It's me again, I have had so much help these last few days, and yet I am coming back for more!
Due to unchangeable circumstances, I will spend the night in Avignon on July 4, which is the day before the arts festival starts. I am choosing to spend the 4th in Avignon, hoping against hope the crowds will be lighter than the 5th, and will be exploring Arles on the 5th. In any case, I'm not driving, and I will buy my Papal Palace tickets in advance, make restaurant reservations, etc., so hopefully it will all work out. We will train back to the in-town Avignon train station to get our luggage, and then head to the TGV station by taxi to go to Paris, train is at 7:40. I emailed my hotel to ask if I will have difficulty getting a taxi and what time we should leave, given crowds and traffic. They suggested getting the taxi by 6. Does that sound reasonable? I definitely do not want to miss the train.
We will get to Arles around 8 or 9 (I guess it depends on which town we want to have breakfast in) and then could return at 5 or 6 -- If we come back at 6, it will obviously be 15-20 minutes before we can walk back to the hotel and get a taxi. But if we take the earlier train, will we run out of time in Arles? Realistically, we'd have about 8 hours if we took the earlier train, and that would have to cover both breakfast and lunch, in addition to the Roman ruins and whatever other sight seeing we do. I'm sort of leaning to the train that gets us there at 8 AM and the return that gets us back at 5 PM. I know the differences are small, but since this is our one and only day in Arles, I'm trying to make the most of it. I was also hoping to have a nice snack or meal before we get on the train, but didn't count on having to leave for the station 90 minutes early.
Thanks again!