Train à Grande Vitesse

July 17, 2012 1 Comment

Time to move on.. There is so much to see and do while in this part of France and we were sad to have to leave. We were even receiving further suggestions (Thanks Mark and Jean-Marie) up until the end but there is a natural pace to this place that may slow down if you let it. Pont-du-Gard is one example, we had a shorter stay planned but lingered to take in the… Oh come and find out. We are already talking of a return in a few years.

Paris is our final stop on this journey and since France has a rather excellent rail system we chose the TGV as the way to get there. The system was fast, convenient and much quieter than I expected. Can we get one of these at home? I would ride it. Come on California! A member of the Assemblée Nationale, the lower house of the French Parliament sat next to us and seemed slightly annoyed, may because he sat with tourists? Or that he could not spread out his docs?? Who knows but it was interesting to see a living cliche.

After checking in and relaxing a bit we walked over to Notre Dame then followed the Seine up to the Louvre just to take it in again. A Vespers Service began at Notre Dame with some singing during our visit and we sat and listened for a while. A nice start to our stay in Paris.

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Un Après-Midi Au Pont-du-Gard

July 15, 2012

A bit slower today, after the activities of yesterday on top of the rest of the trip I promised Kim and Sydney a slower day that started with all sleeping in. We finally took off from the hotel about 1:00pm with two stops in mind but in reality we only made it to the first, the Pont-du-Gard. This structure is part of an aqueduct was constructed in the 1st century AD that runs from a spring near Uzès to the thirsty citizens of Nîmes. The only problem was the river Gardon lies in between the water source and the destination this the need for this structure. Held together by the weight of the structure itself alone, today it is a world heritage site and a great place to spend a Sunday afternoon. Many were there with a picnic and swimming, canoeing and we ended up lingering much longer than planned walking the cool water. We plan to return down the line for a full afternoon of relaxation (weather permitting, of course) and if you are planning to come to this part of France and want a slow afternoon, this is the place.

We did not completely neglect our second stop, the city of Nîmes but the only thing we did was to drive in to research our departure point tomorrow where we have to drop off ‘Jumpy’. And we are glad we did the station is not that clearly marked and the little bit of research today will make things easier tomorrow when we have to get up early and have our wits about us. TGV tomorrow and unfortunately the news today has some details of some stoppages due to idiots being on the tracks. We have had good luck so far and idiots tend to sleep in on Mondays…. Off to bed then… No drama tomorrow, ok?

Filed under Castillon-du-Gard, France, Pont-du-Gard Tagged with , ,

This Blog Post Brought To You By…

July 14, 2012

… tous les sponsors officiels de la Tour de France 2012. Vittel, Carrefour, Bic, Nesquik, Haribo, Le Journal de Mickey, Aujourd’hui en France.. Just to name a few…

We discovered a few weeks ago that the great race of France was going to have a stage quite close to us on all days, Bastielle Day 2012. The easiest place to see it was the near-by town of Uzès where the activities would start around 11:30am or so. Uzès also has a good market on Saturdays making it that much more of a call for us. Of course other blogs on this said stay away, the combination of the race and market would lead to a packed town. Not being deterred I got Kim and Syd up early (8:00am much to Kim and Syd’s happiness) and we beat it over to the town  ahead of the crowds. And you know what it was not that bad. The market itself was was great all things (it seems) were for sale. The food was excellent and boy, what a picnic you could put together!

Then there was the race itself, the cyclists were lead by a parade of vehicles decorated by the race sponsors who were throwing trinkets, samples, hats and the like into the crowd All I can say is thank got the Vittel water people had the sense to drive slowly had hand the bottles over rather than lob them at the masses… The came the cyclists in two groups, zoom zoom zoom, over in a few minutes. But the energy was fantastic, the crowd was in a great mood and we could not have enjoyed it more.

After the race we declared the afternoon off and crashed back at the hotel for some swims and rest, not that I had a choice, everyone was worn out. But it was a good way to wrap down the day and all were happy.

Happy birthday Mrs. Halaby, where ever you are.

Filed under Castillon-du-Gard, France, Tour de France, Uzès Tagged with , ,

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