Thursday Apology and Backlog

It is now Saturday night. I have not been electrocuted in the bath nor run over by a tram, you would probably have heard about that by now. On Thursday  I felt decidedly off, I was coughing a lot and decided to do as little as possible all day. This meant spending more time than normal at my morning cafe and lunch, more time reading, some time ( but not enough ) sorting photos and I remembered I had not written anything in this space at 8.30pm, my time to go to bed, so,i thought " too bad".

On Friday  I went to the last of the 6 cafes that were recommended to me as having decent coffee ( by Australian standards). Several of the others have been run by English speakers and the staff are quick to use English, even when you are trying to use French. This one was different. As I was leaving I thanked the waiter for talking slowly to me in French  as soon as she realised I was not a normal French speaker.  I had said in French when I walked in that I would like to have breakfast and inside ( most of their tables are outside) From then on, she spoke slowly and I could understand and respond appropriately. As I was thanking her ( she was also patient while I spoke very slowly sometimes) the , I presume , owner came out from the back and  told me on Tueday evenings they have a 'come along and talk french' gathering. Wish I had. known sooner. It might have got me out at night.

Then I caught the tram to Mosson then bus to Saint guilhem le Desert. One of the 'delights' of travelling -  i had been watching and the bus driver was only stopping if the stop had been requested ( a sign in the front of the bus lit up) like normal city buses. Or if there was somebody waiting. Some little townships she drove straight through. OK, I can follow on Google to see where I am, but I could not , despite trying very hard, see the button to press to request the stop. So i had to ask . Not so hard really, just another bit of energy gone.

Saint Guilhem is a picturesque medieval village built in one of the many steep gorges of the  area. In 806 St guilhem established a monastery there. Apparently  a part of the cloister of the monastery was moved to the Cloisters museum in New York City. I have been to this museum, so I may have seen it. About all I remember about that particular museum was that I didnot enjoy it. Old cloisters are one of my favourite things to seek out when I am travelling . I find them very peaceful and comforting and calming. Not so the museum. My memory is that it was overcrowded and disorganised, but maybe I was not having a good day and just wasn't getting the peaceful vibes I was hoping for. Or maybe  I was expecting too much. After all, a current, well used church has a completely different feel to a church that is only a museum

Back to St Guilhem. There is only 1 space large enough and flat enough  for a square surrounded by shops, cafes and houses. So after wandering around i sat there for a while having a late lunch (3 ish) of a galette ( buckwheat crepe, usually , in this part of the world, savoury) and then a hot chocolate before going to the apartment i had booked for the night.  I have used booking.com on many occasions for hotels, but this is the first time for a single dwelling. There was a breakdown in communication which meant I spent an hour sitting on a stone step and then time on the phone and walking back to where i had lunch to collect the key and then getting in. Their mistake, but I could have confirmed the arrangement and the error would have shown up. It was advertised as a gite which may mean different rules apply so i cannot complain too much, but I was seriously displeased to then have to make my own bed!  Queen size Doona cover included.  Added to the annoyance of the day, it was 5.30, I wanted to have a shower and put my pjs on but knew I should have food first . I was carrying some emergency supplies ( if you call 4 rice crackers spread with hummus 7 hours before  so very soggy food)  because my purpose in coming to St gG was to walk in this terrain . I had realised from walking around I was not going to get any food in this town until 9 am so knew i should keep my emergency rations for the next morning, so therefor knew I had to eat then, early evening.   I had seen a place that advertised tapas and it was a  bar rather than a restaurant so I thought I should be able to get something.  I went in , sat down, asked for the menu, go the reply " we are only doing crepes until 6.30".  Bother. I looked at the menu, saw that they had 1 savoury galette  and they did have a soup on both the lunch and dinner menu. i tried hard for the soup, but they were not budging. Nothing wrong with a savoury galette  2 meals 2 1/2 hours apart, i tried tompersude myself . Besides I dont have to eat it all.

So, at the end of the day, I was definitely  not in the right frame of mind to write here.

I slept very well till I woke up hot and sweaty. The mattress protector had a plastic backing. One of my pet dislikes.

Today has gone well. In one sentence, I walked 40 minutes up, 5 minutes along,  then 35 minutes down,  amazing scenery, had some breakfast,  caught the bus back, met a lovely lady from Colorado  and spent the rest of the day with her. Photos of St G and more info tomorrow.