Avignon, July 2010

As you may or may not be aware, I will journey across the pond again the summer for a brief stint in the south of fair France. The amiable government of that same country was kind enough to offer me a scholarship, complete with plane ticket (!) for this little trip.

I have gotten some of the following questions of late, so I have compiled a frequently asked questions section:

Q: Where are you going?
A: I fly into Paris for two days, but my ultimate destination is Avignon:
Q: What are you doing there?
A: I am attending an international theatre festival, le Festival d'Avignon, "one of the most important manifestations of living contemporary spectacle", as its website states.

Q: What's the deal with Avignon?
A: The city has two claims to fame:

1: due to struggles within the Catholic church, it was the seat of the papacy from 1309-1377. Seven popes lived there (instead of in Rome). They built a sweet castle:

(DG took this picture when we visited Avignon last summer.)

Many of the shows for the festival take place IN this building, the Palais des Papes (Pope's Palace), as you see below; the stands can seat more than 3,000 people.

(I KNOW, right?! Incredible. Image from a book, "Le Festival d'Avignon")

2: Avignon is also the subject of a popular children's song, Sur le pont d'Avignon ("On the bridge of Avignon.) (I tried to find the least-annoying rendition possible, but I make no promises about the high-tech graphics of this video.) The bridge collapsed in the 1500s, but it lives on in in the little song, so to speak.

(DG took this: see how the bridge stops? Yes.)

Q: Are you by yourself?
A: I'm going by myself, but I will be with a group of international students. There are students from all over the world on the email list.

Q: How long will you be gone?
A: July 15-29.

Q: Can I see some more sweet pics of the festival?
(OK, so no one really asked me that. But lets pretend:)

Curtain call for a show called "Les souliers en satin"

A set in "le Cour d'Honneur" ("the Court of Honor") where many of the shows are held)

Poster from the very first Festival d'Avignon in 1947

(So my blog title is out-of-date, but I haven't really figured out how to change it. So it will stay).

I'll update this as frequently as I can while there; hopefully we will have consistent internet access...