Alert for email hacking

Hi all,

Several people have been in touch with me regarding the receipt of strange emails. I DID NOT send them so please do not open. I assume my email has been hacked and will be in touch when it's sorted.

Happy New Year all!

Mary

Exploring the Hérault Valley

We have taken advantage of the sun the past week to explore some of the area around Montpellier. We started on a sunny Boxing Day, driving to Servian, where a member of my Tuesday morning walking group from Victoria, and her husband, are staying for a month. We drove to Le Cap d'Agde, which proved to be a beach resort that was somewhat empty, but with some beautiful views of the Mediterranean Sea. We found a place, in the sun, out of the wind, for a coffee and decided to drive to the little town of Marseillan. We saw a number of barges that had either come down the Rhone or from the Canal de Midi, to winter. Seeing these, sitting in the sun, enjoying some tapas was a lovely way to spend some time. The town also had an animated, life sized nativity scene, that included a display of oyster farming.

We returned to Servian, saw the house that Elaine and Brian were renting (from a Victoria couple), bought a loaf of bread and headed back to Montpellier, hoping to do most of the driving before it became pitch black. Getting out of town was not a problem, but an exit taken too early, had us going about 45 minutes out of our way. Quite funny actually. But, we now feel comfortable enough with roads coming into Montpellier that we had no problem navigating our way home. Much of our comfort level is due to all the cycling we did at the beginning of this trip. I found myself saying to Les "Haven't we cycled here before? And weren't we lost then?"

Yesterday we drove north of Montpellier to St. Martin de-Londres, driving through many small towns and stopping on the way in Le Mas-de-Londres, where we walked through the new town and noticed that someone had NOT taken care of their vines.......

and then drove up to the old town, on the hill, with the church (why are the churches always up on top of the hill? Ask any pilgrim ;-)) There were absolutely no services at all in the old town, but the new town was bustling with restaurants and an Intermarché (grocery store). Saint Martin-de-Londres, a few km down the road, was a wonderful surprise. A lovely square with several restaurants and a then, up cobblestone roads, and under arches, a lovely church.

We stopped at one of the restaurants for lunch. The 'plat' was 9.95€. What could go wrong? The choices were:

Andouillette, frites, salad

Boudin noir, frites, salad

Cerfs grillés, pasta, salad

We were unsure as to what exactly these were, although I concluded that the cerfs, must be some sort of fish as they had a tank with lobsters about 3 metres from our table. The waitress spoke no English, so the manager came over and did a bit of a charades, saying sausage and pointing to the large veins on the inside of his arm. Right......blood sausage. Move on. Then, his finger moving back and forth like a hairpin highway, on his belly. Right...intestines. So that left the fish. Not so fast. Cerfs is deer/venison/bambi. We thought that would be okay, even though I'm not much of a meat eater. The size of steak was like a NY strip, which Les and I would normally split. So I managed less than one cubic inch as it's very rich. The salad, bread and coffee were great. I had to explain that it was too much meat for me, but very tasty. Les managed almost all of his.

We continued on our drive north to Ganges, where we stopped for a walk around town, a view of the church and yet another fabulous animated nativity scene. This one had local interest as well; people painting, shepherds, blacksmiths, knitters and weavers, all about 5" tall and everything moving. We then crossed over the Hérault River and came south to St. Guilhem-le-Desert and Aniane. Because it was getting late, we had no time to stop, so these two towns will be left for another day, perhaps on foot as they are on the Camino from Arles.

We're off the Museum again today, using our annual pass. Here are a sample of the other cards we've gathered on our trip.

Bonnes Fêtes et Joyeux Noël

Les and I want to wish you all a very happy holiday, wherever you are. We enoyed walking in the sunshine today and kept with the French tradition of fish for Christmas Eve dinner.

Touring by serendipity

In the past, we have had the most wonderful experiences purely by serendipity and Paris was no exception. We woke on Saturday with no agenda in mind, except to walk to the Bon Marché, a huge department store. And on the way, we took note of various concerts on offer arround the city. We passed a market (several) and I noted some interesting things to do with food.

These "roses" are the tops of Brussels sprouts. How clever these French people are.

And the Bon Marché was packed as if there was no end to money. We made our way to the food section with all the beautifully presented teas, meats, fruits, candies.....you name it. And then the wine section.

These are super magnums of champage. The smaller of the Veuve Clicquot is 12L, at 1150€ and the larger is 15L. I mean, who could lift it, let alone buy it and how will it fit in the fridge? We couldn't see answers for any of these questions, so we left without purchasing one. And the lineup for the cashier was at least 20 minutes long anyway.

At the market, we bought some food that we could heat up for dinner before we dashed off the the Concert de Noël à Notre-Dame de Paris.

