\n\t{google_map}43.837786 4.359010{\/google_map}\n<\/p>\n
\n\tI publish our location maps primarily for our reference, but I would love to have the readers study this map a bit, as it shows that we are right in the middle of the historic part of Nimes and the streets are like a maze. You can zoom in and out and switch from either map or satellite to get a better perspective with either the above map in the blog or the map link from the email version.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tMy guess is that the buildings in our area are couple of hundred years old. The “LA Chapelle Sainte-Eugenie” which is in the same group of buildings as our apartment was first mentioned in 956 and much of the church was rebuilt in the nineteenth century (see photo). My guess is that our building is of the same era as the rebuild of the church. The walls are over a foot thick. La Chapelle Sainte Eugenie<\/p><\/div><\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n\tNow let’s talk about this quirky and fun apartment. As noted above it is right in the middle of the historic part of town and in the center of some great shops and squares. To give you a feeling of our building, the following photo of the damsel in the window (Pat) gives you a preview.\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\tWe are on what they call the second floor, but in Europe the floor count begins after the first floor. To get to our apartment you need to climb two flights of a very narrow spiral stairway (photo). \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\tOnce you get to the apartment it is really quite nice and “fun” (see photos). It is spacious and built on two levels with the bathroom and bedroom being down three steps. Some of the comments about the place give a negative rating to the bed. It is very low to the ground (perhaps 6 inches off the floor) and that makes it difficult for us to get out bed with our knee problems. In addition, the mattress is very thin which makes for a hard bed. I thought it would be terrible, but you get used to it – too some degree {grin}.\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\t \n\t View out our window<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n \n\tWe are within a block of a little square that has a great bakery, small grocery, and a good place to get coffee and beer!!!!\n<\/p>\n \n\tNeil Diamond had a song called “Beautiful Noise” that I love. It describes the wonderful noise of the streets of Brooklyn where he grew up. While I love the song, I could not relate to the lyrics – street noise being beautiful. Well, now I can. The street we are on does not allow cars, so that is not a part of the “beautiful noise”. But the tower bells and kids laughing, and folks speaking in a language that we don’t understand is really beautiful. It is so fun to sit in the square, having my morning coffee or in the afternoon with Pat having a gelato (ice cream cone) and me with my beer, and watch the people and listen to the sounds – magical.\n<\/p>\n \n\tI wanted to go back to our visit to Pompeii and recall the cobblestone streets. The photo below was posted by a SU demonstrator to reflect on the fact that her daughter (guessing about 16) fell and broke both bones in her arm. Frenchie and her daughter had to fly home from Naples so that she could have surgery. The photo shows sidewalks beside the street, but many of them are not always available and walking on the stones is unavoidable. I can’t believe that we did not have an accident as our balance is not what it used to be.\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\tWe chose Nimes mainly as a function of train routing\/schedule. However, we have discovered that it is a very picturesque and historic city. More in our next post.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThat is all for this post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello from Nimes, France (Part 2) Tuesday afternoon– May 31, 2016 (ninth post of this travelogue) Well, we have a change in plans. We are going to stay in this apartment for 4 nights and then travel to Karlsrhue to … Continue reading ![\"La](\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/La-Chapelle-Sainte-Eugenie-Large-161x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Damsel](\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Damsel-in-window-Large-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n![\"Stairs](\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Stairs-to-apartment-Large-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n![\"Living](\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Living-Room-Large-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n![\"Bed](\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Bed-in-apartment-Large-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n![\"View](\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/view-out-our-window-Large-300x300.jpg\")
![\"Cobblestone](\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Cobblestone-Street-in-Pompeii-Frenchie-Photo-Large-225x300.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n