Update August 9

Monpellier pastiserie

Arc du Triumphe

Gypsy Swing



Place Comedie

Roman mosiacs at Lupian

No posts for a while as it’s been quiet here. That is changing tomorrow when Tony Wernert arrives and then Marianne Lindgren joins us on Thursday.

It’s been nice having home “down time” but I’m ready to play tour guide. I’ve been planning activities for my guests – hope they like the plans.

I’ve been enjoying myself. I go swimming at least every other day and have tried a couple different beaches. The beaches near here are all long and sandy with beautiful calm water. The weather is warm and the water is cold. I’ve learned that the very best thing to do is just get right in up to your neck. Taking it gradually prolongs discomfort. Once you’re in it is absolutely delightful. The drive to the beach for Abeilhan is an easy one and it only takes about 20 minutes.

There is a small lake fairly close – just outside the nearby town Roujan. The lake is called Barrage les Olivettes (or something like that). I did drive over there last week and checked it out. It is very pretty and there were quite a few people swimming but the water was very murky. I decided that if I was hot enough I’d go in but it wasn’t all that hot and I’ve gotten spoiled by the beautiful clear water of the Mediterranean and the Herault River.

I attended two dinners at local wineries catered by Ken and Allison who are friends of Sharon and Mel’s. Both were very nice. The first was a pretty informal BBQ at the home of the winery owner just outside Pouzolle which is the town closest to Abeilhan. The second one was more formal in an absolutely beautiful setting on the winery’s terrace looking out over vineyards and rolling hills toward the Mediterranean. As the evening progressed we watched the light change with the setting sun and after it was dark we could see fireworks ishn Séte. The food and wines were excellent. Most of the people at these dinners were expat Brits (with a couple Americans and Kiwis). I didn’t meet anyone who was French.

I’ve also been entertained several times by my wonderful French neighbors Suzette and Roger. They invite people for “appertifs” which is appetizers and wine. They are very warm and friendly and always make me feel welcome (even though we can’t communicate real well). Last Saturday evening they were able to relieve my curiosity as to a very bizarre event from that morning.

Saturday morning when I got up at 7:30 am I opened the wooden shutters that face the alley in back of my house and noticed two police cars with three French cops standing by looking down another alley. I frankly didn’t think much about it, figured that an elderly person had perhaps died during the night. However when I went out the front door to walk the dogs there were 4 more police cars (and more gendarmes a little ways from my front door). They remained in place for an hour so I asked some other neighbors who were standing outside their houses, “Que pasa?” since I didn’t know how to say “what is happening?” in French. The explanation I got was that someone had been shot with “pistole” during the night. I wasn’t able to understand anything more. That evening Suzette explained that there were two brothers, one was drunk, and the drunk one shot his brother. The victim survived and is in the hospital, the perpetrator is in jail. Excitement in the village.

On the way back from the beach the beach the other day, I stopped in Loupian at an archeological site of a Gallo-Romain Villa. It is quite extensive and contains beautiful mosaic floors. Unfortunately the tour guide was obviously very knowledgeable but spoke no English and he lectured nonstop for 1.5 hours. It was very hot inside the enclosed site and you can only look at a mosaic floor for so long – so I escaped and went out a side door.

I went to Montpellier yesterday. This is a good sized city. After being so long in the rural countryside I felt like I was in metropolis. It was nice to see fancy stores like Cartier. Fortunately as it was Sunday they were all closed. The large Place Comedie is a lively place. Many sidewalk cafés, street entertainers, very good people watching. I had a salad niçoise (what else?) for lunch and watched the world go by. There was a gypsy trio playing Gypsy Swing (one of my favorite music types) nearby. Afterwards I walked around and just absorbed the city feeling. Montpellier even has its own Arc du Triumph. Everything was great till I tried to leave town. Due to much new construction my TomTom had its biggest failure yet. I finally just ignored and headed in what seemed to be the best direction with lots of zigzagging because of many one way streets.

After that I headed to the beach for a late afternoon swim. Paradise…..