I am so glad we included Milan as part of our road trip. What we found was a very clean, and yes in parts industrialized city, with a wonderful, and again clean, subway system, and quite a lot of amazing sights to see.
Read MoreAfter 30 years, I returned to Venice. This time without a stroller, and instead of me chasing pigeons, I was able to watch my kids run after them in San Marco Square.
Read MoreTo say we didn't have fun in Florence would be a lie. We had a lovely time but we did not enjoy the city as much as we thought we would.
Read MoreAvignon seems to have more charm and a much more lively spirit than Nimes. We will have to go back to explore the streets and the city center more another time.
Read MoreWhen we were at Harrods in London, Kian saw a Batman Lego set that he loved. We told him he will have to wait possibly until his birthday to get it. We emphasized that the chances of him getting the Lego set in Ireland was slim to none, as we were going to stay on a farm without many toy stores nearby. In addition, we had a plane ride to catch from Ireland to France, so adding extra weight to our backpacks was really not something we wanted to do.
So he waited...and waited...and waited...and occasionally asked about whether we still remembered. "Of course we do!" is what we replied and sent him off playing.
A month and a half later, and just about 2 months before his 5th birthday, we decided to venture out to a toy store here. We explained that we had no idea whether or not the store would have what he was looking for, and he might have to wait until his birthday after all.
The toy store is in a shopping complex about 15-20 minutes from the city center. It seems very new, with lots of different shops ranging from clothing to shoes to home decorations to entertainment, and so on.
Shopping Center
The toy store, Maxi Toys, was fairly large based on the French standards we are getting used to, and had lots of different departments. The only difference between this toy store and many like it in the US were the prices! EEK! Have I mentioned how expensive everything is in Europe, especially here in France?
We didn't see the Batman Lego set that Kian had seen in London, which frankly was a good thing because that set was for kids 7-14. We did, however, find a junior Lego Batman set, which is meant for kids 4-7. After making a deal with Kian, that this is an early birthday present (I even have a video in case he needs to be reminded later) we bought the set. To be fair for Hannah, we also bought her a little Snow White plush doll.
Happy campers!
The Batman Lego Set that made Kian so so so happy!
Kian working on building the Lego set
Lego building continues with daddy's help
Ta Da! He did have help, but he followed the instructions and put all the pieces together, realizing what it means to actually build a set.
Shortly after lunch, after the whole set was built and Kian had the chance to play with it for a little bit, we packed up and set out for Pont Du Gard.
“The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge that crosses the Gardon River. It is part of the Nîmes aqueduct, a 50 km-long (31 mi) structure built by the Romans to carry water from a spring at Uzès to the Roman colony of Nemausus (Nîmes). Because the terrain between the two points is hilly, the aqueduct – built mostly underground – took a long, winding route that crossed the gorge of the Gardon, requiring the construction of an aqueduct bridge. Built in the 1st century AD, the Pont du Gard is the highest of all Roman aqueduct bridges and is one of the best preserved. It was added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 1985 because of its historical importance.”
We intentionally decided to leave later in the afternoon, since I had read something about a light show and a jazz band playing at night. The drive to Pont Du Gard is about a half hour from Nimes. The entrance fee per vehicle is 18 euros, and we had to pay a highway toll of about 2 euros each way (back to my complaints about everything being very expensive here). Regardless, I can easily justify the price considering the great time we all had, and the neat light show we were treated to at night (more on this later).
After arriving and parking the car, it was a short walk to the welcome center, and from there another short walk to the aqueduct bridge. It was definitely another amazing piece of Roman architecture that has been very well maintained, considering it's almost 2,000 years old.
To get across, you can climb and walk on top of the third tier (there's a narrow walkway surrounded on both side with walls), but we opted to skip that and headed across the lower level and towards the river, so the kids could have some time to splash around.
The river was busy, with lots of swimmers, kayakers, people diving into the water from short cliffs, and people just lounging about. The beachy area was a mixture of rocks, grass, and dirt, and there were more than enough places to go that it didn't feel too crowded. We picked a place pretty near the entrance, where it was shallow and there were lots of other kids playing. The river itself is cool, but not cold, is shallow for a while before getting deep, and has a rocky bottom that was full of little fish who were quick to swim away.
