Our first morning in Perpignan began with breakfast from Rachelle’s “welcome to France” basket: cheese on baguettes and orange slices for us.
Below, Jennifer stands before our bedroom window overlooking Perpignan. The city is bigger and more urban than Urbino last year; the city has a bit over 100,000 people, with over 300,000 in the metro area.
We gathered in the hotel lobby and wandered over to the Castillet. In the lobby are giant puppets marking the wedding of the first king and queen of Majorca. Then we climbed a long and winding stair to the roof, where we took photos over the town.
After enjoying the city overview from the top of the tower, we went through the tower’s museum style rooms– but quickly, as we had to reach the market and cafe before it closed. Once we reached the cafe, Rachelle and Florenz traded off explaining the program, city, and the day’s scavenger hunt.
Once the kids were out on the scavenger hunt we shopped at the market, then returned to Rachelle’s for lunch. Jennifer, Rachelle, and Courtney planned out the website while I occasionally kibitzed from a nearby couch. Then we headed back to the room for a short rest and changed for our evening walk. In front of the cathedral (of St. Jean?) a wedding was taking place; this fired up the photographic instinct among the journalist students (and some of their teachers).
We wandered around the back of the cathedral and got a quick history, then set off on our walk. We soon came to the old Jewish quarter, in a square formed by the demolition of the old Dominican monastery. [The monastery was founded to convert the Jews a generation after their invitation to the city.]
From here, our walk took us uphill to a fancy restaurant edging into the ghetto. Along the way we passed a police station (converted from a 1700s military garrison). On the way back, we passed the Society for Urbanism, a group of local architects and city planners who volunteer their time to guide the city’s growth and preserve its history.
After a while, as hunger began to build, we reached our destination. In a courtyard framed by several buildings, a patio restaurant manifested. We arrived a little early, so we watched them build the fire and prepare the grill. The students’ scavenger hunt involved buying sea snails and aeoli: they were mixed and placed over the fire to become escargot. The first batch was peppery and quite tasty, while the second was saltier and less firm. I enjoyed both, eating about six before we sat down for the real meal.
We enjoyed a leisurely meal and lots of conversation; we’d gotten there just before 7 pm and were surprised when someone noticed that it was already 11:30. At that, the dinner broke up quickly: we knew that tomorrow morning’s train ride began early.
