Note: I will be posting entries about once a week,
so, if you like, feel free to check back from time to time!
After spending three days in Nice, I traveled by train to Montpellier. There is no direct train; you go to Marseille, and then transfer trains for the rest of the journey. I arrived in the afternoon and a friend, whom I had met on my previous trip, showed me to my apartment (belonging to friends of hers, currently in the States). It is a lovely place near three tram lines, a river and a bike path that follows the river to the Mediterranean, six miles away. My plan is to rent a bike while I’m here and take advantage of that path and the many others locally.
Montpellier is the seventh largest city in France with a population of about 300,000. Its 800-year old university is highly rated, and is known for having founded the first medical school in Europe. The Place de la Comédie (also the featured picture at top) is so named for the theatre at one end of it, decorated with the iconic masks of Comedy and Drama. Here, it is the center of life. Today, a guitarist was strumming lovely tunes in the middle of it. Note how bundled up people are! The South of France is normally portrayed as a warm, sunny playground, year-round. Not so, I’m discovering, at least, the warm part! The highs this week will be in the low 50’s and windy, dropping down into the 30’s at night.
Interesting architecture abounds! Note this place, which made me think of Oprah: There’s a view for you and you and you and…
Montpellier is known for its street art; Space Invaders is popular here, as it is in Paris.
My apartment is in a newer part of the city; I’ll be exploring the charming old town, called L’Ecusson (or the shield, a reflection of its shape on a map) in the coming days.