We saw a lot of families with kids young and old, but honestly I was not able to communicate with anyone. This was for a number of reasons, such as: a) the parents were in the river and their kids were playing by the river bank, b) the kids were older, which meant the parents were relaxing or chatting amongst themselves, c) the parents were too pre-occupied running after babies who were trying to eat mud :), and of course d) my French isn't exactly up to par for just striking up a conversation.
So we just enjoyed each other, and the simple world of children playing in the water.
Kian had a great time playing in the river.
Hannah loved the lack of waves and the fact that she could chase little fish in the water... Though she never got too far from the river bank and was really worried she might step on some "baby fish".
My crazy husband jumping off the cliff. I had to stay near the kids so the picture was taken from a bit of a distance. The orange arrow should help you see him no problem :)
After quite some time, everyone had enough of the river (except for Hannah, who never wants to leave anything that is fun) and was feeling hungry, so we headed up the stairs to find a place to eat.
The view of the bride around sun set.
The main restaurant was fully booked for the night, even though it looked pretty empty at the time, so we ventured a bit further to a small stand with quite a few tables and chairs, with a great view of the bridge, and which was right in front of the Jazz Band's stage!
We got two small tapas platters, which also came with two baguettes... more than we could eat! Shortly after we sat down, the band started to play (unfortunately we do not know the name of the band and I could not find it online). They were very good and played a combination of English and French songs. Slowly, as the sun began to set, more and more people gathered around the stage and dance floor. Except for two older couples who were very good at dancing (as we could tell from their coming dressed with dance shoes), and children (who don't care about what anyone else thinks), no one got on the dance floor until much much later, and even then you could probably count the number of people on your fingers.
Of course the kids, including ours, had a great time. Children are just drawn to music and dancing.
Once darkness draped the sky, some colorful lights started to appear on the bridge, so we followed the lead of some other groups of people and headed down the stairs towards the river to sit on the hills and watch the light show. There was no advertising for this light show anywhere to be found, so we had no idea what to expect or when it would start, we only knew it was supposed to be happening every night in the summer thanks to a brochure we found in our apartment. The people sitting nearby us heard us speaking English, and asked us in a somewhat surprised tone how we had heard of this. Perhaps it's some local secret? Or perhaps we just didn't know anything because of our lack of French?
Watching the crowd around the Jazz band from the hills by the river
We thought that perhaps the early lights were just meant to calibrate and test all the lights but it is also possible that they were just keeping everyone entertained before the show actually started.
The Red Bridge
The Pink Bridge
The Half and Half :)
Passing time waiting for the show to start
And passing more time
Finally, at 10:25 PM (which was after more than a half hour of waiting, when we were really starting to wonder if we should expect something more than randomly changing colors), a 5 minute count down appeared on the bridge and the Jazz band stopped playing for the night. All lights went out and the show started at 10:30 PM.
Countdown complete!
The show consisted of a series of projected pictures on the bridge that were synced to music. It was wonderfully done, and not like anything we have seen before. The kids really enjoyed the show, and thanks to my hubby, who used his knee as a tripod, we have some awesome pictures to share with you.
This was my favorite.
This was Kian's favorite, the pillars kept changing into levers and springs that made the bridge go up and down
The bridge almost looked it it was made of Legos!
The bridge covered in graffiti that covers a range of social and political topics
Unfortunately, our attempted movies all came out too dark to be worth sharing, so you'll have to take our word that it was a very entertaining show. The show lasted about 20 minutes, and concluded with a hearty applause from the audience, not least of all from us, since we thoroughly enjoyed the show!
A lovely day full of sunshine! Walking shoes on, thermoses filled with ice and water, cameras packed, and the map in hand; off we went to explore the historical city of Nimes.
Kian & Hannah right outside the apartment complex
We started off by heading to Les Jardins De La Fontaine.
"Economic growth from the seventeenth century onwards caused the city to expand. Entrusted with the tasks of displaying the Roman remains discovered close to the spring and improving the water supply, Jacques-Philippe Mareschal, the King's engineer, planned the creation of new districts with a layout in line with the axis of the garden."
The fountains by the gardens enterance
The gardens are beautiful, with many statues.
The centerpiece sculptures at the gardens
As well as historical structures such as Temple de Diane, which was built around 25 AD.
But the coolest aspect of the gardens, in my humble opinion, was La Tour Magne, built around 15 BC. The tower is perched up on the top of the hill, where you can see a panoramic view of the city of Nimes.
The walk to the top had multiple, criss-crossing paths which you can choose from. We picked the closest path, and the way up was steep in parts and very very hot!
