HEC Round 1 - Montpellier v Leinster - Saturday 12 November

[4PP]

All I'm fit for is the couch today. Great weekend!

No change since saturday so

[Donny B.]

All I'm fit for is the couch today. Great weekend!

No change since saturday so

If I only had the energy to come up with a witty retort......

[JohnB]

What a great weekend! We dug ourselves out of a hole big time at the end. Joe's substitutions did the trick. I thought Blind Dave let them away with murder at the break down. The Montpellier fans were good fun apart from the 2 middle aged crazies who had a go at me for some reason at the conclusion of the game. Between the flecks of spittle the only words I recognised were Voleur and Batards! To be fair they may have been directed more at Blind Dave than at us. Mrs John B and I met a few of the Montpellier players in the H Bar after the match. They weren't holding back on the pints front which might go a long way to explaining why they appeared to tun out of puff in the last 20 mons on Saturday last!

[johng]

What a great weekend! We dug ourselves out of a hole big time at the end. Joe's substitutions did the trick. I thought Blind Dave let them away with murder at the break down. The Montpellier fans were good fun apart from the 2 middle aged crazies who had a go at me for some reason at the conclusion of the game. Between the flecks of spittle the only words I recognised were Voleur and Batards! To be fair they may have been directed more at Blind Dave than at us. Mrs John B and I met a few of the Montpellier players in the H Bar after the match. They weren't holding back on the pints front which might go a long way to explaining why they appeared to tun out of puff in the last 20 mons on Saturday last!

We were in there too. Mad shower of barstards. I think it is Trin-Duc's bar.
We just stumbled (literally) upon it. ended up in the main square about 3:30 talking to Nagusa (who had 2 lethal cocktails in his hand) Lost the power of speech etc. The only way we knew what time it was was because of the timestamp on the camera. Managed to make it to the Toulouse game on the Sunday and spent Monday in the medieval town of Carcassonne.

Best away weekend ever.

[Degz]

What a great weekend! We dug ourselves out of a hole big time at the end. Joe's substitutions did the trick. I thought Blind Dave let them away with murder at the break down. The Montpellier fans were good fun apart from the 2 middle aged crazies who had a go at me for some reason at the conclusion of the game. Between the flecks of spittle the only words I recognised were Voleur and Batards! To be fair they may have been directed more at Blind Dave than at us. Mrs John B and I met a few of the Montpellier players in the H Bar after the match. They weren't holding back on the pints front which might go a long way to explaining why they appeared to tun out of puff in the last 20 mons on Saturday last!

We were in there too. Mad shower of barstards. I think it is Trin-Duc's bar.
We just stumbled (literally) upon it. ended up in the main square about 3:30 talking to Nagusa (who had 2 lethal cocktails in his hand) Lost the power of speech etc. The only way we knew what time it was was because of the timestamp on the camera. Managed to make it to the Toulouse game on the Sunday and spent Monday in the medieval town of Carcassonne.

Best away weekend ever.

We tried to get into Trinc-duc's place on Saturday night at around half two, seemed to be shut, unless we'd managed to ramble to a completely random place

[Xanthippe]

spent Monday in the medieval town of Carcassonne.

My favourite, by a country mile, town in all of Europe - what did you think? Did you have time to see both cities or did you just visit the older one?

[johng]

Think we got fecked out around then. Ended up in a dodgey kip in the main square for another indeterminate amount of time before meeting yerman on his way home.

[johng]

spent Monday in the medieval town of Carcassonne.

My favourite, by a country mile, town in all of Europe - what did you think? Did you have time to see both cities or did you just visit the older one?

Beautiful. Just spent about 3 hours in the old one. Had a good nose about the main castle bit and a wander around the adjacent parts. Would consider staying in one of the hotels there with the family if it was not too dear.

Had a wander around the actual town of Carcassonne too. Lovely also.

[JohnB]

The old walled city of Carcassone is beautiful and as an added bonus for my sweet tooth it contains the most amazing sweet shop that I've ever seen!

[Xanthippe]

spent Monday in the medieval town of Carcassonne.

My favourite, by a country mile, town in all of Europe - what did you think? Did you have time to see both cities or did you just visit the older one?

