General:

Photos on the way...

I have over 100 photos I'm sorting through from my weekend trip to Avignon, Les Beux, and Pont du Gard. I'll try my best to post the best by tomorrow, along with brief histories of the sites.

It's was a very good trip this last weekend. I love history, and visiting the "Palais du Papes" or "Palaces of the Popes" in Avignon (where the Popes lived in the 14th century and the schismatic Popes reigned during the early 15th century), along with the castle of Les Beux and the remains of the 300 BC Roman aqueduct at Pont du Gard were almost heaven for me.

What was most interesting to me was that the Palais du Papes and the fortress at Les Beux were both abandoned and destroyed because of domestic political concerns. The first (the Palais du Papes) during the French Revolution, and the second during the early 17th century when the French kings finally consolidated their hold upon the entire land area that comprises modern France. The fortress at Les Beux was too strong to allow it to potentially be held by an enemy.

There is an irony in the French destroying some of their best accomplishments in the past that I find amusing. Of course, the excesses of the French Revolution do show the mercurial behavior that is still part of their temperament even today.