It has been a full month since we have been gone and a lot has happened.  It has been somewhat stressful, of coarse.  But I think it is only a bit due to the random unplannedness of it all and mostly because we are learning so much in such a short period of time.  We are learning about other people, other foods, other places, but mostly about eachother and ourselves.  And that is tough to do when we are continually in eachothers presence.  It has been amazing, though.

We left Toulouse for Montpellier.  It is a really neat city.  Brian got to see an osteopathe for his back and I will leave it to him to describe his wonderful encounter.  We ate luch of jam and bread in a little park where we sat in the waning sunlight and talked about our latest self discoveries, which can be a discovery in itself.  We walked to the tram and then to our next hosts house.  Laurant is a cartographer and an amateur photographer.  He travels quite a bit and has three really great roommates.  We had really good conversation over an amazing dinner with wine.  I was reading Memoirs of a Geisha at the time and enjoyed reading it until I fell asleep next to Brian, who was tired out from his visit to the osteopathe and had long since been asleep.  The next morning, Brian and I took a leisurely walk into town.  We took a good two hours to get there.  Talking, eating breakfast by an old graveyard and having to retrace some of our steps to look for my bandana.  We went to a park and ate lunch under a tree, Brian took a nap and I made flower art on his tummy.  We went to a typical perfumerie and came out smelling like everything in the store, but with nothing to show for it.  At a small local bookshop I found some used English books, I am now reading Mary Rielly.  THen off to a flower garden through the maze of tiny streets where we sat walked through quiet rows of sleeping flowers and sat on a stone bench to take in the last bit of sun.  That night we had another wonderful dinner of splitpea/lentil soup, quiche, cheese and wine.  We went to bed but woke early to the crazy kitten jumping on our heads.  We got up for the day and packed up to take the tram and meet our next host in Montpellier.  Lyes is one of the kindest people I have ever met.  He speaks little english and I speak little French, so half our conversations are caught up in trying to give examples or make gestures.  I am getting to try out my long lost French.  And it is nice with him cause I can take my time and think out my wording.  He told us several times over that his house was our house.  And to come back any time.  We showed eachother picture albums, most of ours are of Josie, although we have some of parents and siblings, too.  He took us for a little tour of the city and then home for hot chocolate and cookies.  The next morning we got up late and drove to the beach.  Driving there we saw wild flamingos.  Have you ever seen a flamingo fly?  It is incredibly breathtaking.  When we reached the beach it was covered in shells, so I combed the beach for my favorite four.  After we walked along the water and around town.  I realized life is really good when you have someone to share it with.  We all laid down in the sand and took in the shining hot sun.  The sand was like velvet in my fingers.  We met a sculpturer friend of Lyes where we had some tea.  She also dabbles in painting and stained glass.  The next day I went off alone to the Fabre museum and Brian went for a walk around the city.  The museum has been closed for the last 6 years and just opened a month ago.  It was really lovely.  Then Brian and I met again and went home where we spent the evening reading, eating, doing email and watching TV.  Today brian and I went to the saturday market.  I love the weekend markets of fresh fruits and veggies at stands on the streets.  Just walking through one is an experience.  I am tempted to think the USA is the only place where a market like this is uncommon.  And it is so simple and SO good!!  We spent the rest of the day talking on a street corner and eating fruit.  When we returned Brian made dinner and we did our first run of pictures on Snapfish.  Hope you enjoy them!