Skip to main content

De Montpellier à Bayonne

Image
By

 [25mar22] De Montpellier à Bayonne:

Easy morning, clean up the apartment,


walk the suitcases to Place de la Comédie, take Tramway one stop to the train station, get breakfast (regional specialties), train first class car #2 to Montpellier, changing trains is Toulouse.  Second class is 2X2 seating while first-class is 2x1 seating with a bit more legroom and slightly nicer seats, but otherwise not much different.  Fortunately these intercités trains have good wi-fi. 

Arrival at Toulouse is a bit delayed; Jeff runs to the ObjetsTrouvés office seeking his eyeglasses.  Fortunately the office is open, the guy helpful; he shows me his box of found eyeglasses.  Mine are not there.  Disappointing, yet it's somewhat reassuring to know for sure that they are truly lost.  I run back to Track #3, where our next train is boarding—we (and others) struggle to identify car #13.  Even other passengers cannot find #13.  Eventually I ask a worker, who tells me the passage through the train cars is closed, just take any available seat in the first-class section, no problem.  That worker later turns out to be the conductor himself, who reassures us: just stay in these seats, no problem.  We are seated across from an elderly gentleman traveling from Toulouse to Bayonne to visit his grandchildren.  


  Fortunately our seats are on the south side of the train, with beautiful views of the Pyrenees and the River Adour, though the higher peaks are shrouded in clouds.  Lourdes is particularly beautiful, and I note that this is the only stop where the announcements are also in English and Spanish!  We pass through the town of Pau, which our companion assures us is beautiful and home to lots of Englishmen.  




Bayonne, to meet Dominique and Maxime Michel: they drive us back to their home in Hasparren, 40 minutes via A63, up a steep hill overlooking the town.  They purchased the house over ten years ago and are still in the midst of total renovation.  We particularly like the light-up bathroom mirror, and the shower controls.  We were hosted in their downstairs independent studio apartment, as the upstairs bedrooms are under renovation now.  

Maxime is the proud chef.  He prepared several gourmet full meals.  Tonight a simpler chopped-veal in a Basque sauce, with of course an earlier entrée, salad, then cheese board and then his own Tarte Tatin apple pie with ice cream.  Fantastique!  Our arrival was fêted with a feast (ed.note the etymological liaison between fête and feast), finally ending at 10pm.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My COVID journey, finally

By
11oct22 story of Covid: I flew to Des Moines for a mini-reunion of Thomas cousins; flew back on Monday the 3rd.  I did not wear a mask.  Evidently I should have worn a mask, as I later came down with Covid.  The infection could come from anywhere, typically airborne virus shed by someone in the communicable phase of the disease.   Throughout my airport and flight experience was quite calm and uneventful, so my guess is the most likely vector for the virus was the deplaning time – people are really eager to get out,  they are talking, pressing close together, straining to grab bags from the overhead compartment and coordinate with their partners, thus breathing heavily.  Very few people wore a mask.  I do not remember anyone coughing or sniffling or breathing heavily around me, but that deplaning process is always rather hectic.  I did not press to go quickly, but I did not want to delay my windowside seatmate, so I joined the crowd.  As it was, when I arrived at baggage claim, my suit
Post a Comment
Read more

Montpellier

By
  [23mar22] Another walking day: to the A rc de Triomphe , passing through quaint quiet attractive old neighborhoods, particularly the P lace de Marché des Fleurs.  Arc de Triomphe is spectacular, next to an equally impressive Palais de Justice , and the Promenade de Peyrou that has a great view of the surrounding hills and the aqueduct built by Peyrou to supply the city's fountains.  The Jardin des Plantes – oldest botanical garden in Europe – opens at noon, so we walk around to the Cathedral St.Etienne, with its obscure side entrance, but huge interior space, really huge and rather stark, in keeping with its 13 th century origin – though of course several later kings and bishops added chapels, stained-glass, and organ.  While there, the organ started up, providing appropriate sonic accompaniment to the surroundings (ref. My video).   We return to the garden to await its opening, chatting with some Chicago tourists (go Bears!).  The garden is very nice place for sauntering, and
Post a Comment
Read more

Riding the Bus often

By
From 201010 Saudi scenes It is ironic that this land of cheap gasoline has so much group transport -- buses. From 201010 Saudi scenes Our housing compound has a Toyota-Coaster bus that takes some to/from school (we usually go earlier and return later, on a similar bus that the school provides). Driver Yahya takes residents on the 90-minute trip down to the Big City shopping every Thursday morning. The above picture shows our group one Thursday, usually going to Ikea or the new Lulu's Hypermarket , or the Dhahran Mall. Coleman rides a different bus every day to and from school -- usually 100 minutes there, 80 minutes back.  His bus is evidently an old tourist bus, usually comfortable but a bit dusty.  The air-conditioning usually works too well.  I've ridden it with him several times, to attend business meetings at the district office. From 201010 Saudi scenes There he is, at 5:45am every morning, at the start of the bus run. Fortunately only about 20 students
2 comments
Read more