Avignon

3 Days Camping next to Pont d'Avignon on the Rhone

Finding a campsite in European cities is becoming increasingly easy. As we walked past all the little hotels in Avignon where the windows look out onto brick walls (the hotels we could afford anyway) it was a pleasant surprise to find our campground adjacent to the slow flowing Rhone.

In the evening of our first day, 22 April, we sat on the banks, gasless and therefore tealess, with a nice bottle of French 'Le Chat' cabinet savignon 2003, a huge block of cheese, foot long chorizo sausage and of course a baguette. The sun went down warming our backs and lighting up the Palais des Papes (only Palace of the Popes ever to exist outside of Rome) whilst trying to remeber the tune to the famous song 'Pont d'Avignon' which was directly opposite.

As we have arrived in the Cote d'Azur it seemed fitting to watch a relevant and up to date documentary covering travel in this part of France. It was clear that French was not required to understand the do's and don'ts of travelling abroad as we learnt from Mr Bean himself not to leave passports on trainstations, arrive early for a TGV and hitchhiking is slow going.

Day 1 - 23 April

We spent today in the Internet Cafe with a short run to the mountain equipment store for gas and kebab shop for sustainance. Gas = tea and hot dinner. The End.

Day 2 - 24 April

Slightly more elaborate than yesterday, woke to a fresh baguette in our tent and heinze baked beans, bliss.

Took a very lazy stroll up the gardens overlooking the famous bridge and island we were staying on. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the narrow streets surrounding the Palais des Papes. A bout of homesickness snuck in under the radar today so we came to the conclusion in was time for icecream and a lazy afternoon.

Hot dinners cooked by us are a great way to feel independant from so many tourist attractions, expenses etc. With the tent up, packs together inside, a warm clean place to sleep and cooker (tea bags) at the ready it is like a small Australian Embassy, heinze beans and a small Australian flag on the tent to boot.

Our next step decided at the train station that afternoon, destination sunny Marseille.