June 7 Avignon

Avignon is a very historic city with a papal past.  Of course in Canada it is famous for the song that we all learned in French classes in school.  Our first destination after arriving was Pont Saint-Bénezet, which is the real name of the Pont d'Avignon of the song.  As we know the song starts: "Sur le Pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse", so I tried to get Cindy to dance on the bridge.  According to information at the bridge (which, incidently doesn't cross the river any more, as most of it was destroyed by flooding by the mid 17th century) the song we know was a French Canadian phenomenon and which became popular at weddings.  The remaining bridge is a bit like a big stone dock in the river, complete with a chapel half way out (what's a bridge without a chapel on it anyway?).  We saw the Palais des Papes, in which the Roman Catholic popes and a couple of antipopes ruled during the 14th century.  Here's a few shots from Avignon.



Pont d'Avignon (43°57'13.0"N, 4°48'26.1"E)



Cindy 'sur le pont'  (43°57'13.9"N, 4°48'17.4"E)



Palais des Papes and Place de Palais  (43°57'06.6"N, 4°48'26.3"E)



Papal symbol on the Palais