Hello from Paris! Because I’ve been in Paris since last Saturday I’ve been a little preoccupied and my laptop has not left its bag. However after a very busy week with extensive exploring and MANY Fitbit steps (I’m finally leading amongst my Fitbit friends!), I’m taking a well deserved and much needed afternoon break to sit in a cafe and advise you that I’m still alive and, of course, loving France.
Pont du Gard
So since I left off in
my previous post, Ian and I rented this cute little guy in Avignon to drive a short distance to Pont du Gard, a 1st century A.D. aqueduct and engineering feat. I’ll spare you the details of its history, but check out the wiki page here
In addition to the bridge and the beautiful panoramic views at the top of the cliffs was a really great museum about not only the Pont du Gard itself, but also the rise and fall of the Roman Empire in southern France. The museum did a great job of showcasing the Romans’ remarkable achievements. For instance, they were even using lead pipes in the early centuries A.D.!
Nimes, a city of Roman ruins
From Pont du Gard, Ian drove us to Nimes, the nearby city originally served by the Pont du Gard aqueduct. I’d heard Nimes was a sleepier city so we were pleased to discover its hustle and bustle when we arrived mid-day.
We unknowingly parked away front the tourist area, providing the opportunity to walk through the city on our way to its major attraction – the Arena of Nimes, essentially a Coliseum much like that in Rome, though on a smaller scale.
Again, this site was phenomenal And in remarkably good condition given its age. Built in the 1st century A.D., its layout is the same as modern day arenas. The Romans clearly knew how to manage large groups of people! There was a great audio tour, which provided lots of information and in some cases a little too much detail for my stomach when it came to recounting gladiator fights and public executions. Nevertheless, so neat being inside a 1900+ year old building.
After wandering through the pedestrian, cobblestone streets of historic Nimes and grabbing cold drinks and a crepe, we decided to head toward Montpellier as we were meeting our Airbnb host that evening at 9pm.
Road to Montpellier
Coming to France, I’d decided that I really wanted to go to a Carrefour hypermarket store. I did major group Strategy and Marketing projects on the Carrefour retailer without having ever been inside a store. On our way out of Nimes we passed a Carrefour so decided to pop in. It was basically as expected (I’d watched videos online) EXCEPT all shelf stickers were digital!! Mine and Ian’s minds were blown. How cool is that? And when will we start seeing this in Canada? Way better than printing shelf stickers for every product SKU.
Further, the parking lot was, for Ian and I, an attraction in and of itself. There were clearly marked pedestrian walkways safely separated from traffic as well as trees and flowers. Definitely a huge improvement over big box store parking lots which offer next to no defined space for pedestrians.
We then took backroads to Montpellier to see what the French suburbs look like and to pass through small towns 
on the way. What we noticed was that the entrance to and exit from each town or village was marked by these tree arches. Aren’t they gorgeous?
After this driving experience, we were very grateful for Waterloo Region’s recent addition of multiple traffic circles in lieu of traffic lights. The French love their traffic circles and we entered several on the outskirts of Avignon and Nimes that had 3-4 lanes of traffic WITH traffic lights embedded within the traffic circles. Combine that with driving in rush hour traffic and you’ve got a nice little driving challenge. But Ian did great and got to love our little car.
Only trouble was that the key boxes at our drop off location, the Montpellier train station, were hidden without any instructions posted. The info desk at the station appeared to be vacant but turns out the employees we just off the side chatting with coworkers and ignoring us. Eventually we found. The drop box hidden behind a door (the station was undergoing renovations) but we were late meeting our Airbnb host. Luckily she was super sweet and didn’t mind. As she assured me on the phone, she was just downstairs from the apartment having a glass of wine with her friend so no rush. Ah, the stereotypical French way.
That’s all for now. More to come on Montpellier, which I adored, and, of course, Paris. Lots on Paris.
Jenn's Thoughts 