Our driving directions seem simple enough as the highway heads directly into Avignon, but then it becomes a nameless street as we start to go between some castle walls on the left and a river on the right. Man, this is some giant castle! I think we've gone too far, perhaps we should turn off to the right, but it is a bridge and ... oh my god! That bridge across the river only goes halfway! I think we just missed being in a Chevy Chase movie... And now here's a "leaving Avignon" sign. What the heck? Where was Avignon? We turn around and head back past the walls and here comes the freeway and again we're leaving Avignon. Then Monica has a breakthrough - Avignon IS the castle. It's a giant walled city. We're in centre ville, so, we should go into the wall?
Sure enough, I turn off our 4 lanes and head up a tiny street towards the wall and pass through an arch into... A darling, quaint city. Now we are most thoroughly lost, but we can't help sightseeing as we drive around narrow one-way streets and try avoid driving up into the many pedestrian areas. Fortunately, it's around midnight and the streets are deserted.
Spying a group of police officers, I pull over and ask directions. The first guy is really friendly and says Oh, you are really close, just go down there, two left turns, exit the wall, go straight, you will see it. However, I politely wait for the old woman cop to come back from an office she is using to write directions for me. After about 20 minutes I think she has forgotten me, but she comes out with detailed step-by-step directions. No map, but plenty of landmarks, roundabouts, lights, etc. Very different from the first set of directions, but similar in that both are wrong, but her directions only forgot 1 roundabout and a right turn. And it turns out there is some Avignon beyond the walls and we are out there somewhere. The final scare was seeing this horrible, dilapidated building with the sign "Best Western Avignon" on it. We let out a cry of "Oh no! Don't tell me!" But there was an arrow at the bottom pointing down the street. I'm sorry, but this is NOT "centre ville" and the only thing "within walking distance" is a mugging. Oh well, it's bedtime. We are not going to think about the strange carpet stains.
The next day we drive back through the wall into what *I* would call "centre ville." The centerpiece of the town is the papal palace which towers over the buildings in the north end of the walled city. We begin ambling towards it past the tempting shops. Very soon resistance wanes, so while Monica shops for shoes, I duck into the tourist office to grab a souvenir map. Despite the palace being clearly visible and signs on every corner pointing to the palace, the clerk feels compelled to prove his value by scrawling an 'X' on the tourist office and drawing a couple circles around the giant cartoonish depiction of the palace on the map. OK, so I was horribly lost last night so I don't have a right to complain, but I think I can find the palace without this guy scribbling on my souvenir! Oh well, as Monica says, these things make it even more of a souvenir.
Avignon, or at least the portion within the walled section of centre ville, is really pretty. Even the parking garage has been decorated with a kaleidescope of clinging plants. We also found out that there IS a historic, partial bridge which has been there since 1171 (and unusable since 1668). So I was not seeing things. I'm not sure how many people have accidentally driven off the end, but during the daytime you'd have to drive over a bunch of tourists to do it, so probably not a lot.
Avignon is quite a lovely city, but there is also the beautiful provence countryside to explore just to the east - the Luberon area. I could tell from the look in Monica's eye that tomorrow we'd put some kilometers on the rental car. Oh well, bye bye Avignon, we'll visit you again some day.
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