Nimes

(Pictures: Nimes Arena; Maison Carree; Boulevard de Victor Hugo, along a canal in Nimes; view of the Jardins de la Fontaine; the Tour Magne; view of Nimes from the top of the Tour Magne)

Today was our last full day in France, and we spent it touring the city of Nimes and visiting the various Roman ruins that are located here. All of the ruins in the city are over 2000 years old. The weather was absolutely gorgeous (yes, the sky really was that blue!) and the day was very enjoyable. May 1 is a holiday in France, similar to Labor Day in the United States. There was a large marathon being held in the city this morning, and we saw many of the participants pass by as we walked along. It was neat to see the city celebrating, with musicians and dancers creating a lively atmosphere in the city square.

First we went to the Nimes Arena and took a very interesting audio tour. We learned all about the history of the arena, as well as Roman culture and customs, including gladiators and other spectacles. This arena is one of the 20 largest Roman arenas that remain today, and is the most well-preserved of all of them.

We then headed to the Maison Carree, a Roman temple. Unfortunately the temple is under restoration and some unsightly scaffolding was set up all along one side, but it was still a great sight to see. After a break for lunch, I headed to the Jardins de la Fontaine which were beautiful! A system of canals runs through this large park, and there are many fountains scattered throughout. The scenery was almost tropical, and reminded me of how close I am to the Mediterranean Sea. After passing through the park, I walked up to the top of the hill, which also has many walking paths weaving through a quiet, wooded area. At the top of the hill is the Tour Magne, an ancient Roman watchtower. This is the highest point in the city. I climbed to the top and viewed a wondeful panorama of the city of Nimes and the surrounding area.

It was a last day very well spent. Tonight we catch an evening train back to Paris, and tomorrow we fly home, marking the end of our trip. It's been an amazing experience and I've very much enjoyed documenting it every step of the way! Thank you for reading!

Pont du Gard

We caught another early morning train and made our way to Nimes. Nimes is in the region of Provence and is only 20 km away from the Mediterranean Sea! Here we met Gramzie’s French friend Terri. They were at Wellesley together for one year while Terri had a scholarship to study in the United States. Terri is really great and it’s been fun to have another native French person to show us around.

We got lunch at a little outdoor café and then caught a bus to the Pont du Gard. This is a 2000 year-old Roman aqueduct a little ways outside the city. This might be my favorite thing that we have seen so far. I distinctly remember studying the Pont du Gard in school and thinking it was really interesting, and it was my specific request that this be added to our itinerary. And was it worth it! The weather was absolutely beautiful today and the time spent outside was very enjoyable. There are many different paths around the Pont, each providing a different, spectacular view. I hiked to the top of the hill and viewed the Pont from the top. During the peak season, May to September, visitors can climb to the top of the aqueduct and walk along. Unfortunately for me, today is April 30th! Oh well. The trip was still amazing and I really loved it.

For dinner the three of us went to a little restaurant nearby our hotel. This was a very neat little establishment. It is owned by a 74 year old woman who has been running it for 48 years! It was all traditional, home-cooked French cuisine. For an appetizer we had fish soup which was different but very tasty. Then we had rib steak served with delicious mashed potatoes, and the traditional French dish – Ratatouille! It was all very good. I was too full for dessert but Gramzie had a caramel crème dish, similar to Crème Brulee (I’ve learned this is her favorite dessert – she gets it every chance she has!) and Terri had the a flan-like dessert served with pears.

Tomorrow is our last day in France and we will spend it touring the city of Nimes and the ancient Roman ruins located here.

Cahors and Grotte du Pech-Merle

Today Gramzie and I caught an early morning train from Paris to Cahors, a small town about 350 miles south. Cahors is in the Dordogne region of France and in the middle Pyrenees. It was interesting watching the terrain change as we traveled. It is very rocky and mountainous here. Very unlike the rolling hills and fields of the Ile-de-France region in which we biked.

After arriving at our hotel, we took a taxi to Cabrerets, about 20 miles east. This is the location of the Grotte du Pech-Merle, a prehistoric cave that contains many paintings, drawings and carvings that are 25,000 years old! Unfortunately I was not allowed to take any pictures in the cave, but I posted a few from the Internet just so you could see what I'm talking about. Pech-Merle is much bigger than I was expecting! To tour the whole cave took about an hour, and there are 15 different sections of paintings. The most famous is the spotted horses, which the artist painted on a rock face that is actually naturally shaped like a horse's head (horse on the right). It was a very interesting experience, and once again, I especially appreciated seeing these same caves that I distinctly remember studying and admiring in art history. Very, very cool.

