We have arrived in Avignon for our final 3 weeks and the city is humming with activity.  Every available surface has a poster hanging it advertising the shows contained in the simultaneous festivals, the "In" and "Off". You could start your day with a show at 9 AM, (AM shows are usually a kid-friendly marionette/clown performance), see theatre all day long and then take your seat for the last performance of the day at 12:45 AM (PM shows are usually a reworking of Moliere with guns or burlesque striptease artists).  Over 800 groups are presenting their wares at the "Off".  You get your performance guide that is as thick as a local phone book, try and decipher when, where and what kind of show looks intriguing to you ( tous les descriptions en Francais) and then off you go.  So far, we have seen: a fab clown named Buno who does his own stunts and ends his show hoisted midair with an upright piano singing "The Impossible Dream" accompanied by copious amounts of paper snow, incredibly loud traditional drumming from Taiwan and a circus troupe whose tallest member had a severe case of the dropsies whenever his juggling talent was called upon.  Now THAT's theatre! We'll pack more in the next few weeks.

The "In" festival is a bit more high-brow.  Blake is catching Juliette Binoche tonight in her version of "Miss Julie" and I saw a pretty straightforward Russian farce called "Le Suicide"a couple of days ago.  It was so-so.  It may have been so-so to me mainly because I was freezing as Le Mistral had started blowing the day before and the show was outside and 2 1/2 hrs long.  Brr.  Still it was nice to be brrr after scorching Spain.

But the good news is that my Dad is in town with Janet and Emma and we have spent the past few days taking them to our favorite restaurant, L'Epicerie, shuffling them through the daily market, Les Halles and danced on the Pont d'Avignon. Janet lived in France in her youth so she has command of the language.  My Dad, not so much.  But we have managed to feed all 7 of us and have a great time.  We went to Pond du Gard which is a huge Roman aqueduct about 25 minutes from here.  The area is also a swimming, kayaking and sunbathing location.  We bought our food goodies at the market, piled in the car and recreated "Dejuner sur l'herbe," without the naked lady.  It was a blast.