Adventures in Banking

Adventures in Banking
(By Rick)

This is a quick summary, without the actual twists and turns, of our experience getting bank accounts in France as Americans. Being Americans makes this harder because of additional reporting requirements imposed by the US government, even if you are a double national as I am. Most banks don't think it's worth the extra work to cater to American customers, but we found that Crédit Agricole would take us on. I'll just summarize that process by saying this: if you're establishing your account from abroad or don't speak any French yet, then CA's Key Finance division may be worth a look. If neither of these constraints applies, you'd probably find it much easier walking into your local branch with your documents in hand. Your documents will include things like proof of ID (passport), birth and marriage documents, tax ID number, proof of French address (in the region connected with the branch), proof of income, and 3 most recent months of bank statements. There is the Catch-22 situation here in France that renting or buying a place to live requires a local bank account, and getting a bank account requires a local address. We got around this by arranging a one-month rental in advance over AirBnB. We got our very helpful landlord to attest that we lived there, and that worked for our proof of address. Once we had our account, we rented a long-term place. After moving in, I walked into our local branch (with ID) and moved the account to that branch. One bank agent even spoke a bit of English to smooth over gaps in my banking vocabulary. As part of the change, we also had to submit proof of our new address to the bank and to the US and French tax authorities.

The first type of account you get is a compte courant, or "current account". We'd call this a checking account in the US, but agents at my bank actually discouraged the use of checks, because they're considered old-fashioned. Still, best to ask for them, since most medical professionals don't accept cards and do expect payment on site (French national health insurance sends reimbursements to your account by transfer). They're also free. There is a fee for a debit card (ours is 39€/year), and there's an account maintenance fee (ours is 2,10€/month). The latter includes insurance against fraudulent use of your card. You can get a simple ATM card for less, but unless your US card has chip-and-PIN capability, you'll want a debit or credit card that has that feature. A number of automated payment sites won't accept US-style chip-and-signature cards or card swiping (for example: buying train tickets, paying for postage, and most embarrassingly, paying tolls on the autoroutes). Our debit card came enabled for "contact-free" (RFID) transactions, which are for those who think putting a card into a machine and tapping in a code is too much work. Call me a luddite, but RFID looks like a way to get your information hacked more easily, so I asked them to disable it; no problem.

Checking accounts in France don't pay any interest. We are not in a hurry to transfer our savings from the States, but when we had enough here for about a year or so, my bank offered to explain savings account options. There are two types of savings accounts: taxable and tax-free. The difference in interest rates between them is about the same as the tax you would pay to France on the taxable account, and the tax-free accounts would still be taxed by the US, so ordinarily, I would have gone with a taxable account. BUT! Here again, there was a catch: taxable accounts require a tax ID number, and we don't have one yet. Taxes in France are paid on the previous year, and, well, the previous year we didn't live in France or have any French income, just like every year before that. So no tax ID. Ok, ok, I'll take the tax-free Livret A. The Livret A pays 0,75% interest per year at present, to go up to 0,85% next year. That's not quite as good as our Credit Union in the US, but the money will be handy and already in Euros. The Livret A is limited to 22.000€ per person (no joint accounts), but we're not likely to touch that limit any time soon. Under French law, if your spouse dies, you inherit his/her Livret A automatically and tax-free, but there is a month's delay. We decided to split our "savings money" into two Livret A's: one for each, just in case. There was another tax-free savings option that paid 1%, but if you took the money out before 2 years, it would be retroactively reduced to 0,5%, so not worth it for us.

French Driver's License

French Driver's License

~~~
Spoiler alert: My appointment was yesterday - skipping to the punch line, I got my license!
~~~

Somewhere in the flurry of things to do for getting settled in France, I knew we had to deal with getting a French driver's license.

Since we were in New Mexico at the time, and it is not one of the few states that has an exchange agreement with France, we had a choice: (1) don't drive in France (2) spend about $1000 and 6-8 months taking a driving course and then the tests (which most people do not pass the first time), or (3) find a way to get a license from one of the "friendly" states.

Well, obviously, #1 is out of the question. I can't see suddenly never driving again when I am fully capable. #2 seems like a crazy thing to do unless there is no other option. So, option #3 - we were essentially homeless for several months anyway, spending time with various family members before lift-off; we took advantage of that fact by changing addresses! We lived with family, and exchanged our licenses.

