FB7: The Cave

Today's first event was going to see the Palais des Papes.  It was a nice sized cathedral looking palace.  Inside, however, housed a modern art exhibit.  The first room was actually very cool, but everything afterwards was absolute crap.



We quickly walked through it and then walked up the garden on the side of the palace.  It did not have great views and it was getting very hot out.  We went back to our hotel for a bit.

This time in shorts, we ventured back out a bit later.  We went to a bridge called the Pont d'Avignon.  It is a bridge that only reaches maybe between halfway and two thirds of the way across the water.  There were some supremely ugly long, what looked like day cruise ships going past in the water.  It did provide a nice view of the city, however.  Miles was excited about spotting a fish from the lower lookout.  As we walked back, we were contacted by Jeremy, who was up in the garden.  We were able to see him from the bridge, as seen in the first picture below.



We left the bridge to go to the toy store.  On the way, we noticed that one of the stores was selling what looked like stuffed animal moths.



We got to the toy store a little after 1.  The shop owner was just closing shop, to be reopened at 3.  Our appointment with the cave was at 3.  Ridiculous!  The board game store was also closed.  We went back to get ready for the cave.

About an hour from Avignon is the Grand Site de l'Aven d'Orgnac.  We booked the English tour.  No more French tours for us if we could help it!  Apparently, the English tour earlier in the day had people from the United States.  Since no one else had booked for our time slot, we had our own personal guide.

We started 50 meters down and the bottom was 125 meters or so.  The whole cave was absolutely beautiful.  We learned about how stalactites and stalagmites were created.  We were also told the story about the group who first explored the cave.  The remains of one of the initial explorers was put in a vase, and put inside the cave.  Look for it in the pictures!  Also, one of these pictures has a drop of water breaking on the stalagmite, which is how it will continue to grow.



Miles declared that the cave was his favorite part of the trip so far.  When we returned, we went to what Jeremy described as a Halal food place.  The food was great and quick.  I've begun to grow weary of how slow service is at restaurants.  This was a pleasant alternative.  We picked up some breakfast for Miles at a local supermarket.  Our last stop of the night was our favorite gelato place with the 74 flavors.  I tried Smurf flavor.  It was gross.