Ashley & I are both water addicts, meaning that we have this inherent ability to find water - rivers, oceans, streams, fountains, you name it. As soon as we came upon the water, we immediately wished we had friends in Avignon who owned a boat as that would be the best way to enjoy the Rhone. Though we have no such friends in France, we chose to sit by the water & stare.
After about 30 minutes of staring & goofing off, we decided that we had our fill of Avignon & went to see when the next bus to Apt ran. Of course, our luck proved horrible as the bus didn't leave for another 3 hours. We headed to an internet cafe to make plans to visit the Camargue region of France, which is arguably the best place in France. We also chatted with a friend of Ashley's who lives in Avignon & decided to meet him for a beer. After our enjoyable (& inexpensive) beer, we decided to head to the bus station so we could visit the middle of nowhere Apt.
To get to Apt, you have to take a bus ... the ride, in total, lasts about an hour & a half. However, it feels like a 3 hour ride because the bus drivers are absolutely horrible at shifting! I think I am better than they & I have only been driving a manual for 3 months! We FINALLY made it to Apt & to Ashley's "house."
Ashley lives at the local high school in Apt. During the week, most of the students live on campus because Apt is the regional high school & some students would have to commute 1 hour to school every morning. So Ashley lives at the back on the school on the top floor with 2 other people - a Spaniard (Luis) whom I did not meet & another American (Jennifer). This is Jennifer's second year teaching English in France. The apartment is laid out quite interestingly. Imagine a hall of class rooms. On one side, some of the walls between the rooms have been knocked out. This forms the kitchen which houses a stove top (no over), a tiny fridge, a TV, & a table with 4 chairs. A long hallway leads to 3 bedrooms, smaller than my dorm at Transy. At the end of the hall is the shower & in a closet is the toilet. That's where Ashley lives. This is why we only stayed the night twice in Apt.
Our only full day in Apt saw us touring the city. Now, a tour of Apt generally takes 15 minutes .... but we drug it out to an hour & then headed to the grocery store to buy dinner. After that, we just farted around the school all day ... mostly talking, transferring movies from my IPOD to her computer, & sharing music. We made an amazing dinner - pasta, feta cheese, & random stir-fried veggies - & enjoyed a nice bottle of French wine. We went to bed early as the bus to take us to Avignon in the morning would leave at 5:15am.
We were out the door by 5am & on the bus to Avignon. In Avignon, we caught a train to Arles where we would then meet our bus to go to Saintes Maries de la Mer in the Camargue. Arles is actually a pretty cool city. It has an old Roman amphitheatre which is still used today.
We thought we had about 3 hours to kill before we had to catch our bus. In that time, we decided to find a bank for Ashely as she was in dire need of cash. By the time we found the bank, we realized we didn't have time to wait, thinking the bus would be there at 10:15am. So we rush back, which was no easy feat as we were aways from the bus station & the climb would be partially uphill. We made it, out of breath, to the station only to find that the bus we were expecting only ran during the summer. The internet failed to tell us this & we stupidly did not double check the times before we walked into town. So we decided to kill the remaining 2 hours by walking back to the bank. There, we successfully withdrew money from Ashley's bank account & then decided to head back to the station to lie in the sun & enjoy our yummy sandwiches we had made.
The bus arrived & we joyfully climbed on ... now for the 30 minute drive to the Camargue ... the most beautiful place in France ........
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