Sur le pont d’Avignon,
L’on y danse, l’on y danse,
Sur le pont d’Avignon,
L’on y danse tous en rond
On Sunday we stayed in Avignon and visited two places – the famous bridge of song and painting, and the Palais des Papes.
The Pont D’Avignon is (or was) the only stone bridge across the Rhone between Lyon and the Mediterranean. The Romans had a bridge at this site, but the current bridge was built in the 12th century and destroyed during the religious wars in 1226 and later rebuilt. As the Rhone is a large river with powerful spring floods, the bridge was often damaged by floods, and then rebuilt. It was finally abandoned in the 17th century. What we see today is the remainder that projects into the river from Avignon. It is of course kept in good repair as it has become a symbol of the city.
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| Anna and the Famous Bridge |
The original versions of the song celebrated the mutual respect between people of various trades and professions and involved acknowledging and saluting each during the course of the song. The song could have an unlimited number of verses depending on how many groups you wanted to acknowledge. Originally the song celebrated the fact that the people of Avignon would gather on the far shore and dance under [sous] the bridge. Over time ‘sous’ was replaced by ‘sur’ or ‘on’. The bridge is narrow, so dancing in a group would be difficult, but David and Anna nevertheless essayed a few steps ‘Sur le Pont’, to the general amusement of the rest of the tourists..
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| Looking Back at Avignon from the Bridge |
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| Avignon's Wall with Gate from Bridge |
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| Another shot of the Wall from the Bridge |
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