From the railway station at Nîmes the broad Boulevard Feuchiers, lined with four rows of plane-trees, leads to a large open space, the Esplanade. Round this public circus there is an oval balustrade, the designer of which seems, perhaps unconsciously, to have been influenced by the great Arena which stands quite near. Even the stone seats preserve the Roman traditions in their heavy construction. The most important café in the town stands in the Esplanade, and in winter the pavement outside is covered with a thick mat upon which the chairs and table stand. A great coke stove stands in the middle, and customers sit round the tables and fire listening to the music until the small hours of the morning. Paris herself can offer no better fare. [Illustration: REMOULINS] The “Pont du Gard,” which was one of Agrippa’s greatest engineering feats, remains the most colossal Roman monument in France. Remoulins, the little village that lies nearest to the bridge, is easily reached by train either from Nîmes or Avignon, and the road along the banks of the Gard is full of rural charm, for it passes vineyards, homesteads, ploughed fields, and green pastures. Great steep hills rising up on either side of the river enclose the valley, and when one suddenly catches sight of the towering masonry of the aqueduct that spans the river the sensations aroused are bewildering. Three great tiers of arches stretch across the river, and frame in the whole horizon. The wonderful warm colour of the masonry contrasts against the sky, which, framed in the fifty golden arches, assumes an intensity that no pigment could reproduce. On closer inspection it is seen that the stones of which this giant is composed are laid one upon the other, fitted and adjusted without the aid of mortar, and that even the smaller arches of the third tier are laid in the same fashion. The channel, however, which carried the water along the top is lined with hard cement. This tunnel is partly roofed with large flat stones placed at intervals, and leaving gaps open to the sky. [Illustration: AN OLD WATER MILL NEAR THE PONT-DU-GARD.]