Le Tour de France and Avignon

The dogs are driving me a bit up the wall.  I'm not used to any dogs, let alone three that bark when spooked. Brundel is old and deaf and can't tell when Radja and Bacchus stop.  Besides being old and deaf, he's also grumpy. He takes this out on Bacchus.  Their barking startles me.

The Tour de France came nearby on Tuesday, and I was fortunate enough to be invited to tag along. It was great even though it is a long time waiting for a short time of seeing the bikers.  The merchandising cars come well before the riders and sponsor trucks throw free things at you.  Then, you wait.

The arrival of helicopters overhead signals that the riders are only five or ten minutes away.  The bikers came and went so quickly that I barely had time to register that they were even there. It showed me just how fast a human is capable of going on a bicycle, something I could not have gleaned from watching the Tour on television.

Yesterday, Marion took me to Avignon with a few people she knows from Holland. It was the first touristy experience that I have had since coming to France. We saw the part of the pope's palace, and had a great lunch. Since it is also festival there were performers in the street. Shakespearean actors, moving statues, dancers and others brought lots of crowds. Unfortunately, my camera battery died and I forgot the memory card for my other camera.  I did manage a few shots.

There's a bridge in Avignon that doesn't go all the across the river.  Upon further investigation (i.e. Wikipedia), I discovered that it has been destroyed by flooding many times and they eventually stopped bothering to repair it. Cool huh?

The rest of the day was spent at the mall, which was really the point of the day anyway.  I guess shopping malls don't exist in Holland.

Table d'hote is tonight because it has been either too cold or too wet to have it earlier in the week.  Tomorrow and Saturday are cleaning and next week I will finally see the ruins and monuments in Vaison. My final week in France starts soon!

I'm almost home, and I'm ready to go home.  I love it here, but I'm ready to go back to 'normality.' I'm actually even ready for school to start (shocker, I know).  So much has happened this year, and so much more is still to go.