This past week was a week of mainly socializing with friends, and a rain day. Also a train trip to Nîmes.
But, breaking news, as I am finishing writing this blog on Monday morning,.. it's snowing. Freak snow in Parksville, snow in LA, and now snow in the south of France....just a coincidence, right..
Monday February 20
We went downtown and had a Starbucks coffee, (our big event!)
Checked out the menu at Ben and Jerry's along the way
We never ever go out for coffee together.. so this is a rare event! Cafe latte.. I won't tell you how much they cost..
View from Starbucks balcony
Starbucks balcony from the street level
View from balcony
Tuesday Feb 21
A bit greyer today and rain forecast for the next two or three days.
Went downtown to checkout a new photography exhibit that just opened this weekend
Had a latte again at the Starbucks since we were right there. (addicted?) lynda met a delightful young brother and sister in Starbucks who are French, but, live in Vancouver . It was the Whistler sweatshirt the young lady was wearing that started the conversation. They moved to Canada from France when they were pre teens. Had a pleasant conversation, traded WhatsApp contacts and promised to keep in touch.
From the photography exhibit. A Jewish photographer from Austria, set up studio in Paris photographing high society, lost her business and clients and had to hide in a Mountain village during the war, and after concentrated on documenting réfugie camps. In her final years as she was dying, she photographed other people who were dying. Very poignant.
Picasso
After the war in Austria
After visiting the photography exhibit, I thought I'd try an art photograph, dogs walking a man...
Wednesday Palavas Les Flots
My friend picked us up at the end of the tram line drove us to her home town, Palavas Les Flots on the sea about 25 minutes away. we had lunch and returned to her home for coffee and cakes, and then a walk by the lake, (étang in French )
Kayaking class
The river Lez that runs by our apartment meets the sea
The restaurant was called the little lizard. Very pleasant, very busy. It's school holidays here.
Interior of Françoise's home. Almost all French homes and apartments have tile floors. Given her proximity to the river lez that likes to flood periodically, and the lake on the other side, tile is a good thing... the région paid them $12000 to install flood barriers for their home, especially important since they spend months away in their other home in the north, in Brittany.
Millefeuille and Brittany cider on the porch.
They own a boat, and in season it's moored on the Lez, which is conveniently located 10 feet from their garden gate. Roland was a sailor in the French navy so it's in his blood.
Thé étang outside their front door. A Shallow salt water lake created by the Mediterranean, with flocks of flamingos and other sea birds. Normally it's placid, but if there's storm, not so much. Their house is on a long narrow strip of raised land between the Lez and the lake.
The best close up shot I could get of flamingos using my iPhone camera
A house number plate.
À fish out of water, or a flying fish
For the children at our restaurant... Fish and "ships". When I was young we called it "Chish and Fipps" You can feed anything to kids. It's like On BC ferries, the kids menu is the Pirate Pak, doesn't matter what's inside!
Thursday
Stayed in, and went out for a Chinese buffet in the evening with Hubert and Christiane.
Friday Feb 24
Wet day, took the tram in for lunch of crepes. Lynda got her favourite Gorgonzola and walnuts
I had ground beef and cheese and egg
And we bought a can coffee grown in my old home country of Burma! A first for me. Very good, but I'll never find this in Parksville Save-on
A grey day but no rain. Took the train to Nîmes. We had been there on a previous trip with our friends who took us to the coliseum and the Carré D'Or, à Roman temple in perfect condition, but this time we walked and saw more of the city, which is practically a living museum in itself. The public spaces and wide allés are beautifully preserved. Car traffic in central Nîmes is severely curtailed, and that's a good thing. Gas and diesel can turn brick and stone black in a few years, to say nothing of what it does to our lungs. Possible the most pristine, and beautiful city in France that we've been in.
Most areas outside a train station in Europe are generally a bit rough and ragged. In Nîmes the architectural beauty starts as soon ss you walk out the doors. No fast food, no shops selling trinkets.
The long Allé that runs from the station to the central point in the city, the arena, or coliseum.
The station
A stream runs along side. One of the jewels of the Roman period in france is the pont du Gard aqueduct, which brought water into Nimes and the region. It's located just outside Nimes.
À magnolia in bloom
Not the Wall Street bull, this celebrates the heritage of bull fighting which still takes place in the colesseum. It's very popular and very controversial as you can imagine.
Better than wifi, to stay connected.. share a drink. Sounds reasonable.
We visited the very busy indoor market
Not sure about what this wine is about...but it's bio.
A typical historical French store front design, you see a lot of shops like this in Paris, Bordeaux and other northern French cities.
One of the remaining gates into the Roman city
The Carré D'or, the best preserved roman temple in the world.well,in the Roman world. We visited this last trip, it holds a museum and a theatre showing a film of the history of the Roman's in Gaul. The Roman Empire was a bit like the EU, but with administration in Rome not Brussels. The countries had a love hate relationship with Rome, they got stability, protection and a great trading partner, but had to follow roman law. The last thing the Roman's wanted was more wars, they just wanted to trade wine and other goods. Oh, and tax the citizens of course, but that hasn't changed in 2000 years.
Beautiful canal leading to a huge park
Almost a New Orleans style balcony on this house..
The ruins of a shrine to Diana. The Romans built temples to their gods where ever they landed. They also shared gods, and were happy to also worship the local gods in the regions they conquered. It was yet another method by which they maintained peace (pax romana), by sharing deities.
A column from the shrine.
Walking up a steep hill to a Roman watchtower.
Watchtower guarding the city, and the water courses. In a dry Mediterranean region, water is precious and strategic to citizens and soldiers. Remember, it was the Roman's who taught the world how to have a really good bath and use a toilet.
Walking down to the park, and then the train station
One of the electric trams on wheels that move people from the parking spaces off the highway into the city.
Front view of the carré as we walked back.
Bits of pillar bases with the hole in the middle for supporting rods.
These bus trams have their own dedicated lanes. No cars or parking allowed.
From the pandemic days. Do you think 200 years from now archeologists exploring the ancient transportation methods of this period uncover these circles and hypothesize their original meaning..maybe stand in the circle and get beamed to Paris?
Antoine visited us from Le Castellet today. He has a brother in the area so joined us for lunch and a walk around.
Coffee gourmand, you get a coffee and desert selection, varies with every restaurant, some times pastries, this time more elaborate.
One of the few restaurants open on a Sunday, took a while to search online to find one, and I made reservations on line. Restaurants respect the days off for their owners and staff, so normally it's Sunday and Monday closures. Servers are normally full time, with benefits so work a five day week just like bank clerks and government officials. So you can't eat a burger every day, every hour you want to but at least you know the staff are not working for tips, and are generally more content to serve you. We're reading about escalating cost of tipping a percentage on top of meal prices augmented by inflation at restaurants at home might, just might, be tipping (pardon the pun) the practice in favour of better wages..
We ate inside but the sun attracted people to the terrasse. Nice spot, no cars, just the electric trams. so you can enjoy the meal without breathing gas and diesel fumes. And no honking. Electric bikes or scooters only.
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We walked through the jardin des plantes next to the restaurant. Montpellier had the very first medical school built in the early Middle Ages, and the jardin de plantes was, well, where they grew their prescriptions, before pills were invented.
This cactus had its own plastic sun hood to encourage growth
Cactus in the middle of another plant.
Brutalist ecclesiastical architecture? The tower of the cathedrale.
Bright sun, We stopped for coffee, and tea on the place de la comédie.
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