Journal Entry: Running of the Bulls - Nimes

What a day! And in a good way now. I got up at 6a and got dressed. My laundry was dry too! Yay! My socks were still damp after two days in Nice. 

I got to the train station at about ten until seven. I bought a ticket for Nimes on the 7:10a train. I realized after I bought it that I had an hour and twenty five minute layover in Avignon. So I walked around Avignon for an hour. I saw the (outside obviously) Papal palace and the medieval ruined bridge. It looked like a decent place, worth going back to some other time. 

 

Papal Palace - Avignon

Then I made sure I was back at the train station in time to catch my next train to Nimes. I was thirty minutes early, per usual. 

Once in Nimes, I looked at the map at the train station on how to get to Las Arenas, the roman amphitheatre. The information desk in the station was closed. However, I easily found the amphitheatre, and there was a tourist info across the street from it. They told me that the Arena was closed because they were having a festival. “festi” I think. There would be bull fights or maybe bull games. I read in the south of France, they often do not kill the bulls but instead try to tie a ribbon on their neck. 

 

Bull Games in Nimes

She gave me a schedule of what was going on and I noticed that in the evening they were running bulls through the streets. I looked for an earlier time and they were running them down Rue St. Anne at 1pm.

I walked up to the tower on the ill, but it cost €3 to climb it and I decided I didn’t feel like it. In fact, I looked at Rick Steve’s book when I got back and he said it wasn’t even worth climbing to the bottom of the tower. 

 

Tower

After that I went to the “Temple of Diana” which isn’t really a temple at all apparently. They think it may have been a library. I then walked down to Rue St. Anne and staked out a place to watch the bull running. It was amazing! There were cow boys, or that’s what I would have called them anyway, and two were girls. They ran the bulls up and down the street. One young man hung onto one of the bulls and was dragged down the street! He stood up and danced around and the crowd cheered him. I was afraid he’d be hurt.

Then when it was over, I stopped and got a steak sandwich with fries and a drink for €6. I bought a t-shirt for €5. 

 

"Temple of Diana" - actually probably a Library

Cowgirl

Running Bulls

I also saw (before I ate) the Maison Carreé. It’s a Roman temple that is well preserved because it has been in constant use for two thousand years.

 

Maison Carreé

After all that I went back to the train station and got a ticket on the 3:10p train to Marseille, direct without having to change trains.

I got a kebab from next door to the hostel, a little hole-in-the-wall place, cost €3.50. I then got a beer, a corona from the hostel bar and ate. The kebab was hot! Hot like when Richard makes sauce and is angry! It was quite good though. 

Tomorrow I pick up the rental car. I haven’t decided where I’m going exactly on the way to Carcassonne, but I’ll figure it out.

Journal Entry: Nice Day One

I have had a pretty good day. I got up and had breakfast. Toast with a lot of butter, was probably a bad idea but I was hungry. Tomorrow I bought food to cook. Actually, I cooked my own dinner tonight. Steak with grilled peppers and a glass of sweet white wine. The food at the store, enough for dinner tonight and two breakfasts, cost €8 and some odd cents. The glass of wine was €2.50.

So, first thing this morning I went down to the train station. Villa St. Exupery Hostel is far from everything, and the shuttle down to the tram stop doesn’t start running until 8a so there was no point in getting up really early. Anyway, I picked up my tickets to Marseille, and then from Carcassonne to Paris. The machine would not take my card even though it has a chip in it. The machine did take it though for selling me tickets! Anyway, I had to stand in line for a bit, but then the nice lady at the counter, she printed my tickets for me. I said “merci beaucoup!”

 

Nice Flower Market

I then got back on the tram and got off at Place Massena and walked over to the old town. I went to the market. They have some wonderful stuff but it is really impossible to buy any of it while backpacking. There are nice public restrooms in the market area. Costs €.50 and there is an attendant and they are very clean. 

After I browsed the market, I walked up Castle Hill. Unfortunately there’s no castle any more. One of the Louis something-or-others had it torn down in I think the 17^th century. There were the remains of a church, a series of small walls. Very nice views of Nice from up there.

 

View from Castle Hill

There were also two cemeteries, a Jewish and a Christian one. Also a neat waterfall. I wonder if it is man-made or from a spring? 

Jewish Cemetery - the Christian one requested no pictures taken

Waterfall

After that I went and perused the old town, Vielle Ville, for a place to eat. I ate at a kebab place, cost €7.50 for a kebab, really like a taco, in a tortilla, filled with meat, a side of fries and a soda water. 

Old Nice - Vieille Ville

Then, after I ate, I walked back to the train station (a long walk) and did some window shopping along the way. I bought a ticket and return ticket to Antibes. I should have just bought the return ticket in Antibes, because I didn’t allow myself however much time I needed. A lesson learned!**

I went to the Picasso museum. Since they were working on installing some art, one floor was closed so admission was half price, €3. Very nice works by Picasso. And clean bathrooms.

 

Antibes - Picasso Museum

I then tried walking to the fort, but my leg started hurting me, I had a bad muscle cramp in my right calf, so I actually headed back to the train station early. It was good people watching at the train station. People were smoking in the waiting area, despite a sign that said “no smoking”.

I also had some gelato in the old town of Antibes. It was quite good, chocolate and mint chip. It was a bit pricey at €3.50 but not every place can be as cheap and good as Portici!

On the way back to the hostel, I stopped at the Casino market and bought my aforementioned dinner. I’m not sure what I am going to do tomorrow. I am going to read some of Rick Steve’s guide book and see if anything jumps out at me.

Oh, and here, there are not purse/umbrella sellers, Not one! There was a black man that tried talking to me on Castle Hill, he was like “excusez moi,” and I just shook my head and kept walking. He made this disgruntled noise. Maybe he was nice and not one of those scammers, but I don’t speak enough French to have a conversation. Maybe it was rude, but that’s life. [And I'm a girl traveling by myself. Mother taught me not to talk to strangers.]

**Everything works out the way it does for a reason.