Adventures in Avignon

This one is going to be a long one…just a warning! I know I say I could live in many places but I would definitely feel right at home here in Avignon. It is central to many different towns but most importantly it’s filled with all sorts of wonderful speciality shops where I have been practicing my French and taking daily shopping trips to make meals for us. The town is also lively at night with wine bars and live music, lucky for us our apartment was right next to the music and fine arts school. We could just open the window and be serenaded every evening. Best of all you can walk and wander, finding new places everyday.

Here is why I love France…you may not agree with me but they are lassez faire in an organized way. Life is simple, you buy what you need, you live in smaller spaces and still have everything you need and most importantly there is an appreciation for enjoying life. One thing Rob and I both noticed was that parenting seems far less stressful. We saw children, strollers everywhere (bars, restaurants, cafes, squares) with parents continuing with their daily lives and not worrying about naps, bedtimes or meals. The children smiled at us always and we didn’t not see a single kid with a device. They were content to talk, play with the other kids or just observe their surroundings.

Avignon provided us with a great location to venture to other nearby towns such as Aix en Provence, Nîmes, Châteauneuf du Pape, Gigondas, Tavel, and Villeneuve-les-Avignon. Each one providing us with little bits of history and charm along the way. We did rent a car (Rob got to drive a Fiat 500…he was super happy)for a couple of days to enjoy the vineyards here in Provence. Fun fact…all the wineries we happened to visit are owned and operated by woman. Love this! We even got offered a job at one of the wineries Domaine Galevan, I told the winemaker to hold on to that offer…I’ll be back when I retire.

While in Avignon over the weekend, we had a wonderful visit from Teresa who is studying aboard this semester in Lyon, which was a train ride away. We spent the day enjoying the food market Les Halles, getting in a walking tour of this beautiful walled in city and catching up.

The food and wine continue to play a large part of our adventure, we have enjoyed some wonderful French cuisine. We’ve been so impressed by the wonderful combinations of flavours that magically work. Tonight I had roasted eggplant with grilled squid…who would have thought you could put those two together? Rob has been loving the many ways rabbit can be cooked and they really have made pork in some interesting and tasty ways.

Leaving Avignon tomorrow. Probably the first place I’m not ready to leave but I’m sure Montpellier and Toulouse will lead to some wonderful memories too. À bientôt Avignon! The journey continue we still have 23 more days to go….allons-y.