Montpellier February 25, 2010

Montpellier, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

For my last day trip out of Beziers I got up early this morning and took the train to Montpellier for the day. The weather was not as advertised very mild but heavy cloud all day the sun never did get out.

For those of you in Canada who have seen the Bonbardier commercial in TV where some tourist ask a lady to take their picture in a town square and a tram goes by and the woman takes a picture of it instead and says that my train it's made by Bombardier. Well I don't think this is the same square and I road these trams all day but couldn't find any indication of who made them but every-time I saw one I though of that commercial. They sure were efficient and frequent and an all day ticket was only 3.40 Euros.



I love aquariums and I think this is my fourth, two in Europe and two in North America and this one sure didn't disappoint. One video clip pretty much looks like the last video clip so I will only bore you with a couple of them.


and



Look who I found in Montpellier - Vive le Quebec libre. Remember him from Quebec City in 1967.




This man would have great job security in Beziers. Anyone want to guess what he does for a living.



Of course since there was a Jardin des Plantes (Botanical Garden) I had to go. This one is even about 50 years older then the one in Paris. A few things in bloom but not much this time of year. Actually this garden is a medicinal garden and isn't grown for its flowers commissioned by Henri IV in 1593.

Bamboo



Iris



Just before I left I came across this most unusual apartment building, I would love to live in it if they could convince me that it won't fall over. Looks kind of top heavy to me.



As usual there are additional photos on my flickr account and clicking on any of these pictures will take you there if you want to see them.

The quintessential Beziers View

The quintessential Beziers View, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

This is the most famous view of Beziers you see it on all of the tourist information and post cards etc. The weather here the past couple of days has been wonderful a brief shower this morning but other than that it has been sunny and nice and warm. I've been running around with no jacket just a long sleeve t-shirt and have been very comfortable.

Just finalized my plans for leaving Beziers this morning. I will catch a train at 0936 Saturday morning headed to St Christophe after a couple of train transfers I should arrive there 2:45and from there a taxi to Conques as there isn't a train station in Conques. Pru is coming down from Paris to walk with me for the first couple of weeks and we will meet in St Christophe her train gets in a little after mine. That is of course if all of the trains are running on time so far I haven't had much luck that way most of the trains that I have taken have been late from anything to 10 minutes to almost two hours.

My usual warning here I'm not sure how often I will be able to Blog while I'm walking I'm sure I will need to be in a fairly large town to find an internet cafe, but I will post something whenever I have the chance.

A couple of more photos of Beziers this is looking down my street rue des Docteurs Bourguet the door to my apartment building is on the left just ahead of where these people are walking:



Ever since I arrived almost a month ago the Beziers Town Hall has had the Haitian Flag at half mast, in the plaza out in front of the building:






Check-out the Conques tourism website (Click the red text)some great video and slide shows of the town and you can even select the language of your choice.

A footnote: I've made a change in my plans for tomorrow Thursday 25 February. The weather is so nice I decided to take the train to Montpellier for the day. So hopefully I will have a blog update tomorrow night. Montpellier is only 45 minutes away by train and it is the regional capital have a look at their website.

Talk to you soon from Le Chemin.

Par la mer chez Sete

Isn't that lovely - Sete, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Up early Sunday morning to catch the 0900 train to Sete for the day I arrived at the station to buy my ticket around 0830 and for the first time ever I used the machines where you buy your ticket with out the help of an agent even forgot to change the language to English and managed to get my tickets to Sete and return. Caught an earlier TGV and was in Sete before 0900. Took this short video clip to give you an idea of how fast the TGV moves but on this short run I doubt if they got it up to full speed.



It was cool windy and gray in Sete when I arrived with the sun peaking out every so often. It is about a thirty minute walk from the train station to the sea shore side of Sete on my way I passed by two men harvesting mussels, you have to look closely to see the second man he is in the water in a wet suit.



