Great Weekend with Great Friends

Neil and Carol Gibbons arrived Friday evening, right on time! We met them at the Arc and walked them to our door. Had a great evening over Beef Burgundy and a couple of bottles of nice regional wine. Also, lots of good conversation and catching up.

Yesterday, we visited the Saturday market again and bought French cheeses for lunch, Morbier, Roquefort and another. In the afternoon, we walked the narrow streets of the historique center, had a coffee on the Place de la Comedie, and picked up our rental car at the train station. Neil had volunteered to drive, a courageous service, and with lots of navigation help from my side of the front seat, and both sides of the back seat, we made it safely to our underground car park near the apartment.

Tom Tom is going to help us get to Narbonne, Beziers, and Carcassonne today. The sun is shining and we will be off soon. Pictures tomorrow.

Nimes

A few days ago, we booked a tour through the Tourist Information Office to Nimes, which is only about 35 klm away. We expected it to be a large group on a big coach with lectures given in French over a microphone. We arrived at the disignated departure spot near the Gare to find no one there, no bus, and no apparent tour. Slowly, a few people began to arrive, and finally a battered white van pulled up and a young man got out, opened the doors, and began to sort of look around. Sure enough, this was our tour, and it turned out to be students from the language schools in Montpellier. What a special treat this turned out to be. All of us were from different countries - there was a Swiss forty-something man; another older man from Amsterdam; a bubbly blond woman from S. Africa who had just turned her teenage kids back over to her former husband and was traveling on her own and studying French; a young man from the Czech Republic who has been living and working in Spain for the last 7 years; Natalia, a darling young woman from Easstern Europe somewhere; and a tall Viking-looking but gentle young man from Norway who adopted us and translated the tour for Bill and me into very good English. He has just moved to Montpellier because he is engaged to a French girl and she is employed here. Our guide, Jeremy, was an actor and comedian. He spoke mostly French, but slowly and animatedly and made the tour great fun. I understood about 1/3 of what he said, which was very good, because I am not enrolled in a French language school. So, Bill and I were the only ones not affiliated with a language course. At the end of the tour, Jeremy broke out a bottle of Nimes rose wine and croquants (a very crunchy snack cookiet), and we toasted the Romans who built ancient Nimes.

The city dates back to 2000 BC. There were pre-historic people living in the area which was separated from the Mediterannean Sea by a large salt flat and from northern Europe by the Massive Central mountains. The Romans built a large colosseum in Nimes, and it remains the best preserved of all Roman coloseeums. It is still used twice a year for bull fights during the local Ferias in May and at the time of the grape harvests, vendange, usually in late September. It seats 24,000, which is remarkable because the population of Nimes at the time it was built was only 35,000. Entry for the citizens was free.

The Maison Carre is a beautifully preserved Roman temple built on the Greek model, and was the seat of government and the home of the governing Roman leader. We viewed a pretty "tacky" 3-D movie about the history of Nimes inside. We also visited the Jardin des Fountains where the original massive spring is still bubbling to the surface. This is one of the factors that led to early settlement in the area.

Nimes is considered more "working class" than nearby Montpellier, and the citizens of the latter are considered snobs by the former. There is a great rivalry between the two cities which extends to their local football teams. Nimes was reduced in size by religious and civil wars as well as the Black Death during the Middle Ages. Montpellier is now the larger is population. The Patron Saint of Nimes is St. Cathor, or literally translated, St. Beaver. How about that for an obscure fact?

We arrived back home in time for an evening stroll to the bottom of our hill for a pizza and a glass of wine, of course. This afternoon, our friends from England arrive. We met them when we traveled with Neil and Nadia to Greece about 8 years ago. They'll be here for the weekend, and I have stocked up on regional wines for tasting (as well as serious drinking).

Sete the Seaport

Sete is the largest seaport on the Mediterranean and called "The Venice of France." It is a thriving city, not a village or town, as I had thought. We arrived by train (a 20 minute trip from Montpellier) at about 10:30 right into the middle of the biggest street market I have ever seen. There must have been hundreds of vendors on the square and thousands of customers. There was even a separate flower market set up in one of the smaller squares. We slowly wound our way into the permanent market called Les Halles - just like in Paris and Montpellier and probably every other good sized French city - and were confronted with counter after icy counter covered with seafood of every kind. There were some mean looking fish I've never seen before, and apparently skate is a local favorite. They aren't very pretty either, but were selling. There were oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp of many sizes, plus all the many kinds of fish. All fresh, too, as it comes in on the boats in the morning. What a place.

We walked along the road parallel to the port itself, and then along the Royal Canal to find a good seafood restaurant. We had our choice of many, and chose well. I had a whole big bowl of mussels as a starter! The sun came out, and more people began to wander in. By the time we strolled back out, all the restaurants along the canal were filling up. I wouldn't want to be there in June, July or August.

Sete was built in the late 1600's to serve as the major port for the Canal Midi, an ambitious project and a real engineering feat begun in 1670 to connect the Atlantic with the Mediterranean. The canal provided more efficient transportation for goods to England and Paris - mostly wines and spirits - which previously were shipped around Spain in routes which were frequently plagued by severe storms. The city is built on several large islands divided by navigable canals, hence the Venice reference. The buildings are four and five stories set along the canals construted of stone and painted soft pastel colors. It's quite beautiful.

