While in Avignon:
Relax at a Cafe
Tour the Palais des Papes, and the Musee Angladon
See the countryside that Inspired Van Gogh, visit a gallery that pays tribute to African beauty
Explore fields of lavender and visit a perfume factory
Shop to your heart's content
Find Hair Products and Services on Rue de La Carreterie
Dine on bread, wine, and escargot
Lunch on the Place de L'Horlage
Stroll down the plaza where you'll find the Palais du Pape, a ___ century castle that was home to ____ exiled popes.
Provence is Lavender country and several area tours and shops are built around the lavender theme.
Don't be afraid to check with the locals to help you find something you need abroad. It's one of the best ways to get a real feel for a place and pick up useful recommendations. In my quest, for black hair products in Avignon, I checked with one of the employees at my hotel who I thought might be black or part black about whether she knew of any hair salons in the area. She told me at first that she wasn't sure where I might find it because she had a personal hairdresser, but as she thought, she remembered the location of what I assumed, must be a black salon. (The day before, I asked a hurried black French woman on the street who didn't have time to go into details with me, though I thought she had mentioned a street that sounded like Carterre or something similar.) The woman at the hotel pored over a map for a few minutes, then pointed me in the direction of Place Carnot, and ultimately, Rue de La Carreterie, a small street where I later found that small quantities of things Africaine could be found. (I found this to be true in Italy as well--when I found black hair supplies it was often on a street where several similar shops and African grocery items or fabrics could also be purchased.)
Look for the signs below for Place Carnot and Rue de la Carreterie and you'll be heading in the right direction!
Rue de la Carreterie
After a few wrong turns and a conversation in broken French with a confused but pleasant salon employee in Place Carnot, I finally bumped into an African woman on the street who I asked if there was a coiffure close by. She asked in French if I was looking for an African salon and I said yes. I was relieved when she announced amiably that I was on the correct street and the salon was only a few blocks away.
Encouraged that I was headed in the right direction, I pressed on until I noticed the sign for the shop below from across the street: La Boutique De Josephine. And while I haven't been able to find the word in the dictionary, I have a feeling that it's the "defrissage" advertised in the window that I was looking for.
Boutique de Josephine, Avignon hair salon-33 Rue de La Carreterie.
Once inside the shop, I met the exhausted, but amiable Josephine whose small salon appears below. As you can see, her work station is small, but serviceable. Josephine braids hair and gives relaxers and she had both lye and no lye relaxers in stock. While our conversation was a little frustrating, both because she could not quite understand who I was, what I was saying and what I wanted !), she also failed to understand that, in fact, my own hair was quite ready for a relaxer. (In addition to searching for information for the site, I'd also hoped to get my hair done!) After a few rounds of "Pour quois vous" and realizing that my eurail train would be leaving in a few short hours, I opted not to get my hair done at Josephine's salon, though it did appear to be the only actual salon on the street, and seemed to be known and used by black women in the area. If you're in Avignon and need a salon, I'd suggest at least checking it out. If your French is better than mine, you may not have any difficulty explaining the service you want.
Boutique de Josephine
Josephine, a Cameroonian, also sells African foods including rice, flour, and spices and other items pictured below.
A bit farther down the street from Josephine's salon is a black hair supply shop called Look Metisse where they specialize in braids and hair weaves and also sell extensions. I walked in to find a French woman chatting comfortably while a black stylist attached her extensions.
Look Metisse, 75 Rue de la Carreterie
You'll find everything in Look Metisse from Revlon relaxers to Luster's pink moisturizer...
Tours Outside Avignon
Your hotel will be able to arrange a tour of lavendar country or a number of small villages outside Avignon.
If you're looking for a cute little gallery in which African beauty is truly admired, head to this little gallery outside Avignon. The first line in the window of this gallery that features busts of black women reads, "Color is the source of happiness."
Inside, I found the bust below of an African woman along with several other similar busts and statues. A few seconds later, my friend and I were joined by an amiable gallery employee who explained that the women depicted in the busts modeled for the sculptor and lived in the area.
While I wouldn't have minded a little less nudity in the sculpture below, I couldn't help but appreciate the workmanship, the homage to black women, and the kind enthusiasm with which the host described the artist's work and showed me around.
In another nearby village outside Avignon, I happened upon this sign which caught my eye because the artists's last name , while not very French, is a common African-American surname that also happens to be the same as mine. 
I ventured inside and somehow even with my non-existent French, managed to explain to Virginie that I had a travel website in which I would like to feature her shop. There was something about her warm, familiar manner, that allowed us to communicate despite the language barrier. I wanted to tell her that she reminded me of people I knew at home, but could only manage to watch her and listen. I offered my AA Abroad business card with my name printed at the bottom and we laughed about the coincidence. I relied on my knowledge of Spanish and Portuguese as she smiled and explained in French that she didn't know the origins of her last name, though it could possibly have come from the United States among other places. there was much more I would have liked to ask her, but given my language limitations, settled instead for being content with our funny exchange and a few photos.
Virginie is an artist, and as you can see from her work below, it is worth a visit to her shop, both to see her paintings and to enjoy her pleasant company. To learn more about Virginie's work, visit her website at http://www.virginierobinson.com