The beach at Sete is perfect sand with lots of seashells and goes for kilometers in the distance, you can see another town a long way off and high snow covered mountains a long way behind the town. Unfortunately not possible to capture on my little camera. This photo is looking back at Sete.



After I had eaten my picnic lunch down by the sea two men arrived and started doing Kite Surfing at least that's what I called it for lack of a better name, it sure looked like fun. They have trapeze type bars that the hold onto to maneuver the kite but it is also fastened to them by a harness so they don't loose it, I assume there is some sort of emergence release too. They put on quite a show and really looked like they were having a great time.



I just happened to be ready with my flip camcorder at the right moment to get this little clip when one of them came really close in to shore.



Bernie looking just a bit scared that I might leave his by the sea. Don't leave me I'm scared of the water.



On my way back to the train station I took this photo of the lovely harbour on the Etang side of Sete very much calmer on this side and wouldn't you know it the sun came out and it was beautiful when it was time to leave.



Though you might like to see Beziers at night this is a photo of the Theater looking down the Allees Paul Riquet . There are a few more night photos and some more pictures of Sete on my flickr site you can get there by clicking on any of these photos.



Well this is my last few days in Beziers making plans, along with Pru , to move on at the end of the week to start Le Voie du Puy. We have been advised not to start from Le Puy even though you can't see any snow on the live Le Puy web-cam reports are that the trails are snow covered an impassable. Right now it looks like we will start at Conques which is at the 207.5 kilometer point out of Le Puy en Velay, of the 740 kilometer GR65 trail to Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port, but what is more important is that Conques is down off the L'Aubrac high plateau and hopefully snow free. There are areas on the high plateau which reach 1300 meters and Conques is at 280 meters. My plans are to walk to Saint -Jean-Pies-De-Port and then go back in April to walk from Le Puy to Conques when the snow will hopefully be just a bad memory.

Ultrea !!! Buen Camino !!! Bon Chemin !!

I broke down and bought it today

I broke down and bought it today, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

It was 90 € in the window but the man accepted my offer of 80€ which always makes me wonder how low they would go.

It is very small oil painted on wood, I love it and it will make a nice souvenir of my trip.

Planning to take the train back to Sete for the day tomorrow, supposed to be mostly sunny so it should be nice by the sea, a picnic lunch on that beach that I photographed earlier.

Memorial to Jean Moulin the resistance fighter

Memorial to Jean Moulin the resistance fighter, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

It seemed to be a day for discovering memorials of the atrocities of World War II .

Copied from the internet:

Jean Moulin, the son of a professor of history, was born in Beziers, France, on 20th June 1899. He was conscripted into the French Army in 1918 but the First World War came to an end before he had the opportunity to see action.

After the war Moulin joined the civil service and rose rapidly to become the country's youngest prefect. Influenced by his friend, Pierre Cot, a radical pacifist, Moulin developed left-wing views. During the Spanish Civil War Moulin helped to smuggle a French aircraft to the Republican Army fighting against the Royalists.

Moulin refused to cooperate with the German Army when they occupied France in June 1940. He was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo and while in his cell he attempted to commit suicide by cutting his throat with a piece of broken glass. After recovering he was released from prison.

In November 1940, the Vichy government ordered all prefects to dismiss left-wing mayors of towns and villages that had been elected to office. When Moulin refused to do this he was himself removed from office.

Over the next few months Moulin began to make contact with other French people who wanted to overthrow the Vichy government and to drive the German Army out of France. This included Henry Frenay, who had established Combat, the most important of all the early French Resistance groups. He also had discussions with Pierre Villon who was attempting to organize the communist resistance group in France. Later, Moulin was accused of being a communist but there is no evidence that he ever joined the party.

Moulin visited London in September, 1941 where he met Charles De Gaulle, Andre Dewavrin and other French leaders in exile. In October 1941, Moulin produced a report entitled The Activities, Plans and Requirements of the Groups formed in France. De Gaulle was impressed with Moulin knowledge of the situation and decided he should become the leader of the resistance in France.