Once in France, someone official had said that I had to wait 6 months before exchanging licenses, and it had to be done within my first year here. That took some pressure off at first, of course, and it was very much needed! But I had much more anxiety later!

August rolled around, and it was time to start the process. I found the website with the instructions and list of documents required. I heard many conflicting first-person stories about what documents were really needed, and whether any or all had to be officially translated. Then we tried to get appointments... Oh, what a crazy world! We heard all sorts of horror stories and tricks to use. We checked every Monday morning for new openings. After several weeks of no luck, we saw one! But it was pretty clear that someone had cancelled because of a transportation strike - we couldn't take a chance either. Finally, we tried Sunday night at midnight! And we got our appointments! By 12:30 a.m., only a few slots were open on Thursday and Friday, 3 weeks out, at the end of October.

Well, so we had some time to breathe. Fortunately, we double-checked the requirements on the official website. Yes, they had changed - as of early September, I needed to provide more documents, and my license definitely had to be officially translated. I asked around, and those who have gone before have been told they need *everything* translated! Well, given the high cost, I decided to use the official list and see what they say... The good news about the rule-change is that Rick doesn't need an appointment; he can simply mail his request (actually, he has no choice, but this is still better). We also decided to see how my appointment goes before he sends his in. Oddly enough, there is now nothing about waiting before requesting an exchange - we probably could have done it earlier.

My expectations for late October were low. I went in thinking: If I get a great big nod and leave with my new non-probationary license, I will be ecstatic. More likely, they will want more documents (I'm taking everything I have), more translations (I'll have to make another appointment, 3-4 weeks later), and at the end, I'll probably have a probationary** license. None of those are the end of the world, but each possibility has it's necessary adjustment.

Still, it never hurts to be prepared. Rick helped me put together and practice a "role-play" - a possible dialogue in French, covering all the objections we could foresee, and how to handle them.

Getting there: I tried out the bus (#102, 1 hour from Sète, meandering through 4 towns, to the edge of Montpellier), followed by the tram and a walk to the préfecture in Montpellier. This experiment meant leaving before 10 a.m. for my 2:15 appointment. I took the train back, and will probably not use the bus again :-\ I did have plenty of time to look around and so knew exactly where to go when the time came. This was fortunate, because I'd only ever seen the front of the préfecture before, and so didn't know that the entrance is around the side (the "front" looked locked!)

Préfecture "Front"

Préfecture Entrance

The appointment: I killed some time, then went to the seats by the one window dedicated to license exchanges. The person ahead of me left about 5 minutes late, I went to the window, and we started. It was very straightforward; she asked for the various items, and when the time was right, I asked for her advice about what to fill in for the date when I first got my license. I explained that I had been driving for nearly 40 years, but that the states do not keep those records that long. But, I did have an older license that I got more than 3 years ago. Well, happy days! She asked for a copy, I showed her the "date of deliverance," she noted it, and added it to my pile. It didn't matter that it was from a non-exchange state and wasn't translated. I still couldn't see what date she put on my form (I'm pretty sure she left it blank), but at the end, I asked if my license was "probatoire," and she said "pas du tout !" That is to say, my license is absolutely not probationary :-)

The other wrinkle that I expected also came up. My list from the official website (I fortunately had a copy with me) specifically asked for a translation of my current license. It also asked for an official statement (with no mention of translation) of my current status (that is, my driving record showing that I still had the right to drive; that it hadn't been revoked). But, of course, this statement is in English. So, when she asked if I had a translation of my record, I said "er, no, the list (pointing to the spot) didn't ask for that." Oh, la la! (she didn't actually say that, but she sort of sighed). Then, she showed me her list, that had the same entry, but with a note requiring a translation. I didn't even get to use my argument; she simply added a note to her list (which became part of my dossier), and said that if there was a problem, someone would call me about it.

Everything else was smooth sailing! I'm glad I had copies of my ID and visa, although, I think she would have made a copy if I had only had the originals (as stated on my list LOL). She asked if I was married, but didn't ask for a marriage certificate. I asked if both names would appear on my license, and she said yes. She printed out a temporary license, added my photo, signed and stamped it, and we were done! Since the temporary license is good for 4 months (and we had added another 5 minutes to the lag in her appointments), I didn't ask how long the wait would be for the actual license...

