France - Montpellier

24-05-2011

Great start to the day. Scenic train ride from Barcelona to Montpellier. Water on one side ( sometimes both sides) and mountains on the other.

Then the trouble began, staying at a weird hotel. Arrived there, burning hot day and it was locked. A board outside had things written in French, the gist of it was - the reception closes at 11 am and opens at 5 pm. We were stranded, could not leave our luggage or check in. A little later a guest let us in, bought take away and ate it there. Finally a man arrived at the reception but would not even talk to us as it was not 5 pm. He went into a room , reappeared 15 minutes later, chatty and happy to check us in early. Very odd. The only good thing was that it was the day time, we were to arrive originally at 10 pm ( the reception was closed then too ). There is no mention of all this on the booking website, and it says it is 3 minutes walking from the train station while it is 20 minutes driving. Sadly our French is pathetic so cannot make a complaint.

Everything works out for a reason. We were delayed at the hotel which was good as even at 5 in the evening walking in the historic centre was hot. Met the friendliest set of people at the tourist centre , made us feel better. Saw a DHL express delivery van, it was a bicycle, quite funny. Passed a fountain with children running through the water, exactly what I wanted to do. Walked by the oldest university of medicine in the western world and then the oldest botanical garden in France. Arrived as the doors were closing at Promenade de Peyrou but the security guard let us through. Saw the Arc de Triumph, inspired by the one in Paris, a statue of Louis XIV and a lot of copies of statues from various museums around Europe ( mainly the Lourve ). This place has a small town feel, we were mainly in the old side ( quick stop at the new end) . Old, well preserved buildings, narrow paved streets, not very crowded other than the plazas.

The rooms at the hotel are not bad so hopefully we sleep well.


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