Woke up around 08:30, downstairs for breakfast then out. Wasn’t aiming for anything in particular, just wandering. It was a bit chilly so had my jacket on. Nimes seemed empty after the other places, although there were a few tourists around. The streets in the centre are narrow, but clean. A lot of the shops are shut on Monday which might explain why there aren’t many people around. I found out that the town symbol is a crocodile chained to a palm tree, and it’s everywhere, so there you go.
Found myself at the Maison Carree, so thought I’d pop in to have a look and decided to buy a combination ticket to the other main tourist things – just as well, because all that was in the Maison was a crappy 3D film. Left there and walked to the Tour Magne, through the Jardins de la Fountaine. It was quite a walk, uphill, and the sun had come out and it was warmer.
Once in the tower I then had to climb 30 metres up a spiral staircase, but it was worth it because there was a great view over the town. It also reminded me that it’s good that we’re doing this travelling lark now and not when we’re too old, unless they put lifts in everything.
Back down the tower, through the gardens and back into the town. For some reason I had a craving for pizza, so found a place that had quite a few people in and had one.
Next stop was to have an ice cream, all to myself. One spoon and flavours I chose. None of this yogurt nonsense – yogurt is not an ice cream flavour.
Decided to leave the colliseum until tomorrow so headed back to the hotel and watched some tv.
Left the hotel again at around 17:00, wandered around the town again and a lot of the shops were now open. Decided to act like a local and ordered a beer and sat opposite the 2000 year old Roman colliseum, as you do.
Read for a while, drank my beer, then went looking for dinner. Found a place that looked OK and had an entrée of ham, salad and terrine (big serving and very nice), a cassoulet of fish (nice) , and chocolate mousse (nice but small).
Back to the hotel, train to Nice tomorrow after the colliseum.