Et, merci, Madame, pour votre conseil ! Bonne journée, au revoir !

~~~
costs:
New USA license - $45
USA driving record - $21
Official translation*** driver's license - 42€
Train, bus, and tram tickets - 9€
New French license - 0€

Plus miscellaneous costs of keeping my dossier up to date: periodic birth and marriage certificates, paper, ink, stamps

~~~
** In France, new drivers get a probationary license. Information about what this means is pretty scarce - I haven't found a single place where it's all laid out. What I have found: you get 6 points instead of 12 (various traffic violations remove points, and you can't drive without points), you have to drive something like 10 kph under the speed limit, you have a big "A" sticker on your car, and your legal limit for blood alcohol is miniscule.
I also assume that costs for insurance and car rentals are significantly higher.

*** I used AlphaTrad

Not French Enough

Not French Enough

I'm reading "The Bonjour Effect,"* and I'm at the point in the book where the authors talk about French pessimism. They quote Beaumarchais, Rousseau and Camus, all of whom expound on the idea of French pessimism: "I would rather fear without reason than expose myself carelessly," man was "born free and everywhere is in chains," and "you will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life."

Oh, kill me now.

Well... What can I say, I'm an optimist. But, I'm also pragmatic. So, pragmatically, I should embrace this pessimism? Nope, I'm just not French enough. Yet.

Obviously, the DELF threw a little fear my way, so there's some hope. (Drat! No! Just say no to hope!)

~~~~
* Recommended by Ron, so thanks! You've ruined my life. See? I'm working on it.

Tutoyons !

Tutoyons ! It's a southern thing!**

French has a "formal you" (vous) and an "informal you" (tu). Every rulebook says that the French only use tu with their families and their one or two very best, life-long friends. It can be insulting to use the wrong form, and stories abound about people doing verbal gymnastics to avoid the choice and possibly giving offence. At some point, we're told, someone we've become close to will ask to use the informal tu - "nous tutoyons ?" or even "Tutoyons !"

Somewhat relevant sign from the Internet

So, I was very surprised when both on my hikes and at my "welcome" club events, everyone used tu! Even with me! Even before knowing my name! Well, no, I wasn't insulted, but very curious. And a tiny bit anxious that I was insulting them by still using vous... :-\

I was just on the verge of asking my new best friends if this was particular to Sète, when I also noticed that my Montpellier hostess tu'd me as well! So, I asked her, using my best I-don't-mean-to-offend English, is tu'ing a southern thing? Yes, it is!** She explained that the closer you are to Paris, the more rigid (she said cold) communication rules are. "Tu" is just faster and easier. She uses it with all her colleagues at work (nurses, doctors, receptionists, etc). Staff members and the boss use vous, and all staff use vous with patients and clients. But tu/vous use changes under different circumstances. She felt that using vous with patients imparted a sense of confidence, and so made them less anxious. In fact, she was shocked when a friend came to the hospital as a patient, and she heard her colleagues tu'ing him (even though at home they would tu, as a patient, they should vous).

She of course knew that English*** doesn't have different "you" forms, but she still wondered if, when speaking to others, did I think in terms of formal or informal "you." My immediate response was no, because there's no such animal. But certainly we do have more and less formal situations, so...

~~~
The verb tutoyer = to speak in the "informal you," and "Tutoyons !" is "Let's use tu!"
And no, it's not automatic for me to use tu instead of vous when someone I'm talking to uses tu. I have some practicing to do...

~~~ Updated ~~~

** Nope, not just in the South! I took an informal poll (very informal), and people from all over France (at least as far as I could tell; possibly not in the East, possibly not in Paris) follow similar "rules" - when in doubt, use vous; use tu with colleagues, same age groups, neighbors, club members; use vous with authority figures and other situations where showing respect is important (certainly where it's more than being friendly).
Interestingly, more than one person was told that is was a southern thing (by a Southerner!).

*** American English, that is - I can't count any "thee" or "thou" you might encounter in Yorkshire (thank you, Mr. Smith), or the King James bible, or in a Quaker community...

The DELF

The DELF is an official test of your level of capability in the French language. If you pass, it is good for a lifetime (most or all others expire after a few years). This "diploma" is particularly handy for things like long-term French residency and citizenship.

I just finished my exams...

