So, some of you may know that I purchased a road bike recently. I was pretty lucky to have some friends direct me to a place that they thought to be "small, a bit dirty, and cluttered with unfinished bikes." This struck me instantly as my kind of place. Turns out that it's called Roulons à Vélo and just happens to be the only bike co-op in Avignon! Wooo hoo! So yea, I found my way there and instantly made friends with the guys. They're all in their 30s or 40s and obviously have a ton of experience judging by the conversation that we had. John, the younger manager hooked me up with an awesome 1970s French Mercier Special Sport that's obviously been around the block a few times and for only 50e! After a bit of polish, some bar tape, and fresh tubes it was more than ready to ride.
Now that I have this bike, I've been taking the initiative to see as much of Vaucluse, provence, and anywhere in southern France as I can. I started by dipping my toes in the water just to see how the bike handled and to try my hand at navigating the french roadways. We began, Andreas and I, by heading over the bridge, beyond Ile Barthelasse to check out le tour Philippe le Bel in villeneuve. Afterwards, I embarked on my maiden voyage to Beaucaire in order to pay a visit to Sebastien and his family. I had a great time for a couple days just hanging out and catching up with them. That saturday evening, there was a massive garage sale composed of over 300 people... not something you see everyday. My next stop was in Orange, a small town about 30km from Avignon where there is an Arc de Trioumphe and a Roman theatre. Finally, just yesterday I traveled to Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct branching the river Gard, where I met some friends from ERASMUS. Looking back on yesterday, I would say that it was by far the best day I've had in France. The sky was blue, the sun was out in full force, I was able to exercise on my way there/really challenge myself, the water was turquoise and fresh, all of my friends were there and happy to see me, we had a delicious picnic, and everything around me was beautiful. I'm also pretty happy because I killed my time on the way back, cutting it from 1.5 hours to just 65 min. And yea, I know for a fact now that I hit over 78 Kph because the last mountain I descended was a 6 degree decline and had speed postings of 90 Kph..... absolutely insane.... the decent itself was a good 1.5/2 min duration. En sommaire: J'ai traversé 112K cette weekend et 162.8K en total sur mon vélo!
Although I ended up writing most of it anyways, here's an update from the road.
So as you know, there were two castles within proximity of where I was staying in Beaucaire. You also know that this is something that I absolutely could not miss, so I decided that I would give the two castles a thorough once-over before I left for Avignon.
I woke up early that morning and left towards Tarascon, not far from Beaucaire to see the Château there. Just outside the door, I could already tell that it was going to be a great day because there was a pleasant wind coming from the north, carrying with it some cool mountain air. The walk itself was just over thirty minutes which allowed plenty of time to enjoy the warm sun coupled with the soft breeze.
The canal on my way to the castle.
(That black line is the problem with my camera)
A view from the garden with the visitor's suite on the right.
I made my way to the castle where I crossed the moat and climbed my way up the cobblestone path to buy a ticket at the visitor's suite situated next to the herb gardens. The student tariff was pretty cheap and allowed me to work through the castle as I pleased, which made me very happy. This freedom allowed me to peek around every corner and to look into every nook and cranny, climb the damp spiraling stairwells and gain access to the roof. I'm telling you, my imagination was running in full swing. The dark, gated portal leading down to the cellar hid undiscovered suits of armor and the graffiti left by prisoners told me where to find all the secret passages; so I wished.
Some history, because it's good for ya:
Before there was a castle, the site served to protect the port through progressive improvements from a wooden fort to a stone fortress. It wasn't until much later in 1401 that Louis II of Anjou constructed the castle that we see today. It served as the throne for roi rene, a mint / treasury for some time, an estate for royalty and as a prison in the 17th century until it was acquired by the state in 1932. This unforgiving time as a prison for spanish and british maritime pow's left the castle with some scars due to some repurposing and left it void of its original furnishings. However, someone bought the castle and has since worked to preserve the remaining relics and to make essential restorations.
The Inner Cloister
Chappell
Three examples of graffiti made by inhabitants and prisoners.
St. Martha's Collegiate Church
Burial place of Martha from the bible?
Looking down towards the garden
The Castle in Beaucaire.
Soaking up some sun while I rest for a bit
These prints are all in the "mariners" room.
Most of them show different types of ships.
Others are religious.
Sorry about these photos. For some reason the blog editor is giving me a really difficult time and will not let me rearrange them. Anyways, these last ones are from the chateau in Beaucaire.
Rather that trying to piece everything together that's happened in the past few weeks, I think that I'm just going to carry on in the same chronology until I've caught up to myself. I've also had some problems with my camera over the past week or so, which means that I'd like to get it back up and running before I do any specific posts on my host family or about the university as i'd like to get some supreme photos. In the meantime, enjoy this old stale news!
