southbound train

I recently got to spend eight days with my parents! They arrived the Monday after history week and left this past Tuesday. Due in part to my professor’s illness but mostly due to a freak mid-March snowfall, I did not have any of my scheduled classes or activities on Monday, Tuesday, OR Wednesday of last week. This meant doing a little bit of homework, but mostly just spending time with my mom. My dad was at the JEC composites conference in Paris for most of the day Tuesday through Thursday, and my mom and I got to tag along to a couple of his business dinners, at which I tried for the first time scallops, caviar, and frog legs! Believe it or not, the frog legs were genuinely delicious. Here’s me with my beautifully presented scallops at Café Constant:

On Friday afternoon the three of us hopped a southbound train to Nîmes, France. We walked around the tiny city that night when we arrived, and its obviously-recently-updated public spaces made it feel a little like a movie set.

We woke up bright and early to catch the only bus from Nîmes to Pont du Gard Saturday morning, and we got to experience the ancient Roman aqueduct (built around the first century AD!) on a crisp, calm, sunny morning before the visitor center was even open for the day. It’s nearly impossible to imagine this under construction. 

The infrastructure around the Pont du Gard site was just renovated in the last 15-ish years, and we spent some time waiting for the only bus back to Nîmes Saturday afternoon in the left bank visitor center designed by Jean-Paul Viguier. In fact, I saw an exhibit at the Cité de l’Architecture museum a couple weeks ago about the project at Pont du Gard, so here’s the model from the museum and the real deal:

Back in Nîmes Saturday afternoon we visited the town’s ancient Roman arena (also built around the first century AD!) which has been used for both gladiators and bullfights.

After the arena we visited a very well-preserved ancient Roman temple (also built around the first century AD!) called the Maison Carrée and an art museum and library across the street designed by Foster + Partners and called the Carré d’Art. I love the way the modern portico of the Carré d’Art echos the ancient portico of the Maison Carrée.

It was quite rainy Sunday morning, but that didn’t stop my dad and I from going to see a pair of public housing buildings designed by Jean Nouvel before our train to our next location. Repeating our mantra, “FOR ARCHITECTURE!” over and over on the way there was all that kept us going through the wind and puddles. I saw a model of one of these buildings at the Cité de l’Architecture museum as well, so here’s the model and the real deal again.

We decided they look like two big ships on land. Is there anything you like or don’t like about them?

After another short train ride we arrived in the city of Valence. Our 5ish hours in Valence were mostly spent indoors due to the rain, but that involved some great pizza and ice cream at a bar with a very nice waiter, plenty of tea and sketching, and lots of iphone scrabble. Sunday evening we met up with a man my dad knows who then drove us to an itty bitty town up in the mountains called Le Cheylard. The roads up to the town were more winding and twisting than I would have thought possible, and keeping my eyes on the dotted line on the road was absolutely essential, but the tasty Chinese food for dinner that night made the trip worth it. My dad had meetings all day Monday with that man and others, and the company at which the meetings were being held had a woman, Sarah, show my mom and I around town. We got to visit a museum which taught us about the history of the major industries in the town, and we also got to go shopping at a Chattawak outlet store. They had some really great deals, and I got a new winter coat! Sarah is originally from Ohio but she has lived in France for around twelve years now. It was so delightful to spend the day with her and talk about our impressions of French culture, and I am so thankful she was there for my mom and I because without her I don’t think we would have found anything open on a Monday in a small town in France. Really. I was having such a nice time in this quaint town that I suppose I forgot to take pictures of the beautiful, soaring mountains speckled with houses and streams, but this is Le Cheylard as seen from the moving car headed back down the winding roads to Valence Monday evening:

The notion that these photos could do this picturesque area of this beautiful country justice is absurd.

Thanks for coming to visit, mom and dad! Thanks for bringing me American food (girl scout cookies and wheat thins), for buying me French food, and for taking me on adventures! I am so proud of your newfound ability to ride trains :)