Hot baguettes and mail

Thursday, October 7, 2010 Day 99


We walked the Peyrou again today, then went down, as usual, to the Comedie to find that tents are being put up for yet another celebration – this one called Montpellier Handi – as in handicapped. It focuses on awareness of the handicapped and how their everyday lives are impacted by their disability.

We walked down to a shopping center and picked up a few groceries then checked out the prices at a clothing store I had seen advertised. Roger found a heavy jacket that he may consider purchasing. He’d better hurry – there were only three in his size and they are half off. From there we went to FNAC and bought tickets for a classical guitar concert scheduled for Sunday. We are also going to an apero afterward at Patricia’s apartment. When I asked what we could bring, she suggested a bottle of wine. That seems rather hazardous for a couple of Americans in one of the great wine regions of the world, but we will bring something.

This evening Roger cooked salmon, and he sent me down about 6:15 to get a baguette and some dessert. We have learned that the boulangerie often has bread coming out of the oven at about this time. When I arrived and asked for hot baguettes, our friendly clerk stepped into the next room and took two off of a tray just coming out of the oven – 18 inches of heaven! Twice! Roger had specified a raspberry dessert, and they only had one – a puff pastry type thing sliced in half horizontally and filled with cream and raspberries. So I got it as well and sped back to the apartment to eat the bread while it was hot. Delicious supper! Afterward we went back to the Peyrou to do a bit of stargazing. The lamps in the Peyrou have blue glass in them, and we had heard that the Peyrou is very pretty in the evenings. I thought that it closed at 8:00, so we left around 7:30 to make the 10-minute walk there. The lights were not as impressive as I expected them to be – a lot of the blue is pretty well faded out so most of the light is just a yellow-white light – not bad but nothing special. We checked out Jupiter and a couple of other stars from the water tower at the top, then walked back to the entrance, anxious not to get locked inside. My information must have been incorrect, however, because we left just at 8:00 and people were still entering the Peyrou, and others seemed in no hurry to leave. But it was a nice walk and a nice way to end the day.

We’ve Got Mail! We check our mailbox every day, but there is seldom anything there for us. This evening, when Roger took down the trash, he realized he hadn’t checked it today, so he paused and opened the box and – surprise! – there was a package for me. It was a book I had ordered for the book club. It was actually pretty fast delivery. I bought it on EBay on September 28 from a British source which had said it would be shipped in a week but that customs delays might cause the shipping time to be 6-8 weeks. That’s not even 10 days.