Avignon
Nice to Avignon was the first leg of the trip using busabout, so I had an earlier morning to get on the 8am bus.
It was all quite straight-forward and easy getting sorted on the bus, and it wasn’t actually as uncomfortable as I expected so I was happy enough with that. In just 4 hours we were in Avignon, but only a handful of people actually got off the bus here. It’s not an overnight stop and most people tend to head straight to Barcelona.
The Avignon accomodation that we stayed at is like a big caravan park, which also has a building with dorm beds. There’s a shop and a swimming pool, etc, but we didn’t really use them. The park is right near the river, directly opposite the walled city of Avignon on the other side, so there’s a great view of the city from there.
Avignon itself is an old walled city made famous by the fact that it was the seat of the Pope (the centre of the Catholic religion) for over a hundred years. Way back during a period of political turmoil in Rome, the Popes fled and picked Avignon as their new home. They put a load of money into building a magnificent palace and surrounds. Apparently the palace took something like 20 years to build (but it is huge).
As well as the palais de Papes, there’s also the (apparently) famous Pont d’Avignon, or bridge of Avignon, which is in a nursery rhyme. It’s was originally a bridge that was built by a guy who heard voices telling him to build it (of course they say it was a message from God). The bridge was important for connecting north and south France, but it was washed away in floods. They rebuilt it a few times but it got washed away again. Now it’s just 3 arches that stop in the middle of the river, which makes for an expensive tourist attraction.
I spent most of my time in Avignon walking around with a guy named Dave, and we saw way too much of the city. There was plenty of time to kill. It’s really not interesting enough for 2 days, but the bus only comes through every second day. I’d probably recommend taking a few pictures on your way through, and keep going…
We did have an interesting dinner on the first night though. We’d spotted a place that seemed to be a bit like a Sizzler, with a cheap steak and salad/vegies meal. Unfortunately we learned (and so have a few others I’ve spoken to) that it just means a mince patty. That wasn’t the only problem though, because when you order it medium (expecting a steak) you get a mostly raw mince patty! Mmmmm! So we had a lot of vegies, and tried to eat some of the steakraw mince, but it wasn’t good. 
Update: Photos