Montpellier, France

Life in Avignon seems to go on; in a good way of course.  A few days ago my host parents went to a concert at the amphitheatre in Nimes and I asked them if it was all right to invite two of my friends over to cook dinner with me.  They said of course although they were a bit worried I think that I might burn the house down, forget to feed the cat, or some other kind of incident when in fact everything went quite well.  I cooked some pasta with mushrooms and zucchini and salad.  And for dessert A___ made profiteroles.  We also had the rosé that my great uncle had given me the weekend before, “for when I was thirsty.”  Cooking the profiteroles was quite the adventure because although my host mom had showed me how to use their complicated small, gas stove, for some reason when the time came, I couldn’t get it to work, so I pulled down the toaster oven as I had seen my host mom do before and I plugged it in outside on the deck and we cooked the profiteroles in there.  They were a bit crispy on the bottom but otherwise quite perfect.  We had a grand time, the cat survived and so did we.  

 Last night I went to a performance as part of the Festival d’Avignon “In.”  The play was called The Master and Margarita.   It was performed in the Palais de Papes in the Cour d’Honneur, which is an amazing theater/performance space.  Quite the treat!  It lasted three hours and my tushy was uncomfortable for three hours.  My mind was also a bit unsettled as the performance unfolded however because the story line was unclear for the first hour and then the last two hours didn’t really relate to the first hour.  Some of the characters were quite strange including a cat puppet that spoke vulgar things and had red eyes like the “diable.”  The most impressive part of the performance, besides the space itself was the use of technology.  They had a few video cameras on the stage and would occasionally film the actors during the performance and project those images on to the walls of the Cour d’Honneur or on the stage adding some very magnificent special effects.  A good experience and great special effects! 

 

Today was a mixed bag.  My parents moved from our house that I have lived in for twenty-one years to another house in which I have never lived.  We will now be living in Montpelier, which I love as a city and I think I will grow to love the house.  Nonetheless being so far from home (if that still exists) was a bit strange knowing that my homes were in transition.  Instead of being melancholy all day I went to Montpellier, France, which is a fantastic city.  Montpellier is very pedestrian friendly and a huge college town so there are many young people and easy to use and frequently accessible public transportation of various sorts.  I went with two friends and we toured the city following a guide from the office of tourism that showed us some main sights and then we had a lunch of delicious salads in a small piazza.  After lunch we took the tram and then a bus to the beach.  We had originally thought we would rent bikes, but it turned out to be much more complicated and too expensive and the tram was quite enjoyable.  I took a nap on the beach and then took a walk to see some parasailors.  All in all the day was a good day for distraction, despite the looming reality of my former home in West Braintree.