The Epic Eurotrip--Chapter 21: Entering the Land of Wine and Crime (France--Nice, Avignon, Lyon)

Although this post covers 3 cities, i'm going to only spend more time on Avignon, but let's start wtih Nice.

Nice is not very nice. I mean, the view was good, and the weather was also good that day, but something happened that kinda ruined this trip for some group members.

View of Nice. There are a lot of boats at shore.

The main train station of Nice

We didn't have much time to tour Nice, but we managed to walk around after dinner (it wasn't dark yet.) There were many people walking around, and it was near the beach, so it was nice.

What's terrible happened in the very next day, during breakfast. We had breakfast in the hotel, so it was supposed to be safe, or so we thought. One of our member went to grab something to eat (it was like continental breakfast style) and left her bag on her chair. Her husband was right next to it. When she came back, she realized that the bag was gone. She asked around if anyone has seen it, but the result was discouraging. Her money, passport (and the husband's passport), and all her belonging were all in the bag. Now she has to get a passport before she could return to the US. At the point, we called the cop and report for theft, but the cop told us it's really hard to track these people down (yay, go cops! Way to go!) so we might have to expect for the worst.

Well, we already were. we asked for a copy of the report so that we can go to apply for passport later when we get to Paris. Seriously, not the best way to start a day.

We then went to Avignon, the Wind City. Yes, just like Chicago, Avignon has really strong wind. Unlike Chicago where wind is either blocked or generated by the many skyscrapers (yes, skyscrapers can block wind blowing high in the sky then push it downward to the ground. This is why the wind is always stronger under a skyscraper,) Avignon's wind is solely due to the location (near Mediterranean Sea) and the terrace (and nope, there's no skyscraper in Avignon.)

When we entered Avignon, the first thing we felt was the wind. It was REALLY strong. I weighed 165 lb and I felt like I was being blown away, literally. Sometimes you have to time your steps correctly, or the wind will blow you off balance. In fact, the wind is so strong that this happened.

Yes, it's a broken bridge.

This bridge was built, then destroyed by wind, then rebuilt, then destroyed by wind again. Eventually, the government was like "fuck it! we're not building that again!" And the bridge remains this way since.

The significance of Avignon came from the fact that Pope lived here for a while. Back then when there was as series of anti-pope movements, and the Pope was kicked out of Vatican. The pope came here for refuge, and lived (ruled) here for a while until he got transferred back toe the Holy City. This is why there are a lot of old buildings preserved for the historical value. The main plaza is surrounded by these buildings.

City wall.

Street

This is taken from main plaza. I think it's part of a church.

And this is where Pope lived.

The main plaza. It extends down the top right corner.

There were many people doing different things. I'm not sure why there are such varieties, but I've seen people playing music, dancing, eating, drinking, sight-seeing, reading, filming, and even painting. There are so many things happening in the little (okay, not that little) plaza. It was quite amazing, really.

I swear I only took this picture to show the filming set run by only three people.

When I go to a small town, I'd like to find a high point to take picture (Pisa, for example.) So I started climbing (again) and found a good spot.

City Plaza.

Clock tower far away.

Outside of the city. That's Rhone River there.

City.

Another

It was about lunch time when I finished, so I went down the street and found tons of restaurants there.

Restaurants everywhere.

Oh hi there!

I had this misconception that all French food is expensive, and there's no way you can get quality food without spending a lot. I was wrong. Food here is not expensive at all. I wouldn't say it is cheap, but it's definitely reasonable. I got the duck breast with sun dried tomato mayo and fries for a little more than 10 euro (about 13 bucks) Not bad. My friend got this pasta with meat sauce for 7 euros. They also served rabbit for about 10 euros, but we didn't get it.

Duck breast with sun dried tomato mayo. Good stuff.

Pasta with meat sauce.

When i went to the bathroom before going back to bus, I saw this right above the toilet.

Well, it was awkward.

Our trip to Avignon was short but sweet. The meal I had was probably the second best local meal on this trip (first being the one in Vienna, and I'm not counting the high class French cuisine, which we had later in Paris.)

Although the experience of that theft was not pleasant, I guess we can just look on the brighter side and say it's still a story to tell.

In the late afternoon, we entered Lyon, and it started raining. I tried going around, but it's really hard especially when I was sick. Some of our members went for the only Chinese restaurant there (I heard it was bad and expensive.) This is something I will rant about later in the conclusion post. I got this nice sandwich for 5 euros. Well, at this point I was so sick I thought my tasting buds were not working. This sandwich looked very flavorful, but I barely tasted anything.

Statue of Louis the XIV

Main plaza where the statue is located.

I like how they have red and green on each side.

Rhone River. I wish the weather was good.

After dinner, I walked on the main street where a lot of famous department stores are located (Printemps, Lafayette, whatever.) Since I was a poor guy who didn't have a job and wouldn't want to spend 100 euros on one single piece of clothing, I decided to just find a chair and sit. Guess what? I wasn't the only one having this idea. It was raining outside, so we couldn't walk around. The second best option would be sitting in a coffee shop or a department store (I tried going to a Starbucks there, but the only seat that was open was actually taken by someone else, thus generating a conversation between me and this person. Well, not exactly a conversation. More like 2 lines of me saying "I don't speak French" in French, something I already forgot how to say, and this person telling me the seat was taken.)

But finally, the rain stopped. I got a little time left before going back to the shuttle.

Street View

Pretty nice when it wasn't raining.

I don't understand why they built this at the middle of the road without
any fence or whatever to block it off. Almost walked into this......

Shit is so expensive here.......

Well, I finished 3 cities in one post. Not bad. We spent 2 days in Paris, so the post(s) will be longer. Probably will take at least 2 posts to finish the Paris trip (our last!)

Next stop: Paris, France