Category Archives: Montpellier

Final Full Day in Montpellier

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I’d say we got up a bit late, but since we have been pretty consistent getting up and moving around 9:00 I guess that’s our normal time at this point! We had our coffee in the room, got ready to go outside, and headed down the stairs.

Our first task of the day was to see how the trek to the train station would be, both for time and, because we have our roller cases, what the road surface was like.

On the way to the station we spotted a Protestant church:

Turns out getting to the station should be a very easy, maybe ten minute max trip. We checked out the station too, although we don’t yet know the track we’ll be on. (I like to know as much as possible as soon as possible, but track numbers don’t appear until shortly before the train arrives.) Our upcoming ride is the longest one we will have, mostly due to the number of stops, I think.

After that we wandered more, as we are wont to do. From the train station we sort of exited the old part of town for a bit. If we had more time in the city I suspect we’d have investigated more of this since there is some interesting architecture in Montpellier.

Eventually we went back into the center, and ended up at a small pop up art exhibit. There we enjoyed coffee and a small snack since we’d not yet eaten.



We knew we wanted to see the Montpellier Cathedral so we went in that general direction, enjoying a variety of sights on the way.

Across from the cathedral is the university, but we didn’t really see any of that.

Unfortunately the cathedral itself was only open for mass since it’s Sunday, but as we walked by we could hear the organ. It wasn’t mass time, so I could only guess that perhaps the organist was practicing. Whatever the musician was playing sounded somewhat modern to my ear, but who knows? I’m not familiar at all with solo organ works. I really wish we could have gone in to listen. From outside it sounded quite powerful. The cathedral itself is quite impressive from the outside, but there aren’t that many places where one can get photos and one side is really inaccessible.

We then ambled around and ended up in the Jardin des Plantes. It was fun to wander, and I’m especially fond of gardens where everything is labeled. I am betting the gardens is amazing in late spring and summer. But even now I really enjoyed it.

Then it was time to head to lunch. Of course that does take us a while, what with finding more things to photograph! Dan realized his battery was running low so we knew we’d have to go back to the hotel to recharge it, but we both knew, too, that we would also need recharging!

Lunch itself was nice and relaxing. And warm for a time, as the sun was shining in on us, as you can see (not a great photo, but in that sun it was the best we could do!) for much of the meal.

(You might shake your head at my goofy food photos, but it does help me remember the day so I try to take them when I remember.)

Then it was back to our hotel. Which is when I starter writing this (as is typical each day). No nap this time, though: I’m hoping I’ll sleep more soundly if I don’t nap.

Once we were ready to go out in search of dinner we donned our incredibly fashionable jackets (NOT) and went out. It really wasn’t terrifically cold, but I’d rather be too warm than too cold, so there you go.

As is typical, we walked a lot to find the right spot for dinner. We didn’t do much photographing (I’m not sure if Dan did any), but of course with an iPhone it’s easy to snap a few things.

We ended up about as close to our hotel as possible at, maybe, the most mediocre restaurant we’ve been at. And yes, I could have done better than to order fish ‘n chips at a restaurant in France! But we just weren’t in the mood to wait until more places opened, and we really just needed to get some food and head back so we could make sure we were mostly packed and ready for tomorrow’s 9:33 train. (This means, for us, that we want to leave here by around 8:30. Not early, I realize, for most folks, but considering how relaxed we’ve been on this trip it’ll probably feel early to us!)

Knock, knock …

… and goodnight!

Saturday, December 14

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Our day began with our hotel room coffee and some research about restaurants in the area. I narrowed things down to five that had been on the hotel’s recommendation list. Whether going by what they say is wise or not depends on who you ask, I suppose, but we went with their recommendations so there you go.

Our first task when we got outside was to visit each one. I had mapped them out so we went in a good order. (And doesn’t it just warm your heart to see McD’s there. Argh!)

But first … wait! What is this BLUE STUFF I’m seeing in the sky? Why am I squinting? Heh. Yes, we had blue sky and it was sunny enough I contemplated coming back for sunglasses. That was a first!

