My best friend....

The Internet was out for a couple of days here and I realized how dependent I have become on my iPad and the Internet. Without it, I felt quite lost. It is my connection to you - family, friends and all things familiar. Thank goodness, it is up and running again this morning. I really don't know how I would cope otherwise! It has become my best friend on this journey.

In my last blog, I mentioned that we were going out Friday for dinner to watch Pierre play the flamenco guitar. We went to a family restaurant with a set menu of 3 choices for the entrée (appetizer or starter) 3 choices for le plat du jour (main course) and 3 choices for dessert. Dinner was excellent, but the entrée, the terrine de chèvre avec des échalotes grillées, was outstanding. As you can see, I couldn't wait to try it and had already taken a bite out of it before I took the picture...oh so good!

The musical entertainment was also exceptional. Apparently, there are 8 people in the group called Cocktail  Flamenco, who sing and play a variety of instruments. As I understand it, the large group plays in venues of size, particularly in open air environments in the summer. At this small restaurant, there were only two of them (to start with) Pierre and the lead singer Mehdi. Watching Pierre play the guitar was a sight to behold. He is very skilled. Mehdi sang beautifully and Pierre sang harmony. As the night progressed, friends of the group arrived and in no time, there were others playing the guitar and singing along. It was most enjoyable to listen to and to watch not only because the music was good, but it was obvious that the boys were having so much fun as well. Patricia said that if there was an opportunity to see the large group, before I leave, that we would go. I'd love that.

Although I took many pictures, most of them didn't turn out well. Medhi is on the left and Pierre is on the right. In every picture, their hands were blurry because they moved so quickly.

Pierre and friends...

Yesterday, I decided to take the day off from studying and spent the afternoon strolling through another district of Montpellier. I took the tram to the Place d'Europe and then walked along the boardwalk on the banks of the Lez river. Perhaps this won't be interesting to you, but it was to me. I watched a group of ducks for quite awhile. Along this river, there are several little dams or steps. The ducks would swim toward the rushing water then the first one would get out and walk upward along the bank to reach the next level and then jump in and swim off. The others did exactly the same thing and followed behind. Then another group came along. This time, the lead duck flew from the lower level up to the next and sure enough the others followed. It was fun to watch.

The Boardwalk along the Lez River

I eventually came upon the district of Jacques Cœur which is obviously quite new. There were some  interesting buildings and shops including a very cool Italian design store called RBC. The kitchen chairs were around 1000 euros (about $1040.00) so needless to say everything was out of my "snack bracket" but it was still fun to noodle around on the 5 floors of the store.

A couple of other cool buildings.

Last but not least, I couldn't resist taking pictures of some of the flowers that are still vibrant at this time of year.

Before I sign off, I have to tell you that my pancakes were a big hit this morning. I had to hope and pray that the different ingredients and measurements would work. Patricia really enjoyed them - she said she liked them more than crepes. The maple syrup was wonderful too. After breakfast, she insisted on getting the recipe so that she could make them for others, particularly her grandchildren.

We are off to Grande Motte this afternoon for a walk along the port. The sun is shining, so we'll take advantage of the nice weather.