Record-breaking snow in Avignon

Friday night was unusually cold and quiet. Yesterday, Avignon woke up under a thick, frozen blanket of snow. A rare event in the city of the Popes, noted for its dry climate. Kids were playing - some of them even skiing- on the sloped Place du palais des Papes. The snow was so heavy that it broke some tree branches. The inner-city streets are still covered with it after 24 hours ; no municipal service can effectively enter this maze of frozen lanes. But shops are still open : those are the first days of " les soldes de janvier", boxing day sales, and customers are not deterred by the snow. Certainly not my wife...

A five-star Marriot hotel in Avignon

An austere looking XIX century building with a superb location, just north of the Popes Palace and Rocher des Doms once was the infamous Saint Anne jail. Locals remember the time when the neighbourhood was resounding of the shouts of prisonners over the wall chatting with their visiting families in the streets. Nowadays the city jail has been moved to Le Pontet, a suburb in the north of Avignon ; and after years of hesitation, the former jail building has been awarded by the municipality tho the Marriot Group of hotels. It will probably be a five-star hotel - quite a new notion in France, for the hotels in  this country noted for its palaces had, until now, only four-star ratings (despite the addenda of a ' quatre etoiles plus' category). This was an obvious understatement, considering hotels in other countries are awarding themselves six or even seven-star ratings ! It will soon be a thing of the past. And a night stay in Avignon in a ' five star' will hopefully be an option for the tourists of  California or the Gulf, who admittedly  find the French four- or three-stars hotels a bit risqué. Ironically, these hard to please travellers  might end up sleeping in the revamped cells of ex-convicts !
We suggest you book a studio or a room  with us, in the meantime.