Restaurant #1, La Chistera, looked fine, but didn’t exactly grab me. #2, Le Paresseur, was one we’d seen last night. I thought it looked nice, and it had a small menu that did include things we’d eat. (We don’t eat beef.) #3, L’Alchimista, was a bit confusing: we saw the address and the name of the restaurant but you couldn’t see in the windows or anything. Walking around the corner we saw, in a different building, the same name. I’m not sure what that was about. But in any case we decided to nix that. #4, RoseMarie, just didn’t hit me. Maybe my problem! But also they have no web presence that I could find other than social media and I’d have to call to make reservations. #5, L’Angelus, looked nice. Three options for a plat (our main), one being vegan and the other two worked as well. We narrowed it down to #2 and #5 and finally settled on #2, primarily because we had a bit more choice, as well as knowing we had to choose something! Reservations were made. They will limit our stay, they say, what with our early 7:30 reservation. People eat later in Europe, and I find it a bit of a challenge to adjust to that.

But enough of that! No one even really needed to read that paragraph. Hah!

From there we walked in a rather random manner, thinking maybe we’d eat lunch soon.

But then there was a shop that caught our eye and we grabbed croissants for the time being. At least we didn’t go crazy and get the really sweet stuff! (Okay, maybe mine was a chocolate croissant.)

More walking randomly when, ta-da!, we arrived at the Christmas market I thought would suit us best. Go figure. Before entering, we stopped to take in the view, an aqueduct, and more.

Then it was Christmas market time.

And vin chaud time.

And lunch. Could Dan finish all of this? (I had a pretzel with brie.)

No, he couldn’t!

Walking back we first heard a bunch of very loud drumming which we attempted to catch, but didn’t manage: there were too many things we wanted to stop and photograph.

But then we heard singing and came across this wacky group.

Following that was the not wacky group in a pro-Palestinian protest.

More walking…

… and we got back to the square near our hotel. There we saw a Syrian celebration.

There was a photography show nearby about Gisèle Freund, a photographer I’d never heard of. It was quite interesting, but I finally totally lost it — I simply needed to close my eyes. So back to our room we went.

(Side note: I hate that I don’t have the energy I used to. Stopping in the afternoon drives me nuts as I know it means I am doing less than I’d like. But so it goes. Age does its thing.)

After our rest time we went back out and enjoyed a walk before dinner. First we went to the Plaza de Comédie, and I asked Dan why it was called that and I realized we need to look that up, which I have since done. Duh: the Opéra de Comédie is at one end of the plaza. Shoulda thunk it!

It was fun to see the lights, as well as the kids on the carousel.

The crowds are fairly crazy at this point.

We finally made our way to dinner. Le Paresseur wasn’t open when we arrived, but a few minutes later they opened the door and we, along with a family of three, went in. They disappeared into another space, so we never saw them again and I wondered if it was a private area, but who knows? Our table was chosen and we sat. Then we managed to figure things out from the French menu (thanks to Google translate!), and ordered things. Our appetizer was fabulous. (We shared, but I could easily have eaten it all myself.)

Our mains arrived and, again, absolutely fabulous food!

Side note: at one point the lights went out. I’m not sure if it was during the appetizer or the mains. But it appeared they knew exactly what to do as one of the servers ran out the front door and another followed and soon all was well again. It was funny, though, how quiet it got when it first went dark! I rather liked it.

And yes, we had dessert as well. (It’s what I think of as our fancy schmantzy meal out, after all.)

What a night this was! Many thanks to the lovely restaurant for a memorable meal.

From there it was a quick walk to the hotel. We even managed without using our phones!

So now goodnight … we have one more day here (with no plans, really), so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Moving Day, December 13

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We began our day by showering and packing. Our cab met us at 9:15 and we were going to Gare de Lyon. We were driven past the Opera Bastille which reminded me that we were supposed to be there in 2020 until Covid Times hit. I do hope we can get back to Paris sometime to see an opera there.

