuries old. Past old churches, with their tall spires trying to pierce the few clouds in the sky, and wide open squares and the Christmas markets where the smell of Vin Chaud, chocolate and marrons (a type of nut cooked in huge wok-like contraptions) hung in the air. As I rounded a corner, suddenly a huge 30 or 40 metre high wall built onto a tall rocky outcrop appeared, I had found the Palais des Papes.  I walked towards the wall and then down a street-width pathway with cobblestone paving and that was carved into the rock, halfway down this passage I looked up and saw a gigantic flying buttress that hung above me and attached itself to the side of the castle wall and onto a small rocky area on the other side of the pathway. Emerging from this pathway, used by military cavalry and also city traders to access the front of the Palace, I found myself in a huge rectangular parade ground in front of the Palace’s main doors.

Just to the left of the Palace and almost at the same height as the walls sat a large church with a large golden statue of Mary atop the spire, just next to this and with a great (but windy) view of Avignon and the Rhone River are the Duke’s gardens, but more on that soon.

First off I headed into the castle for a tour (by Audioguide) which took me over an hour and a half to traverse.  It was interesting to read (in French) all the exhibitions relating to the changes undertaken to this huge structure, from its construction and expansion by the Popes to its renovations by French nobility after the Papacy returned to Rome and then its use as a prison and barracks. During the occupation of the castle by the military and judicial system, unfortunately the interior was stripped and whitewashed and so historians lost a lot of valuable insight into the decoration of the castle, however through paintings, restoration works and records found in the secret chambers below the treasury room they’ve been able to provide an accurate image of what the castle may’ve been like under the Papacy’s occupation. The records found in the secret treasury room, heavily constructed and with 8 hidden lever operated compartments under the floor, gave the restoration and tour people huge amounts of information about the castle itself and the affairs of the church during that time. For instance, they have a few displays that show the expenses of the church under different Popes as a pie chart; Pope ‘Innocent’ the 6^th spent 40% of the churches money on a war and defending Avignon.

The entire palace was absolutely huge, with an entire tower dedicated just to the Pope, consisting of his bathroom on the bottom floor, then wardrobe on the next, then study/resting room and then a chapel and above that a parapet lookout. The palace also has more than 6 chapels and the rear side of the building has 3 floors, each 52 metres long and 18 metres wide, the top floor was the dining hall with a huge vaulting ceiling whilst the middle floor would have been a huge church and then the lowest floor, and most dimly lit in the castle, was where the administrative hierarchy of the church would have operated from.

After tagging along with a French tour and seeing the castle, I headed outside and had lunch in a small restaurant that gave objection to my hoodie but then pulled out an adapted baby chair for the people after me, not for a baby but for their dog…… After an assortment of meat and cheese and some white wine, I headed up to the Gardens which apart from the Pope’s tower are the highest point in the old city of Avignon. It was blowing a gale and felt like the Antarctic, even though it was up around 14 or 15 degrees, so I took some photos and then took shelter on the leeward side of the hill upon which the Palace and surrounding buildings were founded on and walked down to the famous Pont d’Avignon. Also known as the Pont de Saint Benezet, a shepherd who was told by God to go to the city and build a bridge to the other side of the river, the towns people laughed at him but empowered by god he lifted a 100 kg stone and threw it onto the banks of the river as a fountain stone.

Solely by coincidence, only a few years later the Pope and his bishops and advisors would use the bridge to cross the river as it lead to their weekend retreat, in the winter they even had servants lay down a layer of ash and sand to stop them slipping on the ice.

After walking out on the bridge and hearing about the history of it, and the use of new technology such as laser point clouds and supercomputers (which they’re using to recreate the bridge in 3D complete with an accurate climate model), I headed back through the Christmas markets and had dinner at a small Italian restaurant before heading back to the house for the 2^nd and final night in Avignon. The next morning I enjoyed a sleep-in till around 10 am before saying goodbye to my host, who had baked me a cake to eat on the next leg of my journey (I kind of felt obliged to stay and talk), and then headed to the station to catch a lift 90 km to Montpellier.

Avignon’s rating: 4.6/5

Dijon

Dijon, home of famous Maille Dijonaisse mustard, nestled amongst the hills about 316 km south east of Paris is a very picturesque town although my first impression was that it is a lot smaller than I had pictured it to be.

I arrived in Dijon around 11:30 AM after having carpooled from Paris with three other people, the trains here are very expensive and as I have learnt the hard way in Dijon, Avignon and Montpellier (all yet to be blogged) almost all of the backpackers in France close down from the beginning of December until mid-January. Hence to try save money, I have been using an awesome website, Covoiturage.com.fr, which allows drivers to post their proposed car trips and then for users such as myself to ‘buy’ a seat in the car for a much cheaper price than a train seat.  I did this before going to bed in Montmartre, paying 12 Euro to go from Paris to the Dijon train station the next day.

