Leaving Montpellier

Today May 31 was our last day in Montpellier. We got up early morning again and did last minute stuff; a bit of cleaning, packing, getting everything ready.
As we lived in a student residence at the end of your stay there is an inspection for the rooms; at 10 am the receptionist came up for room inspection.

Everything was in order and clean, we got our deposit back, woohoo!

Our friend Claudine came to pick us up from the residence. We haven’t seen Claudine in a long time, her father is very sick and she is being very busy taking care of him and family. It is an extremely difficult situation for her. She would have like to meet us more often during our stay but that was impossible; likewise we would have loved to see her and her daughter Aurore more often. We met Claudine and her daughter at French American centre very soon after we arrived in Montpellier.

Claudine invited us for lunch in her place; first we stopped at the bakery to pick up some quiche, octopus pie, zucchini pastry, and sweets: mille feuille, chocolate éclair, strawberry tart, baba du rum.

We had a wonderful lunch, the food was yummy, we chatted and chatted, time goes by toooo fast, it is so good to see Claudine and have a chance to say good bye.

Last moment chat in Claudine’s garden. I love the flowers and the olive tree.

She drove us to la gare; this is out TGV, the fast train to Paris!!! Our luggage are very heavy…ugh….we still have to carry those from gare de Lyon to our apartment in Paris.

Leaving Montpellier in the train, I have mix feelings; I am sad that I have to leave here, I had a great time, met wonderful people and I made friends; but I am also ready to leave, looking forward to spend time in Paris and new places…..

I am definitely a wimp when it comes to say good bye, Mark and I just sitting in the train looking a the French country side while the tgv speeds up.

Presque the dernière jour in Montpellier

Last night I could not sleep very well (usually I sleep like a log). I am anxious! Got up in the morning, start to clean and pack. I have some stuff to give away, some food. Everyone who really knows me, understands that I hate to waste food or anything for that matter, so I am trying to find people to give food and a few things that we have to leave here.

Also in my last day, I really want to go biking, go and see places that I love. I got on my bike, I biked to the sea, Montpellier to Carnon, Carnon to Palavas and back to Montpellier. On my way back I biked really fast because I was running late and I was supposed to meet Mark at Claudine’s place and return the bike. At one intersection I stopped suddenly (don’t know why) and I flew over the handle bars.
I was lying in the middle of the street; there was a car behind me, I could see the lady was more scared than I was (well, I guess is not fun to have a cyclist that falls in front of the car). She and another lady got out of the car and ask if I need help. In my broken French I explained that I just needed some time to recover and get over the pain, but I am OK. To be honest when I fell in a split of she second I had this vision of me laying with my leg up in the French hospital. I got back on my bike, and biked as fast as possible to meet Mark. Uh, I was in pain.

This is my hurt knee...ouch


This is me laying in bed at the end of the day….I am tired, tomorrow is the last day, we are leaving to Paris.

Wandering in Montpellier and starting to say au revoir

Living in Montpellier for almost 3 month we feel pretty much “at home”. We know our neighborhood and downtown really well. When I walk on street and browse in the store people always address me in French, which make me think that I look really French, especially now that I have very short hair :)

It come to my mind that we don’t like to move and change places because it is so dam hard – emotionally! like it or not you get attached to new friends, place, city, street, coffee shops, bookstores, churches.

My last days here I am wandering kind of aimlessly in the city; we done lots, but I feel that I should have done more and spend more time in places. I love Book In Bar, I should have spend more time there!

Yesterday Mark and I went to have coffee by our favorite church; it is his favorite church and also mine.

We went to this church for a Mozart concert in the evening, and it was beautiful, the music has such a good acoustic in the church. I stopped at this church several times in my walks. It is something about this church that I like: I am not religious at all, but somehow in this church I can sit still and meditate a bit….I told Mark the other day that as I was sitting in the church one day a light came to my mind…Mark was teasing me…”was the light Jesus?” no, just kind of a peaceful feeling that I am OK, and the fact that I am here so far from home and I am not sure where I am going next is OK too….

Yesterday night we also had dinner in the centre de la ville, in a nice restaurant. Since we moved here, we eat mostly at home, so we decided that before we leave here we deserve a nice dinner. I would compare Montpellier prices with Vancouver prices, it is just the exchange rate that makes everything here expensive; a euro is 1.6 dollar or sometimes even more.

The restaurant, the food, the waiter – everything was very good; I had caviar de aubergines, blanquettes du veau and creme brulee. It was a great evening….I can say that just by looking at my big grin. (this pictures was taken by putting the camera on the water bottle, so Mark head is sticking out from the other side of the table and the umbrella).

After dinner we went to see a free concert in pleine air at the Esplanade d'Europe. There were tons of people there, the event and the crowds reminded me of the Fire Works envenings from back home.

We walked slowly at home enjoying the evening....
Hmmm....one more picture in the Place the La Comdie at night and the Opera in the backround.

Last week in Montpellier

We have been in Montpellier for a little bit more than two months. Why and how did we get to live in Montpellier? Well first we want to live in France for a bit, Mark wanted to learn French and I just want to live life in South France. I have been travelling in France twice before, but always very fast I didn’t really have the time to experience the real “la vie francaise”. But why Montpellier? We wanted a city big enough to see places, visit and to do stuff, a city close to the mountains and the sea, but yet small enough to feel comfortable, to be able to walk pretty much everywhere, to slow down and meet people. How did we find Montpellier? it is the most pathetic story, Mark and I kept looking on the Internet to find a place in France, and we were not sure where to go and one morning Mark went downstairs to do laundry and run into this guy and started chatting, Mark told him that he is heading to France in next couple of day and the guy said – you should go to Montpellier; Mark came upstairs and told me – We are going to Montpellier!

