They Said:

We arrived at the train station in Nimes planning on spending one night, but Chad's papers fell out of his pocket with information on Pont du Gard facing straight up, he reread it, and since we both had discussed making Avignon a daytrip, we decided to stay in Nimes an extra night . It is the other city beside Avignon with easy access to the Pont du Gard.

The Pont du Gard is a Roman aqueduct over the Gardon River, and it is the second tallest structure in the Roman world, only a few yards shorter than the Coliseum in Rome. It took around 15 years to build, was completed in 52 A.D., contains the largest arch ever created by the Romans, carried 400 liters of water per second to the city of Nimes, and Chad went for a swim underneath it.

Basically, this aqueduct was the reason Nimes flourished as a city under the Roman rule of Augustus Caeser (For all the fans of the HBO show, Rome, Augustus was Octavius, Julius' young nephew). The water flowed into a distribution system called the castellum, where it was sent to feed the basic needs of the people, power fountains and baths, and then if there was enough to go around, supply water for other luxury uses.

The Romans also erected temples, such as the Maison Carree, and even built one of the best preserved arenas in the world, in which Depeche Mode, amongst others, will be playing next week. Imagine a stadium built over 2000 years ago that is still in use!!!

Nimes is also the birthplace of the great American fabric - denim. Yep, it's true. It wasn't invented by Levi. Denim is "from Nimes." Or as they say in France, "de Nimes." Or "denim" for short.

The strangest thing about all the Roman influence in Nimes, is the city's coat of arms which depicts a crocodile with a palm tree. There are crocs and palms everywhere here - on the sidewalks, on lampposts, on barriers, in fountains. They say it's because there used to be a Roman mint in Nimes which printed this image on its coins to celebrate Augustus' victory over Egypt, whose symbol was a crocodile. We aren't so sure. We think they're Joakim Noah fans and are just happy the Gators won the National Championship.