I arrived here through a series of serendipitous events. People ask me why I chose Montpellier, and really I like to say it chose me. Regardless of how it happened, here I am. I have a French address . . . and have done for over two months now.
Montpellier, situated 10 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea, is a university town with a history. Established at the end of the 10th century as a trading centre, the city began to flourish. The faculty of Medicine was created in 1180AD. The students originally didn't have classrooms, and met in a square to hear lectures (a square which still exists, and one can go to have a coffee and sit pretending to do homework while pondering the vast history of this interesting town). The university itself was officially established a few decades after. The climate is pretty fabulous, and has a mean temperature of 7.1 °C (44.8 °F) in January to 23.4 °C (74.1 °F) in July. I'll take that.
The heart of Montpellier centres around La Place de la Comédie. Here, facing the grand theatre/opera house, you can find street performers, places to eat and drink, and people to mingle with.
In the center of La Place de la Comédie there is a beautiful fountain that is a reproduction of the sculpture/fountain The Three Graces, which was originally situated there starting in 1790. And a merry-go-round which I almost never see people riding, but adds to the slightly other-worldly feel of this interesting square.
My neighbourhood is the closest I could have gotten to a French version of Eastern Market. It is called Beaux Arts. Within a four block radius I have the market, two tram stops, the post office, a hair dressers, 2 bakeries, about 15 epiceries (tiny grocery stores), a cheese shop, a butchers, a fish shop, and then for restaurants I can find French, Japanese, Thai, Indian, pizza, sandwiches, and numerous others I haven't tried or explored. I also have a place I can go to for dance lessons, or the local gym. And to make it even better, it is cute and old and French.
Just two minutes away is the old city, on the hill from which the name Montpellier comes. Here you can find numerous winding narrow streets, designed that way to minimise the wind tunnel effects of the strong Mistral winds, and to increase shadows to act as natural air conditioning systems. Oh urban planners of the past, I respect you.
Next to the school of medicine is Les Jardins des Plantes. A shout out and thank you to Rosemary, as this is one of my favourite places . . . and a great suggestion of hers. The gardens were created in the 16th century to aid with medical research. In the summertime there are evening lectures there, and I went to one really interesting one highlighting plants used in Japanese cuisine. But the thing I like best is how people use the space differently. Studying, strolling, drawing, I even came across one musician strolling up and down one of the paths practicing his clarinet. Obviously the tiny apartments that you find in these French cities are not very conducive to practicing instruments.
Around the town, there is tons and tons of graffiti and street art. Some of the graffiti is an eye sore, but much appears to have been commissioned. Most stores have what looks like a garage door that they can pull down over the front at night, and almost all of these have beautifully designed pictures spray painted onto them. This makes navigation for me somewhat difficult, as from day to night the streetscape changes immensely. There are also quite a number of murals, and a few that use trompe-l'oeil or the effects of deception to make you think something is there which isn't really. Montpellier is also one of the cities graced by mosaics created by the street artist, Invader. So throughout the town you can see little Space Invader characters happily peering out from their lookouts on street corners.
Montpellier, situated 10 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea, is a university town with a history. Established at the end of the 10th century as a trading centre, the city began to flourish. The faculty of Medicine was created in 1180AD. The students originally didn't have classrooms, and met in a square to hear lectures (a square which still exists, and one can go to have a coffee and sit pretending to do homework while pondering the vast history of this interesting town). The university itself was officially established a few decades after. The climate is pretty fabulous, and has a mean temperature of 7.1 °C (44.8 °F) in January to 23.4 °C (74.1 °F) in July. I'll take that.
The heart of Montpellier centres around La Place de la Comédie. Here, facing the grand theatre/opera house, you can find street performers, places to eat and drink, and people to mingle with.
In the center of La Place de la Comédie there is a beautiful fountain that is a reproduction of the sculpture/fountain The Three Graces, which was originally situated there starting in 1790. And a merry-go-round which I almost never see people riding, but adds to the slightly other-worldly feel of this interesting square.
My neighbourhood is the closest I could have gotten to a French version of Eastern Market. It is called Beaux Arts. Within a four block radius I have the market, two tram stops, the post office, a hair dressers, 2 bakeries, about 15 epiceries (tiny grocery stores), a cheese shop, a butchers, a fish shop, and then for restaurants I can find French, Japanese, Thai, Indian, pizza, sandwiches, and numerous others I haven't tried or explored. I also have a place I can go to for dance lessons, or the local gym. And to make it even better, it is cute and old and French.
Just two minutes away is the old city, on the hill from which the name Montpellier comes. Here you can find numerous winding narrow streets, designed that way to minimise the wind tunnel effects of the strong Mistral winds, and to increase shadows to act as natural air conditioning systems. Oh urban planners of the past, I respect you.
The school of medicine is in the former monastery building.
Next to the school of medicine is Les Jardins des Plantes. A shout out and thank you to Rosemary, as this is one of my favourite places . . . and a great suggestion of hers. The gardens were created in the 16th century to aid with medical research. In the summertime there are evening lectures there, and I went to one really interesting one highlighting plants used in Japanese cuisine. But the thing I like best is how people use the space differently. Studying, strolling, drawing, I even came across one musician strolling up and down one of the paths practicing his clarinet. Obviously the tiny apartments that you find in these French cities are not very conducive to practicing instruments.
Around the town, there is tons and tons of graffiti and street art. Some of the graffiti is an eye sore, but much appears to have been commissioned. Most stores have what looks like a garage door that they can pull down over the front at night, and almost all of these have beautifully designed pictures spray painted onto them. This makes navigation for me somewhat difficult, as from day to night the streetscape changes immensely. There are also quite a number of murals, and a few that use trompe-l'oeil or the effects of deception to make you think something is there which isn't really. Montpellier is also one of the cities graced by mosaics created by the street artist, Invader. So throughout the town you can see little Space Invader characters happily peering out from their lookouts on street corners.
Come visit! I'd love to show you around.
Mary, this is amazing, and I particularly love your shoutout to city planners of the past :) This is *truly* what a walkable neighborhood looks like! I'd love to see more photos of the artwork around the city too, especially those storefront garage doors! And how is the swing coming along?!
ReplyDeleteAny idea how long you'll be in Montpelier, or are you just taking it one day/week/month at a time?
Anyway, looks blissful :)
By the way, I still fondly remember the day, back when I was studying abroad in Siena (whose old city looks remarkably similar to Montpelier's, except it's, well, burnt sienna colored...), that two of my five roommates marched triumphantly home with a toaster oven in hand--the kind that actually functions as a tiny oven! We, too, had been ovenless, and so this was a day of raucous celebration and excitement for all involved-we all thought that those two roommate were complete geniuses!
ReplyDeleteIn our case, though, it was the fact that tiramisu does not require an oven that made us not *completely* handicapped without. I think we made tiramisu almost weekly at one point...
Mary, you have found the perfect place to hang your hammock. My heart is warmed to see it and all. Safe travels, xxoo Alison + NG
ReplyDeleteThanks, kids!
ReplyDeleteErin--I am expecting to be here through mid-May . . . you should totally visit.
And I am looking up tiramisu recipesas we speak
Alison--the hammock is waiting for you. :)
You know Mary, I would totally think about it!...if it weren't for the fact that I just got offered an *awesome* new job, and vacation will probably be thin on the ground for a while...
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty sweet though. I will be working here: http://www.altaplanning.com/
as a designer!! A designer of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure that is :)