~~~ Registering ~~~
Just trying to get registered for the DELF had its ups and downs. First, from all my classes outside of France, I had seen that the official test centers were always at the Alliance française. In France, this is not the case! So, a relatively quick search showed that GRETA in Montpellier had several exam dates coming up. The website was very definitive in saying that the registration deadline must be observed - sign up by then, or you miss out! BUT! Nowhere did it actually tell you what those dates were!* So, I picked the October 19 test date, wired the money, and mailed my filled-out form on August 16 - two months should be plenty of time, right?

Well, a month later, I hadn't heard anything. So I called, hoping to find out what happened - did I miss the deadline after all? Did they receive my form? Well, I'm embarrassed to say that I had forgotten to include a copy of my ID :-\ The good news is that (1) they understood me (2) they had my form (3) they sent an email that said to send my ID copy ASAP. As soon as I saw that, I faxed my passport, and sent a reply asking for them to let me know that my ID was received. LOL - that's soooo American... A week later, I called back - yes, they had my ID, and if everything else was there, then I would be registered. Whew! But, I still had some anxiety - what if...

Then, September 26, I got an email - good news this time! I was registered! I confirmed my information and saw that my test was split over two days - my individual part of the test, oral expression, was October 18, and the rest was October 19. A few days later, a hardcopy came in the mail.

* (Update) It turned out that they just weren't quite ready for the new school year when I looked for this information. Some time later, they updated the link to the calendar, and the new PDF showed all the registration (and results) dates :-\  I was just a few days too early...

~~~ Getting ready ~~~
Well, aside from the classes I had already had, I was tempted to take a class specifically to prep for the DELF. But the nearest one was in Montpellier, and it was every day for a month. So, I got a workbook, and started studying - this was actually very hard for me; I am much more motivated in a classroom situation. But (or perhaps I should say "and") I had 3 months to get through it. One other very fortuitous thing happened - on my first hike with my club, I mentioned that I had this test coming up, and a perfectly lovely woman, whom I had just met that day, offered to help me! She came to our apartment several times and we worked through the section on oral expression! She not only corrected my French, but also gave me more elegant options, and a lot more confidence!

~~~ Getting there ~~~
So, the test center is quite a trip! To get there, I had to take a bus, then train, then tram, and finally, walk. Schedules don't align, and public transportation is often late, so each leg had to have a cushion. Thinking to reduce stress, I bought my train tickets for both days well in advance. What a mistake! Less than a week before my test, the powers that be announced a strike =-O I would be able to get there on Wednesday, but I risked missing Thursday's test entirely! A quick change of plan - I ended up getting an AirBnB room for Wednesday and Thursday, and coming home after the strike. Basically, that just left the hard part - finding the right building! I ended up walking halfway around the giant block, and asking for directions twice before I found the test center. I am very glad I had the time to do some reconnaissance...

~~~ The Test! ~~~
My convocation said to be at the testing center half an hour before the start in order to sign in. It turned out that this didn't really apply to the individual test. I checked, and was told to wait until just before my test time - well, then the test mistress called my name, and in I went! This rule certainly applied to the group test.

The procedure for both days were the same: turn off your phone, give it, your convocation, and ID to the test mistress, and place all other belongings against the wall. She checks your ID. You take just your pen (and optional pencils), and find your assigned table (I didn't notice at first that they were assigned; I looked down at the table I had picked, and saw someone else's name). You get a piece of scratch paper and the test - the top sheet has instructions and you fill in your name and registration number from your convocation. Your written answers have to be in black pen. I was a little surprised by this; I thought surely we could use pencil, at least for the written expression! The test mistress warned us several times that even a suspicion of cheating would bar you from taking any DELF exam for 5 years - make sure to keep your eyes firmly in front, on your own test. We were also warned that we couldn't leave until we were done (well, you could, but then you couldn't come back in). When you finished, you turned in your test and the scratch paper, and collected your things. In the group test, we got a 15 minute warning before time was up.

The tests all went exactly as the book described. For oral expression, you choose one from two randomly selected topics, spend 10 minutes preparing, and then interact with your testers for 15 minutes on this and two other topics. For the group test, at 10:00 on the dot, the test mistress started the tape player (it was plenty loud, unlike exercises in many of my classes), and we opened our tests. The tape had timed pauses (just like my practice test), so we had exactly that much time to read the questions and to write our answers. After that (oral comprehension), we went on to written comprehension, then written expression. The nice thing about this group portion of the test is that all three tests were in the same packet - if you finished one part early, you could go right on to the next. If you finished the entire thing before the  hour and 45 minutes allotted, you could leave early. Or, do what I did, which was to re-check my entire test. You don't get a choice of topic for the written expression (Somehow, I had expected a choice between two). I don't know if everyone had the same topic or not - I certainly wasn't going to peek to find out!

A few people left early, but most of us (there were about 25) stayed till the bitter end. One fellow asked when we would know our results (Another thing my American mind was surprised that they didn't automatically tell us) - it will take about 3 weeks... I got back to my temporary digs, and had a nice glass of wine with my lunch :-) My post-test jitters lasted well into the next day - I rehashed everything, counting up in my head all the obvious-after-the-fact mistakes I had made, and knowing there were plenty more besides.

