2002 Letter from Avignon, P1: Got to Avignon and had the same reaction we’d had to Carcassone. Wow! A walled city looming up out of the hills. We followed the outside wall, came over the Pont Edward Deladier, and found ourselves at the Bagatelle Camping which was right on the bank of the Rhone and a short walk across the Deladier Bridge into the old town. And here we stayed.

From this bridge you can see the Pont D’Avignon sticking out about three-quarters of the way across the river and abruptly ending there. We could see people walking on it, but they weren’t dancing. Apparently, the song is somewhat incorrect. The dancing really was "Under" (sous) the bridge at Avignon, not "On" (sur) the bridge of Avignon. Because that’s where people had danced at night in a café.. The original bridge was built around 1100 and has been destroyed several times by both human and natural forces and rebuilt every time except the last. And now it is at pasture so to speak, earning stud fees from tourists who want to walk on the remaining remnant of that important bridge (the only one that was over the Rhone in southern France). We didn’t feel like spending the $7 each it would cost to join the other tourists, just to walk out onto the bridge, but it’s quite a pretty, obviously very early medieval bridge.

First question in the camping reception office: Is there a bus? No. It’s only 500 meters across the bridge to the city wall. A 10-minute walk. Why does everyone always say it is only a 10-minute walk? Actually, this one isn’t too bad, although at Adelle’s slow rate, it is easily 15 minutes. There are 30 steps up to the bridge, and then an uphill walk. From our bridge, we also could see the Palace of the Popes (who lived in Avignon for over 100 years in the XIVth-XV century). It’s a very imposing structure.

The city is built onto a hill. Every time you go anywhere, there are steps. Lots of steps. This morning, after the internet café, we looked for a way to get up to the Palace of the Popes. From our walk of yesterday, we knew that any set of steps (probably 40 or more) would lead us to that level. So Ron took the first set he saw, and when we reached the top, we were a bit startled by the street sign, which said "The Street of the Ancient Jews". Somehow, the idea of Jews in the city of the Popes was a bit odd. In fact, I think he took pictures of the sign so close to the Pope’s Palace.