We Moved Today!

Oh, not far, just down the block. And we knew we would be moving from the first time we climbed the stairs to our first apartment here in Montpellier. They were a bit nasty, those stairs. My immediate thought was, Hello, sprained ankle! The building was old, like early 19th century old. And the stairs were spiral, as in narrow and steep. (Un escalader de vis, I’ve learned it’s called.)

Watch your step! Up and down, twice a day...

But we had an agreement to stay there, and it was a very nice place. Still, there was a danger. So we found another place, and arranged with our landlady to leave after a month, instead of two. We very much enjoyed that apartment, and the neighborhood. But those stairs…

So now we live in a different neighborhood, in a newer building. Less romantic, more practical. We’re a little further from the old city, a little closer to the gare (train station) and the transportation center. A little closer to the café where we meet Wednesday evenings with an informal group to speak English, French, and German. A little further from the French-American center and the afternoon gatherings for tea and conversation.

It’s a new neighborhood to explore. Not as picturesque, but quieter!

Here’s our building. Looks like it was built in the ‘70s or ‘80s (and that would be the 1970s; our previous apartment was in a building likely built in the ‘30s – the 1830s!).

Practical, not pretty

View out the window, across the narrow street.

Look left.

Look right.

What’s that older, interesting- looking place with the tiled roof?

AH, a garage! There seem to have been many in the immediate neighborhood.

But they all seem a abandoned (the one on our street is now an indoor car park).

So where do people get their cars fixed now?

Maybe here…

Or here...

Or even here.

In any event, we seem to have landed in the car repair center. But we're glad we don't have a car in Montpellier. Here's one reason:

These cars aren't parked, they are waiting for a traffic light ('way down at the end of the street). And this happens all afternoon, every day! Throw in the narrow streets, high cost of gas, insurance... And then there's this.

See that car sticking out? It is actually parked there. And the bus has just enough room to get past the properly-parked cars. Now it's stuck, and so are the half-dozen cars behind it. That's why the bus driver was laying on the horn, over and over, as we came around the corner.

And to make it worse, the car in front is jammed in so tight (bumper to bumper!), it has to move before anything can get sorted out. Sort of a Rubik's Cube of a parking puzzle. We didn't wait around to see what happened.

We'd rather be taking a sunset walk to here, the water temple at the end of the aqueduct:

And strolling near Montpellier's own Arc de Triumph

And enjoying the sun setting over the distant mountains