South of France (Day 3)

Our second day trip was to Nimes, France.  Nimes was once a Roman city and is home to ancient Roman ruins including an amphitheater (which is still used for bull fights).  We had beautiful weather for part of the day, which was a nice change.  In addition to the town we saw three impressive sites.

1.  Amphitheatre of Nimes
Our tour of the amphitheater included an audio-guide that told many informative and gory details about the history of the building.  We were able to walk on all levels of the seating and see many different views of the arena.  Did you know arena is Latin for sand?  This is significant because the floor is covered in sand in order to soak up the blood from gladiator fights and other events.  It had to be raked multiple times throughout the day to decrease the smell.  We also learned that Hollywood got it wrong in Gladiator and that the thumbs up/down sign was not used in gladiator fights.

Inside the arena.

Listening to the audio tour.

Maybe there was a reason they didn't
give small children audio guides (Luke
is using mine).  They included a lot of gory details.

View from the top of the arena.

Panoramic view of the arena.

Sorry Joaquin Pheonix, no thumbs down.

Bull fights are still held here.

In between visiting ancient sites we walked through the town of Nimes.  It was nice to enjoy some warmer weather.  I especially liked a park in the middle of town that had some beautiful gardens.

I'm not sure the bird is going to make it.

This was an intense game of petanque.

2.  Maison Carrée

The Maison Carrée is a Roman temple dedicated to the sons of Agrippa built in 19 BC.  Inside the temple they showed a strange 3D movie about the history of Nimes.    

Sitting on the ledge.

Help!

3.  Tour Magne

The Tour Magne was a Roman tower on top of a hill overlooking Nimes.  All that is inside is a spiral staircase that takes you to a lookout on the top of the tower.

Spiral staircase.

View from the top.