Pounding the Pavement
Ross left early this morning in pursuit of a better coffee and apparently succeeded. He kindly brought me back a cappuccino but it was so tiny, I thought it was a babycino!
Most people know by now, I’m a chronic over-packer but I somehow accumulated a little extra stuff after French school that I couldn’t quite manage to squeeze into my big suitcase. My friend Kim had given me a big beach bag she couldn’t fit into her bag upon leaving (seems like a common problem!) so luckily I now had extra room for the overflow. Consequently, I am now lugging around a big beach bag full to the brim with who knows what, as well as my jumbo wheelie bag and my backpack that feels like I’m carrying bricks. Ross has his BIG backpack, expertly stuffed with a multitude of packing cubes by the way, and his smaller backpack. Throw in some cobblestones, a few puddles, roadwork and a serious lack of footpaths, and you have our morning trek back to the car from our airbnb. Not a sport for the timid or the weak.
Once our luggage was firmly back in the car, we could take to the streets of Montpellier. Explorer Mode: activated. Ross had his navigational hat planted firmly on his head today and had written us a little sightseeing hitlist for us to work through.
We started with some delicious takeaway crepes that we ate with miniature wooden forks on the town steps. All the shops and restaurants stay shut here until 10am so the place was like a ghost town.
We started our self-guided tour at the enormous cathedral, Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Montpellier, and felt like we’d climbed the beanstalk. Ross took a photo of me standing in the doorway and I’m ant-sized up against the mammoth doors. The organ alone was as big as some of our hotel rooms.
We also checked out Montpellier’s Arc de Triomph, built in 1692, standing as an entry gate to the city and framing the beautiful promenade du Peyrou with its statue of Louis XIV, looking fearsome atop his trusty steed. The big paved square has sculpted trees, a big fancy rotunda with a moat and a great view of another amazingly-still-intact Roman Aqueduct.
Montpellier is awash with elaborate statues attached to buildings: faces, naked bodies, flowers, animals…you name it and it will be sticking out the side of a building in Montpellier somewhere, guaranteed.
It was after this that Navigator-Man’s wheels started to fall off. OK, let’s blame Google maps, but we had to make a quick stop in at l'office de tourisme for some clarification. We walked in together, hoping to get a map and I walked straight to the counter with Rossco. He began to speak to the woman behind the counter in impeccable French. I wondered how an earth he had become so proficient in such a short time and I was suitably impressed. I leaned in close, about to congratulate him and seconds away from giving him a little side cuddle, when I glanced up at his face and realised the man standing next to me, actually wasn’t Ross. Meanwhile the real Ross was standing back wondering why I was nestling close to this stranger at the tourism counter. Ooh la la!
When we did go back to the counter together, I barely heard a word the woman said as I was mesmerised by her lavishly long painted talons, each one a different design and almost as long as the finger it belonged to. She was using them as arrows on the map - quite handy - and could easily take an eye out with one of those things.
In order to get an authentic feel for the city, Rossco enquired of the painted taloned lady,: “where would you go for lunch as a local?” Using one of her inbuilt pointers, she showed us an area that she said was lovely, on the river and full of restaurants. Sounded good but we soon realised it was in the ‘burbs, a l-o-n-g walk away. We took a few wrong turns (Google taking full responsibility) but made it in the end, only to discover it was a major let-down with only a couple of (pretty average) restaurants open and lots of graffiti everywhere. Bum steer.
We found out that most museums and places of note are actually closed in Montpellier on Mondays, including the Chateau de Flaugergues (pronunciation pending) that we visited hot on the heels of our disappointing lunch. Despite not being able to visit inside the chateau, we were allowed to roam the gorgeous gardens of curved hedges, Dr Seuss-looking topiary, fruit trees in pots and a promenade lined with olive trees.
We had already checked out of our airbnb and were getting ready to drive a couple of hours to our next destination -Grenoble - when we checked the itinerary and realised we had another night in Montpellier booked. We couldn’t imagine having to go through the repeat ordeal of hauling all our luggage through all the obstacles, back across town so instead, we just ploughed on towards the mountains and organised an extra night there.
As we drove closer, some predicted bad weather started to set in. Rolling thunder and voluptuous grey clouds filled the sky before it started to rain heavily. We will be visiting Maisy’s host family from her exchange here in France, while we are in Grenoble, and we had a call from her host mum to warn us to dress warmly when we meet tomorrow for a walk in the mountains. What a far cry from the stifling heat of the last 4 weeks! I think I may have packed a jumper in there somewhere…?
