Blogs from Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, Europe

A big thank you to Virgin mobile for telling us that our phones will network in France when they wont, thanks also for telling us on the website that if we have any problems with our phones abroad to call them on 789 from any Virgin mobile! Um! We can’t cos they don’t work! Thanks also to the French internet provider who took 4 Euros from our credit card to give us internet connection then sent the username and password by e-mail which we couldn’t get because we needed it to get on the internet to get our e-mails which we couldn't read because our internet needed a username and password to get………. Merci Beaucoup!... read more

Folkestone – Dunquerke – Rouen – Chateauxroux – Limoge – Caze Mondenhard (Near Limoges) Blowing my fuse; Up at 5.00 am for ferry at 8.00. No lights on caravan! What you need in these situations is a cool head and calm thinking. So I reflected on why I had planned for every eventuality except this one, I reflected out loud in a very shouty voice and included some words that wont appear on this blog. I asked questions of myself and swore at the Gods of caravanning asking why they had deserted me and decided the best thing to do was call the trip off and go home. Dee decided neither to agree or disagree but allow the calm thinking to take it’s course. Of course the lady at the recovery service ... read more

I ended up in Montpellier for RWC semifinal week. Watching and following the RWC in France was the next best thing to being at home as things turned out. I used the opportunity to amongst other things learn some French and win some bets. I took the TGV down to Montpellier after work and once there was led to our place of abode for the weekend. Situated in the city centre in an apartment block probably older than the first settlements of NZ, we passed the weekend in between there and rugby games. On the Saturday morning we went to a French cafe and ended up at an English pub watching France play Wales in the first semi final. 15 v 14 due to a poor refereeing decision and I saw myself going against my own ... read more

Permettez-moi de partager avec vous un peu de notre nouvelle destination. Nous sommes arrivés à Montpellier le 6 mai et nous quitterons pour Paris le 6 juin, où nous passerons 2 jours avant notre retour au Québec le 8 juin prochain. Nous voyageons de nouveau sous la formule d'échange de maison et d'auto. Nous avons déjà plein de belles images en tête et quelques coups de coeur en poche. Susan et Denis (la belle-soeur et le frère de Charles, qui sont en France jusqu'au 1er juillet), sont venus nous rejoindre dans le Sud pour 1 semaine. Ils sont remontés sur Paris aujourd'hui. Je ne me propose aucunement de faire d'interminables palabres, mais plutôt de vous faire saliver sur quelques photos commentées et d'ajouter de courts textes ici et là... Vous devrez tolérer l'absence d'accents sur les ... read more

So after skyping in the pub yesterday courtney and I walked back to the hostel, whilst nearly getting run over by a crazy fat french guy on a motorbike. Thats the weird thing about montpellier altho the streets are tiny people still like racing aroung on mopeds and motorbikes. At the hostel I just chilled out read a few magazines and tried to sort out my clothes, living out of a suitcase is not fun! Cant wait to get to Millau just to be able to unpack and get settled. Last night we went to a little pizzeria, I had 'un appertif' style drink which was some funky raspberry and cava type drink, with which they gave us a small bowl of popcorn... how bizzare? Ive heard of nuts or olives with your appertif but never ... read more

Bonne anniversaire ma belle soeur! Hope you have had a lovely weekend and day today! This blog is becoming my best friend! Its a bit of sanity in a crazy place. Im feeling a bit low today just because im ready to go to Millau, I think if I were here in a lovely hotel that i could come and go as I please then it would be a great city, however as you all know im not! Im going to compare this trip to Montpellier to the one im going to make in 4 weeks which will be a million times better as Ric will be here :) Found out today that the other girl sharing the room with us has been at that hostel for 3 weeks so now I feel like a drama ... read more

Bonjour! Arrived in Montpellier at around 4. Got to the taxi rank and had an awkward conversation with the taxi driver he was trying to expalin to me that montpellier is a one way city and his car would only be able to reach the main road near the hostel and he said that i would have to walk the rest of the way, in my confusion i panicked and thought he meant i would be walking to the hostel from the airport! haha however i got there by taxi and he dropped me not too far from the hostel. I rang courtney and asked her to come find me as i was slowly getting lost. On arrival at the hostel the reception was heaving and took around 45 mins to get checked in. then we ... read more

Woke up stupidly early in the creeky bed! went to get a shower in the shared bathroom :S eww! you need to wipe your feet when you step back out. but at least im clean! the hostel shuts between 10- 3 so finding stuff to fill up my time is hard. Had a gorgeous lunch in a little cafe today, camembert and an olive salad :) then had a mooch around the city saw some nice monuments and attractions. had trouble finding wifi as mcdonalds was down but the weird english/french pub has freee wifi so is all good :) anyway catch you later peeps... read more