Date: Wednesday 22 October 2003 2:27 pm (8:27 in France)
Subject: The 3 cliff-roads, the creeks, the crests, and the gorges of Verdon

Hello to all,   The sites that I have just enumerated must be the nightmare of every automobile. The steep slopes in 2nd gear, the vertiginous downslopes with my foot on the brake the whole time. For me, on the other hand, it was two days out of a dream. Not too many visits, but much time in the car for not many miles.   When I left you last, I had just finished my letter and I was getting ready to visit Montpellier. It is a beautiful city with a center reserved for pedestrians which is highly developed. This is a tendancy that I have seen here that does not exist in Quebec. Community activity here is very strong. So, after Montpellier I went to Nimes. I was able to find the square house and the Arena. The square house is an ancient temple very well preserved at a well defined site which permitted me to really look it over. As for the arena, Nimes covers the roof of the amphitheater with a retractable canvas in winter so they can use it all year round. In Montreal they have their own set of retractable canvas roofing for the Olympic stadium and I had the pleasure of having my view blocked by this contraption. Truly lucky.

At the tourist information center they directed me to another nearby town, Uzes. I thus made a detour to discover a beautiful little walled city with a duchy [region governed by a duke] and a castle, and the Pont du Gard, the masterpiece. All that has been written and said about the bridge is true, it is a truly impressive structure and I took advantage of my visit to see the museum describing the history of this aqueduct, the reason for its construction and why it is still standing after 2000 years. At the end of my visit it began to rain and I found myself stuck to the walls of the hotel and decided to visit the next day, Monday.

Fortunately the weather cleared up during the night and I was able to visit the town of Avignon more fully. the wall that encircles the town is impressive but it is the palace of the Popes and the bridge -- the Pont d'Avignon -- that draw your attention. The bridge, I must tell you, if it were not for the famous song, would not be very interesting. Three pilings that are still left out of the twenty original pilings. Nonetheless the Palace of the Popes was truly worthwhile. A superb site which offers a wall and a magnificent view and a stop worth the detour.

I took to the road again to wind up in Aubagne, a little past Marseilles to spend the night. Tuesday morning I was ready to hit the road. I set out toward Marseille with its creeks and the Mediterranean coast to see everything and a undertook an intense session of scenery. The three cliff-roads twice, which makes six cliff-roads, the road along the crests of the hills that gave me vertigo. There were tourists and everyone stopped to take photos, it was really comical. I did not have to hurry. I passed St-Tropez to stop at Ste-Maxime, a pretty little town on the sea coast.

So this morning, it was the Gorges of Verdon, and I saw the two banks, the left one passing high up and the right one lower down where you could wade in the river. It took me all day and I am not in Antibes, 15 km from Cannes. I am going to now begin my day there and we'll see what happens next.

Goodbye and til soon,

Paul.

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