After our little holiday within our holiday in Beaune, we moved on to Nimes (which is actually where we stopped off for lunch on our giant getting-out-of-Barcelona day on our way to Beaune in the first place.
We got quite excited when we saw what sat at the end of this street...
The amphitheatre is best known for bull fights that run twice a year, and amazingly enough, don't actually involve cruelty toward the bulls. The bull fighters have to try to get a ribbon from between the bull's eyes, instead of poking arrows into it. Shame we didn't get to see that!
We went for a wander around town. It had a funny feel to it. Like it was partly deserted, and half the people that were around looked a lot like homeless people.
There were still a few nice buildings and monuments to see though, so we were satisfied for a while.
We managed to find our way to the other side of the amphitheatre to admire it some more...
And then it was time to search for dinner.
We thought it was hilarious that all four of the girls at the next table were busy on their phones. It's definitely the 21st century!
We heard that the area of Provence (in which Nimes sits) is well known for an aniseed-y drink called pastis. So Tom tried it.
I think he liked it.
He liked his GIANT salad even more!
I had a much more normal-person sized salad.
And then we shared a calamari in sauce which unfortunately wasn't actually very nice.
Apple pie for dessert.
The symbol of Nimes is a crocodile tied to a palm tree in honour of Julius Caesar and his Nile campaigns.
We made our way slowly back to our hotel, saying goodnight to the amphitheatre on the way.
Tom attempted to scale a fence to check out a war memorial (just kidding)...
We were intrigued by this hole-in-the-wall mini supermarket close to our hotel. It's like a giant vending machine!
We were lucky enough to be there when someone else was buying something, and got to see the mechanical arm come out and collect their selection. Fascinating.
And on that very modern note, so ended our first day in Nimes.
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