Today was a modest day. We re-evaluated our trip extensively and spent a great deal of time on the phone looking for a quicker exit from France in order to get home to Canada. As it turns out we will be returning to Canada on Friday instead of Monday and look forward to seeing our families again soon.

We had a late but delightful French breakfast on a patio in the main square of Avignon – the Place d’Horloge (Time Square), which consisted of coffee, juice, a baguette and croissant and some fruit preserves. It was delicious and just the experience we’d been looking forward to. Unfortunately, but sensibly, in Avignon the ‘main drag’ that is the Place d’Horloge is a corral for tourists. This was fine but preempted our ideas for sitting on the patio for long.

Following breakfast we wandered around the town for a couple of hours and visited some shops. Avignon has some surprisingly good shops – clothing, home and kitchen accoutrements – and several nice restaurants.

In the evening we had reservations for a Table d’hôte at our hotel. We descended into the basement of the hotel where there was a lovely kitchen and table for fourteen settings. The guests slowly accumulated and we were welcomed with a glass of tasty local wine made from rousanne and grenache blanc. We were given a quick tour of the wine cellar, and introduced ourselves to the other guests – from Australia, the US and Italy. Of course to no-one’s surprise the Americans enjoyed dominating the conversations, and we and the Australians found ourselves talking to each other for the majority of the evening. It was nice to share some stories with them. The dinner was enjoyable. Nothing very captivating or particularly special, but it was fun to taste some local cuisine prepared with fresh ingredients made in front of us.

Sorry, no pictures from today.