Dinner was superb! We ate at the hotel restaurant, which is actually a 4 star establishment and has the reputation of being the best place in town. It was very fancy and very good. We started with a tiny leg of pigeon and two little puff pastries that were served with a beet cream spread. Neither was something I would have tried on my own most likely, but I was glad I did! Surprisingly good! My appetizer was some kind of creamed cauliflower, almost like a mousse, served with stalks of asparagus and lobster. Gramzie and I ordered the same main course. A filet of Sole served over top a flaky croissant with tomato paste and calamari. Delicious! And of course, the best part about fancy restaurants is that the portion sizes are on the small side - but this simply meant we had room for dessert! I had pear sorbet and Gramzie had a praline souffle served with mandarin oranges and green tea sorbet. Everything was wonderful and we very much enjoyed our "splurge" meal of the trip.

Tomorrow we take a 6am train to Nimes, where we meet Gramzie's college friend Terri!

Versailles

(Pictures: Chapel in the Chateau, the Hall of Mirrors, View of the Grand Canal and Gardens, View of the Chateau, inside the Temple of Love, a path through the gardens)


Today Gramzie and I visited Versailles, the famous Chateau of the French royalty. Versailles is about 22 km outside of Paris and about 45 minutes by train. We toured the chateau, which is, not surprisingly, very grand. The famous Hall of Mirrors was particularly interesting to see, as were the king's and queen's apartments. It is impossible to describe the scale of Versailles, although I will say that I can't imagine calling a place like that my home - even if I were a queen!

We walked through the gardens and to the living quarters of Marie Antoinette - the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon. These were buildings about 3 km away from the main chateau that she built and designed in an effort to have a more "simple" living space - simpler than the chateau they may be, but they are many, MANY times the size of a normal house today, so I wouldn't say she was roughing it when she lived there.

We really enjoyed the day today, and luckily the rain held off for the most part. Tomorrow we have a very early start as we say Au revoir to Paris. We make our way to Cahors and the Grotte du Pech Merle.

Musee du Louvre

(Pictures: Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, Mona Lisa, dining room in Napoleon's apartments, an art student's work)

Today Gramzie and I visited the Louvre. It was great. We saw so many famous works of art, and many that I remembered studying in art history. That's been particularly enjoyable for me - seeing the real works that I studied in school. The Louvre is too large to see in its entirety in one visit, so Gramzie and I each picked out some areas that we wanted to prioritize. We did the highlights of course, as seen in my pictures, and also went through the Northern school of painting, Italian paintings, French paintings, Greek and Roman antiquities, Egyptian antiquities, the apartments of Napoleon III, and various other sections we meandered through going from one place to another. We spent the whole day at the Louvre and we're both very tired!

For dinner we ate at a restaurant near our hotel and we each ordered veal Milanese with penne pasta. It was very good. We also made a pact to not eat any bread during this meal so we'd have room for dessert! All week we've skipped out on delicious French desserts because we're always too full! But today Gramzie Creme Brulee and I had a crepe with coconut and chocolat sauce and vanilla ice cream. Delicious!

Tomorrow we head out of Paris for the day to visit Versailles. Stay tuned!

Musee d'Orsay and Le Marais

(Pictures: Musee d'Orsay, Shakespeare and Company, Musee de Picasso, Notre Dame at sunset, me, Nadia and Gramzie)

Today we went to the Musee d'Orsay in the morning. This is probably the second most popular museum in Paris, next to the Louvre. I really enjoyed this visit. They have a diverse collection of materials, and an especially broad collection of paintings, which I really enjoyed viewing. My favorite section was the Impressionist rooms, but I think that's the favorite of a lot of people! Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Degas, Van Gogh, and Sisley (who we learned about in Moret-sur-Loing) were among the artists represented.

