Avignon, France, June 19 - 20, 2015 (2 restaurants included, Le Forum and L'Essentiel - a Michelin Star restaurant)

Avignon, France, June 19 - 20, 2015

What a wonderful 2 days! I took a taxi into Avignon from the nearby town where I was staying (Monfarvet), and stopped right in front of The Pope's Palace. Well, really, I stopped by a restaurant called The Pope's Palace Restaurant which is right next to the large plaza where the Palace is. The Pope's Palace is surrounded by a large city wall. Inside there are blocks and blocks of shops, restaurants, and hotels and things. The walled compound is a city in itself. The outside of the walled city, is the modern city of Avignon.

I only had a few hours before I have a guided tour of Provence so I bought my tickets for the Pope's Palace, took a ride on "The Little Train" and met my driver to take me back to my apartment. On The Little Train I met a lady from Sebastopol, California. She is in France for a month. Mostly traveling with friends but today on her own and tomorrow on to another destination.

Each time I visit a new city I like to get my bearings. To do this I like to take the on-off tour buses because they cover the most territory the fastest. Well, Avignon has their own "mini-train" that takes around the center part of town. It lasts 45 minutes.

It reminds me of a Disneyland ride. It goes slow and winds itself through the tiny streets of the inner city. I took many pictures, some of which you can see the printing on the top of the glass of the mini-train. Oh, well. I took the shot anyway.

Again, there is a big plaza connected to the Pope's Palace as well as restaurants. Today there was an accordion player entertaining us who had a little tip cup in front of where he positioned himself.

There was also a "silver" man who sprayed himself in silver paint and posed like a statute and a guy dressed up like a bumble bee standing in an alcove on the side of a building. I tipped the accordion player and the bumble bee today.

There is a great lookout up a ramp on the side of the Palace. You can see the Rhone River and the partial Bridge of Avignon from there.

The heart of this city basically dates back to the time that the pope's inhabited this city - around 1400 but the city has an older history too. They called this city "The Second Rome" as I think, around 10 - 12 popes lived here. When I did the tour it was interesting the way they did their bookkeeping. Only the Pope, his aide and a bookkeeper knew where the money was hidden. It was hid under the floor stones in one of the chambers in the Palace. I think they said the money was discovered, or maybe it was just the chambers, in 1989.

Notice the faces in the windows of people looking out at you. Isn't that funny! They have that on several buildings in town. 

I walked around the city a bit, found a vendor from Peru that sold rings and I bought one nice one and I cute, very inexpensive one that had stars on it. Probably will be a gift.

Then I looked for a place for lunch. I found a restaurant in one of the main boulevards called "Le Forum". I sat "al fresco" out on the patio and ate and watched the world go by.

 I had a vegetarian lasagna with salad that was wonderful! I could tell that the spinach that they used was fresh and it was made with a becamel sauce. Yum! Then for dessert I had a type of bread/cake with candied fruit in it with a sauce. It was the restaurant's original recipe and a favorite.

Then I headed back to my hotel to meet my tour guide.

Saturday, June 20, 2015 - Avignon again

I was told about a restaurant in Avignon, by my guide Bernoit, (more about him later) called L'Essentiel. I made lunch reservations for there for today. But, I needed help finding the place. So, I went back to the booth where I bought the rings.

Today it was the son and his girlfriend that were manning the booth. I showed them the ring that I bought there the day before and ask if I could pay them to give me directions. The boyfriend, Daniel, immediately got out his GPS and tried to find it. Then the girlfriend, Lala, came over and also tried to figure it out (and she is a native!)

Anyway, Lala said she would be happy to walk with me and help me find it. How nice! We found it but I was about 1/2 hour early so we parted ways and I hung out and walked the nearby streets to see what this part of the city held. This was actually the upscale neighborhood of town. I looked in one shop window and there was a Prima Ballerina tutu! It was a ballet products shop! They had toe shoes, ballet slippers, all kinds of colors of leotards, leg warmers, various carrying bags, cute hair pins, and actually perfume and regular shoes. What a fun store!

 

I love how they take ancient architecture and enhance it with modern features.

Then I went to lunch. The Restaurant, again, is called L'Essentiel. The hostest led me outside to a table where they were serving all of their guests "al fresco" for lunch.




There were 2 price options to get a full meal or you can order a la carte. I ordered the meal so that I could taste an assortment of things.

 

The first course was a breadstick with like toasted mushrooms and herbs on it. It was delicious! Also with this course was a poached egg on top of a type of blended or mixed white fish with herbs. Very unusual and very delicious also!

 

The second course was a type of white fish steak topped with blended lobster, a stick of baby zucchini and herbs.

I watched the other diner's faces as they were served this dessert. What a bit of fantasy and tantalizing tastes! All of these desserts were made from raspberries! The one on the left was like a fruit soup with a surprise frozen delight in the broth.  The one in the middle was like a pudding with chocolate on the bottom. The one on the right, cotton candy with raspberry crumble underneath. Suberb! As the French would call it.  

Then I had mint tea. I loved this teapot. It is very heavy. Everything about presentation and sensory delight. It was wonderful!

 I took pictures of the door after I left because, I believe I said this on a former blog but maybe not, all the stickers on the door are endorsements of this particular establishment. So, here are the stickers on this door.

When I left the restaurant I started to walk and right away I saw Lala and her boyfriend. They were waiting for me! Lala wanted to have her picture taken with me! I guess because I was an American and she hadn't met too many of those. 
 
So, we took several pictures together. Then 3 of us visited for a while. Especially about the differences between here and in America.

 
Lala had never been in a cathedral before and there was one right behind us so we went in.
 
Then we walked to a patisserie to pick up some eclairs for her dad because tomorrow is Father's Day in France. Then we walked Dan to his bike and we said goodbye after exchanging contact info. Oh, I think I forgot to say. We actually are living in the exact same apartment complex in Montfavet!!! They are on the 3rd floor and I am on the 1st floor! Isn't that cool!