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Avignon, France8 Jun 2011
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Palace of the Popes
View in Courtyard of Palace of the Popes
Sculpture inside Palace
Avignon is an ancient city made famous by the fact that for about 70 years (1309 to 1377) it was the official home of the Papacy. The most impressive site is the Palais de Papes (Palace of the Popes). The huge Palace complex grew over time as each successive Pope added buildings and structures. We toured the Palace of the Popes with an audioguide, which covered the history of the papacy during this period and the changes to the Palace.
We also visited the nearby Pont St. Benezet, which is the bridge of the children's song, Sur le Pont d'Avignon. Here we learned about the legend of St. Benezet building the bridge supposedly as instructed by God, the history of the bridge and the origins of the song. Today, the remaining part of the bridge only goes halfway across the Rhone but originally it spanned the river.
We also walked around the town. For lunch we had a fish soup and vegetable soup. Later in the afternoon we had crepes sucres with chantilly. Delicious. We had a decent dinner in the restaurant located in the campground.
One other thing that struck us when we first drove into Avignon was the all-encompassing medieval walls encircling the entire center of the city. They seem to be intact all the way around and are quite impressive.
Our campground was located directly across the Rhone River from the Palace and Bridge, making for a scenic and convenient location.
By the way, for those who like to know this sort of thing, we have included a loose translation of the lyrics for the French children's song, Sur le Pont d'Avignon. There seem to be variations, but this captures the jist of it.
One thing that the audio guide pointed out was that the bridge was actually too narrow for dancing on it, but there were many dances held in venues along the river near the bridge. So it seems more accurate that the lyrics originally intended were not "on the bridge" (in French, "sur le pont"), but rather "under the bridge" (in French, "sous le pont").
The lyrics translate to:
Chorus:
On the bridge of Avignon
We all dance there, we all dance there
On the bridge of Avignon
We all dance there in a ring
First verse:
The handsome young gentlemen do like this (bow)
And then like that
Second verse:
The beautiful young ladies do like this (curtsy)
And then like that
Third Verse:
The brave soldiers do like this (salute)
And then like that
Fourth verse:
The musicians do like this (play violin)
And then like that
