It was a gorgeous day, sunny with that special, magical light artists through the centuries have come here to display on their canvases, as we picked up our little rental car and began the next step of our journey, crossing France from south to north. Menton had been a rare experience and it's hospitality, and that of Andre and Michelle, will be missed. Our Toyota Yaris zipped along at 130 on what proved to be excellent highways as we followed the A8 from Menton back west towards Marseille where we picked up the A7 towards the famous town of Avignon. Marie had always wanted to visit the Palais des Papes there, a huge fortress and palace which was the seat of the Christian world in the 14th century and of course to see the legendary Pont d'Avignon. It was an extremely windy day, the mistral blowing up from the south, as we walked over to the bridge half-spanning the river Rhone, damaged by raging floods and wars, and together sang the famous nursery rhyme. Then it was a half an hours drive north to the old Roman town of Orange where we stopped to explore around and above the ruins. The highway beckoned and we were soon heading back north toward Lyon.
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| roaming the ruins in windy Orange |
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| carousel, Avignon |
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| Sur le pont d'Avignon on y danse, on y danse, tout en rond... |
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| holding up le pont d'Avignon |
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| Marie in Orange |
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| Roman theatre, Orange |
Just before Lyon we turned off the A7 and took a sideroad east to the small town of Bourgoin-Jallieu where we would spend the night. As Marie had always been curious about a town with her family name she was determined to see it, and as we had been driving for 10 hours it would be a good place to stop. We found a small hotel, the Hotel des Dauphins, walking distance to a restaurant where a cold beer was a welcome sight! The next day we woke up early to a very chilly morning, grabbed a coffee at McDonald's of France, and set off towards Metz where we would be staying the next four days. I hadn't been there since 1966 and was looking forward to remembering places from my childhood still vivid in my memory and showing Marie where I used to live those many years ago. gws
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| poppy amid the ruins, Orange, France |
