Boxing Day where it doesn't exist...

They don't really believe in Boxing Day here...in fact they don't at all. I spent the 26th December driving and sightseeing...there certainly wasn't any cricket or shopping involved!
So we got up sometime in the mid-morning and had toasted breadstick with jam, butter and honey for breakfast, as well as some random round brioche (mmm, brioche! sweet bread for anyone who doesn't know! it's good!). To my surprise it seemed that almost the entire extended family had slept over as many of them were at breakfast. They asked me some questions about Australia and then the obvious one 'what do you normally eat for breakfast in Australia'...considering how casually I was gulping down toasted bread and a little bit of cereal, I would have thought it might have occured to them that breakfast in Australia is in fact very similar to breakfast in France...however it had not and naturally their question was perfectly valid. In reply I said something along the lines of 'the same things, toast and cereal' and then mentioned vegemite - biggest mistake I could have made as I then had to try to explain vegemite to them, in French, without any idea of what it was made of or how to describe the taste. After about 10 minutes of discussion and further questions relating to vegemite and whether it was like jam or honey, sweet or sour, soft or hard, like butter or like paté, I think i'd managed to completely confuse them without getting the point across at all. Oh well. I was finally saved by explaining that Alix could taste some in Australia and tell them all about it. Turns out she tasted some at Charlotte's house not long after that and there's a much dodgier English version too!
So after breakfast we waited around for ages and packed all our stuff up and around 11 or 12 one of Alix's cousins returned to drive us back to Montpellier. From what I understand, those members of the extended family who didn't sleep over slept instead at their own holiday houses in Cornus, so that would explain why they kept turning up throughout the morning, sometimes just walking in the door, saying hi and then leaving again.
So the random cousin drove Eléonore, Alix and I back to Michel's house in Montpellier. I think I fell asleep in the car again! Back home we dropped our stuff and had lunch. I have no idea what but something quick and simple because Alix and I had to repack and get ready to go back to Nimes for a few nights! Françoise arrived and off we went on our way to the Pont du Gard (Bridge of the Guard or Guard Bridge) which is near Nimes. By the time we arrived it was probably 3:30 or 4:00 pm so the sun was just touching the top of the forrest on the other side of the bridge. It cast beautiful shadows through the arches and across the river and fields beyond. I took so many photos of the bridge from every angle because it was a clear day and the lighting was magnificent. There was mist in the air too, which helped to create a very surreal, fantastical feeling. We walked to the bridge and past it then back and across it. It's a massive Roman creation I think, with three levels of arches. The river beneath it probably used to be a great river but now it's small and hardly moves. It still creates beautiful reflections of the bridge though! I promise to post photos as soon as I can but no doubt you can find a thousand on google or on some of the others blogs.
After we'd explored the Pont we returned to the car and drove to Uzes, another cute little town nearby. There we found a creperie and sat down for a crepe and drink. I had a crepe au citron (lemon) and a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate). Both were fabulous! The crepe came out on a plate with a small pile of sugar for dipping and a random little yellow berry that was quite yummy. Unfortunately it was cold, the only downside. After that we walked through the town of Uzes for a while. It was still light but we only walked around for about 30 minutes before it was dark and we returned. We drove back to Nimes and crashed at Alix's grandma's house. We had dinner there, which I think was soup, potato gratin, something else and left-over Christmas log for dessert. Francoise went to a meeting while Alix's grandma, Alix and I watched Le Monde Suffit Pas (I think that was it - The World Is Not Enough, yes James Bond) in French, which was odd.
So that was my boxing day! It was lots of fun but it didn't feel like normal boxing day (which consists of some shopping, lots of cricket and lots of left-overs!)