18 May
The Kohlmanns arrive tomorrow! I spend today shopping and getting the house ready. On my shopping excursion I see a dog in a car with all the windows rolled up and it is hot. The poor thing is stuck in the very back of the vehicle because it’s behind a barrier. The sun is shining right on the back window. I check all the doors and they are locked. The store closes in about 10 minutes so I decide to wait. The couple who own the car finally arrive and in my very best French I tell them that the dog is very hot in the car. The man says “Non!” and I emphatically say “Oui!” His wife says thank you and I walk off.
19 May
It is raining! The Kohlmanns are to arrive about 12:30 at the Montpellier train station. We had planned to have lunch and tour the city before going home. We decide to put off the Montpellier excursion until the day they leave; we’ll have plenty of time that day.
So we head back home and stop at the grocery store to pick up something to cook for lunch. Howard fixes delicious sautéed chicken. We are able to get Gene and Sheri settled in and I think the day turned out for the best.
20 May
We are off to a slow start this morning so I call Marie and ask her to come at 11. Then we head off to nearby Pézanas.
We easily find a parking space and are our way into the historic old cité. It’s always fun and interesting to stroll through the ancient alleyways. We stop at the shop that has handmade cards–even the paper is handmade! I buy a card that says something like “A postcard is much better than an email” to send to Patty. They also have a small poster that has a dead blue bird with an arrow through it that says “Twitter sucks.” Very clever stuff.
We have lunch at Les Palmiers, the place we ate at May 1 with the Baileys and the Franks. The same great lady was there to serve us. Bart said that if we ever came back we needed to have the pork…so we did! It was incredible. Sheri, Gene and Howard had Steak Tartar for a 1st course;
I had a delicious layered eggplant and goat cheese dish. Sheri and Gene shared their first course. Our server placed an empty plate in front of Gene before she brought our first courses and said “Bon appetit!” We all had a good laugh.
21 May
We had planned to go to a great street market in Clermont L’Herault, purchase something for lunch and then go home and enjoy a home-cooked meal. Unfortunately it was raining “chats et chiens” (cats and dogs)–and I mean REALLY raining. It actually wasn’t raining when we hit town so we thought we’d have time for coffee and croissant. But as soon as we left the cafe it was a downpour.
With umbrellas in hand, we began our shopping excursion. We bought a couple of “bouquets” of baby artichoke, nice tomatoes for baking and a couple of rabbits. By that time we were drenched so we headed home. Howard fixed his wonderful garlic rabbit and we had sautéed artichokes and baked tomatoes.