On our way to Paris, we stopped for a night in an old French town called Avignon. Here, we said goodbye to Sheena & Oliver.
Avignon is know for 2 things:
1) the song "Sur Le Pont d'Avignon", and
2) the Palais des Papes (the palace of popes).
Palais des Papes
Rome was not always the home of the Popes. At one time in Catholic history, the popes moved to Avignon. During these years, 9 popes oversaw the Catholic religion from here. The 8th Avignon Pope eventually returned to Rome. The French didn't like this, so they elected their own Pope, resulting in a few years where there were 2 Popes simultaneously: 1 in France and 1 in Italy.
Le Pont d'Avignon
According to legend, the bridge (pont) was built as a result of a miracle performed by a shepherd named Bénezet. He was led to Avignon by an angel and he told the locals that God had commanded him to build the bridge. The local authorities, not believing him, said that if he had the power to move a gigantic rock to the site of the bridge, then they would build it ... And what do you know, he did it! So they built the bridge ;)
The original bridge was built in 1185 and contained 22 arches. Today, after years of neglect (and a feisty river), only 4 arches remain.
The song "Sur le Pont d'Avignon" was inspired by a cafe that played music on the island on weekends, so locals would go there to picnic and dance sous le pont (under the bridge). At some point, the song was changed to sur le pont (on the bridge) and was later popularized this way... so it stuck. Anyway, we didn't dance on or under the bridge.... we ran. Just as we arrived, a huge storm blew in and started dumping rain.. so our visit was short and fast!
In the Palais des Papes, we found Jen's next Halloween costume :).