~~~ The Results ~~~
I'm writing this before I know my results. There is a very real chance that I will not pass (this time). I have always had a hard time knowing just how the French grade tests; something that is important to me often seems to be of no account, and vice-versa.

It's easy enough to say amongst friends that (1) I am pushing it a bit to test at this level, (2) I can always take it again, (3) I don't really have to have this diploma; I can handle the language aspect of renewing my residency via a lower-level test at the time, and after the age of 60, you don't have to prove any particular level of French for residency.

On the other hand, I want to pass!

In fact, I'm hesitant to post this as is; should I wait for my results? If I don't pass, will I really want to post it at all? Bleh!

I guess I'm pushing the button...

~~~~ UPDATE ~~~~
I PASSED!!! 
http://slowtravelin.blogspot.fr/2017/11/delf-results.html

The Welcoming Party!

Our "Welcome to Sète" continued last night with a party! Unbelievable, but yes, there were 360 of us new Sétois! It all started* at 7 pm at the Théâtre de la Mer - we all shuffled in, had our names checked off (or added, in our case ;-) ), and then... Everyone (I mean everyone!) looked at the tables scattered around the area, and thought (yes, I'm a mind reader, so I know this is true), "hmm, I really want a glass of that wine, but I wonder if we're supposed to wait?"

Finally, I said to myself, "I'll offer to get someone else a glass, and then see what happens" - well, of course you know! Not two seconds after I poured a glass, half a dozen people swarmed the table and poured for themselves too! (Yes, I smiled)

Well, besides drinks, this is the lovely "brasucade-sardinade" that awaited us!

Yes, it's a giant barbecue! "Brasucade" is a term specific to our region, and comes from the occitan language - it refers to either the wood fire that you grill things over, or the party with that theme :-) . A "sardinade" is when you grill sardines!

Well, while we waited for the fire to burn down to cooking coals, we listened to music and ate paté. And, actually started to meet people!

Everyone watched the first several batches of mussels cooking - the scent was unbelievably yummy!

After many, many cycles of mussels, they started grilling the sardines - and I finally saw first hand how to eat these tiny fish! (They weren't gutted, which surprised the heck out of me) You simply put part of in your mouth, and scrape off the meat with your teeth - any bones hard enough stay with the fish; the rest, you just eat! The "insides" are cooked down to nothing - they're either left behind with the head and spine, or eaten un-noticed...

We slowed down our mad scramble for grilled goodies, then came the cheese! Our group had a great table, and an in with the grillers - it was funny to notice that our little corner was quite well stocked... Even when the dessert came, we had *all* the options (and still plenty of wine).

Eventually, things wound down, and the tablecloths were magically rolled up - it was time to go. We traded contact info with our new neighbors, and headed out for our long walk home.

After a full night of standing (6:30-10:30), followed by 40 minutes of walking, I was simply exhausted all day today! But really very happy :-)

~~~
* actually, it started much earlier, as Sunday buses are infrequent - we left our apartment a smidgeon after 6...

