So much to say, so little time

Internet time is limited.  Sophia brought her computer, and that Alice has an i-touch I-pod, so that is the internet we get when we can get a wireless signal.  And that is not necessarily often, I assure you.  So I have it now while Sophia is in the shower.  We are in Avignon, and we just got here.  The nice folks of the train industry are on strike, apparently, and nobody decided to tell us when we were on the train from Bordeaux to Arles, then Arles to Avignon.  This is important because the Arles to Avignon was cancelled due to the strike.  We had to rush to try to get reservations on a night train to Strasbourg, Germany that happened to have a brief stop at Avignon two hours later than we expected to be there.  So we played Euchre, the Indiana speciality, and waited for the train.  We are now in Avignon, seat of the Papacy for some time in the medieval ages.  

Yesterday in Bordeax was okay.  I only say this because Peerman booked our hotel extremely outside the city limits of Bordeaux.  We stayed in a hotel about 25 Euros in a taxi only worth away from the train station, Gare de St. Jean.  Also, we were there on a Easter Monday, a holiday that the French apparently hold as dear as their right to strike, because nothing was open until 6pm, where we found a French pizzeria that was open for 3 hours on holidays. It was pretty good, with more selections of pizzas than I could have dreamed of.  Also, we got to walk through a couple of miles of the countryside in search of this place, and it was thoroughly beautiful.  I can only imagine how utterly gorgeous it is during the spring, when the acres upon acres of vineyards are in bloom.  

Today, however, and the reason for Peerman and I nearly missing the only train to Avignon, is that we sought a sight in the city of Bordeaux. We knew from my guidebook that there was a gothic Cathedral that had a bell tower that reached 66 meters to the sky, and we had 1/2 and hour to find it.  Since there was only one train at 2:30pm, and by the time we got to the train station and had our tickets it was 12:3opm, we had two hours to explore the city (again thanks to Peerman for the great locale on the hotel, at least it wasn't too expensive)  The girls (Sophia and Alice) took the first shift of exploring, whilst Peerman and I guarded our luggage.  When it was our turn, we had 40 minutes until the train left, and high ambition.  We saw the spire from afar, and he and I started walking toward it eating the kebabs the girls had purchased.  We found it in 20 minutes.  We spend maximum of 2 minutes at the church, pictures to follow.  We had to run back. We got on the train, after frantically finding the platform (the girls had already gone there, without telling us) we jumped onboard as the conductor's whistle blew.  They were mad at us, and we were sweating and laughing at our luck.  If we had turned down one of the wrong winding medieval streets, we would have been sulking in Bordeaux all night.  Luckily, Peerman and I are the masters of adventure.  And also, luckily, the girls were responsible enough to carry our bags for us to the platform and load it to the train and allow us to jump on at the last possible second.   Much more to come.  Nice, Venice, Poland, and Greece to follow.