{"id":776,"date":"2018-10-21T18:36:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-21T18:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/?p=776"},"modified":"2018-12-06T06:31:11","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T06:31:11","slug":"montpellier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/21\/montpellier\/","title":{"rendered":"Montpellier"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, it turns out from what I\u2019ve learned this weekend that Montpellier is a much maligned place (mostly by me) and unfairly, because it\u2019s actually rather a great place to live – and thriving: it\u2019s currently the 7th biggest city in France, up from 20th a few decades ago. A quarter of the population are students, and over a third are under 30 – no wonder no one is having any strokes. It\u2019s got loads of universities, but also hospitals because it was on the old pilgrim route.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I did the obligatory petit train touristique yesterday (why does Wellington not have one of these? traffic too scary? too hilly? not interesting enough? answers on the back of a postcard please), and then a walking tour around the old town. In spite of being a relatively young city (ie Middle Ages rather than Roman ahem) it\u2019s got everything you need from a old town – narrow windy streets and lots of character, but also lots of fountains and squares and al fresco dining.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

October is breast cancer awareness month<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

English pub noted in case I get lonely<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

View both ways from the local Arc de Triomphe knock off<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is St Roch, a local boy made good. His leg is (rather coyly) exposed because he\u2019s showing off his buboe scars – he had the plague but he got better, thanks to some holy water and a little doggie who used to bring him bread every day (maybe it had mold on it?)<\/p>\n

The climate is very mild and there are plenty of people out and about enjoying the sunshine. The infrastructure is great, the centre of town is mostly pedestrianized, and they have light rail and plenty of bike trails, in town and out in the countryside.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Today I joined a bike tour out to the sea and back. Montpellier isn\u2019t a harbour city but the sea is very nearby. And there are flamingos out there! How can you not like a place with flamingos?<\/p>\n

There are two sports particular to the area, according to today\u2019s guide: boules, which I saw lots of people of all ages playing today (mostly men, though, it\u2019s true); and some sort of local version of bullfighting, in which the bull wears pompoms on its horns, and a hat, there are no swords and the bull doesn\u2019t necessarily die. (Ed note: lost in translation? more research required). Anyway the guide got very animated telling us about it, running around with his index fingers as horns and jumping over fences and stuff. Could be more like the running of the bulls in Pamplona?<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve put a lot of effort into modernizing the city, with coordinated development out to the southeast with parks and apartment buildings that are very modern and environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n

After my two tours yesterday, and drinking some rose and eating pate in the afternoon sun, I discovered that there is a film festival on, and so on the spur of the moment, went to the premier of a movie, which was fabulous. The director and two stars answered audience questions afterwards.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I thought, \u201cyou\u2019re not in Wellington now, Kirsty!\u201d (Pretty obvious as everyone was speaking French, but you know what I mean). One earnest young woman asked a question that upset everyone very much. Wish I knew what it was about.<\/p>\n

The main thing Montpellier lacks in my opinion is proper hills, ironic considering the name (probably) means bald\/peeled\/unforested hill. False advertising. But I\u2019m quibbling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, it turns out from what I\u2019ve learned this weekend that Montpellier is a much maligned place (mostly by me) and unfairly, because it\u2019s actually rather a great place to live – and thriving: it\u2019s currently the 7th biggest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-cw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":746,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/montpellier-a-new-beginning\/","url_meta":{"origin":776,"position":0},"title":"Montpellier – A new beginning","author":"Interloper11","date":"October 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Roundly told off by my Uber driver for choosing such a stupid place for a pick up - right outside the train station. As I struggled with my luggage to the new meeting point, I passed a man recumbent in the street. I thought he was just having a bit\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":908,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/06\/au-revoir-montpellier\/","url_meta":{"origin":776,"position":1},"title":"Au revoir, Montpellier","author":"Interloper11","date":"November 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Just starting my six hour train journey to Brussels. It\u2019s a TGV so it must be a long way to Belgium. I\u2019m travelling in a backwards facing seat which is making me feel a bit sick but I have been told that it greatly reduces my chances of decapitation or\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":860,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/30\/my-final-week-in-montpellier\/","url_meta":{"origin":776,"position":2},"title":"My final week in Montpellier","author":"Interloper11","date":"October 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Just been out for dinner by myself to celebrate a very successful day, and also my liver was getting bored and needed something to do. (My Airbnb host just knocked on my door - I thought for sure I was going to get told off for using all their data\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/5666D623-CE06-4DDE-ABB7-60351F3B211B-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10467,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/26\/reflections-on-my-first-week-in-montpellier\/","url_meta":{"origin":776,"position":3},"title":"Reflections on my first week in Montpellier","author":"Interloper11","date":"August 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"After a lot of argy-bargy with my French school, in the end I decided to stay with my first host family. Yes, it\u2019s a long way from the hospital - and the school, in fact - but the host mum (slightly older than me) is very experienced, and her cooking\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_8884-1024x768.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_8884-1024x768.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_8884-1024x768.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10448,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/19\/montpellier-monday-august-19\/","url_meta":{"origin":776,"position":4},"title":"Montpellier Monday August 19","author":"Interloper11","date":"August 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Not sure how much I\u2019ll be posting in the next couple of weeks, as I\u2019ve realised that it might detract a bit from the whole \u201cFrench language immersion\u201d thing. I was worried that everything was going pear shaped last night. My host family are very nice, but there are three\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":890,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/04\/last-weekend-in-montpellier\/","url_meta":{"origin":776,"position":5},"title":"Last weekend in Montpellier","author":"Interloper11","date":"November 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A weekend dedicated to a last ditch effort to improve my thrombectomy numbers. Spent the entire weekend stuck in my tiny bedsit, apart from a couple of hours yesterday visiting the ancient Roman city of N\u00eemes... ...where I managed to source a couple of bottles of wine from Marlborough to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/73240E38-2A9E-4C07-A18A-9D08DA74033F-225x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}