We had a quiet night at the monastery and woke at 9:30am to a sunny sky  . . . and breakfast ended at 10:00am . . . we rushed downstairs and had a delightful time . .

Avignon is the former home of several  popes and is a walled  city. The six kilometer wall is still in place around the walled city and if one has the time you can walk the whole thing . . .we did not,. It was time to meet Diana and John . . .

. . . .we decided to go to the Les Halles,indoor market to shop and eat lunch . . . narrow streets along the way. . .

. . .with bicycle riding police on the large avenues!!!!

Of course the market was a gastronomic paradise with lots of sights and smells .. .

. . .fish of every variety out on ice for easy inspection . . .

. . . all kinds of fresh produce. . . .

. . . and of course every kind and cut of meat . . ./some of which I didn’t want to know what they were !!!!!

. . . .so of course we needed to eat again and enjoy a little vino . . . two bottles and it was only 11:45am  . . .  but hey, we are on holiday!!!!

. . .and we were not the only one tasting a little of the grape. One of the local chefs stopped by, several, times to enjoy . . . .coffee!!!!

. . . we walked along the streets to the car taking in the sights including a mailman on a bike  . . .

. . .  lots of motorcycles parked along the way . . .the good kind (the kind that are not running)/ Including this new Gold Wing that reminded me of my old one. . . .

. . . and of course the ever present Harley Davidson, even over here n the Continent riders love their Harley’s . . .

Dianna and emJay did a little shopping along the way as we headed to the  … .

Popes Palace. Centuries ago Rome was a war torn city and the Catholic Church decided to move the Papacy round Europe. Constantly moving it around was not working out so when a Frenchman was elected Pope, he and the King of France decided to build the Papal Palace in Avignon . . .

. . .  a HUGE affair that was a very interesting tour . . .

. . . and it went through many remodel’s during  the years, Makes out remodel at home look like child’s play!!!!!

The grand dining hall.. . .

. . . interesting the building now also hosts traveling art exhibits and there was one gong on while we visited . . .

. . .  interesting mix of the old with the new . . . .

When the Pope finally moved back to Rome. In the early 1800’s the military took over the palace and  where there until 1907 when the building was handed over to the city.

Soon we were in the car and on our way to our B&B. . . .

. . . . we met our host Neil, a Brit who has lived in France with is French wife Nat, for 13 years. He immediately broke out the vino . . .

. . .  as we sat under their grape covered arbor . . .

. .. .oh and the vino flowed and flowed . . . lots of Rose during the day . . .

Yippeee . . .  we are al finally back together!!!!

Next in order was a tour of the place . . . including a sitting area downstairs . . .

John and Diana’s room . . .

Bobby and Gary’s room . . .

Pam and Terry’s room . . .

. . . emJay and my room . . .

. . . with a nice seating area . . .

. . . and HUGE bathroom

We reassembled for more wine and an explanation of the  GREAT touring system of maps and supplied GPS units Neil has developed through the years.

. . . each bike has their own GPS. You pick one of 40 routes he has load on the GPS and just follow the purple line on the screen Just like I did on the Northern Tier. In fact  they are the Garmin 1000.!!!!

He also ;led us through the greet selection of restaurants available along the way each day. Something for everyone, even mbbt  members. The VFM designation stand for Value For Money!!!!!

It soon was time for dinner and the eight of us walked into town and had a lovely meal . . .

. . . emJay had the grilled ravioli with grill goat cheese rounds . . .

. .. .while I had three kinds of smoked salmon.

. . .we all ate heartily including crocks of tiramisu for dessert . . . .

oh. . . and three bottles of vino too.This is going to be a great trip!!!!!