October 7, 2010
After a jet-lagged restless night the four of us set off for near-by Montpellier. We have visited this dynamic city several times and love it more each time we come. The city has been a commercial hub for over 1,000 years for traders from all parts of the known world. Its university dates back to the 13th century. And there is a renowned medical school associated with the university.
We first traveled here in 2002 and every time we visit the traffic and roads have been unbearable! It’s the worst place to drive and the best place to get lost. We would never have been able to make our way to Centre Ville (the center of town) on our own—Cat and Stephen are navigational geniuses. The city is putting in a 3rd tram line and no street is untouched. But we made it into the city and it is just as wonderful as it’s ever been.
There is an “old town” that is almost entirely pedestrianized. A colossal center square includes, at one end, a nineteenth century theater. The center of the square features a large fountain and many cafés around the perimeter. And at the other end of the square is a tree-lined promenade ending in a concert hall. The square is a great people-watching location. The small alleys that radiate from the center square are picturesque and contain hundreds of small shops and restaurants. The architect of this area is none other than Mr. Haussmann, the “creator” of the Paris that we know today.
Montpellier in recent times developed an area adjacent to old town as a residential area. The “common areas” include beautiful fountains and arches that mirror those in the older areas of the city. The condo buildings are maybe 10 stories at the most. The area looks VERY inviting! And the close proximity to the amenities of the city make me want to chuck it all and “book it” to Montpellier. In fact the AARP newsletter recently listed Montpellier as one of the best foreign places for US retirees to live.
We spent some time in the large market building that is open daily with butchers, fish mongers, charcuteries, cheese shops, bakeries, and green grocers—everything you could want in your daily shopping. After an excellent primmer from Catherine on the many types of fowl available in France (and the choices are dizzying) , we stopped for a tasting of raw oysters and a glass of Picpoul de Pinet (by Ormarine), a nice dry white wine produced locally and not easily found in the US. So that was the 1st course to our lunch.
Our lunch continued at Au Bonheur des Tartes (4 rue des Trésoriers de la Bourse). Now this place was definitely NOT like your typical French restaurant—the portions were huge and the there were just too many items. The food was really delicious—just too much of it. Cat has been reading the Thomas Keller cookbooks we gave her and she shared Keller’s culinary philosophy (which is also the French philosophy) with us: the first taste of the food item is the best taste and you truly enjoy just a couple of subsequent tastes of the item. Also, our palettes enjoy just one thing at a time. So, many small courses are your best enjoyment in eating. Keeping that in mind, our plates included 3 kinds of tarts: a thin tomato and cheese tart, a goat cheese tart, and an onion tart. We then chose an accompaniment with the tarts: Stephan and I chose duck confit and Cat and Howard chose fois gras. And there was more: small amounts of local red rice, chick peas, nicely cooked zucchini and other vegetables, grilled grapefruit and sweet purple grapes. Were we stuffed! It was very unlike a French meal and we would have been satisfied with half of what we got. (We all left a good amount of leftovers on our plates.) Needless to say we did not have any supper that evening.