So I'm starting here with a week-long trip I took with my mother through the south of France in 2009 - we covered just under a thousand kilometers in about six days if I recall, beginning in Arles https://twitter.com/medievalhistory/status/1263457791018221575

Here are pictures from the Alyscamps, a Roman necropolis in Arles

Arles' Church of St Trophime, where St Augustine of Canterbury was ordained bishop after he began his mission to the Angles - the current church is post 12th c and no longer a cathedral. Here is the entrance facade

More pictures from Arles' St Trophime - this time different views of the tower and cloister

More from the cloisters of St Trophime in Arles

Close up shots of the decorations in the cloisters of St Trophime in Arles

No pictorial tour of Arles would be complete without its stunning Roman amphitheatre, which was being prepped for a summer concert when we were there

Finally, we had the good luck in Arles to come on a market day - sadly we didn't have the resources to make use of these beautiful spices!

Next we made a brief stop in the tiny village of Tarascon - mostly so I could claim to have seen the legendary origin of the Tarasque, one of #dungeonsanddragons' most famous monsters (which bears little resemblance to its medieval inspiration)

A much younger Chris hangin' with the Tarrasque (a modern statue, but reflecting an annual parade-float monster still in use and going back to the late medieval/early modern period - sadly I was not there on parade day)

From Tarascon we moved on to Avignon, where my mother was very focused with singing a song she learned in French class on the bridge.
That's right, it is literally a bridge to nowhere, it does no cross the river

Famously the popes were held in Avignon by the kings of France for most of the 14th c, eventually leading to a famous division of the Latin Church with two (and finally even three!) popes when one pope absconded back to Rome. The popes kept their palace here until the Revolution

The interior of the Papal Palace in Avignon is still stunning despite having been looted during the French Revolution (a fate of many medieval sites in France, unfortunately)

More shots of the Papal Palace complex in Avignon

Pictures of art from inside the Papal Palace at Avignon

More art inside the Papal Palace in Avignon

Art from the nearby Papal Palace museum in Avignon

I remember being especially obsessed with this painting - the blue and red angels that almost blend into the background in particular. I unfortunately took no notes on the name, but I would love to know more, especially about this style of angel art on the border

A few final pictures of Avignon - we visited a monastery outside of town that is apparently now used as an artists' retreat

Taking a break for today to see if people end up enjoying this thread enough to warrant continuing. If so (or if I feel like putting off work some more) I'll come back to it & continue with the next leg of the trip: Pont du Garde, Nimes, Aigues Mortes, & St Guilhem le Desert