The morning after our fabulous snow adventure Mom, Dad, Granny and I booked tickets to fly south. Destination country? France. The plan was to spend a few days in Provence and then spend our last day at the French Riviera.
Best. Idea. Ever.
We flew into Marseilles and the first thing we noticed was the warmth. It was probably 60 degrees outside.
Then we noticed the sun. You could actually see it.
Then we realized that the sky was blue. Deep blue, without a tinge of winter grey.
Then we heard the angels singing.
No wait, that’s just us.
And finally we looked around. Who knew Southern France was this beautiful?
We skipped all the way to our rental car, loaded up, and drove north to our first official stop: Avignon.
Avignon is an incredibly beautiful city. I just loved it there. By the time we arrived we only had time to eat dinner and explore the city for a little bit.
The Palais des Papes, or palace for the Pope, is located in Avignon. In 1309 the pope at the time, Clement V, relocated to Avignon because of the violence in Rome at the time. The pope returned to Rome in 1377, but the building’s historical significance was just beginning. Barely surviving the French Revolution, the building was later used as a military barracks and prison for Napoleon’s troops. Today it is open for the public to view.
After watching the Palais des Papes, we moved meandered around the rest of the town.
At one point we came across the the Church of St. Pierre.
We discovered that all the churches in the city were gathering together that night to bring 1000 candles up to the Palais des Papes. The night is called Merci Marie- its a Christmas ceremony honoring Mary.
It was a cool ceremony to witness. More than anything, we were just excited to be WARM!
0 comments:
Post a Comment