This was our second day in Nîmes. Similar to the first day, my brother and father went to the town archives to research more of the Faucher family history, whereas Elaine and I went about the town on foot. On this day, the bullfights were in full force, all the vendors had setup their tents and the town was buzzing with thousands of visitors. There was a great energy about the place and we soaked it all in.
What really made this day special for me is that I was able to walk to the old homestead of my great grandparents. Thanks to the research done by my brother, we had an exact address on Rue du Cadereau. It was not difficult to find it, nor was it too far from the Arena. I can only imagine how the town looked at the end of the 19th century. Ostensibly, the buildings are the same, but it would only be the absence of cars and the change of clothing that would really make it that different. The rest is all, quite literally, window dressing.
Thanks the GPS attached to my camera, I was able to grab the coordinates of the old Faucher home at 43°50’9″ N 4°20’57” E. An interactive map is available in Google Maps and you can take a virtual walk down the street . The building is now known as the the Résidence Ducade (apartments for rent).
After visiting the old Faucher home, we walked down the adjacent streets to see just what my great grandparents would have seen over 100 years ago. Not much has changed and we had a coffee and some pastry at a local baker, probably similar to what my ancestors did a century ago.
I don’t know if there were some classes starting in Nîmes, but there was a hazing ceremony going on. I shot a few seconds of video whilst we were eating lunch.
As we had a few more hours left before meeting my brother and father, so we set about on another walk and stopped by at local bar, several blocks away from the tourists. This gave us a good sampling of how the locals live and interact after work. We really enjoyed the place, it was rustic, but very friendly. Think of this place as the Nîmes version of “Cheers”. Around 4:00 PM, the bartender’s kids came to rendezvous with their mother whose shift was just ending. The young boy and girl came over and introduced themselves, they shook my hand and then greeted Elaine with two pecks on the cheeks. Elaine and I noticed how well mannered and polite kids are in France and this just confirmed what we had been observing. At around 4:30 PM, the locals were done working and started to congregate at this bar. As each patron came in, he shook the hands of all the others present and the conversations became more animated and passionate as the drinks flowed. I smiled to myself, because each new guy coming in had an increasing number of hands to shake with increasingly liquored up friends.
I was able to capture videos of the locals arriving at the bar. I did this just by turning on my camera at the end of the table and let it run, so framing and composition was sacrificed in the name of perfect stealth (nobody knew they were being videoed).
I was really glad to see a slice of my Family’s history on this day. My next posting will be from Roman Aqueduct: Pont du Gard. The rest of the day’s photo follow…