Notre Accueil Officiel

(une fois de plus, en français - la version anglais est ici)

Comme plusieurs villes en France, Sète a un évènement d'accueil officiel pour ses nouveaux résidents. Tandis que les grandes villes les ont plus fréquents, à Sète, c'est juste pendant un weekend par an.

Hier, nous nous sommes rencontrés à l'office de tourisme pour faire un joli tour autour de la ville - il y avait près de 100 d'entre nous, et ça c'était seulement la moitié des nouveaux résidents ! Aujourd'hui, la deuxième moitié fait leur tour. Ça me paraît un peu bizarre, qu'une ville d'environ 45 mille a accueilli 200 nouveaux résidents dans juste un an !

Alors, notre tour... nous avons registré à 13:30, et à 14:00, deux grands bus sont arrivés, et nous sommes montés dedans.

Sète canal

Après une très courte distance, nous nous sommes arrêtés au phare. C'est apparemment un lieu populaire pour prendre les photos - nous avons pris notre photo de groupe au panneau #Sète, et un couple était en train de prendre leurs photos de mariage. Derrière le phare, on peut voir deux croisières gigantesques.

Phare avec 2 deux croisières

Notre prochain arrêt a été au Théâtre de la Mer, où nous avions vu plusieurs concerts cet été. Ça c'est la vue des planches, où nous n'avions pas pu aller.

Théâtre de la Mer

Puis, nous sommes passés devant la Corniche, le long des plages, et finalement, nous sommes arrivés au grand complexe sportif, avec plusieurs piscines couvertes et salles de gym. Bien qu'il soit très près de chez nous, et que le bus passe devant, nous n'avions pas remarqué que c'était un complexe ouvert à tous (ou même ce qu'il était) !

Piscine Fonquerne

Ensuite, en traversant vers le centre-ville, nous sommes montés au Musée Paul Valéry. Nous avions déjà visité l'intérieur, mais nous n'avions pas vu le jardin.

Jardin Paul Valéry

Puis, nous sommes montés de plus en plus !  À la croix et le point de vue du Mont Saint-Clair

Mont Saint-Clair

Nous avons traversé encore vers les plages, et nous sommes arrivés à l'Espace Brassens. Après cet arrêt sans photos, nous avons continué au Théâtre Molière. J'ai été très heureuse de le voir, parce que nous nous étions inscrits à une visite guidée quelques semaines précédentes, mais elle a été annulée. J'adore cette architecture...

Théâtre Molière

 L' intérieur aussi

Dans la grande salle

Regardez la grande place pour les jambes ! Nous aurons plusieurs concerts ici, et maintenant je suis certaine que nous serons à l'aise :-)

Vue de la scène

Notre prochain arrêt a semblé très loin de la ville - nous sommes entrés dans le secteur du port, qui est très important pour l'économie de la ville. Théoriquement parlant, ça n'était pas un arrêt, étant donné que c'était une zone à accès réservé, mais nous avons traversé beaucoup de secteurs que la plupart des gens ne peut jamais voir. Voici quelques-unes des nombreuses << girafes >> qui sont nécessaires au grand port.

Girafes

Voici l'autre côté d'une croisière que nous avions vu du phare, avec le bus numéro 2 devant.

Croisière au port

Notre dernier arrêt a été à 18h ( donc un très long tour ! ), à l'Hôtel de Ville. Nous avons eu un très agréable apéro, qui a inclus un discours (mais, sans le maire aujourd'hui) et beaucoup de conversations avec les élus et des autres nouveaux Sétois. Tout le monde a reçu un paquet d'information et des coupons pour les lieux visités. :-)

Mayor's Office reception

Demain, nous allons nous rassembler encore pour dîner au Théâtre de la Mer !

Our Official Welcome!

Like many towns in France, Sète has an official welcome event for its new residents. While larger towns have these more often, in Sète, it's just the one weekend per year.

Yesterday, we met at the tourist office for a nice bus tour around town - there were nearly 100 of us, and that was just the half touring the first day! Today, the second half get their tour. This is a bit mind boggling to me, to think that a town of not quite 45 thousand welcomed 200 new residents just in one year!

So, our tour... we signed in at 1:30, and at 2:00, two large buses pulled up, and we boarded.

