Homage to Confucius

17-10-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

Sunday, October 17, 2010 Day 109
Today is Marathon de Montpellier day. The marathoners left the Comedie about nine o’clock. We arrived at the Comedie too late to see them start, so we have no idea how many runners there were. We went in search of a flea market we saw a couple of weeks ago on our way down to Palavas. It was along the west bank of the Lez near a tram stop. It was quite cool as we set out – near 50 degrees. I am sure the runners loved the weather, although it is much cooler than we are used to. We took the tram across the Lez, but there was no market today. We did catch our first glimpse of a marathoner, however. We applauded him, then walked through the park area, back across the Lez and investigated a fountain nearby. We made a decision to take the tram back up to another tram stop in order to see a sculpture called “Homage to Confucious.” That done, we walked back home alongside the tram line. The day had started out pretty sunny, but clouds moved in and the temperature dropped a couple of degrees. We stopped at a small restaurant and had a lunch of quiche, hot tea and half a chocolate pastry each. On our way back, we had to climb a long, slow hill, and as we approached the hill, we saw policemen out patrolling the area, and we watched some of the marathoners heading up the hill. This must be heartbreak hill for them – it comes up in the last mile of the marathon and it is quite a climb. The bottom of the hill is where a marathoner needs a friend to join him and jog or even walk along with him to give him the motivation to keep going, because that hill, coming so late in the marathon, must be a killer. Once the marathoner reaches the top, it is downhill all the way to the finish line. We walked up the hill and down the other side to our apartment. It was good to come in and warm up. The temperature did not get over 65 all day.

Around 3:00 this afternoon, Roger thought he heard the chess boards calling him, so he put on his jacket and cap and headed for the Place Charles de Gaulle. About 20 minutes later he called to say he was on his way home, as there were no games in progress and no chess players in sight.