Um, I haven't done this in a while. I guess I'm back.
After three flights and untold hours waiting in airports (well, none of our layovers were over two hours, and no flights were late. Told, I guess), Katie and I arrived in France. Our flights took us from Columbus to the Twin Cities to Amsterdam to Marseilles. My sister-in-law, Maggie, picked us up from the airport and drove us to Avignon, about 1.5 hours away. It was a lovely drive through Provence. Since I was suffering from jet lag (not to badly, I might add) and becoming accustomed to a new point-and-shoot camera, it was some time before I actually took it out and started shooting. My first photos were of the Palais de Papes, or Palace of the Popes, in Avignon.
During the so-called Babylonian Captivity (1309-1377), the popes resided not in Rome, but it Avignon. From 1378 until about 1415 (during the so-called Great Schism), the Antipopes resided here. I prefer to call this the Antipapal Palace rather than the Papal Palace. After all, antipopes have resided there more recently than popes.
On a side note, Maggie's boyfriend, Bouba, is originally from Senegal. In Pular (or is it Woolaf?), the word for "poop" is "poop." Bouba's English is quite limited. My French is even more limited. Nonetheless, I could call the Palais de Papes the "Palais de Poop," and both of us could laugh.
I guess this is the church attached to the Palais de Poop.
Close-up of the statue.
I bet this is called the Place de la Palais de Antipapes.
This photo is around the corner from the Poopal Palace. A guitarist was playing something in a harmonic minor key. It sounded vaguely Gypsy. I gave him a Euro. The acoustics were tremendous.
So, there's a vandal in Avignon who attaches tiles to buildings shaped like objects from Space Invaders. I found myself photographing vandalism whenever possible. Enjoy.
Spacey Invader.
Bouba, Maggie, and Katie.
This is a "Green Wall." This is an amazing way to cover a blank cinderblock wall. It is energy efficient, cleans the air, and is attractive to look at (please ignore the bright red cherry picker in the foreground).
Political graffiti. Woot!
Miscellaneous Gothic church in Avignon.
Ganesh and more graffiti (possible Ganesh that IS graffiti).
Well, that was Day 1. After our stroll through Avignon and a late evening dinner, we returned to Maggie and Bouba's for some much needed slumber. At that point, we had been "up" for almost two day. I had managed to nap on the transatlantic flight, thus fooling my brain into thinking it was the next day (which it was). Officially, this was my least-bad eastbound jet lag of my life. One of my superpowers is, indeed, the power of sleep. Speaking of which...