Sète canal

A very short ride later, we stopped at the phare. It's apparently a popular place for pictures - we got our group photo at the #Sète sign, and a couple were having their wedding shots taken. Behind the lighthouse, you can see two giant cruise ships.

Phare with 2 cruise ships

Our next stop was at the Théâtre de la Mer, where we had seen several concerts this Summer. This is the view from the stage area, where we couldn't go before.

Théâtre de la Mer

From there, we went past the Corniche, down along the beaches, and back to a giant indoor swimming pool and gym complex. Even though this is very near us, and the bus goes right past it, we hadn't noticed that is was a complex open to the public (or even what it was!).

Fonquerne Swimming Pool

Next, we crossed back towards centre-ville, but up the mountain a bit, to the Paul Valéry Museum. While we'd been inside before, we hadn't seen the garden.

Paul Valéry garden

Then, we went up, up, up! To the cross and lookout point of Mont Saint-Clair

Mont Saint-Clair

We then crossed back down towards the beaches, but turned instead to the Espace Brassens. After this pictureless stop, we went on to the Théâtre Molière. I was quite happy to see this, as we had signed up for a tour earlier in the year, but it had been cancelled. I love this architecture...

Théâtre Molière

 Inside too

In the main hall

Look at all this legroom! We have a few concerts here coming up, and now I'm certain that we'll be comfortable :-)

View from the stage

Our next stop seemed very far away - we entered the port area, which is extremely important for the town's economy. Technically, this wasn't a stop, as it was a restricted area, but we drove around a lot of sections that most people don't get to see. Here are just a few of the many "giraffes" necessary to a large port.

Giraffes

Here's the other side of one of those cruise ships we saw earlier, with bus #2 in front.

Cruise ship in port

Our last stop was at 6:00 (so a looong tour!), at the Hôtel de Ville (mayor's office). We had a very pleasant apéro, including a speech (but no mayor for us today) and plenty of conversations with elected officials and other new Sétois. We all also got a packet of information and coupons to many of the places we visited :-)

Mayor's Office reception

Tomorrow, we'll all get together again for a dinner at the Théâtre de la Mer!

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Something interesting happened in my quest to sign up for this; there's a lesson or two in it. When we first arrived, we went to the mayor's office to introduce ourselves, and they said to email our info to them to find out about events and law changes (we did). Then, when we heard about this welcome event, we sent another email (to the address indicated) to sign up. Well, a month and a half later, we hadn't heard back. I went in, and asked what happened? Well, they didn't have an answer, just that something obviously went wrong. When they asked for our info again, I thought it odd, but wrote it for them. Then they said it was probably too late (this was in fact, the day before, so...). I was pretty much resigned to missing out, but pushed back just a little (and really, this was just the tiniest push). I said "but, we signed up the first of September..." Well, they said they would look into it, and someone would call. Amazingly, they did! And, they registered us for both the tour and the dinner!

Gallo-Roman Villa Tour in Loupian

Earlier this week, we toured the ruins of a Gallo-Roman Villa in Loupian (yes, in France. In fact, very near us!). It's main attraction are the unique mosaics that are influenced by both Aquitaine and Syria.

The highest quality mosaics use the smallest tiles. The Villa floors used tiles that varied from 2 cm to 1/2 cm.
These "season" figures were done with tiles of 1/2 cm (1/5 inch)

This particular design is bordered by a trompe l'oeil - the pyramids/cubes and waves seem to move as you walk around the design.

The mosaics are still being restored - the original tiles are highly colored; the replacements are shades of grey.

This bedroom is the most completely restored section

This semicircular lounging/eating area is the most complete original section

I took a *lot* of photos here! You can see them on my shared album here.

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Details:

Bus from Sète - Hérault Transport (orange buses) #320, leaving the Théâtre Molière bus stop at 11:15 (ours was a bit late), to Loupian Centre stop before noon, 1.60€
Short walk to the restaurant Chez Patou (aka Bar Restaurant le QG, on Place de la République); fantastic plat du jour 14€
Longer walk (~20 minutes) to the Villa
Guided tour (in French), 3:00 - 4:30, 5€
Walk back to the same Loupian centre bus stop
Bus #320 5:40, back in Sète at 6:15, 1€