FB9: The end of Southern France, Carcassonne

I pushed very heavily to get Carcassonne, specifically Cite de Carcassonne, as it is properly called,  onto the trip itinerary.  We planned this trip before Portugal and Spain.  I wanted Miles to see an awesome walled city.  It is still every bit as awesome, even after the castles on that trip.

After two hours of driving, from Nimes, we arrived at the drawbridge.  We parked and used a shuttle to get our luggage to our hotel, the... Best Western?  Yes, one of the very few hotels within the walls of the castle is a Best Western.  It was the only one with rooms left when we booked.  Their lobby is in one building with a few rooms and they have other satellite buildings in town with other rooms.



At this point, we were hungry.  We sat down at a restaurant that the hotel recommended.  They served us water with a logo that looked oddly familiar...



We walked along the streets of the town in a circle, stopping and looking in shops along the way.  We glanced in the Saint Nazaire church, which had funky creatures carved into the sides.  Inside,there was a beautiful stained glass and a quartet with incredible voices.  Unfortunately, they weren't singing Phish songs, so we didn't stay for long.



One store was selling a boardgame that I had introduced to Miles before the trip.  It was fairly appropriate to sell it here.



We ended up at the tourist office, and I noticed that there was a haunted house in town.  Miles was very excited about this.



It was twenty minutes long, divided into rooms with effects, and then the doors would open and we would move through corridors to the next room.  It was just Miles and I(Jeremy was too scared) and a couple that only spoke French.  One room had growling noises.  Another had a glass floor that vibrated and showed a video of us falling, a few workers jumped out with ghoul masks, and the ending was a video with a story, all in French with no subtitles.  Miles was a little scared, but at the end, they introduced the workers who dressed as ghouls.  Miles really seemed to like that.

Next was inside the Chateau Comtal, the inside of the innermost castle, and a walk around the walls.  By this point, it had started to rain.  Luckily, we had brought jackets with hoods, as it looked like rain clouds were headed our way.  We slowly made our way around the castle and one side of the walls.  It had a beautiful view and varying towers along the way.



After dinner, we walked along the walkway that was in between two sets of walls, just outside the inner city.  There were some beautiful views to be had and Miles and I had a glorious water bottle sword fight.  Miles disarmed me and I declared, "I surrender."   A woman walked around the corner at that moment and said, "Never surrender," with a smile.  It was extra funny because so very few people here speak English!  Tomorrow, we drop off the rental car at the train station an hour away, and then take a 5 and a half hour train ride to Paris.

FB8: An Aqueduct, Nimes, and party time I guess

Last night we stayed in Nimes, and the hotel had non existent wifi, so there was no blog update.  I will make two separate posts for yesterday and today, as much has happened.

Back in Avignon, we spent the morning looking at the ever closed toy store, buying a pack of french Pokemon cards, and browsing the board game store in town.



We packed up and left for Nimes.  On the way, we stopped at Pont Du Gard, a large aqueduct.  While climbing up for a view, Miles found an Australian Shepherd playmate.



It was extremely hot and uncomfortable outside.  We found refuge in the Pont Du Gard museum.  It had some cute displays regarding the creation of the aqueduct, but the museum was mostly reading texts or listening to audio.  Jeremy enjoyed reading every word the museum had on the subject, while I stretched on the ground and listened to the school children pressing the audio button on repeat, so it said the same french word over and over.  The air conditioning was nice though!



We made our way into Nimes via tiny streets and found an underground parking garage for our rental.  The hotel, from the outside, was the ugliest hotel I have ever seen.  The inside was very nice, however.  My biggest complaint was that the wifi was nonexistent.  I was the one who picked this hotel, so I am to blame.  It was the only one I could find inside the city proper, with the only other hotels being a train ride away.  We quickly found out why the hotels were booked.

It was festival time in town.  Roads were closed and vendors were erected, with loud music and tons of youngsters milling around.  I smelled marijuana on occasion.  Our first stop, the Arena of Nimes, with a similar look to the Colosseum of  Rome, was closed to visitors.  Instead, it was being set up for a bullfight of sorts.  I didn't get the details, as this is pretty barbaric from my point of view.



Down the street, we glanced at the Maison Carree, a Roman temple.



We turned the corner and left for the Fountain Gardens, a large and beautiful garden.  At the top, we found an old watchtower, with panoramic views of the city.  They charged admission, and since it would only give me panics anyhow, I sent Miles up with Jeremy.



After a rest, when I felt like my body was caving in on itself from all the walking, we ventured out into the night.  On the way back to the Arena, we found a vendor at the edge of the festival, and bought Miles a cotton candy for 2 euros.  I had no idea that the portion would be so large...



It was very busy on the street near the Arena.  It almost seemed disrespectful to have such noise and partying near such an old and beautiful structure.  However, it is theirs, so who am I to say?



Jeremy and I got Tex Mex wraps that were awesome.  Miles got a hot dog that was very red on the outside and very white on the inside.   He was upset that they didn't have ketchup.

FB7: The Cave

Today's first event was going to see the Palais des Papes.  It was a nice sized cathedral looking palace.  Inside, however, housed a modern art exhibit.  The first room was actually very cool, but everything afterwards was absolute crap.



