Nimes

Nimes! This was where I spent Christmas--though not in the water. The city is full of Roman ruins, as you shall see. And sunshine!
Above is a section of canal in the Jardin de la Fontaine. I think it was built by the Romans, but anyway, it's a big park with lots of statues all through it. I spent Christmas day sitting in the sunshine and drawing pictures of people and their long shadows crossing the main square of the park.

Below is the...okay, I forget. But it was under renovation/cleanig, and looked pristine under the scaffolding.

Need I explain? Grafitti.


Door knocker. It's an arm! Get it?The Arena where the Romans (my ancestors!) fed men to lions and such. Apparently they held executions during the breaks while everyone went and got drinks.

I am particularily happy with these two photos of the Matador. One of the Spanish Queens (or maybe she was Spanish and married one of the French kings?) brought bullfighting to France. I'm not into bullfighting, but I liked the statue. And did you know that PETA holds a Running of the Nudes?Lights. Christmas. Arena. Night. Or dusk, anyway.

I took the train to...somewhere, and then rode my bike out to the Camargue, a salt and fresh-water marsh along the coast. It was windy and the road was flat and straight and it took my about three hours to get to the coast! This was a field I passed with, I doubt you can see, a 'Non OGM' sign--no GMOs.


And then I saw toros, small black bulls that are particular to the Camargue. Cute!
And then I finally got to where I had been headed--the salt flats. The PINK salt flats. No, you can't tell from the picture, and to be completely honest, I could barely tell in person. It took me a bit to find them, hidden behind the sand piles and salt work grounds, but there they were. Definitely a place to return to, in the summer!
On the return, I took a different route, much less windy and far more beautiful. And, full of flamingos. Yup, Flamingos. And to look at it, this blog was brought to you today by bad pictures.
I went to Avignon! I could not take a picture of myself, sur la ponte d'Avignon, because, as you see, the Avignon Bridge doesn't really bridge anything. Actually, I could have. I just didn't feel like paying to go onto a half destroyed bridge. I was hungry!No one will ever be able to tell, but the tree on the right? Full of persimmons. Kaki, in French. I thought they were decorations.