I apologize in advance that this is so long!!!  I know that you probably won't read it all but enjoy the pictures.  I'm doing double duty by journalling my trip and then just sending it on - then I don't end up repeating myself too much.  Enjoy!

Sunday July 15^th, 2007

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day, sleeping in and laying around. In the early/mid-afternoon, Xenia and I decided to walk and find the zoo. We got a little lost but did make our way there. Entry was free (!) and the zoo was okay. Not a lot of different animals but the habitats were nice and big at least, not little cages.

Instead of walking home from the zoo, we found a bus (the heat was just too much to take) and then freshened up to go out for dinner with the other girls. We discovered our new favourite restaurant - La Micocoule - and have it in our plans to go back there on our last night here! The food was absolutely amazing.

I couldn’t quite get a picture fast enough before we wolfed down our amazing tapas, which consisted of camembert cheese, some sort of mushroom, and the most amazing dish ever - potato aioli. Absolutely to die for.

For dinner I had a seafood concoction which had some mussels (moules) with prawns and some other delicacies in there. The sauce on it was amazing, a light curry of some sort, and I confess that I had to keep eating more and more bread to finish up as much of the sauce as I could.

We finished the night off by going to our new favourite pub…. I just can’t remember the name of it. It was the second time I’d been there and we played games all night. We tried our hand at Jenga and Scrabble. Scrabble was first in French but after proving practically impossible we switched to English.

After school on Monday, we headed to Sète, the 2^nd largest port in France, next to Marseille. Sète was also home to the French singer George Brassens who is commemorated throughout the city.

We found it to be a really beautiful fishing town, with some stunning water views. We took a canal ride for 45 minutes and despite our best attempts could not understand everything the tour guide was saying (in quick French) and finally just settled back to enjoy the scenery.

With the weather so beautiful and being right on the sea we were craving some nice beaches so we hopped on a city bus and ended up at a really nice beach. The water was beautiful and the sun was nice and hot.

As you can see, I was able to really work on my tan. And if you look really closely you might notice that not everyone in the picture is wearing a swimsuit quite like mine. Funny the things you see in pictures after the fact.

Wednesday evening Xenia and I partook in the school’s cooking class. On the menu was lamb with eggplant and tomato sauce and apricot pie. The French name was much prettier but I can’t remember it right now….

The food was absolutely amazing and I am proud to say that I now know how to make tomato sauce from scratch! It’s actually incredibly easy and…. a lot healthier than what you can get out of a can.

Here is Collette, our resident chef, serving up the dinner we made. Her secret ingredient for (homemade) tomato sauce is a bit of chocolate to give it a darker colour and to make it not so bitter.

Carol is another student here and also another Albertan! She’s a teacher in Southern Alberta so it’s been really great to meet here and to get to know her. It turns out that I am not the only one with this “strange” accent (which we are starting to think is maybe Québecois?). We both learned to pronounce things the same way so now I don’t feel quite so “alone” anymore. J

Dessert was this amazing apricot pie/cake, which was also embarassingly easy to make. I will definitely (probably) be able to duplicate this one when I get home.

After supper was going to play “bowling,” which they do indeed call bowling here, not “Les Quilles” as I thought it was. It’s funny how Québec has adopted some English words and France has adopted different onces.

I think that this picture was taken after a little bit too much white wine with cassis in it (mmm, gotta love those French traditions!)

Here is our bowling team, the usual gang with one new addition - James, the Aussie with the white shirt. On the left is Jesus (Hay-zeus), behind is Spela with me beside her, Charlie is in front of us and Xenia on the far right.

The hard thing about this course is that people are constantly coming and going. Since my first day here, four of girls have been hanging out day in and day out - myself along with our Slovenian beauty, Spela, our Mexican daredevil, Xenia, and our posh English girl, Charlie.

Charlie had to leave early Friday morning for her next adventure, so on Thursday we bid our fond farewells over some crêpes and some cider.

We went back to “La Belliloise,” where we had been before with the school but this time were quite shocked to see the actual menu (a privilege we had not been afforded on our first visit). We opened it up to find that this was the first page:

Being a little too hungry to actually read through the entire novel (you’ll note that at the bottom it says “A suivre” which means that this continued on to the next page), we then discovered the following…

…a Table of Contents! This menu was 41 pages long and on each page there must have been 20 or so crêpes to choose from. A little overwhelming for a hungry patron who merely wants a French delicacy but I guess that was just part of the experience.

