The modern side of Montpellier

We were up at the center of Montpellier again. The ancient architecture always grabs my attention. France has modern malls as well.

The Circus is coming to town.

The Circus (or Cirque) is coming to town. They have these signs all over the town. I've been annoying my wife by saying "ZAVATTA!" every time we pass one. It's fun to say, try it.
Za-Vatta! . . .See?

Eating is Beautiful

This is up at Comedee again. My wife and I were siting across from this dining party. I don't drink coffee after dinner so my inlaws have me drinking Sambuca. They don't have Sambuca in France so I figured it was something that I would have to get "un-used to." At the same time my co-workers were telling me I can't live in the South France without drinking "Pastis." So it was this dinner that I tried pastis for the first time. Guess what? Pastis tastes a lot like Sambuca! It's anise based.

The street musicians are fantastic up at comedee centre (center of Montpellier). This area is Europe coming at ya!

Soccer ball tree

It was a busy weekend but I feel guilty for not posting.










I have a tree in my yard that grows soccer balls. Soccer is called football in France so I'll honor that. So I was out doing yard work this weekend and noticed my football tree. The mower makes a heck of a racket when you hit one of these footballs.

The "Carbonnière Tower"

Off in the distance you see The Tower of Constance. This structure has walls that are 16 feet thick. I would hate to have to run cable vision though that. King Louis IX
(Saint Louis) stayed here when he was in town. It was also used as a prison and many of its 'guests' were French Huguenots. Because I am subject to whimsy on occasion I thought maybe some disgruntled Huguenot prisoner got out of this prison and decided he wanted to put as much distance between himself and this tower as he could. So, he left and founded the town of New Paltz. . Maybe,.. maybe not, don't know.

Aigues-Mortes, the entrance.

This is one of the entrances. It was odd because the side we were on was quiet and open and when you went through the door you were in the center of a thriving village. If you click on the picture and enlarge it you can see the village inside.

Our trip to Aigues-Mortes, the walled city.

We took a trip to the walled city of Aigues-Mortes. Pronounced Egga-Mort. It's huge walled city about a half an hour from us.

Buda Castle

My wife went to Budapest, Hungary on a business trip for a day. Now, that's a sentence I never thought I would say. She was very impressed with the city and gave it the thumbs up for a future weekend trip. She surprised me and wanted to take pictures on her trip . I tried to offer her camera's of quality, but she wanted small, small, and smaller . I came up with this crappy digital about the size of very fat credit card. She was happy with it. She came home with this picture which I thought was great. She a resourceful and crafty woman and that's only 2 reasons why I love her.

Budapest, I come to find out is actually two cities. Buda and Pest with the Danube flowing between them. My wife said it was very clean and the shopping looked plentiful. Unfortunately, her business meeting and flight schedule prevented her from doing much shopping. Hence, the green light for us to go back.

It's Saturday, time for a walk.

We try and walk every day we can. My wife's under the impression that it is somehow good for your health. I would dispute this but she has the worlds doctors and health professionals on her side. Me being out numbered, I walk. Saturday is a great walking day in our village. This picture and the following are the sights of one such Saturday. I hope you enjoy it.

Tower again

This Church tower is the tallest structure in our village. You saw it in the previous post as well as this one. It is difficult to take a landscape shot without including this majestic tower. It begs to be photographed.

A Horse!

South France is horse country. They're all over the place. The climate and terrain is similar to our American west. Its dry and plenty of grasslands to graze in. I don't know much about horses but they all seem generally happy and well adjusted here.

Europeans on bikes

There are also a lot of bikes. Like the horses, the bikes seem happy and well adjusted.

Saturday Market

On our way back we always cut through town. There is this one street that has a Saturday market going on. There are vendors all the way up this street selling all kinds of food.
the produce is very fresh and the breads wines and cheeses are all locally made.
There are :. . . . .

Shrimp and calamari

Assorted sea dishes.

Chicken and stuffed tomatoes

This had a great aroma as you walked by.

Veggies

Very fresh, home grown stuff. ..

Fruits

And the fruit! Oh man. Delicious!

And of course wine

And the local vineyards get into the act.

That's our usual Saturday walk. After walking through the market we usually return home with our hands full of baguettes and whatever else looked good.

We are here!

We are here! France ! South of ! Ok, we have had a wild couple of weeks. We lived in a hotel for a bit. We closed on our house. We bought a used car. We bought a refrigerator, washing machine and dish washer and many other 220 volt items. We set up our house and with
the help of our new French friends we finally got high speed internet. Ok,
I am on my feet again. Between work and setting up our house, photography and my blog has been neglected. I know this. I am itching to make a worthwhile contribution but
responsibility has stood in my path ( by "responsibility" I mean my wife.... Just kidding honey.) I want to go off and flex some photographic muscle but I need get some whining
off my chest. Please, indulge me. I promise once this observation of the minutiae is over
I will concentrate on what a beautiful place this is, and it is!

KEYS: A necessary evil, we all have them. When I was younger I had all kinds of crap hanging off Of mine, small pocket knives, flashlights, and zodiac charms. As I got older I narrowed and isolated my needs. My key chain when I left consisted of a house key, a car key, and an office key. Ok, Now I am here, These are my house keys! Just the house keys. My car keys and office keys are separate. I feel like I'm off to unlock the bell tower in the morning. You can forget keeping them in your pants pocket unless you want to risk incredible damage to yourself when you sit down.

Light Bulbs:
I have always liked to keep a supply of light bulbs on hand. When one blows you just run to your stock and produce a new one and you look like the hero. There are 4 different types of light bulbs in my house. They seemed to agree on a common size for wine corks but they couldn't arrive at a standard light bulb. Whine whine whine . . .I am almost done.

And finally. . . The phone goes where? The phone goes here?! Great Caesars Ghost!

My apologises to my new French friends. I'll close this post by saying 'viva le differance.'

Ok. . . . .On to the beauty.