Montauban

We had a lot of thunder overnight. I waited until I heard Mike moving around before I got up, showered and dressed. It was an hour or so before others emerged. It was already quite warm (23C) so I sat on the deck and watched the world revolve while enjoying a cup of tea and view to the distant Pyrenees. As everyone else arrived we sat down to have breakfast by the pool… croissants and baguettes, and of course, coffee.

The plan for the morning was to visit the market in Montauban. It was only a 25 minute drive and quick circuit of the town centre to get to the car park. The market had to be seen to be believed. The first street of 200m was predominantly clothing and accessories. The next stretch, returning on the first, was food stalls offering every type of European food you could imagine. (There was no Chinese, but there were Middle Eastern, Moroccan, and Spanish). Moving onto a side road there stood hundreds of stalls selling fruit, vegetables, herbs, wines, and cheeses. I am not known for my love of shopping, nor markets, but I would visit this weekly if it was near us at home. 

From the market we walked down several side streets to a lovely open square where we settled down for a coffee. On the way back to the car we stopped and bought some cases of wine to replenish Mike’s stocks after last night!

We had a light lunch back at the house and then sat and had a quiet few hours. The pool was used (though not by me), old photo albums were brought out, old stories were recounted, some even went for a nap. The temperature was a very pleasant 28C.

Late in the afternoon we went for a walk into the village to look out from the escarpment over the plains below. The heat had created a haze so the distant sights were obscured. From there we walked down to the lake below the village. They have been doing a lot of work around the lake and the security fences have only just been removed to allow us to walk right round. It was a delightful (if rather warm) and we were probably out for about 90 minutes. We returned to the house and chilled for an hour before going out to dinner.

We walked from the house to the end of Rue de Levant and occupied our reserved table in the back of the local restaurant. The menu provided numerous types of pizza, some stunning burgers, and various grills. I chose one of the pizzas and was not disappointed. It had a firm but very thin crust and delightful cheese, tomato, and chorizo topping. The discussion over the meal ranged across many subjects beyond our reminiscences. Most interesting was probably hearing the story about how Mike’s dad finally came to England from Lithuania after the war.

We strolled back to the house where a foursome sat down with playing cards to play Canasta. The rest of us stayed out by the pool enjoying the warm evening.