Moulin was parachuted back into France on 1st January, 1942. Moulin brought with him a large sum of money to help set up the underground press. This included working with figures such as Georges Bidault and Albert Camus who had both been involved in establishing the Combat newspaper.

Moulin's main task was to try and unite all the different resistance groups working in France. Over the following weeks he arranged meetings with people such as Henry Frenay (Combat), Emmanuel d'Astier (Liberation), Jean-Pierre Lévy (Francs-Tireur), Pierre Villon (Front National), Pierre Brossolette (Comité d'Action Socialiste) and Charles Delestraint (Armée Secrete). After much discussion Moulin persuaded the eight major resistance groups to form the Conseil National de la Resistance (CNR) and the first joint meeting under Moulin's chairmanship took place in Paris on 27th May 1943.

On 7th June 1943, René Hardy, an important member of the resistance in France, was arrested and tortured by Klaus Barbie and the Gestapo. They eventually obtained enough information to arrest Moulin at Caluire on 21st June. Jean Moulin died while being tortured on 8th July 1943.

Below the monument is this little cage containing an urn of the soil from where he was murdered.



Earlier I had walked by the Theater and noticed this plaque on one corner.



The word Biterrois is what the people from Beziers call themselves. Like if you are from Toronto you are a Torontonian. On the last day of World War II the Nazies murdered ten people from Beziers at this place.

In between visits to monuments I attended all three of Beziers Friday Markets The Flower Market, The Food Market and the everything else Market. Here are a few of the pictures there are more on my flickr account just click on any of the photos and it will take you to them.

In the everything else category:



Still with the everything else category:



Lots of livestock:







And of course the good stuff:





Had lots of fun just looking around but of course I had to make some purchases.

Steps leading up to the Pont du Canal where my three day hike began.

Steps leading up to the Pont du Canal where my three day hike began., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

My three day hike from Beziers to Sete began on February 16, 2010 at the steps which lead up to the Pont du Canal, literally the Canal bridge. This viaduct carries the Canal over the River Orb, high up in the air. In this photo you can see the river to the left below the Canal.



Day one of my walk was gray with very light rain all day gave me a good chance to test out my new rain gear the rain suit and my water proof Tilley hat both worked really well. Not far out of Beziers I saw my first boat moving on the Canal. Before I got to the end of the Canal I saw a few more looks like people are starting to get their boats ready for summer.



Day one was Beziers to Agde 25.2 KM and I was very relieved at the end of the day. I had been concerned that I might not be able to carry the back pack, I'm two years older since I last carried a full pack. I only had the pack off for a coffee in the morning and while I ate my lunch other than that I walked from 0930 to 1630 without any problems. My feet and legs were tired that night but a nights rest takes care of that.

Agde is a nice little town but just as you enter you pass in front of the church, often I see church architecture which doesn't do much of me but this one was just bug ugly. I didn't get inside so perhaps all the beauty is on the interior.



Day two from Agde to Meze a cool day and cloudy all day but no rain. I enjoyed walking along the canal there was always something new to see. Walked past this floating B&B I suppose if they didn't like you they could always move to a different location while you were out.



For a while I though I had taken a wrong turn and walked into Spain. You see these large bull cutouts on hillsides everywhere in Spain advertising a brand of Sherry.



All of these boats are rentals and this is just a small area of them there were lots more. The Canal must be bow to stern boats in the height of summer.



Half way through the day I came to the end of the Canal du Midi at Marseillan the canal empties into the Etang de Thau and boat traffic headed to the Mediterranean go the lenght of the Etang and then through the short Canal Du Rhone into the Sea.

Where the Canal du Midi enters the Etang de Thau at Marseillan



From here on in the trail leaves the water edge and for the most part follows along highways also the guide book needs to be updated in one place it tells you to follow the N113 which would have been a rural road however it no longer exists it has been update to the D613 which is a major highway with lots of traffic. I carried on because I wanted to get the practice in but I wouldn't do that part of the walk again or recommend it.

