Early on Monday morning we all hopped in a black cab to the train station to board a ‘bullet train’ from London to Avignon. It was a long train ride, through the Chunnel and across most of France, but we arrived in sunny, warm Avignon in mid-afternoon. We got settled into a rental car, J re-acquainted himself with driving a stick shift, we all starting learning French road signs, and we headed North to our Gite. A Gite is like a farm stay, or a VRBO in the country rather than the city.

Our Gite isn’t so much on a working farm, but it is next to a lovely home and is surrounded by wine vineyards.

Best of all, it has a pool that we can use! We were in it within about half an hour once we arrived.

On our second day in France, we headed to the nearby town of Avignon. On our way we stopped at the local boulangerie/patisserie

for some eclairs, brioche and other tasties. Sam decided that we should make a daily visit to a boulangerie every day that we’re in France. We all agreed.

Avignon is a beautiful old city that is surrounded by a wall. Inside is the Palais de Popes, or the palace that the popes lived in during the 1300s when they decided to move there from Rome. J and I geeked out on the architecture and history. The kids played a game on the tablet guided tour through the Palace. So everyone was happy.

We finished on the original ‘bridge to nowhere’ Avignon Bridge, a stone bridge that only extends halfway across the river.

Southern France is hot, so we’ve pledged to finish up our sight-seeing by mid to late afternoon so that we can finish the day with a few hours by the pool. If you’re counting, we’ve decided to eat pastries every day and go swimming every day. Yep, France is treating the McFoursons just fine.