This is the Place De La Comedie, first place that we seen as we arrived at Montpellier, it is the place to see and be seen!

The Opera house is on the other side of Place de La Comedie.

Regrets? not at all….we really like Montpellier, it is everything we wanted and more. It is beautiful, old and new, comfortable to walk around, lots of coffee shops, restaurants, lots to do, concerts, art events, sports; it is close to the mountains and the Mediterranean sea. Close to the small villages and the sea resorts.

Would I consider living here? When I left Vancouver I told all my friends that I will never consider living anywhere else than Vancouver; but now I have to admit that if I could get a job I will live in Montpellier for a year, still so much to see and to do! but it is almost time to say goodbye 

Philippe's visit and Caroline's dinner

Friday night my friend Philippe from Paris came to visit. I know Philippe for about 18 years; all this years we seen each other a few times, twice in Paris when I was travelling in France and stopped in Paris, and one time when Philippe came to visit Vancouver. It is one of this friendships that we both know that it will last forever, it doesn’t matter how often we have the opportunity to spend time with each other.

Where I met Philippe and how we became friends? hmmm….this is just my dear story and it is not to share.

I was very happy to see Philippe, last time was 8 years ago!
Saturday we visit Montpellier, went to see the most beautiful church in the city, cathedral Saint Pierre.

We had lunch at the Creperie de La Montagne, I had peasant galette and as dessert profiterole; too bad I didn’t take pictures, they were yummy!!!

Saturday evening we had dinner at Caroline’s place-; Chris, Cressida, Mark, Philippe and I. Caroline lives in Grand Motte in a nice house inherited from her grand mother.


We made sushi again (now that Mark and I are pros!!!) We got all the sushi ingredients, including Japanese beer to go with the sushi from an Asian supermarket just opened in St Jean de Vedas.


Cressida made chicken, Caroline a great salad, Mark and I sushi, dinner was a success; to top it up as dessert Caroline made a fruit salad to go with the six different kinds of ice-cream and sorbets! sure we had to try all the ice creams, they were all yummy, we eat lots.

On Sunday morning despite the rain Philippe and I took the train to Nimes; yes, sometime it does rain in South of France :(

We browsed dans le centre ville and visited churches.

We also visited the famous Nimes arena; arena is and it is till one of the few places in France where there are still allowed corridas. Fete de la Nimes are very popular in France.

Philippe left on Sunday night for Paris; we are going to Paris next week, so we will meet again soon.

I was tired, but what a great weekend!

Lac Salagou - my last hike with OnVaSortir group

Lac Salagou - 27 km, peu denivele.

My last hike with the group is around Lac Salagou; the lake is close to Lodeve (50 km from Montepllier), the lake is one of the most beautiful places to spend a day. The best way is to go around the lake on a VTT bike (mountain bike) but also it is very nice to walk, it is just a looooooong walk, 27 km!
>
The soil is red, the trees are different degrees of green, and tons of colorful flowers around, the scenery is amazing; perfume of the flowers is everywhere is the air, walking and breathing flowers perfume, what a wonderful day.

We are a group of 6 people, I got a ride from Montpellier with Laura, young and sweet French girl; 2 of the guys in the group speak English, by now I can carry one a conversation in French, but it is nice to be able to also communicate in English.

This is a mountain where are lots of love expressions – hearts, names, love declarations written by people using white rocks on the bare red soil of the mountain. It looks really pretty - red, white and in between yellow flowers, wow it is nice to see so much love….hmmm….love.

Well, we started walking at 10am it is 6 o’clock we are still walking and it seems that we are a bit lost.

Finally we arrived in a village and stopped in front of a house to ask for directions.

A man comes out of the house and my friends ask him what would be the shortest way to get around the lake and get to the our cars. It turns out that we have at least another 8 km to walk to the parking lot. I guess we looked quite tired, so the man is offering us a ride to our car. We are happy and grateful to this man, so nice of him, we were indeed tired, is has been a long day.

We get to the car and Bernard is turning on the music, he is got good music and it is loud. We danced a bit just for fun in the parking lot, they were yelling we are tourists! just to tease me.

It is was a very nice day and I had a great time! Provence is beautiful!

Les Salines - easy hike with OnVaSortir

Randonnée : Les Salins
Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone (Hérault)
Durée : 5 h30
Distance : 18 km
Balisage : trait jaune

Une excursion au pays des oiseaux et du vent, entre lagunes, roselières et prés salés vous attend.

Sunday we went on a easy hike with Elisa and Chris. This hike is like a walk in Stevenson (BC) on the dikes. Beautiful scenery, farms, wineries, estuary, many colors flowers, old buildings.

We had to cross the railway tracks, trains here are fast!!! so we stopped and let the train go first 

It was very pleasant to spend the day with Elisa and Chris; Both are very nice people, we are very lucky to meet them. We walked for about 15 km, had a nice lunch that finish with Elisa’s coffee; after the hike we went to Villeneuve de Malgulone for a relaxing chat in front of cold beer.

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.