*The European WP Meet in Central Southern France!*

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Thanks, EnglishLulu, for the update on when you're arriving. You'll be the first apart from KenG.

That sounds lovely. I wish I could be there earlier!


I will pm you with details of our morning meet-up! ( Edit: done! )


Correct!


Depends on if/when he is working that weekend, and how long it takes him to hitch to Avignon. He will phone to say.

He pm'd to say that he hasn't received his student grant yet and so can't afford to come, unless it arrives really fast.


Still totally unplanned. As you say, ( amazing collation of the information, thank you ) there are lots of very appealing possibilities, which we can discuss once most of us are there.

See you in Avignon on Friday morning.
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Last edited by ouinon on 18 May 2009, 7:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

Correct.
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Does anyone have any particular preferences, or suggested itineraries? The people who've been there before, who perhaps know how long it takes to get to Isle sur Sorges or Arles or wherever?

I'm just a bit worried that if we don't make any kind of rough plans, then we might actually waste a lot of time trying to figure out what to do, i.e. we might end up spending a morning or afternoon in a cafe in Avignon (not that that's necessarily a bad thing) talking and trying to reach agreement about what to do, instead of being on a train or bus going somewhere or wandering round the palace or other attractions, iyswim.

I've been to both Arles and Isle sur Sorgue. The ( infrequent ) train times for Arles are 9.49 on the Saturday which takes 17 mins, with return at 21.44, otherwise it's buses, the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday, which take longer, 55 mins.

The trains for Isle sur Sorgue are at 6.20 am ! !! and 12.20, ( plus a couple of later ones ), taking 27 mins both Sat and Sunday, but it is recommended to go the Sunday for the antiques market. I can't find the bus timetables; apparently there is at least one fairly frequent service, so it might be possible to do that on the Sunday morning as opposed to the afternoon, if wanted to fit in a visit to the Palais des Papes in the afternoon.

Arles would merit a whole day visit, there's so much to see, whereas Isles sur Sorgue, although very pretty, and with market to wander around, probably wouldn't need more than a half day to enjoy/explore. On the Sunday morning there is the flea-market at Avignon, so could do both that and Sorgue on the Sunday, and Arles the Saturday, except that would leave only the Friday for the Palais ... and Seashell ( who hasn't visited it before either; I don't know about Darth ? ), only arrives at 16.00 on the Friday.

The Palais is open from 9.00 until 19.00 every day, and costs 10.50€ entrance. We need to allow two and a half hours at least for that, I think.

There are masses of things to do so we need to prioritise, settle on a couple of things we will definitely do together, and then perhaps split up into two/three groups for those things/activities which don't appeal to everybody?

So, my own priority is the Palais ... ... and staying relaxed!

The Chartreuse thing sounds interesting, but I don't know anything about it. There are also several smaller "historical" buildings to visit in Avignon itself apart from the Palais.

PS. The Festival of Nimes used to be AMAZING, ( the music was magic ), but in recent years they cut back on the budget for free events/music etc, and apart from fairly banal even ghastly fairground, food stalls, and some ok'ish street bands, most of it is now expensive events in the arena, apart from one or two bull-chasing things in the street, where they spend a long long long time barricading the road, waiting for something, before letting the young and frightened bullocks run 100 m from a lorry to a pen, with men on horseback scaring them along.

On the other hand it does have quite an energetic vibe, which could be fun, if don't mind small streets packed wall to wall with a lot of very drunk people singing, ( in the heat; if it's raining the streets are empty ).

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Thanks for making such a useful list, EnglishLulu!

Some random thoughts: I guess we need to think about Fri/Sat/Sun as for Mon we could plan during those 3 days.

Friday around Avignon, as people will be arriving, we'll be hanging out in cafes/strolls around the town - which is absolutely fine by me. Allows a bit of space to get to know each other, without the stress of catching buses/trains, having to be somewhere at a certain time etc.

How about alternating an "excursion" day and a "leisurely" day? So Saturday could be the day for Arles or whatever grand excursion we agree. Sunday could be a 'resting' day, go to the Palais (assuming we can get reservations?) at 10.30 for the "Palais Secret"? Chartreleuis and/or other historical buildings in the afternoon. Evening in a restaurant/cafe to rest our acheing feet?

There's also an argument that as some are travelling on Friday (and some are leaving on monday), that Saturday could be 'rest' day and Sunday 'excursion' day? . The disadvantage I imagine is that transport & services are much reduced on sundays. Correct me if wrong, Ouinon, but from my few visits to France, Sunday is a *much* quieter, lazy day than we have in the UK.

If we do go to Arles, then surely the decision is made for us as to which day because 34 min train journey sounds a lot better than 110 mins on the bus! Is there enough in Avignon & it's immediate environs to not need to go to Arles, which sounds quite an excursion! Much as I really want to see Arles, I wonder if it's not a little too much effort to get there for this weekend? Another idea, as Morgana didn't sound too fussed about Arles, we could go on Monday (after we've bid her farewell, of course)? And on saturday we could go to the Isle De Sorgue, which Morgana expressed an interest in.

