Travels around Beaucaire.

Our past few days in Europe have been much slower paced than our hectic travels through Rome and its surroundings. We travelled to Beaucaire from Rome via overnight train and TGV. The overnight train was an interesting experience. I've travelled via overnight train in china once before but that train only held four people per carriage. Our overnight train held six and was significantly more crowded. I managed to secure the top bunk which was much more spacious than the other bunks due to the presence of a storage area over the door. While on the train we enjoyed a game of cards before we went to bed. After arriving at Dijon we sat in the waiting room for two hours before we caught the TGV to Avignon where we hired vans and drove to beaucaire. The van ride was a interesting experience. After browsing through several radio stations we arrived at the wonderful Fun radio station which plays a total of maybe 20 songs on loop. Mr Boyce's driving was an extremely enjoyable experience. Whenever a song with a strong beat played he would erratically swerve and brake about the road in time with the beat. The hotel we're staying in is a wonderful place. After spending one a a half weeks living in tiny cramped hotel rooms the spacious rooms of the hotel Robinson are a welcome change. The fact that they have queen sized beds is another plus. Our rooms all have a small outdoor enclosure with garden chairs and a table providing a nice spot for some late night partying. Music can almost always be heard around our rooms as we have two sets of speakers in the group. Another great thing about this hotel is the presence of a pool. We typically get back from our day around three in the afternoon and it's usually somewhere in the vicinity of 26 degrees here so the diving into the ice cold water of the pool is extremely refreshing. On our first day we paid a visit to the pont du gard which is an ancient roman aqueduct. Although mostly destroyed the structure is still quite impressive. I was  quite keen to have a swim in the water under the aqueduct but after my legs went numb within 30 seconds of entering the water I quickly returned to the shore. Shortly after I exited the water we had the first injury of the trip. Jack Adams made a daring dive into the icy cold waters of the pont du gard only to resurface with blood streaming down his face. Due the the timely disappearance of our first aid kit we were forced to use a simple towel to stem the blood flow. With reid applying pressure to the wound we sped off to nimes to find a doctor. Arriving at nimes mr Buckingham split off with jack to search for a doctor while we pressed on to the roman amphitheater. We arrived to find the surroundings full of festive cheer with several platoons of legionnaires performing military maneuvers accompanied by a group of people on the bagpipes. From there we proceeded to the maison caree which is one of the best preserved Romanesque temples in existence. Here we met up with mr Buckingham and jack who had had his wound glued up. From here we were meant to head to a roman winery to enjoy a taste of roman wine but due to a lack of time we returned to the hotel. The next day we went off to the local markets to purchase food for lunch since the supermarket was closed. After picking up a bag of 11 croissants for a mere 4 euros we went off to explore the ruins of st Remy de Provence and Tarascon castle as well as the mountain town of baux. Our third day in Beaucaire was spent exploring the town if Avignon and Arles. We saw many interesting structures including churches, bridges and castles.

-Kevin He