Nîmes Baby!

I woke quite early, sleeping beauty slept on. A quick check of the weather for tomorrow was less than encouraging, anyway I had bought pac-a-macs before we left home.
Both awake we had some cereal and a mug of tea and then set about putting our few bits and pieces back into Rox.
We said our goodbyes to the Simon lookalike site manager and one of our one night only neighbours, before driving off site.
Destination Nîmes - via Ales!
We head more east than south ease initially on the N106 towards Ales where we thought we might stop for a coffee.
Again we travelled through a ravine/gorge/canyon/pass (road through big hills) with both sides covered in never ending pine trees - this went on for mile after mile and was quite breathtaking.
We stopped to look at a large lake just south of Sainte-Cécile D’Andorge and found it to be yet another damn, the Barrage des Camboux.
Now heading more south east on the N106 we arrived into Ales, which again we found to be a lot larger than we expected. Not having time to explore it, as we were (I was) on a mission to get to Nîmes we skirted the west side crossing the Gardon D’Ales river from east to west and then again west to east to do so.
Still on the N106 - coffee stop cancelled, we headed to Nîmes on what was now a main road at 130km speed limit - no more ups and downs!!
Just before our exit into Nîmes I took the wrong junction and as a result drive into Nîmes through the outskirts rather than the main drag into town.
We navigated for about ten minutes into the city centre before arriving at our hotel - the Campanile Centre, luckily finding a free parking spot right outside. We checked with the hotel staff about checking in time which we knew was 2pm, I was trying to wing it as it was just past midday. ‘Wing it’ plan failed, we took a wander to a boulangerie and grabbed a couple of drinks and a chorizo baguette pour moi! A mooch around a couple of other nearby shops and it was time to check in back at the hotel.
Room 375 on the third floor was bright and spotlessly clean with a fab air con machine. Outside was about 35-37 degrees.
We had a killed a few hours of the afternoon heat by grabbing our stuff from Rox up to the room, some Tour De France on the TV, a little Power Nap and standing in front of the air con blower whenever we passed it.
At 6.15pm we started what we thought was a 20 minute walk up to the arena where we would be going tomorrow for the concert. Our intention to grab a meal and a drink and then mooch around near the arena in the Roman sector of the city. The walk up included some typical Roman architecture - of those with wealth and most likely power.
On arrival the arena - Amphitheatre of Nîmes Arènes de Nîmes did not disappoint. In the beautiful evening sunshine is was stunning.
The Cure were playing three nights in a row here, starting this evening. I spied the merch stand and so we strolled over. My over stressy head was annoying me with the possibility of the merch stall maybe not being open tomorrow if it was pouring with rain. Tre agreed I could return once we had eaten.
The restaurants that nestled around the arena were all rammed but the staff had the whole ‘concert goers need feeding fast thing’ off to a fine art, as a result tables were freeing up quickly.
We took a table at Chez Hubert and both ordered Tuna Steak with a Thai dressing, together with ratatouille. While eating we listened to the two support bands as they played their sets. We initially thought we would make dinner last and listen to the opening song from The Cure. However, after a couple of beers, us both having very chocolate indulgent puddings and coffees we decided to pay up and walk back around to the other side of the arena and plonk ourselves onto one of the many seated areas to await that first song.
After a visit to the merch stall and two t-shirts acquired we sat to await the first sound of the band. Lots of people had obviously decided to come just to listen from outside and I guess if you were local it would be a regular bonus to hear some great bands for free. There has been two solid months of the Nîmes festival.
Finally The Cure took the stage, known only to us by the crowd cheers. Tre had said all along she didn’t want to know anything about setlists or photos until she was in the arena tomorrow - but after the first song a little voice mentioned we might want to stay.
We found a seat in a nearby bar and sat from 9.30pm-midnight listening to the full show. The sound quality was superb - even outside.
A short walk home and we fell into bed.
Tomorrow is our day - the rain is still forecast, but it will be what it will be. We don’t care!

Song of the day:
Gladiator Ghosts - Phantom DistrictRead more