Day 3 - Avignon and Nimes

Editor's Note: Megan Glidden is blogging from Europe during the Rosemount High School choir's week-long tour.

Sunday, March 25

Avignon & Nimes

We ate breakfast right away in the morning before loading up the bus to leave Nice. The breakfast at the hotel included breads, cheeses, yogurts, pancakes, sausage, bacon and pastries. Some of us really liked certain things, like the pastries, bread and cheeses. The meats were a little different than we were used to, a little less well done is a nice way of putting it, but nonetheless we were all ready to hit the road on our trip to Nimes.

We boarded the bus for a three-hour trip with beautiful scenery such as the coast of the Mediterranean and further into the drive were huge mountains tipped with snow. Our first stop was in Avignon to see the Palace of the Popes and to meet up with the Rosemount High School choir students for the first time!

We saw all the Rosemount Choir members as soon as we got to the Palace of the Pope. It was a surreal reunion. The Palace was gorgeous from its location to its architecture. As typical high school students do, they said hi to their parents for a short while and tried not to act too excited to see them! It was good for all of us to know that they were safe and having fun.

We toured the Palace of the Popes and learned a lot of amazing facts and saw beautiful architecture built in the 1300’s. We were all astonished, as our tour guide continued to deliver information that seemed unreal to us all. The tour lasted about an hour and then we had the honor to listen to an impromptu concert put on by the choir in the main chapel of the Palace. It was a sight to see, as many of the parents had tears in their eyes from the beautiful sounds of the kids’ voices and the amazing acoustics of the room. Definitely a highlight for both the students and their families.

After the tour, we grabbed a quick lunch to go and headed off to Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct and bridge. This aqueduct was the highest the Romans ever constructed. The landscape was incredible and the pictures that we took don’t do this structure justice, but we had to try right?

We arrived in Nimes later that night. Another note to add, our weather here has been picture perfect every day. Mid 70’s every day so far! We are staying at the Hotel Imperator for the next three nights in Nimes with day trips every day. This hotel hosted Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Ava Gardner and Jean Cocteau, and it is beautiful!

After checking in, we walked around a park close to our hotel and made it back for a wonderful dinner. We had pork mignon with potatoes and a chocolate sufle that was to die for. All of the dads of the group talked about it for a good hour after eating.

We relaxed after dinner and had drinks outside on the private patio of our hotel. The weather was gorgeous and it was a great start to our stay in Nimes. We learned that there are a couple differences between here and the states that we need to get used to. The first one is it is hard to find public restrooms anywhere, and you can’t just walk into a restaurant and use it…they don’t let you. We learned that the hard way. Also, our new hotel gives you an actual key to your room. It looks ancient…and barely works. We struggle to open our door every time. My dad is convinced that there is a certain “push, twist, jiggle, ram” mechanism…it doesn’t work. Also, there are about 50 light switches in one hotel room…needless to say, it was another thing that made us look like mid-westerners fro Rosemount. 

We are headed out on a day trip tomorrow to Les Baux-de-Provence, Cassis and Aix-en-Provence. More to come tomorrow!

From Nimes,

Megan