Girlfriends' French Adventure: Pont du Gard

Today was certainly an adventure! We got up early (again, it takes four women quite a while to get showered and out the door) and got to the car rental agency by 9:00 am. In our car and on our way by 9:30 am. Had to reacquaint myself with driving a stick shift, but only stalled the car a couple of times.

I had gone up on Google Maps last night and printed directions to Pont du Gard, which worked great for the first few miles. Then we came to a T-intersection that wasn't in our directions and we had to wing it from there. Of course, the only map we had with us was Google Maps. Didn't bring the large France map we found at the house, nor did we bring a phone that could access Google Maps on the fly. To make a long story short, we drove all the way north to Avignon and then west to Pont du Gard. We had to stop for directions a couple of times and everyone was so helpful, even though they maintained they spoke very little English (their English was definitely better than my French). One of the perks of getting lost as we did is that we happened upon a roadside farm stand and bought fresh strawberries and cherries. (Eat your heart out Rich and Jerry) Thanks to the helpful French people we met, we made it to Pont du Gard by 11:30 am, more than an hour longer than it should have taken us.

Toured the museum, had a quick bite to eat, and then hiked around the actual aqueduct. Pont du Gard is part of a 50 km long aqueduct that brought water to the ancient city of Nimes. This section of the aqueduct spans the River Gardon. It's hard to imagine this structure was built more than 2000 years ago and is still in such remarkable condition. Even though I've been here twice before, the sight of it today still left me awestruck.

Our drive home was uneventful. The biggest excitement was finding a parking space less than a block from our house! Tomorrow's excursion to Les Baux will include the map of France and my cell phone, in case we get really lost.