Le Pont du Gard

On our way home from le Midi we made a small detour off the autoroute to stretch our legs, let the blood flow back into my white-knuckled driving hands, and let the kids do what all small children love best - look at ancient Roman ruins!

The Pont du Gard is an absolute engineering marvel. It was part of a 50km aquaduct system that carried water from a spring to the Roman city of Nimes. It drops only 12m over that entire length - so the layout and building of the entire system had to be incredibly precise - which is impressive considering 1st Century building equipment.

We walked around a bit - wandered over to the other side - and then cooled off in the river, and the kids chased fish before we had to get back in the car to drive back home - as all three of the kids started school the next morning.