I'm going to start with just a written account of what has gone on for the past couple of days and will try to post some photos and stuff after this....I'm finally in a hotel with a pretty good wireless internet service (and free - yeah!) and may be able to actually post some photos....but first things first. We are currently in Nimes, a city which is about 75 km from the border with Spain. However, last night was our last night in Collioure, and boy what a night it was. This beautiful coastal town, which was bathed in sunshine on our first day, was pouring down rain all day yesterday. Nevertheless, we managed to get in the car and drive to some of the nearby towns along the coast and check them out between rain showers. It didn't help that yesterday was May 1st, which in Europe is a kind of Labor Day, and most of the businesses and markets are closed. After a meal in an outdoor restaurant where we were covered from the pouring rain (the poor waiters were hearty souls carrying out the food to our table, there being no indoor seating in this establishment) we decided to have a rest in our hotel while we wait for the "big match" to come on TV. The big match was the UEFA Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Chelsea which the Gaffer and I have been anticipating watching for quite a while. This cup semifinal is for the "European Cup", so there may or may not have been a French interest in the match, despite the fact that it was between two English clubs. Anyway, we made our way to a cafe in town which the day before had advertised the game on a big screen TV. The cafe/bar looked pretty lively, and we spent some time chatting with the owner, who happened to have atteneded the same Barcelona match which we had the day prior. When we got to this cafe, walking for about 15 minutes in pouring rain down the road from our hotel, we were very dissapointed to find that the place was closed! It seems that the rain kept the tourists crowd away, so I suppose the owner decided to close up shop. Anyway, as we were deciding what we were going to do, we passed by a bar not far away, and saw in the corner television which was not turned on. So we decided to go in and ask the bartender if it would be O.K. to watch the match just starting. Thankfully, he gladly turned on the TV and we sat down to watch the match with a couple of beers. At first, none of the regular patrons seemed too interested in the match, but within 15 minutes, several Irish people and a couple of Americans came in and started to watch the match. Then more of the regulars started to get interested. Everyone seemed to be rooting for Liverpool (as we were), and when Liverpool scored the first goal, the crowd in the bar gave a great cheer. There was even a very drunk guy at the bar who spontaneously broke out a trumpet, and started blasting away at the bar to the delight of everyone. More and more locals got interested in the match and the noise and excitement got greater and greater. At a couple of points, this very drunk middle aged women came up to the Gaffer and me and wanted to know who we were rooting for, and what the score was. She then began dancing in front of Gaffer, grabbed his head and kissed him on the cheek! The Gaffer took it all in good stride, and was enjoying himself immensely. From time to time, another drunk Frenchman, dressed in jeans with no shirt, but wearing a red apron, would stagger over to the TV and mockingly threaten to turn the TV off, elliciting cries of "Piss off, will you!" from the Irish viewers in front of us. The game ended in penalty kicks and Liverpool won the match, to great cheers at the end. It's experiences like this that make travelling great. Gaffer and I, after the game, made our way back up the hill to our hotel, laughing at what a bizarre evening it ended up being.....
Today, we're in Nimes. I'll write more tomorrow. For now, I want to try to get some photos up to show you what things are like....
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