The Events of Tuesday, March 29, 2011

                Today we woke up and got ready for our second day of exploring more of southern France. For breakfast, some of us had the Italian version of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies, while others, feeling more adventurous, had a more authentic French breakfast of muesli. It was delicious, and it reminded me of Quaker Oats and Honey granola cereal. After breakfast, we packed up the car and drove off towards Avignon, with family devotions and quiet times along the way, followed by a time of listening to Rick Steves’ podcast about French food and faux paus. It was somewhat like a radio show, but not a live broadcast. He had two French people there, both of whom spoke very good English with lovely French accents, and both of whom were very much in love with their country. As a result, we had fun learning about the philosophy and etiquette of eating in France on our way to Avignon.

                Upon arrival in Avignon, we faced a bit of a stressful challenge in trying to find parking close to our two points of interest in the city: the Pope’s Palace (Palais des Papes) and our very first French cuisine for lunch at D’ici & D’ailleurs. After some trial and error, we parked and walked around the town, taking Rick Steves’ walking tour until it was time to head to D’ici & D’ailleurs to make our lunch reservations. However, when we arrived, they had no idea what we meant by “the reserved table for six”, so we had to wait a little while they set up our circular table for six (in French, still spelled ‘six’, but pronounced “sees”).

                When we were seated, we watched the stressed waitresses rush back and forth at top speed and began to wonder what Rick Steves meant by dining in France being a relaxing experience. Mom especially found it hard to relax when “the streets of Naples” were zooming past just behind her. I joked that maybe dining in France is only relaxing and enjoyable for dinner, but it was not the case for lunch. This statement was soon to be proved wrong.

                After much back-and-forth, we decided to try the “prix fix” – the fixed lunch menu-of-the-day – for our meal, as opposed to ordering a la carte, from the actual list of foods offered, which is what we would call the menu. In France, as we had recently learned from Rick Steves’ podcast, the menu is what is offered a la carte. If we requested the menu, we’d be served the fixed plate of the day. Called “Plat du jour”, this consisted of an entrée (a salad) and a plat (an entrée – the main dish) OR a plat and dessert, “Avec Verra de vin Ou Café”, which translates roughly to “with wine or coffee on the side”. We strategically chose to order three entrée/plat combinations and three plat/dessert combinations, to be dutifully shared among us. Along the same lines, of the two plat options, we ordered three of each. However, the waitress came out shortly after we ordered and informed us that there were only two of one plat option left, so we instead received two of one plat and four of the second.

                After a short while, our “entrees” arrived, three beautifully arranged salads. The entrée was “salade de chevre chaud, jambon cru ettapeuade”, a salad consisting of lettuce, zucchini, ham, and other healthy and colorful vegetables), accompanied by a small piece of toasted baguette with warm brie cheese on it.

                When we had finished our salads, the waitress cleared our plates and our silverware, distributing new sets of silverware to all of us before serving us what we call “entrees”, but what they called “plat”. The first plat was “Gigot d-agneau, Frites maison et Haricots Verte”, a delicious slab of lamb (“Gigot d-agneau”), with house fries (“Frites maison”), and green beans (“Haricots Verte “). This came with an unadvertised salad much like what we’d had the course before, only smaller, and without the ham. Our second plat choice was “Brochette de sawnon et crevettes, tagliatelles et épinards”. This consisted of a kebab of salmon and some sort of shrimp or crawfish with sides of fettuccine-like pasta with red sauce and steamed spinach.

                Try as I might to eat small bites, sip water in between bites, and wait long periods of time before taking the next bites, I still ate my meal much too fast, much too like a hungry American. I was the first to finish my meal, so I sat around snatching bread from the little tin bucket that the waitress had to refill a hundred times. With that delicious bread, I wiped clean my plate of any remnant of food, and still my French family ate.

                When at last they had finished their plats, the waitress cleared our table completely yet again and brought out our dessert course: “Brownie au chocolat chantilly maison”. Perfectly arranged on a black slate (not a plate, mind you, a slate) was a squiggle of what we think was raspberry sauce, two triangles of nutty brownie deliciousness, and a square bowl filled with whipped cream, which was topped with more nuts. It felt oh so good to be eating chocolate brownies again, even if they committed the unforgivable sin of putting nuts in the brownies. The last brownies we had were Aunt Pat’s brownies, so lovingly baked for our reunion dinner at her house. We miss our home and family and friends and food so much!

                Anyway, after dessert came the after-dessert coffee, which we requested be café au lait, coffee with milk. Despite adding sugar, one sip was enough for me; instead, I nibbled on the tiny bar of chocolat noir that was supposed to make my coffee palatable. Daddy ended up drinking two cups of coffee, and Lindsey enjoyed the stuff thoroughly and got pretty loopy afterwards. We all took advantage of the lovely restroom facilities in the back of the restaurant before loading our pockets with tiny mints on our way out the door.

                After lunch, we wandered through the streets of Avignon, following signs to Palais des Papes. We purchased our tickets, picked up our audio guides and embarked on the discovery of this Palace of the Popes. Before the turn of the thirteenth century, all the popes of the Roman Catholic Church had been Italian. However, in the year 1309, a French pope was elected – Pope Clement V. At the urging of the French king, His Holiness decided that he’d had enough of unholy Italy; it was too dirty for him. Hence, he moved from noisy Rome to peaceful Avignon. The Catholic Church literally bought Avignon, and popes resided here until 1403. However, in 1378 and the subsequent years, the Catholic Church had twin popes, one in Rome and one in Avignon. At one point, there was even a third pope, and they spent the majority of their time excommunicating one another. This caused a schism in the Catholic Church (and consequently in the entirety of Europe) that wasn’t fully resolved until 1417.

                The maze of corridors and rooms in the Palais des Papes, built over eighteen years (from 1334 to 1352), were richly decorated by skilled artists and craftsmen introduced from Italy. The building’s scale is overwhelming. The pope’s palace is two distinct buildings: one old and the second older. Besides numerous large, empty rooms, we saw frescoes, tapestries, and some beautiful floor tiles. The audio guide tour gave a thorough history lesson throughout our wanderings about the palace. The highlight for all of us was a breathtaking view from the windswept tower and the ability to get up close and personal with a gargoyle at the aforesaid tower.

                When we’d finished our tour of the Palais des Papes, we headed for the adjacent gardens, which overlook the Rhone River and the famous Pont D’Avignon, a very old stone bridge that once stretched all the way across the Rhone, but now only goes halfway across it. After exploring the gardens, we headed back through the city to our parking garage and drove home.

                Upon arrival at home, we relaxed and had dinner and went to bed, tired after a full day of exploring Papal Avignon.