A new friend - Le Chat!

No matter where we go, we make new friends. This little guy appeared out of nowhere on our way down the mountain!









He would run ahead and then stop, lay down and wait for us.
Rae Rae, you would have loved him! You would have had quatre chats!









Then he would follow behind us as if he was watching us very skeptically.









Eventually he decided to stick with us. Jenna wanted to take him home!

Hiking Gorge de St. Guilhem

OK! Please look closely at the ruins of a monastery at the top of the mountain. When you look at one of the final pictures, you'll see that we climbed WAAAAY above that level and were then looking DOWN at the ruins. This supposedly dates back to c. 800. And we think our house is old!!!! We don't know old!





















This archway was at the very early stages of our hike. An hour later it was just a speck beneath us!






We became separated from the rest of the group - we're slightly into picture taking! A few wrong turns were chosen and we found ourselves cliffside - as this picture shows. We definitely were NOT supposed to be up there - but, it was breathtaking!





Jeni, Jenna and Molly! Very sweet girls! Look at the hiking trail we walked for approximately 3 hours. I think I walked off 3 days worth of croissants! OK - maybe not.

On our way to "The Hike"

This was a beautiful tree-lined road which led into an ancient little village on our way to Le Gorge de St. Guilhem. I think Vero told me the name of the trees is Platanos. I'm probably destroying that name - I'll do some research! To be continued.........

Montpellier Tramway

This is the inside of the tramway which snakes it's way through Montpellier. It is so extremely quiet and smooth as it runs along the tracks set into all the stone and paved streets, you cannot hear it coming. It's very Disney-ish. Notice the leaning bar for those who wish to stand (woman on left). It's a nice way to get around the city.

Near Jeni's new home, they're preparing to lay tracks for the tram to come through there. Right now there's only the bus. It will be a mess for awhile, but eventually it will be great!

Reward for a deed well done!

Feeling pretty good after having rescued Elizabeth, we went back to our room and decided to dress up for the first time and treat ourselves to a le diner francais! We were a little late for dining - 10 pm - late even for the French, so our choices were limited. We were referred to La Brasserie du Theatre - where the "food is very good and the prices not bad." (say eet wees a frensh accent). It was exactly what we wanted. Look at the glow of the place! And Richard, there was a whole cart devoted to Cognac - Remy XO and MANY I had never seen. We loved the life in the place and the sound of animated french voices surrounding us! (Not animated like cartoons - haha - animated as in lively!!!) :)






Please notice the AMAZING Profiteroles!!! Making sure I don't walk off all my weight!!! As if!!!

Rescuing Elizabeth!

Poor Elizabeth! She had been placed with a family that was - uhhhh - a little less than normal, shall we say??? She had to walk some fairly unsafe streets behind the train station to get to and from school each day. Some of the rules of the house were: Do not touch the walls, do not sit in the living room if the family isn't there, internet only after she ate her dinner, do NOT help herself to snacks or drinks and home before dark! The woman was german and they wanted Elizabeth to speak English to help their son learn - hello??? She's here to learn French!!!! Can we say Gestapo???? So, Jeni told Vero - Vero told her mother and Voila! Here is Elizabeth after we took her to meet her new French Mere - Claudine (Chloe-Deen)! Don't you just want to squoosh her???? She's adorable! We all love her! Elizabeth went home knowing that rescue was only a day away! Mission accompli!

Formal Tour of Montpellier!

Here's our group getting ready to set out on an "official" tour of Montpellier - walking tour, of course - since we haven't done enough of that! Ha! The church is a Catholic Church - St. Etienne or St. Pierre (I can't remember - there were SO many). I think our French guide told us it was from the 1200's or 1300's. He only spoke to us in French - so I grabbed at any word I could understand - ugh - my head! Anyway - it was unbelievably massive!! It took some direct cannon hits from the Protestants who were fighting the Catholics. We went inside - it was enormous - and FREEZING! Why would anyone want to go to church if they have to freeze????






The sculptor killed himself after completing this sculpture because he forgot the stirrups! Isn't that a bit drastic??










Ancient aquaducts! How in the world????











Do you love how the tour guide's mouth looks like he's saying "Heh heh heh" with that french accent???? Cracks me up!

A much nicer room!

Ok, so this room is MUCH more like it! Our first morning in Montpellier, I decided to move us out of the suite we had, so as to save $50/night. I asked for their cheapest rate - but the nicest room at that rate. Luckily, the guy at the hotel was from Canada and was very nice to us, so he told us about this room, which was the nicest of all the rooms at that rate. So, the next morning - I flew to get ready. I had to check out of our room by 11 am and then move all of our belongings to the new room. It took me four trips! AARRGHH!




I didn't have time to do my hair - so - Hello Heidi! BRAIDS! But, everyone liked them! So - there you have it! Nice room, eh? (As the Canadians would say!)








When I finished settling us in our new room, I had an hour to spare before meeting Jeni. I was in desperate need of some jus d'orange and a baguette. This was the sunny, warm place I found to spend an hour. Do you get the feel of the place?

