Suitehotel Montpellier

... your entire body in cold water. I'd wash my face in the sink, my pits with a wash cloth, my feet and hair in the tub, and well, the nasties were washed in the bidet. It was wonderfully wonderful to sit in this cradle of hygiene and know that everything will be clean.

Luckily, dad stocked the mini fridge as best as he could with lunch meats, eggs, bread, Perrier (yuck) and light Ice Tea (I guess I still am not skinny enough for the ...

What a waste of a day...

Go to Nimes and the national parks people said..... we ended up at a campsite way out of Montpellier and the highlight of our day had been the supermarket!!!!

The national park was lots of farm type marsh land... not what we had imagined. Nimes seemed pretty and lots of well preserved Roman things but the traffic was a nightmare and too hard to park so we kept driving with a plan to go out in Montpellier that ...

We have enjoyed many good meals in France, but two stand out from the vast number in restaurants that tend to offer a menu with generic dishes (well prepared though), rather than distinctive cuisine. This could relate to our budget of course.

Nimes
We arrived in Nimes in the late afternoon and booked into the Hotel des Tuileries, a lovely hotel in the old part of town very close to the Arena. The host, Andrew, recommended a ...

... could find quiet of privacy if they wanted it. We just wanted not to be near the teenagers playing Michael Jackson on their radio.

Despite our fatigue, we walked up to the top of Mount Cavalier which is part of the garden to Tour Magne, a tower that was once part of the city walls and was also built by Augustus. Having viewed many views, we opted not to pay to climb up the tower steps.

We wended our way home, both ...

... is hands down my favorite way to travel. At first, it seems very intimidating, but you meet so many people so quickly. I had pictured myself being alone for the whole time, but honestly, I have not had a single dinner alone. The idea of eating alone is not even an option because there are so many people to hang out with. What is also very cool about traveling is that all the people you meet are mildly interesting ...

... lancer au voisin de droite ou de gauche, le bang pour renvoyer la balle à celui qui nous l'a envoyée et le zap pour l'envoyer à une personne plus éloignée. Il faut faire preuve de rapidité et de dynamisme sans perdre le fil du jeu, ce qui développe de bonnes compétences pour les enfants de notre groupe. Celui qui se trompe ou n'est pas assez rapide est éliminé.
Nous avons aussi retravaillé sur les présentations de l'école, du Bénin et de Cotonou, mais cette fois-ci de manière théâtrale ...

It was quite late when I arrived in Montpellier, I had no place to stay and couln't find anything close to the station. Some guy locked himself inside the ticket office and was gesticulating at me to try and help him, I asked some girl to help, the guy ...

Alors alors, nous étant remis de notre nuitée a la belle étoile, nous nous sommes mies en branle pour trouver un emploi. Mais nous avons vite découvert que sans addresse et sans numéro de telephone, c'est plutot difficile. Alors on a fait 2 achats importants: un telephone cellulaire et une carte de moins que 25 ans pour le train. Bon la carte pour le train a pas vraiment rapport mais on a sauvé 34 Euros sur notre prochain voyage en train et on est content. Mais c'est ca, pour nous ...

Things I love about France: the food (the crepes, the cheese, the wine! The landscape, the architecture, the laidback lifestyle, the art museums, the weather (it's been in the 50s almost everyday!), reading on the esplanade because it's so nice out, my room. Things I dislike about France: the tram, the internet, being tired ALL the time! Seriously, these people are so chill and laid back about everything, except the ...

... I would have to go down the street to the tourist office to get that. I then asked her where the police station was and she told me to take the tram to the Comedie stop and it was in the square. At that, I tromped out of the building and started following the signs to the "Office de Tourisme" but soon lost sight of them and after a few laps up and down the street decided, to hell with the Tourist office, and went directly to the police station since I knew, generally, where ...