The Dancing Fountains in Beziers

After a hectic summer, I have been playing catch up with work, trying to earn more money since I'm not able to teach university classes. Then recently, I learned that a new law in China would prevent teachers from outside China teaching students there. VIPKid is still offering classes to parents who bought packages, but the country suddenly called a moratorium to teaching for a week at the end of summer. I was free from my 12-3 teaching hours for nearly a week. I wasted no time in planning an outing, this time to Beziers. 

The lights and water were beautiful, like fireworks on the ground. 

Earl and I have traveled to Beziers before. Here's a link to a previous post when we considered moving there in 2015 as we visited towns and cities on our reconnaissance mission. But I was hesitant because the Catholic church and rioters killed 20,000 Cathars in Beziers during a crusade in 1209, known as the Albigensian Crusade. It just seemed like bad karma to move there. Bezier is beautiful though with a large swathe of park running through the middle of downtown and buildings in the Haussmann-style of Paris.

A Facebook post for people who live in Languedoc, the former name of our region of France, alerted me to a light and music show in Beziers. The musical fountain occurs at 10 p.m., so we needed to stay overnight. We convinced some friends to come along and traveled the two hours. First, a stop at the nearby beach Valras Plage. We had lunch in the square that faces the beach then spent some time in the cold Mediterranean (I don't think it ever warmed up this year) before dozing on the sand.   

The beach was not very crowded just two days before La Rentree, the day the French return to work and school 

The park in Bezier was decorated with all kinds of colorful creatures.

Us at the restaurant Pica-Pica

Strange lay out of the deviled eggs with caviar and lobster included

At 10 p.m., the music started. The fountains and lights had been going for a while. I think just the lights and water spurts were magical. 

I'm not sure if the music added anything to it. Some of the songs included YMCA, Laissez-moi Danser, and Formidable. 

Definitely worth watching.

Some of the illuminations in the park

The next morning, we had breakfast and wandered around the park, posing for a selfie in front of this Titan fountain. 

With Sue and Steve

This theater has topiary chess pieces in front of it. 

We stopped in Narbonne on the way home and had lunch at a restaurant along the Canal du Midi. 

The cathedral in Narbonne and an amazing sky. 

Lovely relaxing days without any teaching.

So Many Towns to Love

It's an embarrassment of riches for us as we travel from beautiful town to beautiful town. How will we possibly choose?
Today, we traveled to Beziers. I didn't expect to like it. It's a bit bigger than a city I planned on moving to, but holy mackerel, I fell for it.
We parked in a parking garage and when we emerged into the town square, really more like a swatch of park that runs the length of most of the downtown, it was filled with veterans and town dignitaries all walking behind a military band. We followed along for awhile.

Meandering through the town filled with traditional French architecture, we took pictures of roof tops before stopping along the parkway for a coffee.

Earl noted that it's a good town to grow old in because in addition to park benches along the way, it had some glider swings at the coffee shop.
The town has a Galeries Lafayette, which is a French department store, and right next door a Casino grocery store. We grabbed some fruit and some chocolate for dinner since Monday is a holiday and we didn't want to be caught without food.  
We went in search of the cathedral which is made from black lava rock, but we never actually made it there. We came out on such a lovely square

 and since the clock on top of the bell tower had already struck 1, we decided to sit down for lunch.
The best meal I've eaten in France this trip -- pillows of pastry envelooping chicken, mushrooms and em-mental cheese. Then came the pork and fries that tasted like fair fries with just a hint of sweetness to them and slightly limp.

After walking through town, enamored of every wrought iron balcony painted a leaf green or periwinkle blue, we made our way back to the car and drove down to the beach, about 25 kilometers away.

So much to consider, but this location seems nearly ideal.

Dreaming of France -- The Other South of France

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
There's something exhilarating about the purchase of the airline tickets to France and the confirmation of hotel reservations.
It puts a zip in my step as I imagine that day in May when I'll be learning abut the southwestern region of France, the area where I hope to move during 2017.
The area we are thinking about stretches along the Mediterranean, from Marseille over to the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain. It has been called Languedoc- Roussillon, but the new name of the region is l'Occitanie.

Sete is a town along the Mediterranean that really is just a spit of land between the Mediterranean and another large body of water. Love these colorful boats.

 Here's a photo of the fortifications at Beziers, another city near the Mediterranean. It looks so similar to Avignon with the pale stone fortress.

The Canal du Midi also runs through region, passing near Carcassone. I couldn't find a good photo of Carcasson, so I'll just have to take one myself when we're over there.

And who knows, we might end up buying a house that has a view of the Pyrenees. It may be hard to choose between the sea and the mountains.
Hopefully, we'll love this region as much as we enjoy Provence, because the prices for houses in this area are much less expensive than in Provence.
The photos included here come from Pixabay, which shares pictures free.