En famille - Montpellier for Easter

Twenty days and nights in Greyrocks' current favourite city: what's not to like? And for five of them we had the company of offspring and her new spouse!
This blog is riddled with praise for Montpellier, but to record how we spent our time the same themes will recur, and Jack and Chloë have caught the bug, too, to some degree!

We had booked through Airbnb an apartment close to the one in October but with a few more facilities, and it was a great choice. One particular feature was a large balcony with a view over the River Lez. Unfortunately for the first few guest-free days this was not a setting in which to lurk! It was cold, and we needed to raid the trove of warmer clothes that over-winters in the car. Operating the heating (and a collection of other sophisticated devices) was a more pressing need, and our trips out were quite short and functional!

Bring it on!

The weather perked up a bit as Easter approached, and we were off to pick up  Chloë and Jack at Beziers airport. It is a very small airport with three or four flights a day - mostly from UK, so it was no surprise to see GB plates in both the official and sneaky free car parks when we arrived. This brought to mind that we had seen no others since arriving in Barcelona several days ago and on a stretch of autoroute normally hosting a number! Brexit caution we assume! The kids' flight from Bristol  had been "OK, given that it was Ryanair!" so it was good news that we saw on a poster in many toilets round the city. Easyjet will start to fly to Montpellier from Bristol from June! So much better on several fronts! (Note the Brexit reference:- knowing how to organise an exit?!)

The weather was generally good (as it was in UK) and our shared activities went ahead as planned - except for the swimming pool (closed for maintenance) and cinema ("We can do that at home!"). We used the trams extensively to get around and show Jack the sights. We found a free exhibition linking art and cooking, which engaged us for hours, and also went round the Museum of the Resistance and Deportation, which Greyrocks had visited some time ago. It is small and poorly publicised, and we had to visit the office and ask for it to be opened, but informative and disturbing in the current populist zeitgeist. On another day they went alone to the Musée Fabre , declaring it too large for one visit, Bob and Chloë rode to Palavas on a very sunny (but windy) day with Ruth and Jack taking tram and bus to meet them. It was crowded -of course - and we were too late for our favourite seafood bar, but we found a good substitute for a long lunch, and the kids paddled in the sea!

Food was a priority throughout their stay, but we were reduced to creperies on several occasions when other eateries were full for the holiday weekend. One other solution was to cook in the apartment's well-equipped chicken, so we went to one of the markets in the city for quality products with Jonathan Meade's chicken and onions in mind! he is a favourite and we also watched - late night - some of his offerings on french history and culture, but we left insufficient time for cooking this rich concoction and had to continue slow cooking overnight and eat it on Easter Sunday! This was the least clement of the days and after the night before we were up late and lethargic, but we walked to the Marché du Lez , where Chloë spent an age in the brocante and emerged with cat-related items that we have had to transport to their home by car! The jazz session promised did not happen, so we walked back to Port Marianne for the apero and met a Greek waiter - but more of that later!

The cause of the Sunday late start was an evening at Pleine Lune - a must for us if Neil Conti is playing, and he was, and the kids enjoyed the music too! What is more we met some other Brit fans, and only just resisted going on to the band's post-gig party! There is a publication MamaSound with comprehensive gig listings, but it let us down twice with non-events during the family stay - once over jazz (above) and once over another jazz session in a central bar. After that one we took another chance and in doing so found a new favourite for us also! La Gazette near the station is a huge warehouse-style venue with good food, cheapish wine, a very informal style of service and a highly eclectic programme of evening music. We hit upon a taciturn and aged jazz trio - "Nice!"

There was a further request from Chloë: bowling! So on Good Friday we took a riverside stroll to Bowling de Montpellier in the early evening and had two games - both won by Bob, but with Ruth suddenly moving from hilarious disaster to a strike! On departure day we took a picnic lunch to Agde and showed them why we also rate that resort. It rained and was cold, but we managed the lunch al fresco (just!) and returned them to Beziers airport. Greyrocks had declared it a MOTH day following a run of abandoned ones! Not nice!