We found ourselves in this
predicament; and perhaps, under all the circumstances to be related,
it would be advisable to leave the Lyons boat at Avignon and proceed
by land to Marseilles. Many of the passengers pursued this plan.
The weather cleared up in the middle of the day, and we passed Avignon
in a rich crimson sunset, which threw its roseate flush upon the ruins
of the Papal palace, and the walls and bastions of this far-famed
city. Experience had shown us the impossibility of taking more than a
cursory view of any place in which we could only sojourn for a single
day, and therefore we satisfied ourselves with the glimpses which we
caught of Avignon from the river. A half-finished bridge, apparently
of ancient date, projects rudely into the middle of the stream; we
passed through another more modern, though somewhat difficult to
shoot; our voyage the whole day having been made under a succession of
bridges, many upon the suspension principle, and extremely light and
elegant. The beauty and variety of the scenery which presented itself,
as we shot along the banks of the Rhone, were quite sufficient to
engage our attention, and to make the hours fly swiftly along; there
were few, however, of our fellow-travellers who did not resort to
other methods of amusement.
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