Day 53 – Travel day to Montpellier, France
A block or two away, on an underpass wall was this Native American picture, equally detailed.
My ride to Montpellier was uneventful. We passed a few castles along the way.
It was in the 90Fs in Montpellier when I arrived. I had reserved a studio apartment in the city center but I had to find the rental office first to pick up the key.
About 40 minutes later I was standing at a very large stone church that was open to visitors. This didn’t look right and when I showed my confirmation email to the nun at the door, she just shook her head “no”. For the first time, Google maps had failed me.
On a whim I edited the address in the Google maps search bar, removing all but the specific street address and it pointed me to another location 10 minutes away.
After finding this business office, signing a bunch of paperwork, and getting the key, I walked 10 more minutes and found the apartment on the third floor (no elevator).
Montpellier is to Toulouse what NYC is to Charleston NC. The fear of some sort of disturbance is palpable. In Toulouse all I saw was city police on motor scooters. In downtown Montpellier I was passed by several military personnel in camouflage and carrying automatic weapons.
So when I went out to find some dinner, I was a little concerned about a ruckus I heard from about a block away.
(Short video of a protest march in Montpellier)
It turned out to be a peaceful protest march of about 50 people. They were being followed by an ordinary police cruiser.
I went on and bought some groceries, wandered back and made a delicious pasta dinner in my apartment.
Tomorrow I try to get a deeper understanding of Montpellier.
Buen Camino,
– jgp
