Friends, Romans, Countrymen

Monday brought with it a town market that was actually open, so Katie and I started our morning out with a little grocery shopping.  Our shopping experience was a little  like  Cameron Diaz in The Holiday wandering around the store throwing random things in the cart.  We also gave the shop keeper a good laugh with the sheer amount of food two girls purchased.

After Katie and I bought out the market, the boys decided that we should head out on a day trip to Pont du Gard.  (Apparently, a fascination with the Romans is ingrained in the Y chromosome because every male I have ever met is enamored of old Roman stuff). 

Kevin and John at the end of the old waterway

Pont du Gard, the highest still existing Roman aquaduct, was built in 1 AD and ran between Uzès and Nîmes, providing Nîmes with water for their bath houses, homes and fountains.  The Romans were responsible for its upkeep until the 4th century and it was used even after their fall by the people of the area, until the lack of upkeep lead to it becoming clogged.  Long after it was done serving its purpose as an aqeuduct, the local powers that be used it as a toll bridge, collecting money from people and carts wishing to cross the Gard River. It became a popular tourist destination some time in the 18th century, a fact that can be determined from the old school graffiti.   In fact, cars were allowed to drive over the bridge up until its renovation in 2000. 

We started out our trip by heading up the hill to the Panorama.  Luckily, we had two crack navigators with us, or we may not have found it.

After we checked out the panorama, we headed down to the other side.  John got more exercise than he’s gotten in a year, which he made sure to point out.

John also did a little weight lifting

On the other side, we were able to see the bridge at the same perspective as you would see it on the 5 Euro Bill.

My incessant photo taking bored the boys, so they wandered off while I snapped a few (okay, a lot) more photos before we headed back to our super fly house.

 

Once back at the house, John and I tried to start a fire while Katie and Kevin went to the store in the next town over to grab a few things that we needed for dinner.  However, we rapidly filled the house with smoke due to our fire incompetence, and had to open all the doors and put fans around the house to blow out the smoke.  From then on, we decided to leave the fires to the girl scout and boy scout.

Katie and I made a delicious Potato and Leek soup (inspired by the huge leeks we found on our market trip) while the boys drank their weight in beer. (I’m just glad that Kevin didn’t buy two mini kegs like Katie thought he should).  We also played a few rousing games of Uno, Pass the Pig, Bananagrams and Phase 10, which I won of course.

Draw 4 you slick son of a bitch!