Europe Day 40: Pope's House

Palais de Pope-the palace where the Pope lived when he was in Avignon instead of Rome.  It was a time of policital and religious unrest, and there were two Popes.  One of them lived in the palace we visited today.

After walking through the giant dining room, standing in an oven as big as my bedroom, and admiring the heavily decorated bedroom, we climbed a tower and looked out on the city.  The view was, of course, lovely.  To make things better was the music drifting up from the square below.  An accordian and a bongo drum played cheerful songs while we took photos from above and listened to our tour guide.  The sun was shining, a beautiful river flowed by, and the colorful town waited patiently for us to explore the skinny streets.

As soon as we had finished the tour, Melissa and I wandered off into the city. I dearly wished for sandals so my toes could enjoy the sunshine, and we found a shoe store straight away.  They were advertising a huge close out sale, where most shoes were 5-8 euro.  I was in that stinkin' store forever!  As it turns out, thirty-sevens and thirty-eights must be incredibly popular, because they had almost none! Finally, after she patiently waited for me for at least a half hour, Melissa walked over to the wall, and three shoe boxes later, had found me a pair of sandals.  I think they look a little like gladiator shoes, which makes me wish I could go back to the coliseum, but I'm sure we will soon find other Roman ruins on which I can pretend to be a gladiator in my new sandals.

Lunch found us at an outdoor cafe.  Most restaurants and cafes have "menus," which is a fixed price for a pre-selected appitzers, entree, dessert, and sometimes one other plate.  A half menu has a appitzer and entree, or entree and dessert.  I went with the second choice and had duck and ice cream.  I was very happy with my choice.