Wine ambassador for life!

You want to know what I love about France? I love the random. I went to Avignon with my Cal State program yesterday. Avignon is a medieval city and still looks like one. Several pope's hung out there in the 1400's and built a gothic palace. We arrived and got off the bus right next to the Pont d'Avignon (Bridge of Avignon).

Sur le Pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le Pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse, tout le monde

On our way to the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes), we passed a vineyard. People were dressed in blazers and broad brimmed black hats. People were singing. Children dressed in t-shirts and red baseball hats were picking up sticks. Two boys poked their noses through the fence and said, "Do you speak English?" A man speaking into a microphone annonced, "Look, some Americans have arrived! Our American friends!" They invited us into the vineyard. They gave us free t-shirts, wine, turkey, bread, cheese, paté, apple tart. I might want to mention that this was the palace's vineyard. I drank Pope wine! They removed their hats as they sang the Hymn de Provence. The band began to play. We took a picture with the mayor of Avignon (a woman, mind you). A man of particular importance asked Ashlee, another American, and me to come up to the microphone. He gave us the necessary "bises" (kisses on the cheek). He presented Ashlee with a bundle of sticks and a special glass for wine-tasting. Then, to top it all off, the three of us were to give a few words. He asked us what wine we prefered. Ashlee gave the perfect answer: Côte-du-Rhône. (We are in the region of Côte-du-Rhône). I said I was thankful and so happy to be there and so forth. They beseeched us to go forth into the world as ambassadors for Côte-du-Rhône wine. This is what I love about France: to live in the world of random and good company. I want to have stories like this my entire life.