Goodbye, Paris … this is from our taxi, as we passed by the Louvre:

Of course we arrived at the train station plenty early: we never take chances and we always have had time to spare. We had our last Paris breakfast at the station, and were on our train and in our seats well before it departed, at precisely 10:56 as scheduled. Our car was nice and quiet, and not completely full. Then I stared at this guy for 3 or so hours:

The start of our trip:

I’ve been surprised to see people leave bags unattended, both on trains and in coffee shops.

After leaving the station and getting out of the city we, for the very first time on this trip, I think, saw a truly blue sky. Despite being on a very fast moving train I had to make a few photos!

I did a few things on my iPad (yes, I’m still managing to play all of my word games most days) and then shut my eyes for a brief time. I find it very difficult to stay awake on a train. Heck, I find it difficult to stay awake any time I’m in a moving vehicle that I’m not driving! I also find it difficult to let myself sleep, though, only because I don’t want to miss anything! But the train lulled me to nap and I was out for a short time. When I woke, I woke to no more blue sky, but lots of fog.

Later it was fog and frost on the ground. It was so beautiful from my nice warm train seat!

The first stop was Valence, for a whopping three minute stop … except not really: it looked like some people wanted to get on the train and I don’t know if they didn’t have tickets or if it was the wrong train, but the person from the train who was talking to them clearly wasn’t going to let them on for some reason. So the stop turned out to be ten minutes.

Second stop: Nîmes, where a lot of people exited and we stopped for all of four minutes.

Finally our destination. Hello Montpellier!

Before getting off the train my blood sugar issue hit: it’s the first time for this trip, so I was rather surprised. If I eat breakfast (which I’ve been doing on this trip) I sometimes, a few hours later, get the shakes, my heart races, and I get very warm. Well, I guess I was due for this. So before getting a taxi to the hotel we went into a place at the station and bought water and I got crackers while Dan bought chips. We sat for a while as I recovered. Dan had nearly finished his water and I still had much of mine so I suggested he pour his into my bottle. He was not seeing clearly so I took his bottle and then proceeded to pour half of it on the table! Too funny that I thought I’d do better!

We caught our cab and got to our hotel in fairly decent time. The place is an older one, and pretty spacious.

Now I confess I didn’t know much about Montpellier. I had chosen it because it fit between Paris and the next destination. We could have opted for one other city that would have fit, but this one seemed to be more about food and the other about the beach life, I think. When I read that it had great food I figured we’d enjoy it. Of course I then neglected to research any eating spots.

We got settled in our room, spent a short time relaxing, and when rain had subsided decided to go out and see what we’d find. We first headed to Place de la Comédia, and then continue wherever our feet took us.

Neither of us realized just how many small streets and alleys we’d find, and this, um (sorry) right up our alley. Dan was enjoying the rainy streets for photography, as was I. (But I’m still using only the iPhone. I think I’ve decided vacations are for the iPhone only.)

So we walked. And walked. And walked some more. We were surprised to see a large number of tapas places. I guess that’s a thing here. Montpellier is closer to Spain than France (Dan informed me — no, I don’t know those sorts of facts!), so maybe that’s why?

It was getting to the point where dinner sounded like a good idea, so we went to look at a place that was recommended at the hotel. Alas, they didn’t open until 8:00 and we weren’t wanting to wait that long, so we headed back to another spot where we had looked earlier. I had mussels and Dan had fish and chips.

When we left the restaurant it was raining, but not terrifically hard, so with umbrellas we were just fine. Had I followed my instincts I would have gotten us far away from the hotel. It sure is handy to have phones that can tell us where to go!

Getting back to the hotel I did something I also did for the past two nights that I probably haven’t done in eons: I took a bath! What can I say? They have these lovely tubs, and it just seems like the right thing to do. But am I becoming my mother? She took baths all the time. (I don’t know if she ever took a shower in her life!) Hm. We’ll see if this trend continues.

So now it’s after 9:00 and I should post this before I fall asleep!

Until tomorrow —