I guess to make go out with a “bang,” Charlie finished up her evening with a flaming Crêpe Suzette, of which I got a picture of her taking a picture but neither of us were able to capture the beautiful flame arising from it. Darn the flash. J

What better way to celebrate France than by witnessing “Le Tour de France!” Yes, they departed from Montpellier Friday morning.

Apparently, what we got to witness was actually the “False Start” (aka the Warm-Up) so unfortunately no wild rushes of cyclists came through. But it was fun all the same. The highlight was when someone who had evidently been caught cheating was ushered through surrounded by a circle of police and paparrazzi racing after them, along with catcalls from the onlookers yelling “Tricheur” and other such lovelies to him.

I had lunch with a friend, Ellie, from England and we had the most delicious salad, “Une Salade Sudiste” which was a Greek salad of sorts.

Along with lunch I had to have a glass of wine because, as you can see, the only thing cheaper to drink than wine in this restaurant is coffee. Indeed, even beer is cheaper than pop. I could get used to this France business.

Saturday was a hugely anticipated day for our dear Xenia, who has been counting down the days for the Harry Potter Book 7 to come out since we got here. We headed to FNAC first thing Saturday morning, before our weekend adventures, to satisfy her appetite. (I resisted the urge to buy my own copy, knowing that I will be dragging it around for another 3 weeks and that the extra weight in my backpack won’t be welcome once our Contiki tour starts.)

We then left sunny, hot Montpellier in search of Carcassonne Saturday afternoon in our shorts and t-shirts only to find the locals there dressed in long pants, jackets, and holding umbrellas. It was raining, then pouring, and we were drenched tourists walking the streets seeking some shelter.

We toughed it out, resisting the urge to spend our money on overpriced tourist sweatshirts and were thrilled to see the sun come out, 2 hours or so after our arrival. I wasn’t in the mood to take pictures as I was sopping wet so I only have the “after” pictures.

I think that the Lonely Planet Guide hit it right on the money with this one, noting that the old Cité Carcassonne is absolutely stunning from afar.

Once inside, however, it becomes quite… cheesy. Shops and cafés everywhere trying to sell you souvenirs, knick-knacks, umbrellas, sweaters…. It didn’t quite seem to bring an ambiance of “12^th century fortress” to mind.

Here I am hiding from the rain in the museum. Finally not being poured upon was a welcome relief.

Xenia and I made our way to Avignon today, in search of “La Palais des Papes” as well as the famed “Pont d’Avignon” known so dearly to many of us by the charming little song “Sur le Pont d’Avignon.”

The Papal Palace was stunning, rich with history and built in the 14^th Century.

Next, we caught a bus so that we could go see the much anticipated Pont du Gard. The half hour ride there showed us some amazing Provencal landscape, rich with greens of every hue. These beautiful vineyards were everywhere; I was absolutely mesmerized. I must have taken 20 pictures but I’ll limit myself to showing you one.

Our arrival at the Pont du Gard showed us that it was everything we thought it would be. It’s inconceivable to me to know that this bridge was built around 19 BC! It functioned as an aqueduct to supply water to the city of Nîmes, which is about 20 km away. Some of the construction blocks used to build the bridge were over 5 tonnes. Xenia and I were both just in awe of this amazing structure. We hiked a couple of trails around to get some better views. This was definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far.

Our next visit was to the famed “Pont d’Avignon” which is actually only half a bridge! (You can only sort of see that in the picture). Apparently the other half was destroyed in a war and was never rebuilt. The little shop inside screams “tourist, tourist!” and the song, which I do love, has that potential to rival “It’s a Small World” in terms of getting into your head.

Here we are, “Sur le Pont d’Avignon,” where we “danse.”

We finished the day off by walking through the streets of Avignon, through the “Festival d’Avignon,” (very similar to Edmonton’s Fringe Festival) which happened to be on during our visit, and enjoying the town. A wonderful, wonderful day. I can’t believe that I only have one more week here.

Thursday July 12^th, 2007 - 3:31 p.m.

