Montpellier, France
We woke in Barcelona later than planned, and walked around to take pictures and see things in the daylight. We bought stamps and food, went to the old cathedral, bought pastry for breakfast, and looked for Spanish leather boots for me. Then we split up at noon and I scoped around for good photos and clothing or boots of interest to me. Lars bought our food for the day. On our way out, we picked up our hostel cards, checked out and got our luggage. We got spicy chili pepper falafel and a middle eastern baklava to split after with green nuts. Lars called home (I did earlier) and then we hopped on the metro to the station. After I mailed off some postcards, we departed.
We arrived in Montpellier and began our two hour search for the YHA. The city was old, with gorgeous new works to make the old city even more beautiful. Montpellier was our (Lars') biggest challenge with language because we had to keep asking directions to the street that we could not find anywhere. Everyone we asked (mostly waiters or chefs in restaurants who were more drunk than anyone I would want preparing my food) pointed us in hard to understand directions. There were cafes everywhere and otherwise old wing-ding streets that got us confused. People led us part way even, some female students, but the dogs tried to confuse us.
When we got to the hostel, the French keepers were quite humorous when Lars found out that he had lost his YHA card and had gotten some other Germans (with a very ugly photo on it). I called Anne Catherine, a university student living in Germany, to see if she had Eva's phone number since we were going back to Spain, but no. She was happy I called though. Then Lars and I decided to take the 02:45 train to Barcelona because his card was quite necessary. So, we had four hours to kill.
We walked around looking for a bar. We could not find any that appealed to us, so we walked to a cathedral that was the biggest I had ever seen, it seemed. I would have liked to go inside. I couldn't believe it. Then we walked to a green thing that connected some Roman-like buildings to a temple and a long fake aqueduct, of which only the beginning of it was really authentic, and the rest goes way out into the new city from the old. We walked back to the old city and found a hopping bar with nude ladies tattooed on the walls, and drank heavy and smoked deep. I found (saw someone drop) a pack of Lucky Strikes, which Lars and I split, along with a large amount of cheap lager called Paulaner. We saw many people and they saw us sometimes. It was fun though. I wish more and more to speak other languages. Then we walked around and found a student disco that was private, but despite being students, we still would have had to pay 20 franks, so we did not go in. A few times tonight I got to say "Je ne parle pas francais" We walked more to the center of town, then to another beautiful "green thing" with a pond and statues. Lars wanted to climb over a security fence (and did), but I couldn't, being hesitant and a wee bit drunk. A group of young French people our age said bon soir.
1994
With very little sleep, the day just crawled by, except for lunch, which flew. I took Rachel to the chiropractor near Cho-Sun, ordered a Pad Thai, and started eating it just before just joined me to finish it over a Sapporo. We went home and Jill joined us for "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D at the SGMovietheater. I thought it was the best movie since ever. She came over after and we drank white wine as I organized bills and receipts.
2010