From Turin to Chambrey we travelled through the alps on a fast train, first class this time. Our first two trips we travelled second class as we did not realise our Eurail Pass was first class. The alps were still in snow and we stopped at a number of village stations where tourists had been having vacations in the snow. It was very beautiful.

Avignon station is opposite the city wall at the end of the main street. We found accommodation in a fairly ordinary hotel (a shoebox room looking into a light well!) on the main street close o the centre. Avignon was Rome (the city where the pope resides) for 100 years after the Great Schism in the 1300's. There is a huge Papal Palace which was started in the 14th century and added to over the next 100 years. It is in the centre as it was the head of Christendom. There are also many grand municipal buildings and squares around the city. The city was connected to forts and castles in the surrounding country side by a stone bridge over the Rhone River, "The Pont d'Avignon" (Sur le pont d'Avignon....).