They dropped us at a service station just outside Aix-en-Provence, several cars stopped for us but none were going to Nimes. In the end we managed to get a lift of a middle aged man named Vincent who had recently split up with his wife and was going to visit his brothe in Avignon. I think he was grateful of the company. He took us to Orange, which was actually a bit out of our way but seeing as we weren't in any hurry it didn't really matter.
From Orange we got a lift from a young man on his way to Monpellier to visit friends. He took us just outside Nimes and dropped us at the side of the motorway at one of the 'picnic areas' that are commonly found at the side of French motorways. The picnic area was deserted apart from a couple of lorries with sleeping drivers and I started to think our luck had run out! However within 5 minutes a car pulled in to use the toilets and the kindly couple inside offered to take us to the city limits. They even gave us an orange each to snack on. They were very friendly, positive people on their way to Perpignan for their holidays.
From the city limits we decided to walk into Nimes. It was a boiling hot day and after 3 hours sitting in various cars it was nice to walk a while. We finally made it to the city center and naturally, we congratulated ourselves with a nice cold pint of Stella :)
We had nowhere to stay, our search for a couch to surf had been in vain, so we visited the city with our back packs in tow. Nimes is a Roman city, we saw the main sites, had a nap in a park, then ate pizza for supper. As the sun was setting we set off to find a youth hostel that the tourist office had recommened. It was miles away up a big hill, and after 12 hours of walking/hitch hiking with our heavy backpacks it was a depressing journey, made better by the beers we bought on the way! We finally found the hostel and it was splendid. Really nice, clean, modern and rural. We even managed to get a dorm to ourselves for the same price as a shared dorm, even after the receptionist told us that we'd have to sleep in seperate rooms because there were no mixed sex rooms. I think she took pity on us seeing the tired desolate looks on our faces when we arrived at 9 o'clock at night without so much as a reservation!
There was a large party of crazy Spanish youths staying in the dorms around us, making lots of noise and generally being Spanish, but we weren't feeling sociable. We stayed in our room, chatted and drank our beer then both fell into deep sleeps.
Sunday we were up early and cracked open the first beer at 9.30am. Liquid breakfast. We visited Les Arenes, a Roman Colosseum and did the whole guided tour thing. It was once again a gorgeous day. We strolled through the city, it was destitute like everywhere else in France on a Sunday morning. At midday we took the train to Montpellier. Markus knew some people there with a couch we could sleep on and I wanted to see the city anyway. When we arrived we went on a huge walk looking for two crucial things: an ice cream and a toilet - I was brusting! We saw the old town (and wee-ed in a smoothie shop) and then had an overpriced ice cream in the main town square. Then Markus took me to see the Antigone. It's a brand new neighbourhood that was built to handle the rapidly increasing population of the city. Apparently Montpellier has the highest rate of population growth in France. The Antigone is weird. It's like all Grecian-style large imposing buildings, it reminded me of Disneyland for some reason. Very beautiful though, lots of big pedestrianized spaces, lots of greenery and fountains. Once again we had a nap on the grass in the sun. Then went and met our couchsurfing hosts.
The were Eddie and Auld, a young couple studying in Montpellier. They were great. They took us for a walk around, Montpellier is really beautiful. Then we had noodles from a noodlebar for tea and went to the pub for a few beers and a game of pool. It was a tight game and in the end we gave up and called it a draw because nobody could pot the black!! French pool is different to English pool: to win, you have to pot the black (as per) but you have to hit the side of the table with either the black or the white before you pot it. Tricky!
The neighbours came round later on in the evening and we spent a lot of time discussing stereotypes that we have of other nationalities. Apparently English people are known to be open and sociable, albeit a tad slutty. I'm quite happy with that conclusion!
We had planned to hitch hike home, but we overslept and ended up running across the city to catch the train! The train went via Marseille where we stopped to have a McDonalds lunch.
Finally the weekend was over and it was back to au pair life. Fantastic final adventure to end my stay in France.
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