Fall Break: Day 6

Tuesday, 10/26/2010

Tuesday we had an earlier wake up call at 8 am so we could get to the train station to go to Avignon. We ended up taking a pit stop at a close city called Montpelier since we were actually on the wrong train - due to changing platform numbers... The detour meant we had to stop and wait for the right train, and while we waited we got a quick bite to eat (I had a beignet filled with nutella) and walked around the town.

Montpelier

When we did get to Avignon, we went to the Palais des Papas (the Papacy), a medieval fortress and papal papacy from a few centuries ago. We took the audio guide tour of the place, and although the actual building structure was impressive, the tour wasn't. All of the rooms were mostly bare and the audio guide was information overload on a million and one things. Next up was going to the Saint Benezet Bridge, the 'bridge of Avignon.'

Palais des Papes

Inside the papacy

View of the city from the top of the papacy

Saint Benezet Bridge

After our sight seeing we got some French food from a local bakery for a late lunch. I tried out the croque-monsieur (a ham and swiss cheese grilled sandwich) and some fresh meringues. We caught our train back to Nimes and relaxed for a while until dinner time. We had an authentic French dinner for the first time and went to the Flan Coco, on recommendation of our hotel's owner. The menu was all in French so I pretty much had no idea what I was ordering... My dish came out and it turned out to be cod and some vegetables! The fish was a bit fishy, but other than that good. We also got the restaurant's namesake dessert - the coconut flan!

French meal of fishy fish and veggies!

Fall Break: Day 5

Monday, 10/25/2010

We woke up and caught an 11 am bus from the train station to the local Pont du Gard that's about a half an hour away. The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge that crosses the Gard River and was constructed by the Romans in the first century AD. It is the highest of all the Roman aqueduct bridges and was the first I'd ever seen in person. Before walking to the aqueduct, we got a quick bite to eat at the visitor center. On the menu today was some more crepes! I went with a simple crepe with ham and grated cheese. Then we went to see the aqueducts and walked on some of the trails on the nearby mountains.

 The crepe station!

The aqueducts of Pont du Gard

View from the top of the mountain

After getting our fill of the aqueduct and the trails, we waited for the return bus in the 25 mph wind for a while and finally got back to Nimes after 5. We walked around the town in search of somewhere to have dinner. After a fruitless search and much walking, we called it quits. The French like to eat dinner late and every eatery was closed! We grabbed a latte at a local cafe while waiting for the restaurants to open up again, and at 7:30 headed to La Pizetta, an Italian restaurant. I had the 4 stagioni pizza, which has tomatoes, mozzarella, artichokes, bell peppers, mushrooms, and ham. Satisfied with our meal we went back to the hotel to relax for the next day of sight-seeing...