Authentic French culture, and we’re not talking about yoghurt

As we came out of our tour of the Pope’s Palace we saw a sign for a show. The name of the place was Le Rouge Gorge and the show was called Passion. It was located in the basement of a medieval building right next to the Palace and for the price you got dinner and the show. Andy decided he wanted to go. I said “It’s called Passion. Remember that horrible show in Vegas?” (We went to something that was supposed to be a replica of a Parisian cabaret and it was tragic!). I also said “This isn’t Paris, it’s Avignon”. Andy was not deterred by my warnings and called and made us reservations on the spot. When we left the hotel for the show a light drizzle had started. By the time we were half-way to the theater it had started to pour. I had my umbrella but it was not big enough for both of us so Andy ran from awning to awning and in actual fact the umbrella was virtually useless because the rain was so strong. Eventually we turned off of the main street into the labyrinth of medieval streets surrounding the Palace. In about two minutes we were lost. We had thought we would recognize the streets so we hadn’t brought a map (even if we had it was raining to hard to have used it). It turns out that streets that old really are dark, twisty and remarkably devoid of landmarks. Eventually we found the door after having walked around for an extra ten minutes in the pouring rain. Andy was completely soaked and I kept tripping on my pants because they were so wet from mid-thigh down they had grown about two inches in length. When Andy paid for the tickets they were half of the price we had been expecting. Andy said “is that price for dinner and the show?” and the guy said “Yes it is our opening night and we are charging less because it is for our friends and family”. So on the plus side we are getting everything half price. On the minus side, it was their first show and everybody knows everybody else except for us. Great! We sat at our table and tried to drip underneath it and not on it. We had to agree that the venue was impressive. There were about 25 tables with red table cloths. The stage was at the front of the room and at the back there were stairs going up, covered in red velvet. Along both side walls between the two were balconies painted black and hung with small lights. The bar was on the far side of the room and the ceiling above it had been hung with old musical instruments. The dinner was three courses and wine. Everyone got served the same thing and it was quite good. After the dinner was finished the show began. I was prepared for the worst and instead I got a homage to Bob Fosse. This was followed by Edith Piaf songs, french folk songs, men dancing Swan Lake, audience participation, a girl doing acrobatics on a ring and yes even one number with scantily clad girls. It was everything you would expect a French Cabaret to be and it was actually good, even though it was all in French so we missed out on some of the nuance! We were also definitely the only tourists there. For us that was the most exceptional part!

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Comments

  • Sometimes the best experiences are the unplanned ones!!!! This one sounds amazing!

  • Glad you were able to have an authentic experience, sounded like it was worth every rain drop. But you did this on your own, what would Ricky-boy say?

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