Why are French leeks bigger and better??

Yesterday we had our first full day in Montpellier, rising just after the sun, at 8am, in our temporary, but what feels more like permanent, home. We had a cup of coffee, threw in a wash and ensured that suitcases were completely upacked before we hung out the wash. All this activity, for what, you may ask? 

We had promised ourselves that we would try to walk to town, 4.5 km, at least a few times a week, and if we did this then we could reward ourselves with a coffee and croissant in town. So by 10:30 we were off and what a beautiful walk it was. Within 500 metres, we stumbled upon the Wednesday open air market. We wandered the stalls, and will do our shopping there next Wedneday. Not much traffic at all along Lodève and lots to look at as we went. Before we knew it, we had arrived in the centre of Montpellier with coffee shops galore. I stopped at the one that looked like it had the best croissants. And then we made our way over to the Information Centre in Place de la Comédie, a huge pedestrian area. Lots of brochures and maps to be had and an English tour runs on Saturday at 3pm so we'll be there. We carried on to the Antigone and it was empty of people, but very beautiful.

As we sat on a bench in the sun, checking our new maps to plan a diffferent route home, we spied a wee blue dotted line with little shell icons. The camino!! 

So, off we head to walk home via the camino, which took us to the Arc de Triomphe and the Aqueduc Saint-Clément. It looked from the map that we would be walking on top of the aqueduct, but that would be plain silly. The path indeed goes on the ground beside this enormous structure.

Within a km of home is a Gèant Casino (giant grocery/department store) so we stopped in. Walking along the edge of the parking lot, we passed a cow, tied to the fence and further along, a donkey. And then coming around the corner was a 2 year old, being held on a very small donkey, by mom and the donkey's owner. I assume that things are gearing up for festivites around hallowe'en.

After drooling over the prices of champagnes and crèmants in the store, we bought our groceries and headed home, arriving here by 4pm. A full day of walking and beautiful weather in which to do it. After a short rest, I was ready to start making dinner in the best equipped kitchen I've ever been in!!