Bernie chillin in the hotel at Meze.



The last day from Meze to Sete had some nice points to it I enjoyed the little town of Bouzigues on the Etang and had lunch of Moules et Frit (Mussels and Fries) at a water side restaurant with this lovely view of the Etang.



Shortly after lunch I had a good view of Sete across the Etang only 14 KM to go, all of those structures in the water are Oyster Farms.



Arriving in Sete there were a few boats out sculling on the Canal du Rhone. All day today the weather had been perfect I didn't see a thermometer anywhere but it must have bee around 20 degrees. It was great to get the rain gear off. According to the guide book I walked 73 KM but with the amount of wrong turns I made it must have been a bit more than that. Three days to walk it and around 30 minutes by train back to Beziers.

I didn't take time to explore Sete just as I arrived at the station there was a train ready to return to Beziers so I took the train. It is only a half hour trip by rail and I hope to go back there the next sunny day to walk along the sea shore and explore the town.

My Mocha Cake

My Mocha Cake, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I bought one little Mocha Cake yesterday at the Bakery next door and I was so surprised at the production the lady went through to package and sell it to me. She put it in a box, wrapped it and even put a ribbon on it. By the way the cake was very good.

I was invited to go to Roqueburn yesterday to the annual Mimosa Festival, with Geoff and Lesley a couple of English ex-pats who are friends of my landlord. So glad I went we had a wonderful day . Rogueburn is a little town nestled in the hills along the river Orb less than an hour north of Beziers.



A wonderful atmosphere with crowds of people descending on the little town from all over the area. Lots of vendors with their stalls set-up all along the main street selling anything from crafts to cheese, and of course bouquets of Mimosa.



I can't resist the wonderful local cheeses and there were several available that were made on the local farms, and of course they were handing out lots of free samples.



When my eyes fell on this one I knew I just had to have some and of course it was very old, very expensive and very good. It was selling for almost 44 Euros per Kilo I bought a small piece for 11 Euros and have been enjoying it very much.



I took several of my bumpy short video clips.



There was a nice parade just before we left in the afternoon.





I not sure if I will be able to blog for the next few days or not. My plans are to leave Beziers in the morning on a three day hike along the Canal du Midi to Sete on the Mediterranean. Stopping the First night in Agda the second night in Meze and coming back to Beziers by train from Sete on Thursday evening. If I find Internet Cafes along the way I will add some short posts if not it will be Friday before I have a chance to blog again.

Beziers Town Hall Door Knocker

Town Hall Door Knocker, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Still cold but sunny it got up to 4 degrees today but it was nice out in the sun. I even sat in the sun on my balcony and read for a while.

Spent part of the day exploring the side streets of Beziers , I'm getting quite comfortable with the town and seem to have a general idea of where I am most of the time. Found a lot of lovely little shops that I hadn't seen before especially the antiques shops. So far I have only window shopped but I did see a couple of small paintings that were very nice. that's what I usually buy myself as a souvenir of my travels, one was quite small and would fit in with the stuff that I'm shipping on to Pru to pick up in Paris on my way home, so chances are good that I will talk myself into that one.

This is the shop window and if you click on the photo it will take you to my flickr site and I have put a note next to the one I liked.



Some more shop windows:

Anybody planning a wedding, want to do it Beziers style.



It was a rug shop but they also had a Buddha collection for sale:



All of the glasses were, "Le Lot 35 Euros" :



My only purchase of the day was a nice new leather belt which I bought from a Senegalese man who had set up a small display in the Allees Paul Riquet.

They have turned on some of the fountains this one is at a round about but the one that I want to see is a large one in the Allees but the last time I checked it was frozen over.



Thought you might like to see a close-up of my Mimosa, it's a shrub or small tree which has been in bloom here since the first of the year. Not many in Beziers but I did see one coming into town on the train yesterday afternoon. If the weather is good I might see a lot more tomorrow I've been invited to go to the Mimosa Festival in Roquebrun a town a little north of here .