A Peek into Living in Southern France

Many people I talk to about France have only visited Paris so my impressions are based on what they say and what I have heard. When I finally had the chance to visit Paris earlier, even for one day, those impressions have changed. Paris, being a bigger and livelier city, has all the workings of the big city life including being in their own world but to tie their behaviour with the rest of France would be a shame. I was happy to take a peek into how people live and act in the south of France when I visited Jenn, Brian and the kids for a week in sweet, beautiful Agde.

"Agde? Where is that?" People would ask. I would be one of those people if it weren't for my friends living there. It's a town located in the inlet of southern france and is right on the Mediterranean sea. The nearest big city is Montpellier but even some do not know where that is so I would resort to saying near Marseille. I took the TGV train from Karlsruhe to Agde with a change in Paris. The round trip cost me about 200€ with the trip back being in first class. I thought why not take first class if it's just 30€ more and to experience what first class travel on a train would be all about. I even decided to reserve the solo seat :)

I left Karlsruhe around 13:30 and arrived in Adge at 22:22. I took a taxi to Jenn's place. I used the best french I possibly could. The funny thing is that I kept thinking in German so when I did open my mouth, I sounded pretty much like an idiot trying to find french words to string together. I asked to go to the address I had written down. He had no clue where it was. I waited patiently as he told me to stand aside while another man stated where he would like to go and of course to take me first. I was thinking to myself, maybe there is another taxi and kept looking out for another one when he finally told me to hop in and typed in the address on his GPS. Before we left, a lady and her child came by telling where they would like to go. He said to give him about 15 minutes before coming back for them. "Was he the only taxi in town?" I wondered. I thought I would ask him and apparently he was the only taxi that night. As we headed off to my destination, we drove by bits and pieces of the town and man was it lovely at night. We drove by the famous River Hérault that Jenn posted pictures of on her blog and I felt this calmness as I was taking in all the sights that wandered by the window.

When I arrived, I was a bit lost. All the houses have gates as the front entrance and I could only guess that the doorbell that I saw in front of me belonged to the huge house behind the green gates. I rang it a few times with no answer. Then I started to wonder if this was the right house when I heard my name being called out in the dark. It was Brian but there was no sign of him. I looked everywhere. It was a few minutes before the owner of the house they lived in, Mike, came by and greeted me. Brian was hoping to avoid me ringing the bell so late at night but Mike was very nice. I met up with Jenn thereafter and we had a chat before heading off to bed. I had no intentions of running around and doing tourist things while here, I just want to be able to soak in what living in southern France was all about including daily routines to give me an idea of the lifestyle here. I love learning about how people live everyday and being with my Canadian comrads gave me more of an insight of how a foreigner would live amongst the locals. I was armed with enthusiasm to learn.

I woke up helping with breakfast and biking the kids to school. It was their last day before taking off for a week and a half because of Toussaint. The kids love being at school here. There was no hesitation when I asked them how they liked school - they LOVED it. They loved how the were able to learn french, have awesome food at the cafeteria for lunch, the 2 hour lunches, learning music, etc. Usually it's the parents or the children who love the new place but this was the exception. The whole family loved living here and didn't even want to return. That's how great this place was. There were extra bikes for guests to use which came in handy. I loved how people would say Bonjour and smiled as we biked by. They are just so relaxed and happy here. I met the kid's teachers and other parents and they too exhibited this quality. I can see why Jenn and family loved living here.

The autumn mornings were crisp but beautiful especially along side the river bank where you would spot fishermen out to catch some fish. We still had to wear touques and gloves as we biked during the week but in the afternoon, the sun would warm up the place that you wouldn't need them anymore. Agde is a quiet place with plenty of things to do. The centre of town is bustling with markets on certain days - Thursdays for the food market and Saturdays for the flea market. You will see people out drinking their cafes outside, people taking a stroll, the smell of fresh baked bakery - bagettes around some corner block. Jenn even bought a fresh one one day and put it in her basket only to have it break a third off the top when she hit a curve on the sidewalk on her bike. She's getting there as there is still so much to learn about the French culture. We had a good laugh about it.

The bike ride and walks by the river is so tranquil. Once in a while you'll see fishermen fixing up their boats which was interesting to watch. Children would wave if you say hi and wave to them. It's very welcoming. We took an afternoon trip to the coast, Le Grau d'Agde, where the lighthouses were. It was a 20 minute bike ride from where we were but the bike paths made it safe for us and the kids to ride there. It was nice to see the sandy beaches and I was surprised to see surfers catching the fantastic waves that were coming in. We saw one surfer paddling out to the ocean with his loyal lab swimming beside him. It was too far for the dog so he came back onto the shore, well, the pathway to the lighthouse. We had ice cream with us and he took one of  Edmond's ice cream, which he was happy to share with the dog. After finishing the ice cream, the dog proceeded to position himself to hump Edmond's head perhaps to say thanks and Jenn had to save him despite our uncontrollable laughter of what was happening. Hopefully Edmond will not be traumatised by this incident but it did make for a funny story to share on Facebook :)

On another occassion, we went to Cap d'Agde. This bike ride was more strenuous for me because I am so out of shape. I would always have to catch up to Jenn as she waited for me here and there along the way. The route to Cap d'Agde had many inclines and at one point, someone wrote Ouf! at the top of one incline which basically meant Phewwww! and that was exactly how I felt. It took about 40 minutes but it was worth it as we arrived at the marinas where all the yachts were parked. For the low season, it seemed quite busy. We admired the yachts before heading towards the centre where we shopped around at the little shops that were still open. There were sales everywhere as they tried to get rid of last season's inventory and to draw tourists such as ourselves to buy. Jenn found me this great France magnet as I collected magnets of countries I have visited - not the tacky kind. And we both bought herb grinders with herbes de Provence in them. Who knew that you could grind the combination of thyme, basil, lavender and the like. I always thought they were reserved for pepper and salt.

I had a fabulous time in Agde with my friends and am so happy they have found a home they can call home away from home. I had the pleasure of meeting the wonderful friends they have met when we had Brian's birthday party, picked up the kids at school, took in a french movie (Un monstre à Paris - which was great) and the play dates the children had over at the house. The day in the life with the Smeenks opened my eyes to how relaxed the French can be in southern France. Merci et à bientôt!