Opera: The Nine Jewelled Deer, trip to Avignon, & Concert: Jonas Kaufmann

We didn't initially have anything booked for Wednesday - my companion had a look at the festival programme, and saw cheap tickets available for The Nine Jewelled Deer, at the Théatre du Jeu de Paume - so I said OK, and we booked that. It being on in the evening, we had time to eat beforehand, and as Le Darius was no longer an option, we decided to head back to La Rotonde. Where we sat inside of course, for the aircon:

We had a fun waiter, with an enormous beard and a habit of saying "nice!" to everything we ordered. I'm glad he was pleased! Anyway, I knew not to have the calamari, which aren't good here - but I had the most gorgeous bavette of Aberdeen Angus - perfectly cooked, unlike the day before in Le Darius. And a colonel to finish (ice cream with vodka). Wine as well, and I was well-satisfied.

The walk to the theatre that evening was, of course, unpleasantly hot.. and we would be in the top level, with no lift. We were also to discover there was no aircon:

We were there just in time - the show started soon after we arrived. And turned out to be Indian - a lady played the sitar, sitting on the floor in the centre of the stage, and encouraged us all to join in a chant. It didn't appeal to my companion, who left - I liked the first part sufficiently to hang on. After that, however, it got seriously weird - and I wasn't the only one making for the exit. I assured the ushers that approached me that I was leaving for good. Making my way back home, I came across my companion on the Cours Mirabeau, and she suggested we head to the Teddy Bar in the Grand Théatre de Provence (GTP), where she liked the soup - she hadn't had much in La Rotonde. So off we went - and had wine as well, and I have to say, that's a dinky ice bucket holder:

Now, Thursday was the day I was most looking forward to, as we were headed to the historic city of Avignon. I'd heard so much about it.. we were booked for a concert by the Orchestre des Jeunes de la Méditeranée, at the Théatre Antique d' Orange (open-air) that evening - getting a shuttle bus to that.. but it was cancelled. My companion was now keen to go to a concert by Jonas Kaufmann, with Diana Damrau, and Helmut Deutsch on piano, in the GTP that evening, but that would cut our time in Avignon short, and anyway, there were no cheap tickets. However, on Wednesday evening, she traipsed all the way downstairs to the box office specially, and came back with news that they had cheap tickets - and better than she had found on the website. After all that effort, how could I refuse?! She agreed that we could take the early bus to Avignon, to maximise our time - they're rather infrequent, and there was nothing between 8am and 11.30am - it takes an hour and a quarter. We had booked tickets for the Palais de Papes and the Pont Saint Bénézet, starting at 2pm - the two main sights in Avignon.

Funny how the days you're most looking forward to can turn out to be the worst. To catch the 8am bus, we got up at 7 - actually, at 6.55, as I tend to wake before the alarm. We were only five minutes' walk from the bus station. I was ready to leave at 7.30.. unfortunately, my companion was not. In fact, we didn't leave until 7.50.. and then she'd forgotten something and had to go back.. and of course, we missed the bus. They do tend to leave on time. With 3.5 hours to kill, she wanted to go to the last Cézanne exhibition, the only one we hadn't seen - to say I didn't share her enthusiasm was an understatement. So, off she went, and there I stayed.

I have to say, it was annoying that half the departures boards were out of order - to find out what stop we were supposed to leave from, we had to ask one of the station guards. But my time was spent peacefully enough - until, at about 10.30, I suddenly and desperately needed to go to the toilet. And wouldn't you know it.. they were out of order too. Still, I was close to home - I scurried up there.. to find my companion watching tv. She'd been to the exhibition, then come back there - hadn't told me. Well, I got to the toilet, then we left for the station together, and at least made the next bus.

I got excited when we started seeing the city ramparts:

And we drove along them, all the way to the bus station - frustratingly, in very slow traffic. It was nearly 1pm by the time we parked - rushing out, I was keen to walk along the ramparts themselves: but that was in the sunlight, and my companion wanted to walk along the other side, in the shade. So we walked separately to the gate:

As you might expect, in this city that housed the papacy for most of the 14th century, religious institutions abound:

I see Avignon has a lot of theatres - I only spotted one. Mind you, there were enough people in medieval costume wandering the streets, advertising plays!

