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| Avignon for the 17th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference (SCTC 2024) |
Here is a report from the beginning of a roughly three week period spent in Europe in June of 2024. It involved traveling to Avignon in Southern France for the 17th Spacecraft Charging Conference. From there, I traveled to Toulouse for the IEPC plasma propulsion conference which was conveniently held the following week. Sandra met me there, and we next traveled to Slovakia so that she can see our new apartment in Piestany. The final stop was a short stop over in Vienna before flying back.
Avignon is a small town without an airport, so reaching it required flying into Marseille by the way of Munich. As usual, the Lufthansa flight from LAX to Munich was delayed by an hour. Germans are known for their punctuality, but Lufthansa for some reason can't seem to get this route to operate on schedule. But after a mad dash to the connecting gate, I found out that that flight was also delayed by an hour. So it turned out I will be OK in making my connection, however my luggage was less lucky for some reason. I landed in Marseille with just my day pack, but luckily I had packed a small change of clothes in it, precisely for this possibility. From the airport, I took the airport shuttle bus to the near-by Vitrolles train station. There, after a bit of confusion as how to buy a ticket, I boarded the train. The confusion was an user error, but not an obvious one. There is a ticket buying kiosk before you up the stairs to the platform. I am used to kiosks being touch screen, and I though the machine was frozen as it was not responding to my finger action. However, turns out that there is a large wheel on the machine itself that is used to move the cursor around on the screen. It's a good thing I had the ticket as the ticket control was serious! The conductor was being escorted by half-a-dozen cops who were detaining people traveling without one!
The blessing in disguise of not having my luggage was that it made it so much easier to get to my hotel. Finding your way around is much simpler if you don't have a suitcase to drag along, especially given the crowded sidewalks. The walk from the train station to the Place de l’Horloge was about half a mile long, and is a good way to see this historical town. Avignon is really neat! I was staying at the Hotel Kyriad located at the norther end of this 'clocktower' square (I don't remember actually seeing the clock tower). The hotels seems to be made up of two interconnected buildings. Getting to my room involved taking the elevator to the top floor, then crossing an outdoor patio, and then going down a flight of really steep stairs into essentially a different building. But the room was great, and I loved the view towards the papal palaces!
I then went for a stroll to check out the papal palace and also the attached gardens. This palace served as the seat of the Catholic papacy between the years of 1309 and 1377. This move occurred because pope Clement V of Bordeaux refused to move to Rome after his election in 1305. The next seven popes who resided in Avignon were all French, and were under control of the French monarchy. In 1376, pope Gregory XI moved his court back to Rome, however that was not the end of the story. After his death, a faction of cardinals refused to recognize his successor Urban VI and instead elected Clement VII as the first of two subsequent Avignon "antipopes". The second of these, Benedict XIII lost his support by 1398, which then led to a five year siege of Avignon by the French army, which ended with the pope fleeing Avignon in 1403. Avignon however continued to remain under papal control until 1791, when it was reunited with France during the French Revolution. The impressive city walls, being one of the few remaining such walls in all of France, speak to its past need for fortification. The papal palace itself was really a fortress, which demonstrated its effectiveness during the 5 year siege.
What makes Avignon really neat is the amount of people everywhere due to its pedestrian city core. This is something I really appreciate and prefer over the car-centric Paris. This was also helped by the fact that the UEFA soccer championship was taking place so there was a ton of people outsie watching the matches on TV wheeled out at all eateries. I grabbed a tasty pizza and a beer at one such establishment right by my hotel, but then it was time to get some rest after the long journey!
The next, Monday, morning I went to the conference to register, still in the same polo shirt I was wearing on the plane. But in late morning, I got a notification from the hotel that my suitcase has arrived. That was great news. Besides this, I essentially spent the whole day at the excellent conference (which was held in a conference room attached to the papal palace) and also preparing slides for my talk later in the week on dynamic modeling of lunar dust adhesion to spacesuits. Something funny that happened was that a former student of mine from USC, Nick Christensen, now works at Space-X and was here to present on interesting spacecraft charging observation the company has noticed with their Starlink constellation and its relationship to the Appleton anomaly. My master's advisor, and now a professor at USC, Joe Wang, was also in attendance.
