School days, school days, old forgotten rule days…After our return from Poland, Bob and I started private French lessons. Bob is quite diligent with his studying even when he is not taking lessons. In contrast, I set the timer for an hour a day because I want to study in real time, like buying bread this morning from the baker. We did well, with 30-40 hours of French last week excluding study time --with friends, books, journals, emails, teachers and talking with each other. It all seems a little uneven since I understood 95% of one guided tour and 5% of another. But I woke up for the first time two days ago thinking in French!
It is beginning to feel as if we live in a community. For example our next-door neighbor invited me to take a two hour walk with her on an isolated beach next to the Mediterranean on a windy day.
Every year, the neighborhoods around Montpellier have a dinner in areas where residents and businesses work and live together. Martine invited us to join her table, outside her shop. Our neighbors that live just above us also joined us and one of them is a classical singer that Bob had heard several times singing but didn't know the origin of the songs.
During the next week we went to a fabulous evening of song by that very baritone at the "Maison des Coeurs".
This year we wanted to spend more time in nature and that too is coming to pass ....
We have found groups that hike all day Tuesday and Friday and others that hike half days on Wednesday and Sunday. We have signed up to go skiing for a week in the Jura in March so now Bob knows why he lugged his skis over here.
We gathered history and chestnuts in the hills of the Cevennes with two dear French friends both originally from Germany. He has lived here for 30 years, she for three.
We stopped in Anduze, the gateway to the Cevennes and home of the Museum of the Desert which featured the Camisards who were French Protestants who hid in these hills from King’s Catholic soldiers to avoid the risk of fines, execution and being sold as galley slaves.
Our gite was next to the much beloved trail that Robert Louis Stevenson walked with his donkey when he was trying to recover from a love affair with a married woman in the USA that wasn't going anyplace.
We brought our own bedding and towels to our stone gite.
On arrival, we quickly built a fire and headed to the warmer outdoors to collect chestnuts under the clear blue sky. We climbed for 45 minutes to fine 20 donkeys at the summit who were used by the owners to move the equipment of visitors who want to do week long randonees. With our bags full of chestnuts, we returned, to a smiling host and the warmth of a blazing fire and wine. After a dinner of wine, fabulous soup, marinated lamb, and fresh raspberries and ice cream, we climbed into our warm beds and slept for nearly 10 hours! All of the food was organic and raised by the owners.
On the way home, we saw even more fall colors at the Japanese garden at the la Bambouseraie, also a tourist haven. like the Stevenson trail walked by thousands of people a year.
One day after getting home we took off again, for another day in nature. This time, we drove out of the floods of Montpellier in our flex car to the home of an English/Irish couple with 20 olive trees and three chickens.
The river above runs next to our apartment and next the regional headquarters. The above photo shows a bike/ped bridge across the river that has been completely covered by the heavy rains in the region for the past few days.
On a more cultural note, another friend Marie-Martine, Bob and I went together to see Francis Huster perform solo 90 minutes of Camus’ Plague to a packed house. Did you know the play was written as a reminder of how easy it is for society to ignore the infestation of rats, Nazis, or criminal behavior while it can still be prevented?
What a full month this has been. Thanks for your feedback and your interest in hearing about our adventures.
More next month,
Sharon and Bob