Waking up in Montmartre on the 12^th, I had to quickly have a shower, get dressed and get on train to get to the drivers agreed upon meeting place outside a pharmacy near Porte d’Orleans, a metro station quite a distance from where I was staying. I must admit that my first time using Covoiturage was slightly worrying, as I stood outside the only pharmacy I could see that was close to the metro station, and waited for Nourik, the driver, to turn up not knowing what he looked like or what his car looks like either. Finally, 15 minutes after the agreed upon meeting time, a red people mover stopped on the road outside the pharmacy and I heard my name called out, at the same time two other people came out from the pharmacy and quickly threw their bags in the back of the car. So I introduced myself, did the same and finally we were off. Weaving through Parisian traffic was very interesting and everyone commits to these kamikaze dives into lanes, which always resulted in a lot of swearing and horn honking, but after 30 minutes we were finally out of Paris and doing 140 kph along an Auto-route towards Dijon.

If I thought the temperature in Paris wasn’t cold enough, we stopped at a petrol station and when I stepped outside it was snowing very slightly and was -6.5 degrees according the thermometer at the station. Not long after this stop, we stopped off at a small town to drop one of the other people off; he’d slept the whole time, and then continued through foggy valleys toward Dijon.

Finally, as afore-mentioned, I arrived in Dijon around 11:30 at the train station, I set off toward the town centre, following the tram tracks, signs and also heading toward the largest cathedral I could see (generally a good indicator of where the centre-ville is) and then used the free McDonald’s wifi to try and find some accommodation. I settled on Hotel Victor Hugo, as it included breakfast and wasn’t too far away, so I headed there and checked into a decent sized room with a BATH and dropped my bags off and headed out with my camera to get some photos. The actual centre-ville of Dijon where all the main monuments, churches and public squares are isn’t overly huge and I followed the Owl Trail which is a path consisting of bronze owl plaques set into the footpath which leads past Les Halles (a huge and very old open plan marketplace where farmers used to sell their goods in the Medieval ages and even nowadays), and then past the Cathedral Notre Dame (not quite as large, famous or architecturally impressive as Paris’ but still a very impressive sight and easily seen around the town by its tall steeple).

With the light now fading and temperature approaching -5 as it began to snow slightly again, and it was only around 4:00 pm, I continued on the path and went through Palais des Ducs (Palace of the Dukes) in the very centre of town, this has now become a museum documenting the history of the Dijonaisse region. Just the other side of the Palace’s courtyard and through a medieval gateway I emerged into a beautiful semi-circular courtyard in front of palace, in the centre of this courtyard, sat a rectangular ice rink which was surrounded by a set of small Christmas trees, shrubs and life sized penguins and polar bear covered respectively in a light dusting of frost and blue and white LED lights. The warm light thrown from the shopfronts, the blue and white light from the surrounds of the ice rink bouncing off the icy ground and French folk music playing created an indescribable ambiance which I attempted to capture in many photos (see below).

While I was tempted to try ice skating, I decided I would save breaking my legs to the snowfields in early January (just kidding Mum) and finally continued on my way through the small alleyways and past the centuries old buildings with their Tudor and Georgian style exposed wooden frames and white render.  

After grabbing a bite to eat from a patisserie and taking yet more photos I headed back to the accommodation and started planning my next day, which involved reserving accommodation in Avignon (see footnote) and also a ride to Avignon on Covoiturage.

Originally my next stop was going to be Nice, via an afternoon stop in Monaco, to see the famous city that hosts Formula One’s most grandiose race however given my tight time frame, only having 9 days between arriving in Paris and getting to Caen, I decided to instead head straight to Avignon and spend two nights there so I could enjoy the sights and visit some of the Rhone Valley’s most famous icons, the Pont de Benezet (Pont d’Avignon) and the Palais des Papes. Was this a good decision? Find out next time on Keeping Up Foreign Relations :P

24 hours in Paris

From Vienna to Paris I couldn't pull my eyes away from the window, it is a clear sunny day and looking down at the earth it is easy to see the Alps, capped with bright white snow, pass underneath. As we approached Paris, the plane banks sharply and suddenly I see the Eiffel Tower poking out from a bank of clouds (see pic below). 15 minutes later and with wheels screeching and the plane wobbling side to side across the tarmac, we landed pretty heavily on the runway, nevertheless after over 19 hours of traveling I have finally arrived at my destination.

