Oh Crumbs

We have found Jaffa Cakes in France. And they are not just any Jaffa Cakes my friend, but Citrus Cakes and Framboise Cakes aswell!!!!

Now, some of you may know that I have long been an admirer of the Jaffa Cake, namely of the McVities variety, but I have to tell you, once you have tasted a Raspberry cake, you may never go back!

So, why are McVities not doing it themselves? Have they already done it and I have not realised (apologies if they have, but being on the other side of the world and all can sometimes cause your finger to momentarily fall off the pulse of the luxury confectionary snacking industry)? Is it their name? Are Jaffa cakes destined forever to be only one flavour because of a brand? What injustice, the people of England and the world, are missing out!

I will take orders if necessary. I think I owe it to you, my dear friends, to share with you this most sumptuous of sweets, most divine of delights! It can remain a secret of the French no longer!

Somebody call McVities now. No, call The Sun! England needs to know what is happening right on their very doorstep.

Thank you, my biscuit munching allies, and may the force be with you.

Love
Est xxx

Les Animaux

Don't know if that spelling is right or not, but I really didn't want to entitle this blog 'Montpellier Zoo'. This is my third zoo visit in two months and I do like animals normally, I do, but I must admit that really wasn't really relishing the prospect of a visit to yet another Parc Zoologique (yes, I think I just made up that French word) but of course, Benny and Naomi wanted to go, and it was free, yes, absolutely 100% completely gratuit (get that, Wellington Zoo!!) so that was definitely one of the deciding factors.

I was pleasantly surprised, the Zoo was lovely, it had a very gentle and peaceful parklike feel to it, with people sitting next their favourite animals, eating their lunches, and lots of runners padding around, I guess that's what you would do, if your local zoo was free - not me, of course, but some people.

And, we saw some pretty nice animals too, here are a few photos of the ones we hadn't seen before.




An aardvark! Yes, I know we all know them from the beginning of the alphabet, but have you seen one before? Alex and I hadn't!




Bear, having a scratch in the woods;)




The Ibis Rouge.





Le Froggy Bleu...?




Little black and blue bird which kept following us around and standing on one leg. Answers on a postcard please.




We took these little monkeys home with us;)

Love
Est xxx

Sète

On Wednesday we popped to Sete which is just outside Montpellier, for the day. Sete is known as the Venice of the Languedoc region and is a small bustling port with canals and a cool vibe, kind of a bit like Sumner, Cuba Street and Eastbourne all rolled into one.




We were there on market day and got to have a stroll a around the fish market which was, smelly, there was also a famers market and a rather large sweet stall, which Benny and Naomi loved.




The lady in the tourist information said we should go to the top of the hill, for the view of Sete, and it would take us about 30mins to get up the hill, which had 400 steps. So, about 30 mins later, after getting rather lost and tired from walking up the hill, and after asking two locals for directions, we finally reached the steps! Here it definitely started to feel like Wellington - there was even a piece of vertical land for sale, which reminded us of home;)




Got to the top, and we were rewarded with a lovely view, not unlike the view from Mount Victoria actually, but I do normally drive up there. In fact, there were quite a lot of people at the top, and suspiciously, I hadn't seen any of them on the steps...






As we were going to a seaside town we had obviously promised Naomi and Benny that we would be going on the beach. Little did we know it would be so far away! So, after about another hour (!) of walking, we finally made it to the sea. It was getting a bit dark by this point, but they were so happy. What good parents we are.







It was a really fun day, with lots of fresh air and exercise, which is very good for us at the moment with all this wine and cheese that is being consumed, and no shops (er..apart from the wine shop) which is great for Alex, so he was happy with me;)

Here is the lovely Sète at nightfall. Notice our cross at the top of the hill - we climbed up that hill we did!







Love
Est xxx

It's Blooming November!

But it doesn't feel like winter in this part of the world. Here are some some photos all taken yesterday.









































Love
Est xxx

Montpellier

I was really looking forward to Montpellier, not for any particular reason, but it just sounds nice doesn't it? Montpellier. Montpellier!

First thing we did was find a campsite to get sorted in, after the dark, closed, low bridge episode I thought it best to be organized nice and early this time.

None of the campsites in our 'Best Campsites in France' book were open so we found one online. We needed a shower after two days of sleeping on the side of the road and we needed to put some clothes in the wash. We got there and quickly realised why it was not in the 'Best Campsites of France' handbook. The owner, with fag hanging from her mouth, cigarette ash hanging precariously over her young assistants shoulder, greeted us at reception and told us that, 'Non, no camping cars in Monpellier', we had to take the bus, and the washing machine was 'Kaput!'.

We heeded those words and ventured out to the bus stop, which turned out to be some 3 kms away, via, what can only be described as some sort of public rubbish dump. We dodged beer cans, bottles, clothes, shoes, general household rubbish, a skip, old car hubcaps and lots of doggy doo to get to our stop, all the way being entertained by extensive artwork of the teenage variety. I said to Alex, 'If this is the real France, then I don't like it, thank you very much'. I was not amused.

The bus arrived and we got to Montpellier, all the way it still seemed that the number of graffiti artists must far outweigh the number of cleaners employed by Montpellier City Council. The war has definitely been won by the spray can kids.

But, we got to the city centre and I was surprised to find it was actually a really nice place, went to a beautiful art Gallery, and walked through a park where lots was happening, it was lively and bustling and there was even a film being made as we walked through, so we may be in the background of a future blockbuster about breakdancing - keep an eye out for that one!





Here 's a picci of the main square, check out the graffiti on the chimneys!




Here is one of the old part of town which was lovely, there was artwork on the wall (real artwork) which was made to look like buildings, this is just the side of a building which has been painted, even the roof tiles are painted on!




Nice clean streets. Found an English bookshop, it was heaven, especially as I had ran out of books and had resorted to reading one if Alex's, can you imagine!?!

We got back to the campsite where Alex informed me that I wouldn't like the showers, and I would probably come out dirtier than when I had got in, but, on the upside, they had a very strong Wifi connection - so we downloaded five films, superb!

Love
Est xxx





PS. Scarf and earrings from Narbonne;)

Narbonne c'est tres bon!

Stopped off in a small town called Narbonne yesterday on our way through to Montpellier.

Spent our time going round the Cathedral (ok, it was only a quick trip, we have pretty much seen every type of pew, altar, font, buttress and stained glass window known to man, nothing will shock or amaze us anymore - I know you're just glad I haven't put a cathedral photo up aren't you;) and underground in a Roman Horreum (yes, it was a new word for me too!).

Basically, a Horreum is a group of underground tunnels where people used to live in Roman times. I'm not sure that they were underground then though or not(?), all a little confusing to follow in the local language. Bit spooky for me, but the kids didn't seem to mind at all. It really doesn't help when they put on eerie background sounds of horses and roman people having drinks and merriment and all the things they used to get up to down (up) there. Was that really necessary? It was dark...and underground...and hard to find your way out...there were some roman jugs.... I can fill in the gaps myself!

After that nerve wracking experience we tootled around the shops for a bit (can't do it for a lot with my impatient husband) where I calmed myself down with a nice new spotty scarf and some sparkly earrings. Ahhh.

I took a quick photo of this little bridge, which was kind of cool, and kind of unique too, with shops and houses on it!

Love
Est xxx

Could be worse!

Ben: I don't get it, why would someone want to go on a Bad Tour?

Love
Est xxx