{"id":1489,"date":"2017-06-24T13:57:46","date_gmt":"2017-06-24T20:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/day-53-travel-day-to-montpellier-france\/"},"modified":"2017-06-24T13:57:46","modified_gmt":"2017-06-24T20:57:46","slug":"day-53-travel-day-to-montpellier-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/day-53-travel-day-to-montpellier-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 53 – Travel day to Montpellier, France"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“Justice Wall acte.1”<\/p><\/div>I had about an hour to explore a less glamorous area of Toulouse before my bus left for Montpellier.  After a few blocks of dirty beige storefronts and boarded-up windows, I stumbled on this wall painting.   The discontinuity was shocking.  It was huge and incredibly detailed.  It must have taken “acte.1” awhile to paint it. <\/p>\n

A block or two away, on an underpass wall was this Native American picture,  equally detailed. <\/p>\n

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My ride to Montpellier was uneventful.  We passed a few castles along the way.<\/p>\n

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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. <\/p>\n

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.  <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

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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.  <\/p>\n

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So when I went out to find some dinner, I was a little concerned about a ruckus I heard from about a block away.<\/p>\n

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