La Famille

We met Jeni's new French family and walked to an outdoor cafe (with heaters - thank goodness!) for chocolate chaud (hot chocolate). I don't know what it is about the hot chocolate here, but ours can't even compare! Eeets ahhmaazing! Anyway - Jeni's French Mom, Vero - I love her! She's vibrant, affectionate and wonderful! The kids are sweet - Adoline (16) is quiet, Adam (14) has a mischief in his eyes and he's a charmer! Jeni talked away in French the whole time! She did great. I know she's going to be fine with them. They're wonderful!

What's Paris Got?

After we discovered La Place de la Comedie, we just couldn't stop. Our exploring took us all the way up to the top of the hill to Montpellier's own Arc de Triomphe! This was here long before Paris had their's! When we saw it, the whole area was aglow with golden lights in a black sky! The air was so crisp, but we were so mesmerized by everything around us. We just had to keep going. After crossing over the bridge, we entered the Place Royale du Peyrou. It was a large park, with a few lovers tucked away in the corners, some joggers running the perimeter and a few curious, like us, investigating what the blue glow was coming from a large monument with stairs leading up to the entrance of what appeared to be ancient aquaducts. Everything was bathed in a blue light - it was quiet - except for the quiet rush of traffic. We were tired, but we couldn't pull ourselves away. It was captivating!

Rae - notice my little black suede ankle boots for 19E from Chatelet! (Richard don't pay any attention to that!)
This Arc doesn't appear to have stairs leading to the top for the adventurous! It's ok - we've done more than enough walking!

La Place de la Comedie a nuit!

We walked out of our hotel to start exploring "Old Montpellier, where we are staying." We crested the hill and what to our wondering eyes should appear!!!! These sights! We gasped! It was just so much more than we had ever expected. It's enchanting at night. We walked all over the place - bundled up and so excited to be seeing Jeni's new French city. It truly is gorgeous here. This is no Albany! The picture below is the Opera. It's a gorgeous building. Especially a nuit!

Punkin's first glance of her new city!

We had just stepped out of the train station in Montpellier after meeting Jeni's new French mother and sister.

The train station is right behind us as we started to cross over the tramway tracks and head up the hill to our hotel - originally Hotel Metropole - now owned by Holiday Inn. I had enough of staying in a cold closet with no hot water. Hello Holiday Inn! Check out the Palm Trees! Hello Mediterranean!

TGV to Montpellier!

The TGV! (Tay-Jhay-Vay) One of the best forms of travel ever invented! This is the way to get around Europe! I wish it could cross the ocean - I would never fly again. This sucker goes over 200mph - it is so smooth - so quiet - so comfortable! I loved it! Plenty of leg room - as you can see in the photo above. Jeni slept the whole way to Montpellier.

The precious man in the upper left is Gallo! He took our baggage when we arrived at Gare de Lyon - followed us all around the open-air huge station - FREEZING! I thought we were going into a warm enclosed station - NO WAY! He never left us until he had us settled safe and relatively warm inside the cafe. He brought us to pick up our tickets, and then validate them. Then he tried one cafe - too small. He tried another - not warm enough. He finally got us inside Le Cafe du Gare (something like that!). He situated our baggage (almost the same size as he was) so that we could keep an eye on it while we ate our breakfast. He promised to return when it was time to board the train - which he did! The man was an angel.

One funny little side note - in the cafes - you sit very close to other patrons. An older gentleman was sitting next to me (in the train station) eating what appeared to be something you would clean up after your dog - and the smell was even worse! I kept stealing glances trying to figure out what the heck it was and Jeni kept yelling at me, "MOM!!!! Stop looking!" "MOM! STOP!" I just couldn't help myself - it looked like cooked intestinal tract and despite my best efforts it had a hypnotic effect on my eyes! Le Yuck!

Late night rendezvous!

We got back to our room just in time to find out that Eliane was waiting for us in front of the Opera Bastille. We very quickly got ready and dashed out the door - jumped on the metro and met up with Eliane around 9 pm. We walked through narrow little streets and down a dimly lit alley to a cute little dive called La China. Inside - it was warm, red and black velour, and a crowd sat listening to a jazz pianist in a basement club. We found a tiny little table with a couch and two chairs and sat and thawed out while listening to some soulful music. We ordered drinks and food. We talked and listened to music. About an hour and a half later, the waitress told us she lost our order and started over again. I think we got our food after waiting for about 2 hours. It was ok, though - we were discussing, relaxing and catching up with Eliane. She brought a beautiful mirror for Jeni as an early birthday present to her. She's very sweet and thoughtful and Beautiful! We had a very nice time. We left the club around midnight and parted at Eliane's metro stop. Jeni and I then proceeded to get ourselves very lost - and she almost pulled a stunt a'la Aubri and Kate. She had to go to the bathroom so badly she was crouching down on the sidewalk ("I lost my earring!!!!") while I desperately tried unsucessfully not to crack up - it would have pushed her over the edge! We were trying our best to figure out the metro - ok, well, we're here - if we take this metro to this metro and then switch to this metro, we might just make it before it shuts down for the night - or should I say morning - it was nearly 1 a.m. It was BITTER cold, we were lost, she had to go to the bathroom, we were exhausted! TAXI!!!!

