We did it! We circled the wall!!

Saturday, 28 August 2010

My birthday! No. 59! Wow, who knew?!

Went to bed around 11 p.m. last night, and didn’t set the clock…figured that we would be up around our usual 5:30-6:00-ish, and I was wondering how we would pass the time before the walls opened at 10 a.m.! Silly girl! Woke up at 9:15 a.m. – an all-time late time for me!! We only had 45 minutes to clean up and get going! Managed to make it to the walls by 10:05 a.m. or so. Got up to the ticket desk and handed in our free passes and showed the gal the picture of R sitting on the wall with the fireman standing by. She immediately got what we were trying to say, and called for her colleague up the stairs – and very quickly, le voila! There were the two wonderful ladies who helped us so much last year! It was quite a reunion! They were very happy to see us, and to know that everything turned out well! SO nice to be able to thank them properly this time! After many admonitions to “take care” we headed out onto the walls once again. Had the walls all to ourselves, which was nice (like last year, wherein there was only one other person who went for help after R’s accident!) It was quite an interesting walk! I hadn’t realized how scary R’s descent down that staircase really was, seen from above! How those nine firemen managed to get R down safely, and themselves down safely as well, is still a mystery to me! I took a picture of R at “the” spot, then we continued on around the city. Very beautiful views in all directions, and unlike last year, a stunningly beautiful day to be on the wall! Took us about an hour + to get around and back down, but I can say that now we have successfully made the complete transit of the walls of Aigues-Mortes, and fear them no more!!

By the time we got down it was after 11:30, and we had had no food at all! So, we found a “sandwicherie” (sandwich shop) and R had a cheese and ham panini and I had a baguette with beurre et fromage. Very good! We then decided to go back to the hotel and take the car out and explore the Camargue. We had a lovely drive all around – saw flamingos and the traditional white horses as well as the bulls they breed here for bull-fighting. (Note: Bull-fighting here in France is mainly bloodless, as opposed to Spain…)

Stopped at the Parc Ornithologique and had a wonderful walk. Saw flocks of flamingos as well as herons, egrets and many other birds. Also saw something called a nutria which is a rodent imported during the last century into France from South America. Fortunately, did not run into the native viper…YEA! From there drove along the west bank of the Rhone, then attempted to get across the Rhone…only to find that R misread the “B” symbol on the Michelin map … he thought it meant “bridge” ….turns out it means “ferry boat!” [I did not think that a B on the map meant “bridge”; I was just following the route Margaret picked. R] So, had to wait 15 or 20 minutes for the boat to arrive, the drove on; across in something like 5 minutes; 5 Euros, please! From there, we drove up the east side of the river into Arles, and then out the other side and back to Aigues-Mortes. Got here around 5 p.m. Such a truly beautiful day here – VERY breezy; just lovely! Decided to have a couple of glasses of white wine on the terrace overlooking the garden and the pool…a great way to spend the afternoon!

We’re now in our room – windows open to get the breeze! – and getting ready for dinner! Tonight will NOT be like last night, as that is a once in a while kind of treat! But hopefully we’ll find something good in the way of pizza or Spanish food!

Take care; lots of love!
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PS – Found Indian food instead! Very good, small restaurant. No pictures, but we had vegetable samosas, eggplant pakoras, curry shrimp (the best I’ve ever had!), chicken tikka, basmati rice and garlic naan…ALMOST no room for desert! Did manage to find a Magnum Classic, which rounds out a terrific birthday very well! Back to the room about 8:45 p.m. and definitely in for the night!
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