Avignon

Since Avignon was only a short 20 minute train ride away, we went there twice during our stay in Arles.  Avignon is bigger and more popular with tourists than Arles with many more restaurants and shops.  We wandered around quite a bit and were impressed by this huge church:

I think it might have been called the Palace of the Popes or something.  We did not bother to go inside.  It seems a bit shameful but by this point in our trip, we are a bit church-, museum-, and ruined-out, so we aren't spending as much time learning about these places.  My favorite part about this church was the lady who sang opera in the square outside it while her dog wandered around enticing people to throw it a stick.

Part of Avignon (the part we spent our time in) is surrounded by a wall, which is pretty neat:

They also do dreadful things to trees in Arles and Avignon.  And I thought Lake Como was bad!  They left more leaves on those at least.  This just looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.

I have no idea who he is, but I like this shiny, happy fellow:

And I really knew I wasn't in the US when I saw a sign for a happy hour at Subway:

I must say, I really like France so far.  Everyone is super nice here.  Maybe it will be different in Paris, but so far, I have seen no evidence of the whole "the French don't like Americans" thing.  They go out of their way to be helpful, they smile in amusement at our pitiful attempts at French, and they even have an American store (albeit with a rather interesting selection of items - apparently we are all cowboy bikers?):

Paul and I both agree that France, at least the few parts we've seen, feels the most like the US so far, which has been nice.