Disembarking from the plane, I collect my hand luggage and trusty leather jacket from the overhead compartment and beat most of the passengers to the Immigration counters, if I thought that entering the EU was going to be difficult I was mistaken for after scanning my passport, the officer stamped it and I was officially into the EU all in less than a minute. Misinterpreting the arrows for the baggage collection area, I walked through customs without my main bag and then had to explain myself in french so I could re-enter the restricted area and get my bag. Fortunately I wasn't deemed a threat and they let me grab my bag, phew!!! :)

Next stop was the RER, the train service out to the suburbs, and a very crammed train ride through the industrial parks toward the city. Instead of getting off at the main station like almost all the train passengers, I stayed on the train another 2 stops and got off at the Ile de France/Notre Dame station.
Only 2 flights of stairs and I was staring at the Notre Dame cathedral, I took a 'few' photos and then headed to a small restaurant/cafe a few streets back from the main tourist area (cheaper by a more than a few euro just by walking 200 m further). After a quick bite, I walked along the Seine and took a stop outside the Louvre, it was tempting to head inside as it was around -2 degrees and even with two jackets on and a thermal top I was freezing, however the line was over an hour long. So I upped my pace to keep warm and after walking through the Jardins des Tuilleries, I recrossed the river using the bridge at the Place de la Concorde (an Egyptian monument stolen by a french emperor and now used as a fancy roundabout).

I was now in Saint German des pres, a very fancy and old arrondissement of Paris and headed to a small market place to buy lunch (a baguette, some Camembert cheese and ham) which I then ate on a bench while wondering at the huge scale of the Tour d'Eiffel. By this time, the sun was fully up and I was finally feeling warm and a little sore to as I'd just walked 7 km with all my bags.

After taking photos of the Eiffel Tower, and majorly annoying the scam artists beneath it who try and trick tourists into selecting a particular disc out of three after jumbling them (I didn't play for money as it's usually stolen or counterfeit money they give you if you win, but I won every time), I headed to Trocadero which is above the Champs d'Elysee and headed to another cafe to charge my camera (already out of charge...).
I spent quite a while just relaxing a little in this cafe and then rugged up again and headed back out to walk down the Champ d'Elysee. It is such an amazing street, with the flagship stores of many french and international stores present, however as would be expected I neglected the fashion stores and instead visited the Mercedes store (they had their 2013 touring and f1 car on display), the Peugeot store and also Renault and had a look at their latest concept cars.
My favorite visit however was to the Toyota store where they had their 2013 Le Mans car on display, it was amazing to see a car that drove over 5000 km in 24 hours in the flesh and to see it's true scale (only a metre high).

Enough about cars though, after the crowded shopfronts the Champ d'Elysee widens and turns to parkland as it approaches the Place de la Concorde, this is where I headed next to see the amazing Christmas markets. It was only around 4pm now but was already getting dark and lots of people were at the markets drinking vin chaud, buying jewellery and chocolate and lots of small figurines.
Fortunately for me, I was walking in the downhill direction of the Champs d'Elysee and when I reached the bottom I was closer to my final destination, the Sacred Heart Basilica on the Montmartre hill, only about 4 km away via L'eglise de Madeleine.

Sacre Coeur was beautiful, bathed in white light and surrounded at the base by a smaller set of Christmas markets all lit up with blue and red lights. I had a quick drink in one of the small bars in a famous little square a few hundred metres from the Basilica before descending in the dodgy suburb below (near the Moulin Rouge) and enjoying another encounter with clumsy and obvious scam artists (which culminated in an undercover cop headbutting one of them). I finally made it to my accommodation, a pull out sofa in an apartment for only $12 and met my host Axel who was very kind and offered me a beer and some dinner while I finally rested my legs. By 10 pm, after having organised a lift to Dijon the next morning, I was fast asleep.

So that was Paris in just 24 hours, next stop was Dijon but you'll have to wait for the next blog to hear about my adventures there.

Flights

The sound of the flaps extending as we taxi out towards the runway reverberates throughout the aircraft, looking around many people are already watching movies now that the safety video (repeated 4 times in different languages) is over. As we reach the runway it only takes 30 seconds for the pilots to turn the plane into the wind and then with engines roaring, and babies screaming, we begin to accelerate down the runway, looking out the window buildings flash by and then disappear from view as the plane lifts off from the ground and I know the journey has really begun.

About an hour after takeoff, with the flight only 3/4 full, many of the other passengers have found empty seats and fallen asleep. However to get into the Parisian timezone I set my phone to Parisian time and calculated I have to stay awake another 13 hours or so, during the flight to Bangkok I did this by watching Kickass 2 (pretty good), End of the World (super predictable, just like Shaun of the Dead) and Getaway (a car movie, of course).

There was quite a lot of turbulence on the first flight and we arrived into Bangkok 20 minutes late, leaving me only 30 minutes to get to my next flight. Easier said than done as Bangkok airport is like a 3 dimensional maze of escalators, lifts and staircases that only go to certain levels. I made my flight however and was finally able to sleep after the first few hours of my flight to Bangkok to Vienna, luckily I got a good few hours in before a toddler a few rows in front chucked an hour long tantrum that kept everyone covering their ears to escape her bloodcurdling scream.

After an hour long stopover in Vienna airport, they have super cool couches in the waiting area that are molded to be both seats and beds, I was off to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to finally set foot in Europe... To be continued