Another Lovely Day in Montpellier

Well, another week thunders by, and it did thunder briefly one night, as it has been wet and cold most of the time. Montpellier is reputed to get 300 days of sunshine per year, so Alan is thinking of going to the tourist office and asking for a refund.

No complaints, though, as we are both studying intensely, and don't care about the weather. The French school is very good, and Pam is having a ball, making new friends and speaking French to everything that moves. Alan, on the other hand, is struggling along and becoming disheartened by the difficulties. For example, he went to the post office to post a birthday present to his mum for her birthday, and on 3 occasions was told no; just no! He came back home reporting that Australia has banned imports of birthday cards, envelopes and wrapping paper, not to mention gifts. Pam came to the rescue and after a few interchanges of French verbiage, the parcel was posted. Lesson: the French culture is romantic and exotic and in many ways very interesting, but the French bureaucracy (is that a French word?) hate foreigners and just send them away. It's taken 6 days to get the parcel sent, and it will take 5 days to get to Australia.

Montpellier continues to amaze and entertain, and we are frequently having more adventures and sights which take your breath away. Additionally, Alan visited an Anglophone Library where he found a librarian who is also a singer, and we've been invited to a program of English Madrigals, Italian Motets and light entertainment in 4 part harmony.

The school organised a trip to Nimes, a large town about an hour to the East, and the place where Denim was invented. The weather was wet and cold and windy, and the commentary was all in French, so Alan escaped to the public library for warmth, CD's and coffee. Nimes is similarly endowed with roman ruins, including a Colosseum, and chapel, a Garden of fountains. Unlike Montpellier, these things are not really part of daily life, so they are quite empty and somewhat lifeless, although the Colosseum get used for rock concerts at times. We will go back on a sunny day and really get the mood of the place.

We have been doing more shopping, cooking, eating and drinking of course, and had a few entertaining times. We have a market on Saturday morning almost right outside our door, and its like having Vic Market opposite your house. The main differences are: the prices are nearly double, the range of vege's is limited by Aussie standards and the quality of the cheeses and breads is just astonishing. We live adjacent to a suburb called Gambetta, which is predominantly Islamic, and so we get the kebabs, halal meats, fish, vege's spices and herbs plus some very nice take away food too.

The other day, while on a hunt for the "Bibliotech Multimedia" otherwise known as "Mediateque", we found ourselves in the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall) and guess what; it has acres and acres of hot pink carpet. Photos to prove it are in the pipeline. Pam eventually found Mediateque to be a whole network of regional libraries which have CD collections and media events like music concerts all over town. We will be going!

The promised video is still in production, as the computer is very slow and there hasn't been a lot of time or energy after doing French all morning and safari's all afternoon.