On the road

I called this trip to the south-east of France a road trip, for lack of a better name. It was hard to come up with a suitable name for the trip, since it wasn't a trip to one place in particular. Instead, as you can see from my previous posts, we went gallivanting all over the south-eastern region of France, trying to cover several places of interest.

Alex called it the south-east of France trip, which was more appropriate to describe the places we visited, though we didn't really cover the whole region. I was doing my internship at the time, so I only had the weekend and I had to be back in Lyon by Sunday night to be able to go to work the next day. Alex and Kai Lun had finished their internship (but not Goh), so they could leave on Monday instead. (or continue their trip, as Alex did)

The last place we went to was Avignon, mainly because I had to take the train back to Lyon from Avignon. So we didn't have much of a choice...

I didn't really visit Avignon, just walked a little about the town and snapped a few photos. But those will have to wait; first I want to show you the photos we took truly "on the road", in the middle of nowhere. And we saw a lot of sunflower fields.



And guess what? Guys love sunflowers ;P




I didn't take any photos like this...'cos those sunflowers were rather...uh, furry...NOT nice to hold! (unlike cuddly soft toys...)

We saw some lavender fields as well...but unluckily not a single one we could get nice pictures of! This one, for example, was too far away from the road.

See the patch of purple?

This field is beautiful, but the photo was taken from the car, since we couldn't stop there.


Now it's time for the few photos I snapped in Avignon. Just a few buildings...

Palais des Papes (Popes' palace; Goh said that this is the popes' holiday home...if I remember correctly :P)

Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms

Hôtel de Ville (town hall)

And a couple from Alex... I just had to steal these pics to put here...even though they were taken after I left. It's something we don't see often!

The sign says "beware of cat". How often do you see that? ;)

And here's the cat...scared? :P

Alex also took some photos when he was in my room in Lyon...check out this view from my window:


It's the same view I've taken countless times...but somehow the colours are so...alive! Guess that's what differentiates a good camera from a run-of-the-mill one...

And he took a photo of my St. Lary squirrel, which absolutely love :D

I meant that I love the photo...but I love the squirrel too! ;P

To end the south-east of France "series", here are two lovely sunflower photos, courtesy of Alex:



Lovely, aren't they? ^_^

Aigues-Mortes

After the Pont du Gard, we went to a medieval city called Aigues-Mortes. The town is surrounded by a high wall.

the entrance we used

another one further away

the guys jumping in their own styles

group photo (kinda...thanks to the photographer!)

the entrance...see Goh and Kai Lun waiting there? (Alex was still outside taking photos...of the entrance and of me taking photos of the entrance, as it turned out)

candid shot

a tower we later went up

People actually had to pay to go up to the ramparts...but admission was free for students (and those under 25, I think). Lucky for us :)

the guys posing in the ramparts

switch turns

in my case, the walls were just a little too far apart for me to touch :P

the guys crossing over to the aforementioned tower

Alex took a photo of me right after I took that one. Trapped in a tower with no one to rescue me... *sniff* :P
(that wasn't the tower we were going to, by the way...I was behind them)

The view from the top of the tower:

Alex taking photos dangerously :P

joined by the others on the wall

A photo taken from said dangerous position...see the walls of the town? That was probably where we were earlier.

one of Alex's masterpieces...dog marking his territory, as he put it

As you can see, I'm writing less and less...just letting the photos do the talking. There's not much to say...the trip was so long ago anyway.

Pont du Gard

Next stop: Pont du Gard.

This was our best destination, in my opinion. You can decide for yourselves after you've finished reading about all our destinations ;)

The Pont du Gard is a Roman aqueduct which was used to transport water to Nîmes. You might have heard of it; here are a few photos that might refresh your memory:

pont means bridge, by the way...and Gard is the department in which the aqueduct is situated

from the side while approaching the bridge

from the other side after crossing the bridge

Here's the scenery from the bridge:

That's where we walked down to later.

I love the blueness of the water...and the reflections of the bank.

Another beautiful piece of scenery, shot by Kai Lun...I kinda like the angle ^_^

And then...a little bit of everything.

The guys attempting leaping photos again. Somehow this makes me think of chromosomes...the cell division part. :P

Me on the bridge

After crossing the bridge:

The guys each doing their own thing. Alex and Goh took off their shoes to go into the water...Kai Lun and I didn't.

Alex's shoes and socks

Goh's slippers

After we got tired of fooling around and taking pictures, we sat down to rest...



...and then took a group photo somewhere during that time.

From left: Goh, Alex, yours truly and Kai Lun.

Then we walked all the way back to the car, checking out some souvenir shops on the way (we passed them on the way in as well, but didn't stop then), and proceeded to our next destination.

Pont d'Arc

After the cascades in Roque-sur-Cèze, we went to a small town called Vallon Pont d'Arc. In fact, we wanted to see the Pont d'Arc, which is a naturally formed archway along a river. And Vallon Pont d'Arc was the closest town to it (I think :P )

Most of the photos taken in this town (or should I say all?) are from the others, since I didn't take much. It was just a small town, rather touristic because of the Pont d'Arc (which we went to see later, so the photos are lower down).

Here we are at the town hall, where they were preparing for a lavender festival the next day. (in a very rare instance, I am not posting these photos chronologically)


Alex likes to take candid photos of us "shopping":



Kai Lun tested some perfumes, and here he was letting us smell his lavender-perfumed finger. And Alex, ever the cameraman, clicked away instead :P


We also saw a giant ice-cream, which was a welcome sight in the hot weather. (actually the same ice-cream, in different colours, was in front of a lot of ice-cream shops)

Er...if we look barbaric it was because we were dying of thirst...and from the heat :P

Upon reaching the town, we had asked someone for directions to the Pont d'Arc, and after walking around, we left to look for it. But on the way we stopped for a few photos as well...

Like when we saw some nice scenery.


We took a photo with the car...

Er...can't see much of it, huh? :P

And Goh seized a once-in-a-lifetime posing opportunity.

"Quick, Kai Lun, quick! Before a car comes!"

Another piece of scenery from earlier:


And I wasn't going to put this...

Alex's "king of the world" pose

...but for the existence of "the making of". :P


And finally, the aim of all this driving around: the Pont d'Arc.


The Pont d'Arc is at one end of the Gorges de l'Ardèche, sort of a river in a valley which is a very popular touristic spot. There are rapids there and many people go kayaking. It is supposedly a beautiful natural spot. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to travel all along the Gorges, so we had to content ourselves with a part of it.


Since Alex took the above photo (and several others) for us, it was only fair that we help him take some photos of him too. These are the consecutive ones I took:

The more the merrier ;)

I call it the pile-up. :P

And here is Alex taking a video; he does that at every destination, and even makes a running commentary.


And that was all we did for the day, before having dinner and then heading home - that is, Goh's home - for the night.

Oh yeah, and for those car enthusiasts out there, here's a clearer view of the one we rented.


Don't ask me more :P