Here we are again, travelling in France on a Saturday. The day started well with our trip to the market in Arles (see last blog). It got even better as we approached Toulouse on the train and I noticed we didn’t have to cross the river; it was the Canal du Midi we had to cross. Frequent blog readers will know the only thing I like better than churches and aqueducts are canals, especially the Canal du Midi. Toulouse The not so good news was that they are doing a bunch of road work right outside the station where the canal passes and it was quite an ordeal getting away from the station. But that was nothing. What we hadn’t realized was that Toulouse was the city that had been selected as the main target of ... read more

Dianne says I decided we should go to Périgueux, one of the cities mentioned in the Bruno, Chief of Policeseries, but I am not sure why that it was chosen. It is the smallest centre we have stayed in. When we arrived, we had our first day of rain this whole trip. We had a few sprinkles before but this was actual rain. Luckily, the walk to the Airbnb was pretty straightforward and we weren’t that wet upon our arrival. Walkabouts were in order and we found our usual supply of churches, city hall and government buildings, as well as lots of old buildings. The cathedral was a lot bigger that we would have expected in a town of only 25,000 or so people. Interesting styling too. One of the first things I noticed ... read more

After two days of long walks, we decided to try something a little different: the D’Orsay Museum. We got a bit of a late start so, by the time we had walked to the D’Orsay, the lineup to get in was very long. Hmmmmm. Maybe we should come back the next day and make a point of being there before the opening bell. Good idea. But what shall we do instead? How about going to the Louvre? Hmmmmm. The lineup there is probably even longer. Hmmmmm. How about going for a walk? Third day of long walks The other monument we wanted to walk by was the Arc de Triomphe. Last time we were in Paris we went to the top to see the fabulous views of the city. This time, just walking around the base ... read more

Montpellier is well situated for taking day trips to nearby (and sometimes not so nearby) towns. But, we have discovered there are lots of neat places to walk in Montpellier. The trips described in this blog entry were taken on random days over the period we were there. The pictures are grouped by location rather than chronologically as sometimes the destinations overlapped. Tram station to tram station The tram that runs by our apartment heads south towards the Mediterranean but splits before it gets there into Lattes Centre and Perols. You can walk from either to the sea or take a local bus. We decided to be daring and walk from Lattes to Palavas-Les-Flots, the resort town right on the beach, along the beach and back up to Perols. It’s only 12 or 13 kilometres and ... read more

When we were in Montpellier two years ago we traveled to Nîmes. We thought we could do the town and the Pont du Gard (the famous aqueduct that brought water to Nîmes) in one day. Then we discovered how far it was from Nîmes to the Pont. We did the town and regretted our inability to see the aqueduct. If you are interested in our previous experience in the town, click https://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Languedoc-Roussillon/N-mes/blog-974056.htmlhere. I did and it brought back some great memories. The Roman museum in Nîmes Nîmes was everything we remembered. As soon as you exit the train station you find yourself walking up this incredibly wide mall lined with trees and benches. A few blocks into town you come to the amazing amphitheatre which in many ways is more impressive than the Coliseum in ... read more