More blossom.....

The peach blossom is out in full force in the fields round about, although the farmers cultivate several different varieties which are harvested at different times of the season.

Les Angles

Sunday 26th February
Another ski day--this time at Les Angles in the Pyrenees. This is the view down to the village from the gondola:

And Sophie riding down in the gondola after a hard day's skiing:

Meanwhile, back up on the slopes.....

And on the perilous winding drive back down the mountain roads there were more bridges to see:

And other wild and wonderful geological features down in the valley:

The beach

Saturday 25th February
It has finally warmed up enough to go to the beach! Here we are at Argele-sur-mer, just down the coast from Perpignan. The girls found some friends to play with, and they built a hut with driftwood and paddled in the sea. Bit too chilly yet for swimming!

More Puppies...

We thought we'd take another trip to see David and Anna at Mas San Julian, to see how the puppies are doing. They're doing very well.......

 

Blossom

Peach blossom just by the house....

Nîmes and Home

In Nîmes we went to see the world's best preserved Roman amphitheatre.

The Amphitheatre held over 24,000 spectators, and was the venue for all the usual bloodthirsty activites that were practiced at the time.

Two small people about to be thrown to the lions....

Then it was on to the Pont du Gard--the world's tallest Roman aqueduct at around 50m or 160ft high. It was built in the 1st Century AD and carried water from a spring at Uzès to Nîmes, a distance of 50km (with a drop of 17m over that distance; the drop over the aqueduct itself is a mere 2cm!!)

We climbed right to the top. Here you can see the channel that carried the water.

Cannes

After all the time we'd spent looking at medieval architecture, we took the kids to a little theme park outside Antibes. They enjoyed the maze...

the climbing frames..

the bouncy castle...

and the bumper boats...

Next it was off to Cannes.

Pisa

Here we are in Pisa! This was the only day we had some rain--and it lasted for about five minutes just as we arrived at the Leaning Tower. Construction on the tower began in the 10th Century and by the second storey it had started to lean. Over time, efforts have been made to stop the lean, and later storeys were built with one side longer than the other so it now has a curious bend to it. Of course, we had to join the other tourists and do the silly photos!

Although we'd all seen images of the tower before, we were still amazed by the the angle of lean...

Hang on, it's not leaning any more!!

Both Charlie and Sophie have been awed by the interiors of the cathedrals and basilicas we have visited. The ceiling of Pisa's cathedral was particularly impressive.