I was in France shortly before the start of the Paris Olympics. The Olympic flame was schedule to pass through Avignon on the 19th. The day earlier, the conference banquet was held at at Espace Jeanne Laurent, an event venue site located below the papal gardens. I was running late for some reason, but this actually ended up being a lucky thing. On the way there, I got to observe a pre-flame Olympic parade which included a massive mechanical man. Check out the video below.
The next morning I went for a run past wheat fields on the bank of the Rhone near the village of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. Then in the afternoon, we got to see the actual Olympic flame make its way through the town center. This was such a lucky coincidence of being here for this historical event. Maybe I will get to see the Olympic flame again once the Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028, but I doubt I will be able to have this level of an intimate experience due to the sheer size of LA compared to Avignon.
The next day featured a conference-led tour of Les Baux-de-Provence, a preserved medieval hilltop village located about 40 minutes south of Avignon. Due to its prominent defensive location, this site has been occupied since at least the second century B.C. The fortress itself was built between the 11th and 13th century AD. Walking around the fort grounds, you get to see a bunch of various middle ages weapons such as trebuchets and battering rams.
Many pictures here were taken with the same Panasonic Lumix I bought previously for the trip to Patagonia. Unfortunately out here, while taking scenery photos, I managed to drop the camera. I though I had the strap wrapped around my arm but it wasn't the cast. I figured, no big deal, I just get another one, but apparently these compact super-zoom cameras are no longer being made or at least not in the sufficient amount to meet the demand. I eventually ended up buying a Minolta MN67Z zoom camera, which is definitely as pocket friendly as the Lumix. However, writing this report in March of 2025, I see that the Lumix is once again available for purchase. I may end up buying it again as I definitely appreciate its compact size.
The conference ended by noon on Friday. I spent the afternoon by finally touring the Papal Palace. The tour includes interactive tables which you use to point at things to visualize what the rooms looked like in their heyday. One curiosity was seeing a large internal courtyard featuring a stage with amphitheater seating. I presume this was used for the sermons. You can also climb to the top of one of the towers for a nice view of the town below.
I then just strolled around this really pretty town. It was full of tourists, many of which being on guided tours originating on Viking (and similar) river cruise boats parked by the Pont Édouard Daladier connecting Avignon to the Île de la Barthelasse splitting the Rhone into two channels. That evening I started noticing a whole bunch of life music performances getting on the way. Turns out that tonight was "Fête de la Musique", a France-wide celebration of music. As the evening progressed, basically every street corner was filled with musicians playing all sorts of live music. This was so cool! I found myself having dinner at a small bistro, with street dancing taking place in front of me. A guy at the table over invited me to share a bottle of wine. The wine came from his friend who owns a winery in the near-by world renown Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine growing region.
Saturday June 22nd was my final full day in Avignon. It started with a walk to Fort Saint-André located in the village of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon on the opposite bank of the Rhone river. The fortress, built on the site of a former abbey in the first half of the 13th century, was meant to showcase the power of the French monarchy in order to intimidate the papal-state run town of Avignon.
After lunch at the fort restaurant, I made my way back to the bridge but then detoured to the island at the middle of the river. There is a nice path along the Avignon channel, from where one can get a nice view of the half-long Avignon bridge. This used to be the main bridge across the river, but the frequent floods led to arches getting washed away. Currently only half of it survives. There is also a free ferry that takes you across the river. I got to the loading ramp just as a ferry was pulling away but this gave me some time to rest in the June sun waiting for the next one.
I then continued sightseeing in Avignon by visiting several different museums. All were spectacular! I honestly wish I had more time. I first ventured to Musee Calvet, which houses various art pieces such as paintings and statues adoring intricately decorated rooms. I then found myself in Musee Requien, which turned out to be one of the more interesting museums I have been to. It houses a multitude of botanical samples, such as various bugs preserved in pin boards. It also has various taxidermied animals. I then found myself in Museum Lapidaire, which felt like it being transported to a Roman senate. I ended the very long day with another delicious French dinner. Then the next day, I hopped on a train to Narbonne, and from there to Toulouse for IEPC.
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