We rose early on our last morning in Paris, packed our suitcases and took a taxi to Gare de Lyon, the enormous Paris train station where we boarded our TGV train to Avignon. TGV is a high speed train that whisked us at 300 km/hr to Avignon - the French countryside was a blur (ok, that is a slight exaggeration, but it is a very fast way to travel). Upon arrival we picked up our car and headed to St. Remy de Provence and to our hotel, Le Chateau des Alpilles, 2 km outside the town. The chateau is a lovely hotel situated in a huge walled property with very spacious rooms.
The staff are wonderful and make you feel very much at home. We had dinner at the hotel the first night and the food was excellent. It's also a wonderfully quite and restful place to be - and best of all, they have internet coverage so the blogging can continue!
Just a few miles outside of Saint Remy is the Greco-Roman town of Glanum. It was originally a Celtic town built in 2nd c. BC. These monuments date from the 1st century AD and are beautifully carved.
Glanum from the "belvederes", an easy climb above the south end of the town. Really helps to comprehend life in a Roman town when one can see the layout.
A reconstructed corner of one of the two twin temples. It really is remarkable to see all these Roman ruins - helps you understand better the reach and power of the Roman empire outside of Italy. 
On Wednesday we drove up to Avignon where we spent 2hours touring the palace of the Popes. In 1305(?), the Pope fled Italy, having been unable to live in Rome for several years due to a number of political issues. He had moved between the various papal states in Italy, but decided that the wars there made Avignon more habitable. 9 popes in all would spend time there over ~100 years, the last two both beginning the return to Rome. Most were forgettable characters. The last sparked a schism, and if memory serves Carl correctly, at one point they
had three Popes before they finally deposed 2 of them. Ah the good old days when the Popes were fun. Now we have Benedict.*(* Carl wrote this piece)
We also walked out onto the Pont de Avignon which half crosses the Rhone, half having been destroyed in a flood. Unusual weather here in Provence - it's fairly warm but extremely windy. Apparently, at certain times during the year, a strong wind comes in, known as Le Mistral, and continue for days at time blowing very hard - yesterday wind speeds were at 80-100km/hr - and it's constant, not like in Canada where we can get the occasional windy day - this keeps going day after day. It's good for the vineyards here because the wind dries the grapes if there has been rainfall and prevents rot - but not good for hairstyles.
The Pont-de-Gard is a 2000 year old Roman acqueduct west of Avignon built around 20 BC. It is as beautiful as it is a marvel. 4.4 million gallons of water were brought daily to the nearby city of Nimes over 51km. It is 39m high. It was built with block and tackle, using a human treadmill to create the energy. Breathtaking to see, we wandered around it for an hour. Incredible that after 2000 years this structure appears barely touched by the passage of time.
More pics below. That's all for now.
Looks beautiful. And definitely less crowds than your Paris pics.
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