Book In Bar

Today is Friday so it is Book In Bar evening; we love Book In Bar! it is so nice to meet people and chit chat in English and French. We share stories and try to learn as much slang and funny expressions as we can.
Book In Bar is a small book store on one of the narrow streets in Montpellier centre de ville.

This evening were lots of people, "the regulars" like us Cressida, Alain, Laurent, Said, Kamir and new faces from Montpellier, Germany and Sweden.

I will Miss evenings at Book in Bar and my friends.

Sushi night in Montpellier

Stef posted a sushi chez moi for 15 people on OnVaSortir ; Stef was going to Japan in next few days and he wanted to have a fun Japanese night at home. Mark and I registered right away as we were very curios to see what French people know about sushi and how sushi is in France. In Montpellier there are only a few sushi places and not very popular; it will take a while for the French to learn to like Asian food and sushi.

Stef has mentioned that if you want to help in sushi preparation to show before 8 pm; Mark and I got there around 7 pm willing to help. When we got there was only one other guy there making nigiri, and a open sushi book on the counter, it turned out that Stef never made sushi before. I offered my help which was well received. I start making sushi but it was difficult because the rice wasn’t sushi rice, vinegar was not sushi vinegar, and on top of that the rice was warm.

Well I tried my best and this is the sushi that I manage to make.
As per Mark these were the worst sushi that we ever had.

Stef was very generous in buying all the fish and everythig needed for the sushi dinner. His place is very nice, a little charming French house and interior garden that looks like nothing from outside.

People there were very nice and friendly. We brought wasabi mames and Japanese crackers, others brought wine, sake, more crackers, pina colada, and moroccon tea. We chatted in French and English and listen to some French jokes that we did not get, we had a great fun evening!

Biking from Villeneuve de Magulone to Sete

Today I biked about 70 km from Villeneuve de Magulone to Sete. I met Christian in the morning, we are supposed to bike from Montpellier to Sete, but he decided that would be a really long day. On the highway there is only 25 km from Montpellier to Sete but if you bike you have to go on the biking pass and the distance is much longer.

Today was a beautiful day; we biked along the river and partially along the sea. There are many beautiful flowers everywhere and the air is charmingly perfumed.

In Sete we biked through the city, took a few pictures and head back.

Long weekends - holidays in France

Since we been in Montpellier, almost for two months now, there were quite a few holidays. Only in May there were 3 holidays: May 1 = Labor Day, May 8 = V-E day Victorie 1945 (end of the World War II) and religious Ascension Day by coincidence; today May 11 = Whit Monday (Lundi de Pentecôte).
On holidays pretty much the city is shut down, almost everything is closed, all stores, restaurants, coffee shops; there are only a few coffee shops and restaurants open in the tourist area and a few odd groceries stores that will open for a few hours.

Transit trams and buses are running every hours or so, last Thursday the whole transportation system was shut down.

On holidays French people just have fun, go out and visit places, hiking, biking, out to the park, walking and pique nique (they really love picnic), are go out to concerts, museums, movies, or just hang out on the street. We were surprised to see how many events from cultural (many concerts, museums, art galleries) to sports are in Montpellier during the week and on the weekend; there is always something going on.

I like this lifestyle and the fact the stores are closed on holidays; I think that somehow this is an enhancement on life, forces people to slow down , find and enjoy different activities rather than going “shopping”. In North America the greatest past time on the weekend is shopping. If stores will be closed than people will find something else to do, read, watch movies, visit an art gallery, visit friends or new places, cook at home, or simply slow down and think…….

The holidays and the store breaks in France is a major disagreement between Mark and I; Mark opinion is that everything should be open at all times, especially groceries stores that according to Mark should be open 24 hours; Mark also think that would solve part of the unemployment problem is France is facing right now (from what we can tell there is major unemployment in France, very hard to find a job in Montpellier). I kind of agree with the unemployment part, but it has to be a better solution to solve the unemployment. On the note of holidays and time off, French people have 11 National holidays and 5 weeks paid vacation to start……….

Cote D’Azur – Visit Saint Paul De Vence

An other day, an other visit, today is Saint Paul De Vence.

We have a outdoors swimming pool at the hotel and since we got here I haven’t had a chance to go for a swim; so I got up early morning and went to the “piscine”. Wow, it is nice to get up and swim. After I had my “café au lait” on the balcony looking in the little green lush garden. I love this morning and I am ready to visit a new place.

