22 May - Day 34 Combaillaux

Special hello to Dorz and Adz :-)

If only you'd been here... I'm sure we could have broken the trampoline!

(doing some intergalactic improvisation)

Had a lovely, quiet morning chilling out and playing ping pong at the 5 star Combaillaux Retreat - gastronomical (and astronomical) centre of southern France. Then, rather than say the usual sad farewells, we decided to follow the kid's favourite motto from Pisa and "Be Stupid". Evidence below...

 We're only exceeding the tramp's weight limit by ~ 170 kg...

but we're scientists and educators so its perfectly safe

 Weeeeeee (I hate to think how much stress we were putting on this equipment!)

 But, of course, we are usually very serious folk

 ... and very deep thinkers

 ... with plenty of love to go around

but sometimes we run out of ideas and have to ask for help "What next, photographer?"

 "Oh, you want us to try and be normal? Ok, we'll give it a go..."

Its much easier to be normal without those strange blokes

21 May - Day 33 Combaillaux, St Guilhem-le-desert

Inge hard at work

Greg hard at work

Off to the gorgeous little village of St Guilhem-le-desert

Walking along the river

I spy a village

The thistle flower is the emblem village and most locals have one on their front door

 

Sheltering from the rain!!!! Lasted all of 5 minutes and the sun kept shining throughout

Of course, Seamus needed some gelato to keep going

Throughout the village there are lots of lovely old fountains, many with potable water

Strolling through main street

Soooo pretty

Was very tempted to get one of these solar powered flying butterflies

 Castle ruins - at the top and half way down

 

The most beautiful steps and terrace I saw

Castle ruins above town centre buildings

Main square

Very impressive alter in the church off main square

...and incredible church organ!

Inside the church grounds

Inge chilling out in the church window

No, they're not in the boys' loo... they are appreciating the artwork

Stone tile in church foyer

Lovely cliffs above the town

Inge in her cool new car

The 3 bridges further down the river

... where we went for a swim (the water here was much warmer than the Mediterranean)

20 May - Day 32 Montpellier, Combaillaux

Inge and Jef thought we'd come to the south of France to see them but... we really came for this!

This is one of the coolest cities in the galaxy - the cosmic groove is very strong (and the shop windows and signage is very funky)

I want one of those outfits!

Groovy chicks

Groovy dude

We found some very cool games to play outside a sensational games shop (pity all the instructions were in French)

We felt right at home, particularly after we found the 3 budgies

Look closely, only the window/door bottom left is real - the rest is a mural on a bare wall

I hope that arm is getting tired (see what is holding the lantern)

The cutest little motorbike

We had a lovely lunch under the umbrellas in this lovely square

Beautiful door

They have very cool trams. There are 2 lines: 1. blue birds...

... and 2. orange flowers

Gorgeous fountain in the main square

Gorgeous people in the main square

Very cool unicorn fountain (the beer bottle on his horn is a sweet touch... prob put there by one of the medical students studying in the building behind)

Pretty impressive Med School

Entering Faculty of Medicine

Looking sideways from the front door

Courtyard of Med School

This guy has clearly worked at the Med School a looong time

"Those damn pigeons make me want to cry!"

The stunning tiled roof of the Med School from the Rotunda/Aquaduct (see below)

Nice aquaduct, hey?!

Speccie gate to stop drunk med students from walking on the Aquaduct

Amazing rotunda

... above a large pond (see Arch in the distance)

Statue in the park between Rotunda and Arch

Cheeky cherub and lion at entrance to park between Rotunda and Arch

Fine arch

... from the other side looking back to statue and Rotunda

The centre of Justice

Headless coloured women and flags as we head for the tram home

Time for the boys to fire up the bbq for dinner

"C'mon Greg. Go boy!"

The lovely Myrthe

The giggle-pot Alex

Myrthe and Seamus teaming up to see if they tear Alex in two

There were many games of table tennis played

Inge, Geert, Myrthe and Alex's lovely house in Combaillaux (a small village just outside Montpelier)

The view from the lovely house

Ok, perhaps we drank a bit too much (Elena got revenge on the trip photographer!)