Avignon

For dedicated Matt is in France followers, you will remember my stressful trip to Lyon last summer where I thought I was as stressed as possible while train hopping. But alas traveling gets even more crazy with this trip to Avignon.

This post is going to follow the form of one of my favorite novels and events: create your own adventure. At every plot turn, I will give you three options, two of which ultimately lead to our death, one which continues the story. (we'll see how this works)

So Sara and I set out Saturday morning to go to the small town of Uzese which has a farmers market every Saturday. So we take the 20 minute bike ride into Goudargues and ask the super helpful guy at the office of tourism which buses to take. Unfortunately there was not a direct bus, so it would have taken 2 hours to get there and 2 hours to get back for just 3 hours in the city. He instead recommended that we go to the more entertaining and more accessible Avignon France. We agreed that was a better option, but somehow needed to tell our hosts that we wouldnt be back for dinner. What do we do?
A) Pay money to use the internet at the office of tourism to look up their number, and then call them.
B) Try to bike back to Gressac and then back to Goudargues even though we only have 30 minutes to make this 40 minute trek
C)Give up and go back to Gressac without going to Avignon

A)After having successfully called home we got on the bus and arrived in Avignon. But being poor college students, and having spent all our money on internet access cannot afford food and die of hunger.
B) There I was Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France, I decided to go alone (because Sara rides bikes like I did in Amsterdam [very very slowly]) pushing past the burning in my quads, breathing heavy, I make the final turn into Gressac. Finding no one, I leave a small note for our hosts, return to Goudargues, and make the bus with a minute and a half to spare.
C) You obviously have not read the title of this post, and we thus die of sadness

Our bus dropped us off in a slightly larger small town called Bagnole sur Ceze. We buy some lunch at a local bakery and board the bus to Avingon. I awake to Sara shaking me, and the view of the historic walls of Avignon. Having been here approximately one year ago, I successfully guided us to the center of the city. I left Sara to tour the Palais des Papes and Bridge of Avignon alone, and embarked on my own adventure. I walked into some of the lesser known attractions, like the large market, the theatre school, and the random neighborhood in between the two. We meet back up, do some grocery shopping, and head to the bus depot to catch our bus on line 15.
We become a little nervous when we dont see our bus on the electronic schedule, what do we do?
A)Take the bus on line 15 even though it doesn't have Goudargues on the front
B)Recognize the bus that goes between Bagnoles and Avignon and hop on that one just before it leaves
C) Walk into the post-apocalyptic-zombie-killing-video-game-esque information room to ask the sole embittered and blatantly apathetic SNCF agent what to do

A)That bus falls off a mountain
B)As the doors close we lunge on the bus, only to get our feet caught in the door. We get wisked away to the hospital where they amputate our legs. Two days later we die of infection. (In hind-sight this actually would have been the best option)
C)We grit our teeth and ask. She looks up from her texting just long enough respond:

Lady working the info desk: "Oh that Line 15? It doesnt exist anymore"
Us: "Merde"
The next bus to Goudagues didnt leave until the next morning. There was however one more bus to go to Bagnole sur Ceze that left in an hour. We headed to the train station, and by the graces of the nicest SNCF agent ever, we found Reto's phone number, and were able to call him. He told us he couldnt pick us up from Bagnole, but that hitch hiking was common in Europe and that we should give it a shot.What do we do?
A)Board the bus, return to Bagnole, and attempt to hitch-hike back to Goudargues
B)Find the nearest hotel, book a room for the night and spend the night in downtown Avignon
C)Find a cozy corner of the train station and wait for the first bus out in the morning.

A)We grab some dinner, get on the crowded bus, and hope for the best.
B)We check into the Hotel Faux, and just as our eyes close to go to sleep, a patron at the hotel bar flicks his cigarette into a trashcan, igniting the legendary Avignon fire of 2011 in which two American students tragically lost their lives
C) (Of course we didnt consider this Mom.....). Just as we find the coziest spot possible it become light, then brighter, then brighter. Hit by a train.

We arrive in Bagnole, walk 10 minutes to the proper road leading to Goudargues, and stick our our thumbs. Now I've been trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) to share responsibility with Sara and not take control of everything in stressful situations as I am prone to do. In trying to do this, I asked Sara to be the one to stick out her thumb. The first car comes...and goes. The second comes...and goes. I make eye contact with the third drive and he just shakes his head...things arnt looking up. Ten cars pass and still no one has so much as touched their brakes.

Before I finish this tense moment, let me back up and give you a touch of background info. Our second night here, Reto and Laurance invited the vintner Jean-Se and his wife Sophie for a welcome dinner for us. We saw them for maybe 3 hours and this was 2 weeks ago.

Just as Sara and I are discussing how to best keep warm if we sleep in a field, a car going the opposite direction comes to a stop and asks "Sara? Matt?." Sophie had seen us going towards Goudargues, turned around, and picked us up. Just to highlight the point: Sara and I have met 6 people in this part of France: Reto, Laurence, OC, Joe, Jean-Se and Sophie, and one of them happened to be driving down that road, at that time, saw us, recognized us, and stopped to pick us up. Apparently she was just getting off work in Bagnole, had seen Sara (who she recognized (lucky she was the one with her thumb out)) and stopped to get us. She dropped us at Goudargues and after prolific thanking, headed home.

At this point, its 10PM, we're tired, its dark, but if ever two people needed a drink, it was Sara and I. We plopped into a bar, had a beer (coincidentally saw OC too), and then headed home. Not to exaggerate the point, but its 10:30, and this is the middle of rural France where lampposts are not of the utmost priority, and we are biking home. Sara had a couple of "this is crazy" moments, but we arrived home safe. I fell asleep before I hit the pillow.