Day 78 Nimes to Pau
Thursday February 21st.
After getting up we packed the car and walked and rove to the parking garage near the Nimes Coliseum. It is one of the best preserved roman amphitheatres in the world – although a little smaller than the one in Rome it is in much better condition – as a matter of fact it is still in use – for bull fighting. The audio tour is one of the best – not too be missed. It described the games and uncovered many Hollywood misrepresentations of the games and gladiators, described the types of gladiators – the fighting styles - a very informative tour. Included in admission to the coliseum was a 3D movie that was show a few blacks away in another roman building. A third admission was included to a tower but it was a long walk and we decided to grab a quick lunch which we ate on Rue Victor Hugo.
My only complaint so far about France is how hard it has been to order food - menus age very hard for us to decipher.
A brief fuel stop filling the tank for 55 Euros – yikes. We were headed towards Carcassonne, Toulouse and Lourdes. We were planning on stopping at Carcassonne but instead stopped at a rest stop took pictures and decided to keep going.
While I was driving read aloud the places and sights ahead of us, we also decided to skip Toulouse.
The only places I really want to see are Biarritz and Mont St. Michel so we I want to make sure we have time for those.
As we approached Lourdes – we also decided to skip this religious pilgrimage place mostly known for the vision of Mary that someone had here, so we continued to Pau – pronounced Poe we believe.
There is a tour of a Chateau and some beautiful views of the Pyrenees.
The drive again was spectacular, winding through rolling hills of farmland and villages and we did not lost.
The French road system is spectacular – actually descends from the roman system. Roads are in good condition – everyone drives in the slow lane except hen passing on the main highways which are 130km and even the smaller roads are well marked and maintained. Good signage. I like the arrows in the middle of the roads showing the end of a passing area on two lane roads.
For the first time we saw the Pyrenees in the distance. And the weather 18 degrees Celsius – absolutely spectacular.
We arrived in Pau - parked in the central parking garage below the main square.
There is a beautiful fountain – walked to a few hotels and got a room at the Hotel Continental – a beautiful building decorated with antiques – actually got 2 rooms for 100 euro. We were worried about Carnival here but only one of the 3 places we checked out was full. Our hotel has a garage so we moved the car – unloaded luggage and headed out to a restaurant Pam read about in the guide – a fondue restaurant.
Again it as hard to order but the meal was spectacular. We got a set menu for 2 for Pam and I, Aria got a set menu for one and I ordered a cheese fondue.
Pam and My set menu came with a huge wedge of cheese that was placed on a device that roasted it – occasionally you pull the cheese out and scrape off some to put on the different meats and potatoes that we got.
Aria had a salad with warm ham and some steak that she boiled in hot oil.
And finally the melted cheese in white wine which we dipped bread and meat into – what a great meal. Also had a bottle of local red wine that was fabulous. The whole meal was 84 euro. Just have to get used to the fact that food is expensive here.
There was only one other table of four during our dining time – I asked why it was slow and they said there was a football match tonight.
We really enjoyed the meal and on the walk back to the hotel talked about opening a restaurant and the types of food we might serve.
Back at the room we retired. I took my meds as I feel an attack coming on.
So far we have put 835 km's on the car. I am glad we got the unlimited mileage option.
