Voyager au South of France!

Tuesday/Wednesday this week Kevin and I embarked on part two of our train journey across France. After ticking the north off our list on the weekend, we embarked Tuesday afternoon for Marseilles, one of the Southern most tips of France.

We caught a train out of Paris at 12:30pm, and arrived in Marseilles at 4pm. Our train for Avignon left at 5:46pm. Blitz adventure time!!!! We took a metro to the "old port" and then walked (quite a ways. The tourism website lied to me. 10 mins. Yeah right) to the "Plage des Catalans". It was quite lovely to see the sea. It was a sandy beach, and the sun was just beginning to set. Kevin, crazy boy that he is, went swimming.

                                   

Me and Kev in Marseilles

We had to rush back to the train station, this time taking a bus and then metro, and only JUST made the train. I was freaking the hell out. It all worked out in the end though.

Our slightly creepy YMCA room

We took a bus to central Avignon and had about 40 mins to kill, so we took a wander and grabbed some street food for dinner. I had a yummy ham and cheese omelette and Kevin had a massive kebab that was just exploding with meat. We made it to YMCA hostel at about 8:30. It was pretty abandoned and creepy!!!! But it had beds, which was really all we needed.

We watched a couple episodes of Fringe (oh man!!!!) and went to bed at midnight.

Palais des Popes

The next morning we checked out at 9:30 and took the bus into the heart of Avignon. We took a wander through the nice old timey streets and made it to the "Palais des Popes". We were there for about an hour. It had a lot of big beautiful rooms, some of which worked for singing- this time Kev and I tried Ave Maris Stella.

After the Pope's place we went to the PONT d'AVIGNON!!! AND DANCED ON IT!!!!!! Seriously. So much fun. It was also quite a pretty view when walking across the bridge.

Sur le Pont d'Avignon!!!

We had crêpes for lunch (I'm dumb), took a nice walk back to our bus stop, and then back to the train station. It took an hour to get from Avignon to Lyon. When we got there, we took a metro to "Vieux Lyon", and then a funicular up the hill to Notre Dame de Funière. It was Kevin's favourite church of his trip so far. It was very Romanesque looking. Not only was there a gorgeous sanctuary on the ground level, there was another one beneath that seemed like it was dedicated to Mary. The staircases down had "Ave Maria" written out in a bunch of different languages on the walls. We also stumbled across a random English church service- at 3pm on a Wednesday in Lyon. Who knew?

Notre Dame de Funiere

Europe's oldest church

After coming back down the funicular we took a wander down Rue St. Jean- such an adorable street. Kevin discovered the joys of "vin chaud" and now has a favourite new drink. Eventually we visited the cathedral St. Jean- so many churches this trip! Behind the building there were ruins of one of the first churches of Christianity, dating back to 700AD or something ridiculous like that.

We had dinner at a cute little French place that had a 30% off deal for early diners (score!). Kevin, always the adventurer, tried the typical Lyonneise dish of tripe, which is understand is some part of some animals gut. Ew. At Kevin's recommendation I tried "blanquette", which is veal and vegetables in a really yummy white sauce. After dinner we popped in to a different café for hot drinks, and then metro'ed to the mall beside the train station. I found a journal I liked and bought it, because I think the one I brought with me is going to fill up before the end of my trip.

We caught the train home to Paris and then metro'ed to St. Michel to meet some of Kevin's friends at a pub called "The Highlander". There was an open mic event, but Kev and I got there too late to sign up. It was cool to hear some local Parisian artists!

Can't believe I only have one day left in France!