"Like a signal of the city, a symbol of Roman power, this tower in the Roman fortifications is at the highest point of the town. It was built on a tower in the ramparts of the previous Gallic settlement. An L-shaped ramp led via the rampart walk to a stairway to the top of the 'big tower'. In Roman times, the tower had an extra level."
Since we really wanted to see the view from the top, we paid (yes everything costs money) for tickets to climb 140 steps to the top.
140 spiraling stairs to the top
The view was definitely worth the hike and the stair climbing. Even the kids were both wowed by how much we could see.
Panoramic view at the top of Tour Magne
"Around 15 BC, the Emperor Augustus enclosed the colony of Nimes within 7-kilometer-long city walls. These ramparts guaranteed the city's defence but, more importantly at that time of Pax Romana, officially marked out the city's perimeters. This enceinte included almost 80 defence towers, amond them the Tour Magne, and counted 10 gateways, 2 of which are still visible today: the Porte de France and the Porte d'Auguste through which the Via Domitia (A military road between Rome, Gaul, and Spain) entered Nimes."
Since there are so many different paths that lead up to the tower, on the way back down we took a new path and discovered a small waterfall. Kian had blast soaking his head under the fall to cool down.
Kian and his soaked head (and shirt) :)
On the way down the stairs we also were able to see a wonderful view of the complex architecture of the gardens.
Les Jardins De La Fontaine
Once out of the gardens, we found a place to eat lunch before continuing our adventures around Nimes.
Next up, the Square House, or otherwise known as Maison Carree, built around 16 BC.
"Over the centuries, the Maison Carree has never ceased to be used. It still remains one of the best preserved temples of Roman civilization."
Inside, there is a small movie theater where we watched a short film in French (with English subtitles thankfully) about how the city of Nemausus (The original name of the city of Nimes) came to be. In summary, a warrior from the southern tribes of Gaul joined Julius Caesar to lead a group of 500 men against the northern tribes hoping they would receive allegiance from the Romans. After 25 years in battle, he was rewarded richly, and allowed to return home and build Nimes to be modeled after the finest Roman cities.
As part of the movie, they also showed the Arenes (the Arena), where the gladiator fights were held. Which was perfect since that was going to be our next stop.
"Built around 70 AD, it was remodelled in 1863 to serve as a bullring. The Arenas of Nîmes is the site of two annual bullfights during the Feria de Nîmes, and it is also used for other public events."
It was a short walk from Maison Carree to the arena, and it really was a very amazing structure to witness.
View of the Arenes as you come up to it
We had gotten one of those audio tour headphone devices as part of the admission, and just wandered around, listening to parts of the history. The whole thing can easily take about an hour and a half if you listen to the whole thing, but of course with kids we were just listening to parts before moving on.
As you walk around, there is a general path to follow, but for the most part you can walk anywhere that isn't blocked off. After walking mostly around the lower areas, we saw a lot of people had climbed all the way to the top, and were walking along the perimeter to see the view of the city. To get to the top, you have to climb (very carefully) the tall "seats"/stones to see the view. So of course, that's exactly what we did, and were rewarded with great views, both inside the arena and out.
Bullfighter statue
Old stone walls on the inside
View of the interior from above. The stage is setup for summer concerts which they hold here.
Up at the tippy top. Don't worry, it's a pretty wide structure so not too dangerous :)
View from the top
After the Arenes, the kids were tired and hot, so we rewarded them for being such good walking buddies. We stopped at a hole in the wall shop called 'Croc Show' (more on the significance of the crocodile in Nimes in the next post), where Kian picked cherry slushy and of course Hannah chose strawberry ice cream cone.
We started our walk back home after everyone had a few minutes to cool down and rest their legs. We were lucky to walk right by La Porte De France, one of the two standing gates of the original wall that surrounded Nimes.
La Porte De France
As we got closer to our street, we saw lots of kids playing in the fountains which are part of the long walkway that leads the Les Jardins De La Fontaine. Hannah really, really wanted to stop and play too, and we said sure, because well...why not?
We had to peel away a sad Hannah from the fountains as she had no intentions of leaving. But after walking around the town for almost 8 hours, we really had to get back home to make dinner.
A very long, very educational, and very fun day was had by all :)
Our family of four is chased summer around the world. Now we are a family of 5, back in the US, and planning our next great adventure.
