By Nicole Englin & Madison Walker
This morning, the group woke up in Nimes, France and had another European breakfast at the hotel. Our first stop of the day was USAM Nimes Gard handball.
This professional handball team has 18 players from France, Slovakia, Egypt, and Sweden. We received a tour of the facility and were able to watch the team practice for their game tomorrow. Danny and Emma’s French skills were put to the test while they were interviewed by the French media about their experiences and impressions of handball as Americans. Michael Guigou, former French handball captain, three time European champion and four time Olympic champion, gave us the rundown of the basics of handball and answered questions we had around the sport. He even let us hold his 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medal!
We were also given the chance to pass around the balls used in handball, and discovered that they are quite sticky!
We then had a Q&A with head coach Liubomir Vranies and player Jesper Konradsson. They discussed how important communication between a team is, especially when many of the players speak different languages and are from different cultures. Tomorrow they have a big game and their new biggest fans are rooting for them!
After we left the USAM Nimes Gard facility, we drove to Pont du Gard which is an ancient Roman aqueduct that crosses the Gardon River. We were able to walk along the aqueduct and had an amazing view overlooking the river. A group of us walked along the ground below the Pont du Gard and under the arches. It was like a wind tunnel under there, and we struggled to stay upright. Of course Kat, Brooklyn, Madison, and I (Nicole) had to take the iconic O-H-I-O picture, so a nice couple from Australia took it for us. We were mesmerized by the construction of the aqueduct and the ancient history of the structure. After stopping at the souvenir shop, we walked back to the bus to meet the rest of the group to head back towards Nimes.
Our next stop was at the Arena of Nimes. We were able to take an audio tour of the ancient Roman amphitheater. It was used for public events and gladiator fighting back in 100 AD. It is still used for events today! We walked up and around the arena and got a great view of the city.
After our tour of the arena, the group split up to discover Nimes. Madison, Kat, Brooklyn, Kirethia, Emma, and I (Nicole) were on the hunt to see historic sites in the city. We walked by Maison Carree, which was an old Roman temple that inspired Virginia’s state capitol building. We then treated ourselves to eclairs at a fancy French pastry shop. After we were fueled from our snacks, we walked to Les Jardins de La Fontaine, and it was BEAUTIFUL! The park was filled with canals, sculptures, grand staircases, and a swan….that attacked a provoking young boy. We endured a grueling hike up the steep hills to reach the Tour Magne, a Roman tower at the tallest point of Nimes. Most restaurants opened at 7pm, so we took the rest of the time to walk through and browse the streets.
To end the night, half of the group had fun bowling while we had a fantastic dinner at L’atypique. Our waiter Fred explained the whole menu to us and shared stories about his own travels to America. He is such a funny, happy man who cares about his customers. This was by far the best dinner experience we had yet! Nimes exceed our expectations, and we thoroughly enjoyed our past few days in France.
