GimletBlog

Visit the Gimlet Gallery for a little more sunshine.

The group leader has several different options for customizing student tours.  The original itinerary included a visit to nearby Arles, but Angelique correctly determined that our group had seen plenty of Roman ruins already, so she chose to show us a completely different aspect of French geography and culture, and one of her favorite places:  the Camargue.

The Camargue region is created by the Rhône River delta and is about one-third marshland and lakes.  It was designated as a national park and nature reserve in 1972, protecting 820 square kilometers.

The most famous residents of the Camargue are the black bulls, white horses, and pink flamingoes.

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Visit the Gimlet Gallery for more quaint village photos.

The village of Les Baux de Provence is perched on an outcropping in the Chaîne des Alpilles.  Much like the route to Taos and Philmont Scout Ranch, one can choose a direct route to Les Baux or a more challenging, but also more scenic and less traveled road.

Guess which one Angelique chose?

Bruno skilfully navigated our motorcoach through the narrow switchbacks past construction vehicles (!) and smaller cars (more stressful for them than for us),

stopping briefly at a viewpoint to give us our first glimpse of Les Baux … and if we thought the wind in Avignon and Nîmes was strong, the southern Alpilles was about to kick it up a notch.

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More well-preserved photos can be seen in the Gimlet Gallery.

Just as Julius Caesar divided Gaul into three parts, our first day in Provence was so busy that it’s best managed in three blog posts.

After exploring Pont du Gard, we were on the road again headed to Nîmes, where we would stay for the next few days.

We drove past vineyards and orchards which were just barely beginning to sprout leaves — not yet the glorious landscapes from the postcards, but the countryside was still very beautiful.

Nîmes became a Roman colony around 28 BC.  Veterans of the Roman legions who had served Julius Caesar in his Nile campaigns were awarded plots of land in the area; thus, the Nîmes coat of arms features a crocodile chained to a palm tree to commemorate their service.  Today, some of the best preserved Roman buildings can be found in Nîmes, and they are still in use today.

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A monumental amount of photos can be seen in the Gimlet Gallery.

The next stop on our first day in Provence was the Pont du Gard, an aqueduct bridge built by the Romans during the first century AD, and one of the highest and best preserved examples of Roman aqueduct bridges today.

Built to cross the Gardon river, the aqueduct supplied the nearby city of Nemausus (now Nîmes) with an estimated 44 million gallons of water per day.

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Note that the photos in the Gimlet Gallery are mostly different from the ones that are appearing in the blog posts, so be sure to look at both.

In the early hours of Monday morning our groggy group managed to arrive at the Gare de Lyon with plenty of time to board the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse).

Thing One kept his grandmother company, watched our luggage, and took photos of pigeons while I purchased p’tit déj for Thing One and myself, an accomplishment of which I was ridiculously proud.

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While we’re recovering from jet lag, returning to the real world, and organizing memories and thoughts for a proper trip report, here’s an appetizer:  a miniature version of the HostelBookers Seven Super Shots game.  The game is played by showcasing seven of your best travel photos from a range of themes.  Here are seven of my favorite photos from France:

• A photo that…takes my breath away

This category has to be the iconic Paris photo:  the Eiffel Tower at night.  On our first night in Paris, our tour guide, the indomitable and incomparable Angelique, led a sunset excursion to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, where we would have a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower’s night show.  At 9:00 pm, “the lady puts on her evening dress”, created by ten thousand sparkling white lights.  What a magical end to a long day of travel, and an inspiring beginning to our trip.

• A photo that…makes me laugh or smile

When Thing One visited Paris for the first time two years ago, he chose to take several photos of pigeons, and we expressed some regret that his camera contained so many pigeon photos, and so few monuments, or people, or … anything else besides pigeons, really.  This year Thing One decided to take even more pigeon photos as a running joke.  It should have been no surprise that while I was photographing gargoyles on Notre Dame, a pigeon photobombed my shoot. Mettez un oiseau sur ça!

• A photo that…makes me dream

The perched village of Les Baux in Provence is a windswept, rocky treasure trove:  tiny jewelboxes of shops tucked away into the walls, sheltering cafes, and narrow, winding streets.  Where do they lead to?  And when can I return to explore them?

• A photo that…makes me think

We toured another perched village, Èze, on the French Riviera.  After the steep climb to the top, we were rewarded by the spectacular view of the Mediterranean Sea and the Côte d’Azur.  One of the students in our group was resting on the wall, taking in the scenery and enjoying some quiet meditative time.

• A photo that…makes my mouth water

On a trip to France, this category has to be a photograph of dessert, bien sûr!  After a lovely dinner at our hotel in Nîmes, this raspberry-praline picture of perfection awaited us.

• A photo that…tells a story

We spent one morning on an overall drive around the major sights of Paris, and as our tour bus, along with many others, crept slowly through the Louvre courtyard, a group of rental bicycles rode past us.  I leaned against the window and snapped this shot of an older couple, still full of vitality and romance, as their shared journey takes them through this beautiful city.

• A photo that…I am most proud of (aka my worthy of National Geographic shot)

This eagle’s nest view of Èze on the Côte d’Azur captures for me the dizzying heights, twists and turns of the coastline, the color palette and overall beauty of the region.

Those are my seven super shots from this trip!  If you’d like to read some words to go with the pictures, here’s the trip report:

• First day in Paris:  le coup de foudre
• Samedi à Paris
• Au revoir à Paris
• Sur le pont d’Avignon
• Pont du Gard:  what have the Romans ever done for us?
• Nîmes:  here be crocodiles
• Les Baux: a mighty wind
• Un peu de soleil: a picnic in the Camargue
• So nice in Nice
• Èze: a golden goat in an eagle’s nest

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