 We were in line at 7:15pm for the 8:30 concert and all was fine until the rain started at around 7:55. And of course, we knew the weather would be fine so didn't take umbrellas. Fortunately my trusty gortex coat kept me warm and dry and the gentleman standing beside Les discretely held part of his umbrella over Les' shoulders. The church was packed but we finally were seated about 20 rows from the front on the side, a Mom with two kids in front of us, with a huge pillar between us and the view of the choirs, but technology has come to the churches and we were also about 10ft from a flat screen TV so could hear very well and see everything. Three choirs from 8-10 year olds, 12-17 year olds and adults. And the camera was also able to take closeups of the organist, something that you never see in one of these churches. He played three improvizations between sets and the first one started off like a durge and ended a bit like Star Wars. The very last one he did, he was riffing and had all feet and arms going on the 5 keyboards, plus pedals. At about 20 minutes into the programme, the little boy in front of us (about 10) vomited dinner.....very discretely. Immediately, his sister (14?) move away to distance herself from the mess, but all others surrounding, offered plastic bags, kleenex, whatever they had that might help. That's the Christmas spirit. The family did leave, as did the two men directly behind them (beside us). As the concert continued, people could see that there were vacant seats up ahead and we had a flow of people sit, look dismayed, and then leave. Quite funny.

On Sunday, we struck out again, this time to visit the Galeries Layfayette, but got waylaid by the 11am mass at Saint-Eustache for the 4ème Dimanche de L'Avent. We stayed for half the service and then bumped into a Sunday market.

And then we were waylaid by the 2e Noël Gourmand. We bought a glass for 10€ and then sampled cheese, wine, champagnes, and chocolate from all over France.

We finally made it to the Galeries Lafayette and the store is quite marvelous. I like to visit each time I go and take the escalators to the top to get the best free view of Paris.

You can see why Les is sometimes mistaken for Santa at this time of year.

Again, people shopping and the store very crowded.

We walked back to catch the 4pm concert at  Eglise St. Ephrem, a tiny church, holding only about 90-100 people. We listened to a string quartet playing Mozart, Chopin, and others and a soprano sang Ave Maria (two versions) Douce Nuit. All a lovely way to spend an hour. We rested for a bit in the apt and then walked the Tuileries and down the Champs Elysées. I was expecting a lovely quiet walk, but it was pandemonium as the largest Christmas market in the whole world is there. Tons of people, but a bit too crowded for us. We did see Santa, in the sky, and then found a quiet street for a quiet dinner.

We took the train back to Montpellier late on Monday after another full day of walking. I'm now going to rest for a few days!

Our last day in Paris

We've had a good three days in Paris, and I'll write about that in my next post, but thought you'd all get a laugh out of this, especially those who know Les' penchant for bargains. We rose late...after 9 am, packed up after a cup of tea/coffee and then headed out for breakfast, which for Les means coffee and croissant. We went first to a nearby café where we had been before but it was now almost 11 and they were out of croissants, so Les picked up his speed and the next one that we spied, also had people sitting in the windows eating croissants, so we hurried in. Although we were offered a menu, Les took charge and ordered us deux grands crèmes et deux croissants. Of course, the waiter responded in English. So irritating when you're trying hard to speak French. Anyway, this is what we got.

And this was the bill!

If we had stopped to look at the menu, for another 4€ each, we could have had a large orange juice, bread and scrambled eggs.

After our shock, we smiled, paid and walked to http://musee-jacquemart-andre.com/en. A lovely small museum recommended by my friend Wendy. We spent a very pleasant few hours there and are now on the train to Montpellier.....first class, as all the regular seats were sold out and our senior cards give us a great deal. It will be good to be back amongst the familiar streets, cafés and warmer weather.

Family Christmas in Aguadulce

We've had a wonderful visit with Stefan and Noëlle and their families in Aguadulce. There were lots of laughs and only a few tears.....that would be from Sal and Stefanie. I had fun having them run at me for a swing in the air and holding their hands as they walked along the paseo, or in the castle in Almeria. At one point, they were overheard arguing in this vein "you're not sharing", so quickly, Noëlle tried to sort out the problem. Apparently they were arguing about sharing grandma. Cool!

We had a Christmas dinner of chicken, duck confit, brought from France, several vegetables, and sweets, including some gingerbread house, for dessert.

