Saturday, October 17, 2009

Today’s tats:
Distance traveled today: 38.68 km/ hr
Total trip distance: 904 km
Max speed: 49.3 km/ hour
Average speed: 18.5 km / hour
Max and minimum altitude: 134 m / 51 m
Altitude gain throughout the day: 130 m
Total time biking: 2:05
Total days biking: 16
Spending: 99.60 euros

Yesterday, we spent the day walking around Nîmes, getting to know its Roman history, from an Arena dating back to 100 A.D., where gladiators fought; to the only fully-preserved temple of the ancient world, la Maison Carrée;  to the Magne tower that displayed Rome’s power at the time; to the Jardins de la Fontaine gardens.

You have to understand that Richard gets very excited about listening to audio tours of historic monuments:

Then today, we took a day trip to Bellegarde, a town 15 or so km southeast, to watch a “course Camargue”. It’s a variation of bullfighting that originated in the Camargue region of France (where we are now), which involves removing tassels from the bull’s horns with a metallic hook-like comb. About a dozen white-clad razeteurs, as they are called, compete at once for the honor while a loud-speakers announce the ever increasing monetary prize that the winner will receive. Unlike in bull-fighting, the bull is not killed. Instead, the competitors sprint towards the bull, make a grab at the trinkets, and then continue running, jumping over the barrier and often as high as into the stands to escape the bull, if necessary. Trumpets sound every time a razeteur makes a good move and some get so close to injury they come away with pants ripped across the ass, or drops of bull’s blood on their otherwise perfectly white trousers. By all accounts, an interesting way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

I'll post a video in the photo gallery later so you get a better idea...