Ashley Koch, one of my sorority sisters, moved to southern France this past October where she teaches English in a French primary school. She lives in Apt, aka the middle of nowhere. As soon as she learned that she was moving, we immediately made plans for a visit. Originally we planned that I would fly into Montpellier on a Saturday, catch the train to Avignon, & then a bus to Apt, & I would fly out of Marseille to London Gatwick 4 days later to visit my UK friends. Of course, nothing ever goes as planned when I am involved.
After searching the SNCF website, I realize that it is impossible to get from Montpellier to Apt on a Saturday evening since my plane did not land until 6:30pm, which is when the last train left the station. So we decided Ashley would come to me & we would stay overnight in Montpellier. We would go to Avignon the next day & then to Apt where we would stay Sunday & Monday nights & then go to Marseille Tuesday & stay the night so I could catch my plane the next afternoon. Ashley & I really didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, but we knew it would be fun.
First off, getting to France was QUITE frustrating. My train to Hamburg left at 5:10am. From Hamburg, I would take the ICE (fast train) to Koblenz to catch a bus to Frankfurt Hahn airport (which really isn't in Frankfurt). The train to Koblenz ran 20 minutes late, insuring that I missed the bus. I spoke with the conductor & asked if I should stay on until Mainz (the next stop) so that I could catch a bus there, but he assured me that buses left for the airport at 20 minute intervals. Well that may be true during the week! I was leaving on a Saturday! So I get off at Mainz, walk to the bus station, & sure enough, the next bus didn't leave until 2 hours later. So I walked back to the train station, found a train going to Mainz & talked to another conductor. He put me on the train to Mainz & off I went with 18 Euro less (had to pay for the new ticket). I arrived in Mainz with time to spare, clamored on to the bus, & immediately went to sleep. (By this time it was about 1:30pm). We arrived at Frankfurt Hahn around 2:30, but check-in opened at 3pm. I checked in & waited for 5pm to arrive so I could get on the plane & go back to sleep. Finally, at 6:35pm, I arrived in Montpellier. I was completely prepared with my French. I went up to the information desk & asked about buses going to the train station. Haha ... in my dreams. They stopped running at 5pm, so I would have to take a taxi which would cost 20 euros. Well, I had no choice. I phoned Ashley, told her what was going on, & off I went in the taxi. 20 minutes later, we finally met up!
To say that Ashley & I were excited to see one another would be an understatement. We were thrilled! We hadn't seen each other since July 2006 & needed to catch up. She was lonely for a friend since she lived in the middle of nowhere France & I was lonely for someone my own age who spoke my language! We checked into our hotel & off we went to find dinner. I had already decided I wanted to eat at Le Pain Quotidien, which is an organic French restaurant Mom & I discovered in London last July. I had written the address incorrectly, so the hotel owner suggested another place which was right around the corner. In fact, LPQ was also right around the corner, so we ate there. Dinner was crazy. First we decided we would celebrate with a bottle of wine. We both ordered pasta & dessert. Now, important note: We were sitting next to a rather large window that pedestrians passed as they went down the side street. Well, needless to say, we had some visitors at our window. A group of guys walked by twice & decided to make faces at us. We tried to remain serious, but I guess we had consumed too much wine by that time & couldn't help but laugh.
By 9pm, we were both tired & decided it was time to head back to the hotel for a shower & bed. After all, I had been travelling since 5am! Our room was quite nice for a French hotel & the bathroom bigger than I expected. We had a bunkbed which also allowed the bottom bunk to pull out to a double bed. We were too lazy to climb to the top bunk, so we shared the double bed. I don't think either of us moved we were so tired.
The next morning dawned bright & early. We were up at 9am which was really 8am because we had forgotten to change our clocks. This certainly worked to our advantage as check out was at noon & we wanted to leave our bags in the room & walk around. We headed back to the square where we had eaten dinner. This begins the main pedestrian area of Montpellier.
In the center is a statue known as "The Three Graces" as well as the Opera House & a carousel (every good French town has one!).
As we wandered, we also came across an arch called the Ponte Peyrou. (I think every good French town has one of these arches as well.)
The best thing we saw, however, was an arch-type thing that sat above a pool of water. Because we were there early enough in the morning & it was such a nice day, we were able to see the reflection of the monument.
After we walked around a bit more (nothing was open as it was Sunday), Ashley & I decided it was time to head to Avignon ...
Ashley, enjoying French food (as you will see, Ashely cannot take a serious picture)
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