My favorite shop, however, had nothing to do with fish or sea. It was La Biscuiterie, sucre - sale. You can go to their website to lust for the caramels, madeleines, and butter sugar cookies. You see I have a bag of goodies to take home. www.labiscuiterie.fr

We had an uneventful short train trip home. Sete is a great day-trip, espcially when the sun is shining and the market is bustling.

Quiet Day at Home

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, warmer than we've had yet. We spent the morning in our living room, stretched out on the couches, reading. I found a book written by an Englishman who inherited a house and old vineyards in the Languedoc from an uncle and moved here for a year to put things back in order. It's fiction, and a thinly disguised history of wine making in the area. He also visits a number of contemporary wineries and vineyards and describes their current wine making techniques. It's interesting to me, though some readers would prefer more of a story, I'm sure. Neil, you would love it. When our friends from England come in this weekend we plan to rent a car for a couple of days so maybe we can visit some of the wine makers the author mentions.

I've included two pictures of our apartment that are not on the website which you may have already visited. The one of the dining room is taken in the morning when the sun comes in through the long windows. The other is of the famous master bath. The cathedral, which is massive, is just around the corner and down the hill from us.

Today we are off by train to Sete, a seaside town. Maybe we'll find some fresh oysters. They are in season.

Medieval Center and Musee Fabres

Yesterday, we wandered the medieval allys of the historic center of Montepellier. The Place Canourgue is an important square in this part of the city, and there are narrow streets branching off in all directions from where we are staying. I keep expecting to get lost, but one always comes out someplace familiar because it is a fairly small area. The painted facade (look closely) is directly across from the steps up to St. Anne's, a church near us. We were really looking for one of the restaurants recommended by previous guests, which we found, but the church and the area around it were fascinating.

In the afternoon, we visited the impressive art museum, Fabre, which houses a large collection of mostly French art from the Renaissance through the 21st century. They have a big collection of contemporary paintings by Soulange, if you'd like to look him up. They are big black minimalist textured canvases and some from the sixties that are large black shapes filling white canvases. The museum is newly re-done and well worth a visit. It fronts on the Esplanade across from the Corum, one of two opera houses in this small city.

I set up a still-life of our beautiful fruit in the antique limestone sink in our kitchen. I'd love to get my hands on the kitchen, and I'm sure our owners will be remodling it sometime in the future. It could be a real show place, but on the otherhand, I wouldn't want the headache or the expense. This is truly an old building, and re-plumbing and re-wiring must be a nightmare. Next, I'll take pictures of the gorgeous master bath which has been luxuriously modernized.

Tonight we are eating in a restaurant about two blocks down the hill - Bistro l'Alco - which our host recommends. I actually made reservations in French with the young woman on the front as she spoke no English. If I just "take a chance" and use the little I have, it works pretty well. I'm sure I sound funny, but at least I am understood. A few more weeks. . . .

Market Day Montpellier

The Arc de Triomphe and the Place Royale Peyeou with Louis XIV on horseback are just a couple of blocks from our apartment. They were built in the 18th century, and the pavillion building was a water tower with reflecting pool serving as a reservoir. Behind this is a "Roman Aquaduct" built in the same period, though not Roman, it is stlll very picturesque. We followed the shopping carts and bags to the market beneath and beyond the aquaduct and found the regular Saturday market. What a treat.

We wondered the length of the stalls admiring a huge selection of fresh produce, meats, fish, oysters (we are only 1 mile from the Mediterranean) eggs, chesses, and breads. Then, made our selections as we walked back. I bought large sweet and crisp apples, juicy pears, tasty goat cheese, some comte and another kind of cheese - both very distinctively flavored. The friendly cheese lady gave us tastes of several, and it was extremely hard to choose. I wanted a piece of each one. We also bought a chunk of moist brown bread with a crusty exterior, the freshest lettuce, and a "jug" of white wine. This is my kind of shopping. I was grinning the entire time, so I don't know how Bill managed to get me with a basket full of stuff and looking so serious. I have avoided the meats so far as they don't look much like ours at home. The chickens have heads and feet, there's very little beef and it is cut differently, the veal? I don't quite know what to do with it. I'll get over being intimidated soon.

After stowing our treasurers, we walked through more of the medeival streets and ate lunch in an outdoor cafe. Last night, it was an omelettte in our lovely dining room with a fresh pear for dessert. We are off to the train station this morning to see what day trips we can make. Lots of sun and temperatures in the 50's.

Picture Montpellier!

Here's our apartment from the cafe where we ate lunch today. We are on the "third" floor, although here it is called the second. Here is also "The Cat in the Cafe," who sat very comfortably in his chair while we ate our lunch. Then, there is "The Cat in the Cafe Watching the Man Read the Newspaper and Smoke a Pipe." After the Man With the Pipe left, a gorgeous girl came in and sat opposite the cat. She lit a cigarrete, and the cat went back to sleep. Great country for cats.

There is also the carousel in the Place de la Comedie, and the blue tram with doves. Gorgeous. There were so many people on the streets this sunny Friday afternoon. Hundreds were sitting at cafes and enjoying wine, beer, cokes, conversation, and friendship.

The sculptures are just off the Place de la Comedie, all painted bright colors. These are up the Esplanade past the fountain. This city has a real sense of playfulness in the public sculptures and children's play parks. Such fun. We haven't seen or heard any other Americans or British. They don't know what they are missing!