After touring the museum, we met Gramzie's friend Nadia. She was an exchange student when she was in high school with my great aunt and uncle, and is a professional interpreter. It was a really neat experience to spend the afternoon with her. We ate lunch at a charming little French tea house and then walked around part of the city with her. We saw the coolest little book shop I've ever seen, Shakespeare and Company - floor to ceiling covered in books! It was great. Then she took us to Le Marais, a famous neighborhood in Paris. There are so many little streets filled with cute shops and gardens, and it was great to walk around and get a feeling for the area. Gramzie and I really enjoyed being shown the city by a person who lived there many years.

We went to dinner at a restaurant called Les Editeurs - another book themed establishment! It was really cute. We hadn't made any set plans for our time that evening, so Gramzie and I decided to go on a sightseeing river cruise after dinner. I'm really glad we did this. We got to see a new perspective of Paris and view many of the major monuments by night! It was really pretty.

Tomorrow we head to the Louvre!

Back to Paris!

(Pictures: Eiffel Tour, Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, view from the dome of Sacre Couer with the Eiffel Tour in the distance, a field of grape trees in the Clos du Montmartre vineyard, the Moulin Rouge, one of the many cool Metro signs in Paris, the view from my hotel room - the Eiffel Tour at sunset with the Hotel des Invalides in the foreground)


As I'm writing this, I'm looking out my window at the Eiffel Tour, aglow with thousands of golden lights as night is falling over Paris. This has to be the best view from any hotel room I've ever had. Ever.

Today began at the early hour of 5am! We had a very early breakfast, loaded our luggage and said "Au revoir!" to The Fleur and her crew by 6am. Some of our group members had a 10:30 flight so we had to make the two hour bus ride back to Paris very early in order to get them there on time. About half the group was heading home, the other half was extending their visits and doing a variety of things. Some were staying in Paris longer, others were going to Strasbourg, some were going to Germany, and two were even taking the train to Istanbul! I certainly was spending time with a bunch of globetrotters this week.

After we left the group in Paris, Gramzie and I took a taxi to our hotel. We were in Paris by 8am and our room wasn't ready yet, so we dropped our luggage in storage and headed out. I intended on taking advantage of the early start and getting a full day in! We began making our way to the Eiffel Tour. Unfortunately the forecast is calling for rain the next few days, but the skies were still fairly clear when we got to Paris so we wanted to do the Eiffel Tour right away, before the rain moved in. We got there just in time. It was a bit cloudy when we made our way to the top, but at least the rain held off until later this afternoon. The trip to the top was a lot of fun. The view is, of course, incredible. It was fun to try and find all of the spots around Paris we had visited the week before. I posted several pictures, but I got a couple of, what I think are, cool shots that I wanted to share!

After the Eiffel Tour, we took the metro back to our hotel to check in. We did a little bit of settling in, and then headed back out to see more of the city. Our hotel is near the Sorbonne, the top university in France. We ate lunch at a cute little outdoor cafe very near our hotel. I had a delicious bowl of French onion soup, and a salad of field greens, smoked salmon, tiny shrimps, cucumber, tomato, and avocado, in a mild cocktail sauce dressing. It was great! Filling but refreshing.

After we'd revived ourselves over lunch, we took the metro to Montmartre. Montmartre is a very cool neighborhood on the northern most edge of Paris. It is set on a steep hillside, and on top is Sacre Couer, a church and one of the most recognizable landmarks in Paris. The church is very unique looking, and to me, almost looks more like a mosque than a Catholic church. The fact that it has domes instead of traditional steeples is what, I think, sets Sacre Couer apart from the other cathedrals in Paris. I made the 300 step climb to the top of the dome (Gramzie sat this portion of the adventure out) and saw another incredible view of the city. Despite the clouds, a lot of landmarks could be made out in the distance, including the Eiffel Tour.

We spent the afternoon doing a self-guided walking tour through Montmartre, browsing in many of the cute little shops that are scattered throughout the neighborhood. We ended by passing by the famous Moulin Rouge. This was a fun site to see. Obviously the movie has made it very well-known, and the Moulin Rouge and its windmill are now a trademark symbol of Paris. We then hopped on the metro and went back to our hotel. We ate at another cafe for dinner. I wasn't too hungry after the big salad I had for lunch, so I had a crepe with ham, cheese and egg for dinner. It was simple but very tasty.

It was a marathon day of sightseeing and I think I finally wore Gramzie out! Tomorrow will be another packed day so check back to read about it!