I had asked Maxime if I could spent a rest day at his place as I was tired. He said it was fine with him but that he had to leave Monday at 7am for a business meeting and I would have to, as well. I agreed.
After breakfast, we sat around talking. I put in some washing and worked on the internet while Maxime played with Mr. Rat, his pet.
He let Mr. Rat wonder around the floor while I was on the computer. I got a bit of a shock when Mr. Rat clawed his way up my leg.
Even though we were both quite lazy, we eventually got up and went out walking. Niort is on the Sevre Niortaise river and Maxime's place was right next to it. We walked out and along the river.
There is greenspace along the river. Near Maxime's apartment, there was a tree-lined park.
The views into the city were picturesque.
Like any old town in France on a river, Niort had a castle.
We walked through the old town of Niort when there was a bit of rain. We took refuge under the new part of the town center to wait out the deluge. We were there for about 20 minutes and all the time we wondered about the window coverings on the building. They were squiggles cast in steel instead of bars. We wondered if each one was unique or was there some kind of pattern. We eventually found the pattern. I really liked these steel panels but didn't take a picture.
When the rain stopped, we continued our walk. We walked through the town square.
I liked Niort's war resister's memorial.
On our walk, we came across some acquaintances of Maxime's and they talked for a while. When they learned who I was and what I was doing, two of them started talking to me in English about my trip. It didn't seem odd or strained in any way, even though I was old enough to be their father (or even grandfather!). It was just another pleasant French interaction.
Maxime has arranged to meet a friend of his, whose name I don't recall. But, we couldn't talk to each other as he spoke Spanish and French but not English. I did find out that he was from the Azores and was able, through Maxime, to find out a bit about life there.
Maxime and I walked along the river back to the apartment. His phone system was through the internet and it was no extra charge to call anywhere in the world. So, I called my wife and we spoke a bit. I also called my brother. It was very nice to have the family contact.
As far as I could understand, Maxime had a master's degree in Agricultural Economics and worked for a large insurance company named Groupama. The reason he was in Niort was that it is the insurance capital of France and it was where the home office of Groupama was.
Groupama primarily offered crop and other kinds of agricultural insurance. France was undergoing a change in how farm losses were being insured (the government trying to give way to the private sector) and Maxime was doing research on various weather related farm losses. That was why he had to leave early the next morning. He needed to drive to a distant office to review their loss records.
We got to talking about taxes and he showed me his pay stub which had a long list of deductions that both he and his employer paid. The employer's amount was higher than the employee's contributions. We tried to understand what all the deductions were for but he didn't know and I was speculating. It was interesting to see the difference between US and French payroll taxes/deductions. Maxime himself was a bit surprised at all of them!
When dinner time rolled around, I wanted to thank Maxime for his hospitality by taking him out to dinner. As it was Sunday night, not all the restaurants would be open. We went to a nearby Indian place that Maxime said was always open. I had an Aloo Gobi that was good,but nothing special.
We came back, listening to some music, talked more, and then went to bed. As I lay in bed, preparing for an early morning, I realized just how much I had enjoyed spending time with Maxime. He was smart, friendly, personally open, and easy to get along with, even though our ages were more than 30 years apart. It seemed like a real gift to have met him randomly over the internet.