Pondicherry

After another early start we took the Train from Madurai to Villapuram which took about 6 hours and then a Minibus for the next hour into Pondicherry. We went for a typically French meal at a restaurant in town (Pondicherry used to be French until just after the main part of India became independent from Britain then the Indians also took over this and all the other French enclaves but the area still retains a largely French feel complete with food and architecture and there are lots of French Ex-pats who live here) Dumping the bags we headed out in Auto's to a restaurant about 5mins ride from the hotel which served French and Indian food, The meal I had was excellent - French Onion Soup followed by Hashe Frites (Steak and Chips!) The steak was excellent and judging by the number of French people there who were eating the beef I figured this was the best way to go! Some of the party had the prawns - which were defiantly not good and the head waiter took them back and canceled the cost; that must be the Indian in him, I would be surprised if that would happen in France, you'd probbably get kicked out for insulting the chef :P
The next morning we went out to a patisserie and had espresso, pain-aux-chocolat and croissants in true French style and they were excellent. The rest of the morning we were free to roam. Les and I went in search of the unusual whilst most of the rest of the group opted for the Museum. We walked up the cost of the Bay of Bengal and stopped outside the Government House and what appeared to be the French Embassy (The EU Flag and French Tri-colour flying from the building sort of gave it away. Oppposite the Embassy was the French WW-I memorial to the fallen Indo-French soldiers which was well looked after. Walking further up the road we wandered into an very local area with small houses and flats very much in the French Med. style but with an Indian twist. Opposite on apartment block we came across a boules pitch which was been used by a group of locals to play a form of marbles which seemed to be crossed with the game of boules and was being taken very seriously. we sort of u turned in the maze of rue's and avenue's and found ourselves back in the centre of the town and stumbled on the central market, first in the fish market which seemed to be entirely run by women who were gutting fish and selling prawns by the bucket load. Wandering through we entered the veg area and then at the rear was the flower area.
In an attempt to get a better photo angle we spotted some stairs going up and we found ourselves up on the roof area able to look down in to the market and got some really good shots from up there. We had to be back at the hotel for 2pm so we headed back and remembering that Michael the tour guide had said that it was an Alcohol Tax Free haven called in at one of the many 'Wine Shops' on the way back and I got a bottle of Signature Whiskey (Indian made Whiskey - but not bad either) for about Rs.500/6.5 pounds which is about 25% less than in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. Climbing back in to the same bus as the previous night we took the drive up to Mamallapuram via Auroville ( more to come..)