One of France's
most important sites is the Pont du Gard - the bridge over the Gard river. It's actually a Roman aqueduct that brought water 50 km. from the hills to the town of Nimes. When Becky and I saw it - and played in the river - in 1974 it was a nice sleepy spot in July with very few people around. Fast forward to 2014 and WOWZER! - It's got a museum, theater to show construction techniques, snack shop - all the modern acoutremonts of big time tourism. And then - they have a "Son et Lumiere" show 4 times a year. We hit the June show date and brother - this was thundering sound and brilliant light. Our old light shows at the Fillmore and Avalon ballrooms are very distant cousins to these elaborate displays. They have enormous projectors that use the bridge and hillside as their screens. And PA systems that could curdle milk -heavenly.
A few hardly adequate words - AWESOME! Spectacular! and the always correct DUDE!
Part of the show, which started at 10:30 in order to get enough darkness to present the bridge properly, featured 6 guys wearing illuminated suits - and they were prominently featured walking, climbing, shooting Roman Candles (oh yes - fireworks were just one of the highlights) and fishing with their illuminated rod and fishing line
We had a huge picnic catered by Julie and her partner Thomas - Julie was one of our French exchange students and works for the government now in Environmental cleanups for the mining industry - and is expecting their first baby next month. We may get a chance to drive back before going home and seeing her baby boy.
That looks amazing!
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