We quickly walked through it and then walked up the garden on the side of the palace.  It did not have great views and it was getting very hot out.  We went back to our hotel for a bit.

This time in shorts, we ventured back out a bit later.  We went to a bridge called the Pont d'Avignon.  It is a bridge that only reaches maybe between halfway and two thirds of the way across the water.  There were some supremely ugly long, what looked like day cruise ships going past in the water.  It did provide a nice view of the city, however.  Miles was excited about spotting a fish from the lower lookout.  As we walked back, we were contacted by Jeremy, who was up in the garden.  We were able to see him from the bridge, as seen in the first picture below.



We left the bridge to go to the toy store.  On the way, we noticed that one of the stores was selling what looked like stuffed animal moths.



We got to the toy store a little after 1.  The shop owner was just closing shop, to be reopened at 3.  Our appointment with the cave was at 3.  Ridiculous!  The board game store was also closed.  We went back to get ready for the cave.

About an hour from Avignon is the Grand Site de l'Aven d'Orgnac.  We booked the English tour.  No more French tours for us if we could help it!  Apparently, the English tour earlier in the day had people from the United States.  Since no one else had booked for our time slot, we had our own personal guide.

We started 50 meters down and the bottom was 125 meters or so.  The whole cave was absolutely beautiful.  We learned about how stalactites and stalagmites were created.  We were also told the story about the group who first explored the cave.  The remains of one of the initial explorers was put in a vase, and put inside the cave.  Look for it in the pictures!  Also, one of these pictures has a drop of water breaking on the stalagmite, which is how it will continue to grow.



Miles declared that the cave was his favorite part of the trip so far.  When we returned, we went to what Jeremy described as a Halal food place.  The food was great and quick.  I've begun to grow weary of how slow service is at restaurants.  This was a pleasant alternative.  We picked up some breakfast for Miles at a local supermarket.  Our last stop of the night was our favorite gelato place with the 74 flavors.  I tried Smurf flavor.  It was gross.

FB6: Van Gogh and Roman towns

Tonight, we are staying in Avignon.  On our way, we took a detour to St. Remy.  Here, we visited Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole, once the home to Van Gogh.  It featured some gardens and access to a few rooms where he lived.  There wasn't much to it.  I did, however, realize that dogs were allowed to go into some museums in France.  The US needs to follow suit.  We have seen many leashless dogs in France, but as we drove in, we saw one dog, with a collar on, walking down the street without an owner.  On our way out of the city, many miles from where we saw it the first time, it was still roaming on the sidewalk.



A few steps up the road was the Site Archeologique de Glanum, the remains of a Roman town.  There were signs in English around the ruins, explaining what building was formerly in each location, sometimes including a progression of how each structure was renovated throughout the years, depending on who had taken over.  You were able to see the water and sewer lines and how it worked in the town.



We arrived at the north side of Avignon, near the Palais des Papes, a known highlight of the town.  We went underneath huge stone walls and ended up in a three story parking garage, which was attached to our hotel.  The hotel is very modern and has a friendly staff.  The location is perfect.

As I have spoken about before, I am not a huge fan of cities.  I can't put my finger on why, but I am enjoying this city.  The layout is open, yet feels personal.  Most roads do not allow cars.  There are tons and tons of unique shops.  You don't just have all gift shops with the same items inside like many other cities.  We saw an awesome toy store that I hope to visit tomorrow, a comic shop, a cookie/chocolate store, and a gelato place with around 74 flavors.  Either 74 or 76.  Jeremy found a board game store that I will check out tomorrow.  There is also a nice mixture of architecture in the town, with old buildings meshing well with modern looking areas.



Jeremy informed me that the hotel had laundry service.  I had known that the hotel in the next town offered this, but I figured that it would be better to get it done earlier.  Then, I saw the prices.  5 euros a shirt.  It would cost me well over 100 euros at that price per garment.  Forget that!  I found a laundromat ten minutes away and did my laundry there!

Tomorrow, we will do the palace and then Miles and I will be driving to a cave about an hour away.  Neither of us have been in a cave anywhere near its size.

FB5, Ochre, the mine, and naps

This morning we started off by going on the longer of the two ochre trails in town.  Jeremy mentioned to Miles that he should be careful because the sand is likely to stain.  So, he of course immediately put his hand in it.

Afterwards, we went down to the Mines de Bruoux.  You have to go with a timed tour group.  Unfortunately, our was in French.  Jeremy got a tablet with some information in English.  The mine itself was very cool, both literally and figuratively.  It was a little slow for us, since a lot of it was listening to the guide speaking in another language.  

There was a nice, young couple, from Paris, that gave us a bit of a translation after each section.  The ochre had been used for rubber at one point and then later, the caves were used to grow mushrooms. The couple were surprised to find people from the United States here, as this is a little bit off the beaten path of most tourists.  

From the mines, we traveled to another hilltop town, called Gordes.  The market was just closing as we arrived, which was a shame.  We explored the small castle/town hall museum, which had some pictures, some photos, and a top floor with costumes.

We were all wearing long pants, due to the coldness of the mine.  It was very hot outside, so we returned to the hotel to nap and relax.  We ate a simple dinner at a local restaurant and went to the top of the town to observe the sky as it neared sunset.