An American Girl in Avignon

I hopped the morning bus with Shawna, Rachel, and Jenny to Ville Neuve, a little town with an abbey and a fortress, right across the river from Avignon. The bus ride was only 2 euro, so why not hop on the bus and see what the other side had to offer? Here’s what was there: we went to visit an abbey, tour the cute village, and browse through those antique markets filled with useless but loveable items (like those oh-so-adorable hugging salt-shakers!) What was strange about this town was all of the randomly stuffed jeans and pants placed in awkward positions throughout the town. There were stuffed pants sticking out of flower pots, on merry-go-rounds, climbing trees, and twisted in other odd fashions. It was really bizarre. Modern art expression, or just plain creepy and weird? You decide.
While trying to find our way to the abbey, I found a back barn garden where a small orchestra was playing, and asked, “Est-ce que le jardin gratuit?” Is the garden free? To my surprise it was. It quickly became clear why. It was situated two steps behind the orchestra in the barn. I didn’t get this. All of the plants were dead too. No wonder she looked at me so weird when I asked if there was an entry fee. “Hey, is there a charge to look at a bunch of dead plants?”
Since Ville Neuve turned out to be not that exciting, aside from the random pants and the market where I bought some really yummy honey, we decided to go back to Avignon to meet Kyle and Adam for some falafels and those kebabs and steak frites before going souvenir shopping. This was my last Saturday in Avignon, and I sure wasn’t going to arrive home empty-handed without souvenirs for my family.
I went a little overboard on my spending that day. Here is a list of what I bought: a ruler, a guitar case sticker of Avignon’s crest for my brother, a room sign for my sister, lavender, champagne, yes I said champagne (I am shipping it home), soap, and a few other little things for my family. Most shops were just endless repeats of what the shop before had to offer, just positioned in a different part of the store with sometimes ranging prices. The same aprons, the same tea sets, and the same ugly ceramic chirping cicadas. Ugh. I detest those things more than spiders, and that’s saying something!
As soon as I thought I had finished my shopping, I had to walk by the artists on the rue de la republique, where I saw a panting of the Pont d’Avignon that I knew I just couldn’t go home without. I asked the artist how much. She let me name the price after talking with me, because she said she liked me J. I said 30, and she let me have it for that. It would have normally cost me 75, yes 75 euros. The price was on the back of it and several other paintings. I felt pretty good after this, and when she signed it afterwards, I felt even better. A personalized painting, not too shabby.
Well, it was our last Saturday night in Avignon, and since Katie was out with her French lover boy, Laurent, Sakinah and I decided to go to dinner at this super chic place we walked by all the time, but never went inside. I am glad that we did.
The place was worthy of the word glamorous. Black lights and mirrors merged with an antique/modern mosaic with a color scheme of black, white, silver, sparkles, pink, and purple. It was like something out of a Hollywood club! The owner walked us to our seats. It was about 7:30 when we arrived, which would be considered a pretty late dinner for the US, but this was France, and it was Saturday night. We were the first people there. We ordered champagne, and got a free appetizer while we waited for our food. It was so yummy. I ordered something fancy off the seafood menu, not realizing that my shrimp would come with the shells and eyeballs still attached. It was like eating mini lobsters, but I didn’t even care, it was so good. The sauce was creamy with a mushroom flavor and thick, hearty consistency. I could have eaten a whole bowl of that sauce and been completely content. It was that good. Our meal came accompanied with the standard bread basket, and although we had intended on ordering dessert, we decided against it at the last second, because our fancy meal was not only delicious, but filling as well.
The owner talked with us for a while after the meal. That’s another thing I am going to miss about France. There is a personalization that restaurant and shop owners attempt to make with their customers. They keep customers for life. For example, the lady at Croq-o-pain gave me a free coffee a few times and would oftentimes set aside items for me, since we all came there so often. It was really sweet. The owner of this resturant gave us free martinis, and invited us back, and thanked us for our business. They need to do this more often in the United States. Not only is it classy and considerate, but it makes people customers for life.
After our fancy and filling dinner (surprising for a snazzy restaurant), we made an ATM run and went to meet our friends (here’s a heads up: a lot of times, not even fancy restaurants will take credit cards, like the one we went to, so we had to run to the ATM to pay. Keep enough cash on you for a nice dinner, and just watch your wallet. I know it stinks, but they are sometimes leery about taking credit cards in Europe. They prefer and oftentimes only accept cash. Keep this in mind). Our next stop was Cadillac Club, like usual, and Red Sky. We all had a really great time. One of our friends who usually doesn’t go out surprised me. She was a ton of fun! You just need to give people a chance, and you’d be surprised. People never cease to surprise me, but I think I’ve surprised myself most, not to mention shocked a few other people. Everyone has a few tricks up their sleeves. Not to sound conniving and deceiving, but I know I do. Just ask. You’d be surprised… :)