Today we visit Saint Paul De Vence, an other famous French charming artsy village. Beautiful buildings, narrow streets, statues.


In the village there are tons of art stores; paintings, sculptures, jewelries, tapestries, fabrics.

I feel so fortunate to be here and be around so much beauty!

Cote D’Azur – Visit Monaco

We got up in the morning ready for our visit to Monaco.

First we have breakfast in centre de la ville cafes. Breakfast is baguette with jam, coffee, orange juice for 6 Euros, that is about 12 Canadian dollars. In Vancouver we get a really nice breakfast for the money, but hey this in Vance an old charming French village not Zen cafe in Vancouver

It took us about an hour to get to Monaco from Vance. We drove on the winding highway and after down on the narrow road. We had to go to another toll booth to enter Monaco; there are customs officer at the gates, but it seems that were just there to look around.

There was police everywhere, we were wondering if police is like this on the street every day, but soon we realized that it was the day prior to Grand Prix Historique, an event as the Grand Prix but with vintage cars racing. From up top we could see the piste and the cars.


We were really tourist for the day; visit the castle, church, watching changing of the guards (as much as we could because they were tons of tourists), browse numerous gardens with flowers and statues, browse the narrow street packed with coffee shops, restaurants and souvenirs shops.




Did I like Monaco? yes I did! Monaco is one of the places that I feel I had to see it in my life time. It is a beautiful city, building, gardens, streets, it is impressive, clean, rich and very touristy. Do I want to come back? not really….I am happy that I have seen it for one day.

Visit Cote D'Azur - what a weekend!

We left Montpellier in Friday morning with the vague idea where we are going and what we were going to see. All I knew was that we will visit Cote D’Azur, staying in Vence and visit Monaco the next day, well that was enough for me, I always wanted to see Cote D’Azur. I was in France many years ago driving up Italian and French Riviera and stopping in Monaco for a few hours, but for whatever reason I remember very little from that trip.

At 9 am Christine, Guylaine and Cathy came to pick us up, so we are 5 in Guylaine’s minivan. It is a nice day sunny with a few clouds, perfect day for driving and visiting around.

We were heading direction Cannes, Nice and Monaco- we were are in Provence, the scenery all around us is beautiful, so there is a lot of: hey look at this, fantastique, magnifique, sympa, super, I look around and smile, yes it is a scenery that makes me happy.

We stopped a few times at rest stops and could’ help to notice how expensive snacks, light meals, hot dogs, doughnuts and coffee were.

The highway is in perfect condition but there is a heafthy price to it; there are toll booths everywhere, to get from Montpellier to Vence we must have been through at least 10 of them. Every “paient” is different from 30 cents to 8 Euros, sure enough by the end of the trip the cost of gas and all the toll both doesn’t make travelling in France cheap at all.

After about 5 hours we arrived at our hotel in Vance; hotel Floreal it is a family run hotel, but somehow part of the Best Western chain. To me looks like a old charming small French hotel, I like the name of Floreal and ignore the Best Western part.

After we check in we drive to Tourettes sur Loup a small charming French village. First we had lunch in a Creperie, yummy I really like the crepes. I had “gallette avec de legumes”, that is a buckwheat crêpe with vegetables, eggplants, zucchini, red peppers.


Pictures are better than words, I took lots of pictures, Tourettes sur Loup is beautiful, no wonder there were and they are so many artists that want to paint in Provence; everything pleases the eye and makes the heart happy: buildings, walls, rocks, art shops, flowers, views, smells…….


Our next visit is up the mountain on the very winding and narrow road : a waterfall, Cascade du Saut du Loup.
There is a rainbow on the waterfall:;The vegetation around is different than in Canada.

Back on the winding road this time we are driving up to the top of the mountain where according to the signs there is the most beautiful village in Provence: Gourdon.
As we arrived there yes, we have to admit this village is beautiful. It is indeed build on top of the mountain, views are amazing and the village itself is like out of the story book. Many art stores, many stores that sell all kind of local delicately, church, cathedral and museums, it is so pleasant to browse around.


We stopped for coffee (stopping for a French coffee when you visit is a must) to have time to inhale the beauty of the village and the natural surroundings.