And so, finally, to the immensity of the Palais des Papes:

I mistook the entrance (unsurprisingly) - it's not the one with the large, stone staircase, it's the one with the more discreet, wooden staircase. My ticket was scanned on entry, and I went to pick up a "histopad" - a tablet that displays a map of the site (pretty redundant, the signage is pretty clear), and that you can use to scan the QR codes available in some rooms, which give you a summary of the room's purpose (again, somewhat redundant - there are historical panels everywhere - but they provide a handy summary. When they work - there were places where they didn't at all)! Perhaps the most attractive feature of the histopads is a reconstruction of what the room you're in, as it would have looked during the papacy - unfortunately, this almost never worked. I could only access it from two rooms - and it took a while for me to realise that I could do that by closing the summary history panel; I was promised, when I picked up the histopad, that I'd have a demo when I showed my ticket - but that only happened at the entrance, and I never got a demo at all.

It seems as though they hold concerts here - and actually, Avignon has its own festival, which currently runs until Saturday:

One thing I really didn't like was the constant presence of modern art - there's an installation in the palais, running to the 4th of January. I kept noticing it, and for me, it really clashed with the architecture, distracted me from getting a sense of the history - I absolutely hated it.

Interesting reconstructions of the palais during the reigns of different popes are displayed throughout the rooms on the floor on which you enter, the additions of a particular reign indicated by a different colour:

Note, as a typical example of that modern art, the blue tiles lining the floor of this chapel:

Unfortunately, many of the most interesting rooms, with frescoes, are forbidden to photograph.

Historical documents are also displayed:

A mediaeval guard's uniform is displayed - crikey, it's reminiscent of the later Swiss guard!

You actually need to pay extra to include the gardens in the ticket - it's worth it for the views of the exterior walls. There's then a separate entrance to the next part of the palais that you have to see.

You really have to be prepared to climb stairs, here (as my companion remarked, a mediaeval gym):

The lower chambers were for public functions - the upper ones, of course, for the popes' private use:

And, of course, exit through the gift shop.. to the heat:

..where a cat was attempting to bask in the shade, but attracted the attentions of a small boy who just wouldn't leave it alone:

Around the corner, an opera singer was giving it both barrels:

And it was fantastic to see how the palace, and surrounding houses, are built into the rock:

Well, my companion wasn't half as interested in the bridge as I was, and had seen a number of places she fancied for lunch - with the limited time we now had, it was going to be one or the other. So, she went for lunch, and I traipsed off to find the famous bridge - she'd led me in the wrong direction, which didn't help. I made it eventually, exhausted from tramping through the heat:

This, of course, was the city's original bridge - with climate change and local works affecting the river, the flow increased and actually washed half of it away - it was then left as is, being so iconic! and, as it transpires, with not one, but two, chapels built along it, one sitting on top of the other. I walked along the river to get this view, but had to make a detour to get into the gatehouse at the entrance to the bridge:

Nobody actually checked my ticket, here. There's a lift for those with trouble climbing the steps. There is a film about the history of the bridge, but honestly, I didn't have time to watch it - just headed straight for the bridge proper:

I noticed signs relating to an audioguide as I made my way along - didn't see any sign of audioguides at the entrance, though. What you can't get from the photos is an impression of just how strong the wind was, up on the bridge - I was seriously afraid of being blown over! And I took off my hat, as that seemed in imminent danger of being lost..

You can take steps down to the chapel of St. Bénézet - I didn't fancy it, particularly as it advertised a showing of yet more of that modern art:

The upper chapel is dedicated to St. Nicholas, but you can only look through the grille, and it's pretty basic.

And so, post haste back to the bus station:

Of course, I was now starving - and with little time left before that night's concert, I accompanied my companion to Teddy's again. They don't actually do much that I like to eat, but mercifully, despite the people at the door telling me they only had tapas, of which they had none inside, they had a chicken dish - which I ordered. I have rarely had such a greasy chicken - needless to say, I'll ever eat there again.

The concert wasn't to my liking either - a compilation of short songs by Richard Strauss and Mahler, none long enough to sustain my interest, none particularly good to listen to - perhaps it was the presentation. Anyway, when I found myself outside at the interval - my companion had decided, evidently, to stay inside - I decided enough was enough, and took myself home. Tragically, it was much later, when the concert was finished, and the theatre closed, that I discovered that I'd left my hat in Teddy's. We were leaving the next morning, before it re-opened - and I don't fancy my chances of them posting it. And it was a souvenir from the Sphere.. :-( A perfectly horrible ending to a rotten day.

More to follow..