We loved our time in Provence, so beautiful and interesting.  During the hottest part of each day the crickets (we would call them locusts) can be heard–a steady background hum of insects eating (or just making noise, not sure).  Avignon is an ancient city; humans have lived there for thousands of years.  The wall around the city dates to the 12th century; the Palace de Papes housed popes before they were forced to move to Italy.  Politics!  Gordes is a town high up on a plateau and Roussillon is the colorful village where all the homes are in the pigments available in the canyon.