Time is flying by and I’m spending more time these days keeping busy and going out than journaling what I’ve been doing.  That is the way it's supposed to be, right???  Having so much fun.  I need a little break, though, so this afternoon I am just hanging out in my dorm, catching up on this, and maybe taking a bit of a nap.  :)  Even though I do have internet access now, I still don't usually have a lot of time to answer emails - just enough time to download them onto my computer and maybe glance through them, and time to really read them and answer them later on in the day (when I'm not connected to the internet).  So, if I don't write back right away it's not because I am not going to, just not right away!  I love to hear about what is going on back home, too.

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Sunday night we had some amazing food at a little Greek Place called Tempo in the littlest corner of Vieux-Montpellier. Beautiful. The feta cheese was the best feta I have ever had - creamy but crumbly and such amazing flavour.

We then went to a wine bar/café and tried some local wine with friends and afterwards to the “Shakespeare Pub” - Not French at all, but great fun. I learned there that the British equivalent of “John Doe” is “John Bull” and so if you order a John Bull Beer, you just get any generic beer.

Monday night we had some friends over to the dorm and we drank wine and beer until late-ish, considering we had school the next day. Tuesday was more of the same and Tuesday night we went to a fabulous, fabulous creperie in town called “La Belliloise.” The décor was pirate-themed and even the waiter appeared a bit pirate-ish. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of him or any really good pictures of the room but this sort of kind of gives you the picture.

The crepes were amazing. I can’t remember the name of them but there was ham and cheese inside and then an egg on top, sunny side up. They were folded into a square. As an aperitif we had strawberry liqueur mixed with cider and then drank cider the rest of the night.  Dessert was a crepe with sugar and lemon but I was way too full to maximize my enjoyment.

Wednesday the girls and I went on an expedition to Nîmes, a 24 minute train ride from Montpellier. To sum it up in 2 words, absolutely beautiful. It’s amazing to me how all of these southern French cities have such different histories, architecture, and ambiance.

We started off just by walking the streets and found ourselves in the Roman amphiteatre, “Les Arènes,” right in the direct centre of the city. Are things ever different from Edmonton here. It was built 2000 years ago and has, obviously, lived through many different events and eras. Once used for Roman Gladiators, it has also been used as (and still is used as) a sporting arena for bullfighting (is that the right name??) and concerts.

In fact, Norah Jones is even playing in this very arena in August sometime. My friends all laughed at me but I took a picture of the advertisement.

Our next tourist spot to hit was “La Maison Carrée,” which was also built roughly 2000 years ago as a Roman Temple to honour Emperor Augustus’ two adopted sons. The outside is still in tact but the inside has been completely modernized and is actually a 3D theatre. We watched a little film in there about the history of Nimes which was really quite interesting and showed gladiator fights, bull fights, some history from Louis XIV’s era.

We then walked around a bit more and finally made our way to “La Tour Magne” which had been highly recommended by another of our classmates.

Nothing could have prepared me for how beautiful the gardens around this tower were going to be. It really hit me how Canada just does not have this kind of history or architecture. I was absolutely mesmerized. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

We spent quite a bit of time here, laughing, climbing walls, pretending to be geese, you know, the usual. J

Here I am, meeting my very first olive tree: (Now I know that they do not grow in cans)

Last but not least, we walked up La Tour Magne.

I counted 139 steps but Xenia counted 140. We asked the ticket guy who was right and he said that there were 140 steps so now I owe Xenia a beer. Sheeesh. Anyway, all in all an amazing day and I would highly recommend everyone to see Nîmes if you ever happen to be visiting the South of France!

After the long day in Nîmes yesterday, we went to a wine bar and partook in some of the local delicacies, including wine and brie cheese, camembert, olive paste, some kind of tomato thing, and some saucisson. Yummmmy. Tonight, I’m off to see “Deux Jours à Paris” which is apparently partlyin English, part Spanish, and part French. The Spanish parts will have French subtitles, though, not English.

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One thing that I have really noticed here is that there are lots and lots of homeless people and that they all have dogs. Someone told me that if you are homeless in France (or in Montpellier??) , you get 400 Euros a month and if you have a dog you get even more. I have a hard time believing that but I guess it explains why they all have dogs? Lots of them seem to be fairly young, too, in their early20s maybe.

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That is all for today.... enjoy!!