Beautiful. Just spent about 3 hours in the old one. Had a good nose about the main castle bit and a wander around the adjacent parts. Would consider staying in one of the hotels there with the family if it was not too dear.

Had a wander around the actual town of Carcassonne too. Lovely also.

I think Carcassonne may be unique in that it not only has the medieval walled town but the 'new' town is also completely walled.

Hotel prices for the Best Western were not too bad the last time we were there, especially if booked early. Failing that the Mercure Carcassonne Porte de la Cite is fairly close by and is quite nice (if you come out the gate by the carousel you can take a short cut through the car park in front of you to the Mercure - no more than a five minute walk).

[4PP]

For those of you who like to travel, in France particuarilly but it works for other countries, may I recommend this site http://www.logishotels.com/en.html.

Its in english & is basically a loose asscoiation of hotels of all shapes, makes & sizes but makes for a refreshing change from the "chain" hotels.

Obviously if you prefer the safety of the McDonalds inspired Mercure & Best Western its not for you . If not, its worth a look. Its organized on price, naturally, but also divided into categories like gastromononomony (my favorite ) sport etc etc.

I used it for years when I was on the highways & byways of SE France for work & had some very pleasant surprises, the odd nightmare but in general you get what it says on the box.

The hotels are very often family owned so they tend to care about customer service.

Its not for everyone but I just thought I'd share

[Rubadubdub]

What a great weekend! We dug ourselves out of a hole big time at the end. Joe's substitutions did the trick. I thought Blind Dave let them away with murder at the break down. The Montpellier fans were good fun apart from the 2 middle aged crazies who had a go at me for some reason at the conclusion of the game. Between the flecks of spittle the only words I recognised were Voleur and Batards! To be fair they may have been directed more at Blind Dave than at us. Mrs John B and I met a few of the Montpellier players in the H Bar after the match. They weren't holding back on the pints front which might go a long way to explaining why they appeared to tun out of puff in the last 20 mons on Saturday last!

Felicitations, JohnB et votre gentille femme, et merci de prenner mon tire-bouche a bord l'avion de Lyon dans votre baggages. After a great weekend and a delightful morning in Lyon sitting by the Cote du Rhone in the sunshine with a few bottles of same my thinking was not the clearest and I checked in my bag without first placing my corkscrew in it. You kindly placed it in your checked in baggage and returned it on arrival in DUB. Many thanks. Your good turn will stand to you and be repaid some time, some place. Say hi to M and enjoy the hat.

[Rubadubdub]

[quote="Xanthippe"][quote="johng"][quote="Xanthippe"][quote="johng"]spent Monday in the medieval town of Carcassonne.


I think Carcassonne may be unique in that it not only has the medieval walled town but the 'new' town is also completely walled.

First visited Carcassonne at Easter (April) time and were the only ones in the castle. Loved the place. Then we visited in July time and couldn't move. The whole of the castle was like Grafton St on XMAS Eve and the rest of the town was jammed with traffic. It was very hot and people were short tempered.
Tréz important to pick your time.

Apparently the castle dates only from 18th century - anyone heard this ?

[JohnB]

"Felicitations, JohnB et votre gentille femme, et merci de prenner mon tire-bouche a bord l'avion de Lyon dans votre baggages. After a great weekend and a delightful morning in Lyon sitting by the Cote du Rhone in the sunshine with a few bottles of same my thinking was not the clearest and I checked in my bag without first placing my corkscrew in it. You kindly placed it in your checked in baggage and returned it on arrival in DUB. Many thanks. Your good turn will stand to you and be repaid some time, some place. Say hi to M and enjoy the hat."

Miriam and I were happy to be of some small assistance, Aidan!

[johng]

spent Monday in the medieval town of Carcassonne.

I think Carcassonne may be unique in that it not only has the medieval walled town but the 'new' town is also completely walled.

First visited Carcassonne at Easter (April) time and were the only ones in the castle. Loved the place. Then we visited in July time and couldn't move. The whole of the castle was like Grafton St on XMAS Eve and the rest of the town was jammed with traffic. It was very hot and people were short tempered.
Tréz important to pick your time.

Apparently the castle dates only from 18th century - anyone heard this ?

Original site is 2500 years old. Main bulk of the castle and medieval city built in the 1100s. It fell into disuse and was REFURBISHED in the 1830s or so. Google will give you the details.