That's So Nice!: Adios, Barcelona; Bonjour, Nimes!!

Today's first shift for breakfast time was 6:45 a.m. so we could board our bus no later than 8:00 to get on the road to La France! Today we leave behind the land of Gaudi and tapas and tortillas to see what the old Roman ruin of Nimes have to offer.

The view of Nimes from an ancient Roman tower

Our bus stopped at a truck stop/luncheon spot--these are very common in Europe and they are not your ordinary truck stops. No. These will offer lovely sandwiches (mine was jambon, beurre, et emmental, with a side of pain au chocolate) or plated lunches and allllll the other things you might need. Car supplies, yes, but also gift shops and candies and bakery goods and SO MUCH MORE. Really hoping we'll find ourselves at an Autogrille before we head home . . . .

Then! On to Nimes! We arrived at our hotel that is within viewing distance of the coliseum here--in fact, when I look out our hotel window, I can see it. We dropped off our suitcases here and headed right there; after Paola led us around a circuit of the outside, we went in and were handed little devices that read to us the story of this structure. In Rome, I would call the coliseum "the ruins," perhaps, but really, this arena is not at all ruined. It's in fine shape for having been built in AD 70 in order to entertain the Roman citizen of France with the ordinary things arenas are used for. Animals fights. Gladiators. Punishment of criminals with the use of lions and so forth. The floor of the arena is now modernized and used as a music venue, but it once was covered with wood and a layer of sand--to absorb the blood of the animals and humans slain there. Eesh. Having climbed around on it today, I'm not so sure I would fight (literally) for a seat to watch (ugh) two animals chained together in mortal combat or two humans (truly!) sentenced to fight to the death. But the organization and planning of this coliseum are quite perfect to easily move 33,000 attendees watch whatever they want in this structure.

Then, a quick walk to a temple--also Roman! This one is the Maison Carree, the Square House, a temple dedicated to Gaius Caesar by Regulus, the son of a Roman man famed for his fighting for the Romans. It, along with the arena, is one of the best preserved examples of Roman architecture. The building is beautiful, and this area seems to be a little Roman, a little French, and a little tropical. There are seals all over the town of the symbols of a palm tree with an alligator tied to it to honor the conquest of Egypt. This coat of arms can be spotted everywhere, and I entertained myself this afternoon by finding as many as I could, capturing them on camera.

Dinner! Tonight, duck a l'orange! The kids were told the dinner would be duck--usually, we tell them it's chicken and then surprise them later--and some were trepidatious about trying it, but they all quickly discovere that it is, in fact, delicious! I always scrape a little of the fat off, but I looked around and saw that the majority of the kids had cleaned their plates entirely--yay! They might come home looking for duck in our grocery stores! We had sides of a zucchini quiche-type thing and also some cheesy potatoes--delish!! Then, the waiter brought us a dessert of chocolate flourless cake on a sea of vanilla sauce and I thought seriously about licking the plate clean. But I did not. One must remember one's manners . . . .

So today's winners are all the kids who climbed to the top of an old Roman tower with their brave sponsors! If you made it to the top to get the money shot of the city below you, bravo, mes etudiants!! That climb was STEEP and the tower was TALL. We all checked ou Fitbits and health trackers after that--we had enough steps in for all the Herrin High School students!

Here are today's pics! Enjoy!

Huh. Okay. No pics. They won't upload. Will try again in the morning . . . . Bonne nuit, mes amis!!