Last night we went to a Christmas party at Stefan's school. Instead of a chip van or donut truck, there was a churros and chocolate truck. The whole event was outside, starting at 5pm. But that's Spanish time, so the kids were running around, people straggling onto the playground and finally, at 6:20, a van, pulling a float, arrived. A huge plastic smurf on the front, two or three large red toadstools on the back and three seated kings (live), one in blackface. The three wise men, Les Tres Reis are far more important here in Spain, than Santa. There was also a large, live nativity scene, near the school entrance, with a REAL baby! One teacher was dressed up as a cow and another a an angel. I assumeMary was the real mom of the real babe. When the three kings sat down on their thrones, it was pandemonium as the children lined up, or butted in, to get a candy and tell the king what they wanted for Christmas. As we were leaving, around 7pm, it was dark and cold, and five of the young girls that Stefan teaches came up to introduce themselves and sing him 'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas'. Very cute and very well done. We drove home, had leftovers for dinner.....there were lots.....and said our goodbyes. I always feel a bit melancholy leaving any of the kids. And this was especially hard as we don't know when we will see them next.

And this morning, we also said goodbye to this view from our hotel room.....around 7:30am.

This is the view Stefan and Hannah enjoy every morning.

So then, up, up and away. As we flew away from Almeria, the plane went west over the Mediterranean Sea, and Aguadulce and then the next town, Roquetas del Mar. So out came my trusty iPod and I managed a quick shot of the town, sea and the plastic arbors for growing fruits and veggies. These are all over the area and give it a kind of surreal look. This area is known as the fruit and vegetable basket of Europe and it's easy to see why.  They started the double plastic arbors in the '60's and it's clearly been a huge success.

And the I turned the camera to the north west and there is the first snow of the coastal hills.

A minute later I got a view of the mountains just to the east of Granada and there's certainly lots, so it should be a good ski season.

Paris! Here we come! And because we are good airline passengers, we take all suggestions.

As a PS before I post this......we arrived at Orly Airport and quickly bought our RER tickets into Paris. The ticket seller looked up at Les and said, I just wanted to tell you that I have been very nice this year. We didn't get it, until he winked and said "so I'll get a nice present this year?" Les' beard is huge and white and we keep forgetting the impact it has on others.

Valencia, Alicante and Aguadulce

Les and I both left Montpellier on December 5th...Les on the 7:40am train to Alicante to meet up with Stefan, Hannah and the kids, and Mary on the 10:40am train to Valencia for a meeting of Hospitaleros. We left heavy, cool rains and arrived in sun. Cold, but sunny.

Valencia had a skating rink and the meeting was interesting, but I only understood about 10% of the Spanish although got the gist of much more.

Skaters on a slushy rink in Valencia.

The best paella ever. 

A Spanish duo, introduced as Steve y Wonder. Steve told the jokes, and Wonder played the harmonica. The women were the glamour for the act. It was all part of a talent night as talented (or otherwise) Hospitaleros entertained each other. Lots of laughs.

Just a sample of the tapas for the evening meal on Sunday evening with 200 Hospitaleros. This was served at 10pm and the dancing started at midnight. I lasted until 12:45am when the loudness of the music sent me packing. From my room, I heard the DJ ending the dance at 5am! There were some sleepy people at breakfast the next morning.

And then I hitched a ride with another attendee, to Alicante. Stefan and fam had left, but Les met me outside the apt. building when I arrived at 8pm. We then went out for tapas and wine. The next day, we walked a few tram stops and took the tram into town. Lovely city and being able to get in and out so easily on the tram was great. Here are the views from the balcony.

Sunset

Enjoying a ligt snack with a glass of cava before going to eat.

Surfers in the morning and jobbers on the walkway.

And getting out of the water a few hours later.

We are now in Aguadulce, where it is very warm, waiting for Noëlle, Simon, Stefanie and Sebastian to arrive from Malaga. They should be here in an hour or so!!!! We'll have an early Christmas celebration in a couple of days.

On the road again!

Guess which city I'm in today....

Hint.....the best paella ever!

So, is it five or six real windows?

Here is another, daylight shot of the trompe l'œil. As you can clearly see, there are six real windows. And I have also taken a picture of the church facing it so you can see how accurate the painted reflection really is. BTW, we are off to Spain tomorrow. Abrazos à todos.

The sun is here again!

And so I thought I'd plant some new flowers on the balcony, to provide a bit of Christmas colour.

And good thing I was in (Les had gone to the cave for more wine) as the doorbell rang, and guess what? My ruby slippers have finally arrived from Iceland and not a moment too soon as we will be getting more rain and I'm sure in Paris we might see a drop or two. And these pink ladies are gortex!

Below are some pictures from around town. I found that now that the leaves are off the trees, we can finally see "our" aqueduct more clearly. This is where we go each Saturday to a fabulous market and I included pictures of that market a few weeks ago.

And downtown, as part of the Christmas decorations, there is the expected Christmas tree at one end of the Place de Comédie and then this inflated globe. Haven't yet figured out why.

One of the most interesting buildings is this one. I took the picture from the steps of the Église Saint-Roch. You can see the reflection of the church in the windows. But wait, it's not a reflection as the whole front of this building is a trompe l'œil. There are 5 real windows and the rest are painted onto the building. Can you guess the real windows?