The antiques thing sounds fun, but realistically, I am unlikely to be looking to buy anything, so I wouldn't want to make this the fixed point of the schedule!

PS I wouldn't want to prevent anyone else from having a good time, but I'd rather avoid streets packed with drunks as there's enough of that here <EDIT> Maybe it's worth saying I'm not a "crowd loving" person, so nobody should feel we have to find events to go to. e.g. I'm happy to go to the Palais anytime, regardless of their being an event on! I just thought it worth saying as it's easy to assume we need to be entertained, kept busy and occupied. There's always enough going on inside my head to occupy me! But if everyone else really wants to go to a raucous party, that's fine by me too.

PPS Don't forget "Le Pont D'Avignon"! !!

I agree with that idea, and it would still be possible to visit a couple of smaller things if people wanted to.


That also sounds like a good idea, although again people who wanted to could go off on an excursion both days.


It depends on which services. Isle sur Sorgue for instance is supposed to be very busy on the Sunday because of the market, and there would be bus services for it. Also there is the popular flea market in Avignon on the Sunday morning. And need to remember that Monday is a national religious holiday which will mean Sunday bus and train services, and lots of people on holiday everywhere.


You may be right. There is almost certainly enough in and around Avignon, ( Villeneuve and Chartreuse are very close, within walking distance in the case of Villeneuve ), to keep us occupied, including the Pont d'Avignon!


Yes, I must say the Secrets etc at the Palais doesn't appeal, because it will probably be rather like a posh mini package tour, with set meal, and a "group", etc. I would rather visit it early morning when there might be fewer tourists, even if we don't get to see all the cellars, ceremonial robes, etc.


Yes, although there is the risk that we will find ourselves sitting around not saying anything because we are so entertained by the contents of our heads, I too would prefer to leave things up to the mood of the moment.




What do other people think?

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I am also not a "crowd loving" person, that´s one thing! I get enough crowds here in Hamburg. So avoiding crowds- and drunks- would be nice for me.

I like the idea of going sightseeing, but also having leisure time; therefore, I think ManErg´s idea of having one excursion day and one day to see Avignon is a good one. I don´t care which day we do what, I would say whatever makes the most sense. I like ouinon´s idea of staying relaxed, and doing whatever the mood strikes us; (I think I don´t have enough executive function for too much planning, sorry). I think whatever we decide to do, it should be good. I really don´t mind seeing Arles again either, if that´s what others want to do. It was nice, I could go back there. Or go anywhere else, just preferably not too big and crowded.

Now, I guess I´d better re-check when my flight gets in, as everybody´s asking....just a moment....

Okay, here it is, my flight gets into Marseille on Thursday at 11:20. I don´t know about the train schedule, but my guess is I would come in to Avignon around mid-afternoonish?

Is it easy to find the hotel from the Avignon train station? Did I miss that part of the thread?

Thanks for info.

You , ManErg, EnglishLulu and KenG will make four WP'ers there from mid-late Thursday afternoon. Have fun!


Yes! It's about 800m away.

You come out of the station, walk down the short drive/avenue with car-parking and some trees, benches, etc, that leads up to it, and when you reach the main road at the bottom, turn left, so that the old city walls are on your right. Follow the road, ( Boulevard Saint. Roch ), until it becomes Bld. Saint Dominique, ( as you pass the old city gate Porte Saint Roch ), and the hotel will be on your left shortly afterwards.
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Last edited by ouinon on 20 May 2009, 4:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

And if anyone is considering at the last minute to join us, Ryanair has a sale on at the moment, there might or might not be some cheap flights still available:

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

And there might also be some last minute cheap flights via Jet2

http://www.jet2.com/offers.aspx

One week to go!

Has everybody got at least one mobile phone number from someone else who's going to be there, so that we can all keep in touch?

I've pm'd Seashell and Raggle as they are the most likely to need phone contact, ( for "finding" the rest of us ), but just thought I'd check.

Remember to have your hotel "reservation number" with you, for checking in.

See you all astonishingly soon!

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That's a good question.

Is anyone bringing a camera? I only have an ancient non-digital one, and it's heavy and takes up space so I probably won't bring it, but it would be great if someone does!

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My Mum has said I can take her digital camera

I think that I can bring a digital reflex (Nikon D50 with Zoom and Wide-angle lenses), but I need to ask my parents.
I will edit this post if I have the authorization to do so. However don't worry, I think that I will get it.

By the way, I'm not a native speaker, so please don't mind if I make any error mistakes...
Is my English fluent for a French guy ? Please answer honestly

EDIT : I have the authorization to bring my mother's digital compact camera, not my father's reflex.
Nevertheless, that will do perfectly, I don't need to bring a bag full of lenses and awkward stuff.

Great!

Yes! It's very good. It's so good it hadn't even occurred to me that you would have any difficulties at the meet. I assumed that you must have picked it up/been using it for years as a second language in Dakar.

PS. Great about the camera.

By the way, do either of you, and KenG too, have any particular preferences for places to visit in or around Avignon, amounts of time and/or money you want/are prepared to spend on excursions and how much to spend on fairly leisurely strolling/cafe terracing/flea-marketing etc in Avignon? Etc.

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