J'aime la fromage!

My favorite meal so far! Jeni and I stopped at this beautiful little cafe near the Jardin Tuilleries as we were searching for Rue Castiglione in search of Annick Goutal - my french perfume store. Buying my "Passion" (perfume) was my one splurge! I love that perfume.

So, we stopped in for a salad and a tea. We ended up staying for over three hours - discussing! I had two vin rouge and this wonderful cheese plate with a great baguette. Of course, we had to end with les desserts! A wonderful break!

Architecture!

The architecture is truly mind "bottling"! Ha ha (that's for you, Bren!)

A MUST!!!

No! Going to bed without du the, une crepe avec chocolate, et du profiteroles avec PLUS chocolate (tea, crepe with chocolate, profiteroles with lots of chocolate) was NOT an option!

We were in Paris for goodness sake!

It's right behind YOU!

We were walking down the Champs Elysee after saying goodbye to our new friends and wanting to find our way to La Tour Eiffel. Jeni said, "I really think it's this way!" So we turned left and I said, "Let's ask someone." I walked up to a woman and said, "Excusez moi! Ou est La Tour Eiffel?" She points behind me and says, "Voila!" There it was right behind us! All lit up! We cracked up. Does the word "Duh!" ring a bell? So we walked over to get a closer shot. It was so beautiful. We were freezing - so it was a quick trip and we headed back to our less freezing room - not warm - just less freezing!

Deux hommes!

Jeni is un homme magnet! We were walking along and these two young men walked up and asked in "en francais" if we would like to sit and have a drink with them. Jeni said we had to go and buy a couple converters. So they escorted us as we promenaded down the Champs Elysees. They talked to Jeni quite a bit and we all became fast friends. J.C. on the left (Jhee - Say) for Jean-Charles and Florent (Flau-hrrront) on the right. They came to the store with us and they bought movies. J.C. asked if we had ever seen Serpico (which he was buying) which led us into a long tirade all about Frank and how he lives by us and is good friends with Dad and how he used to come in our store. We told them how he was a NYC cop who was exposing the crooked cops and they set him up to be shot. J.C. was utterly gracious in a very adorable way as he stood there having his movie ruined. HaHa - comme ca Nanci at Love Story 2 - "Don't see it! He doesn't even end up with her!" Ha ha. Anyway - they are now friends with Jeni on Facebook. Florent's Dad owns a cafe here in Montpellier and he is going to visit Jeni here next month. Does charming, gracious and gorgeous mean anything?????

Looking for a converter led to a Great Night!

Amazing! We had gone to Chatelet to a FNAC store (like a Best Buy) to buy a converter so we could use our appliances (hair dryer, charge our camera batteries, charge the computer, etc.). Unfortunately, we made it there as the stores were closing - the frenchman didn't want to listen to us as we asked where else we could find one. He finally decided he would tell us to go over to the FNAC on the Champs Elysees. We jumped on the metro and stepped out on the street to see this! It was gorgeous. It felt like Epcot! Isn't that funny - that I compare the real thing to Epcot??? Ha Ha! I funny girl! Anyway - the view was spectacular. The blue lights matched the crisp, cold air so perfectly. The whole feel was wintry and magical. We walked along minding our own business, until.............

Staying in A Closet in Paris!

OK! Not the lap of luxury. When Richard and I got to our room at the Hotel de la Seine 3 years ago, we turned right around and left. At that point, he was willing to pay any price NOT to stay there - and we sure did!

This room makes the room at the Hotel de la Seine look like an Executive Suite. My initial reaction was - "I can't stay here!", but we were too exhausted to even think of leaving.

The bed was small and hard - the showers cold in the morning - the room had almost no heat. But we had a GREAT time. I learned to rough it a little. Man have I gotten spoiled! Richard - what have you done to me?????

The Goodbye Gang

My precious darlings! It was so hard to say goodbye to you! I do love you all so much!

Thank you for making the departure so much nicer! I miss you all.

A Day of Mixed Feelings

Wow! Ok - I'm going to backtrack a few days. I was so excited to go - but also, very nervous to fly - really nervous - more than ever. But, I wasn't going to let that stop me. I was so emotional. I was very excited to spend some time with littlest Punkin, but ripping my heart out to say goodbye to Richard, the kids, Mom and Dad. So, feeling very stressed (especially after almost being denied our check-in), sad, and very nervous, we sat catching our breath at the gate. The flight was unbelievably cramped and felt like the longest and most uncomfortable flight ever. I LONGED to just lay down and go to sleep. I think I nodded off for maybe an hour total - off and on. I had a beautiful and sweet young woman sitting next to me from Brussels - Beatrice. She lives in Paris now. I have a picture of her with me - but I look HEEDEEOUS! As soon as we landed, I started to feel better - less stressed - no more nervousness - lots of excitement. It took us two hours after we landed to get our luggage (that was quick - ours were among the first bags out) and get a taxi and get to our hotel - Sully St. Germain on the Rive Gauche. I loved seeing the city sights on our way in. It was WONDERFUL to be back. I LOVE PARIS!!!! Pictures and more stories to come! I love you all!