My Winter in Montpellier, France

by Dave Mckay

Montpellier, a cosmopolitan city of approximately 560,000 people with a student population of one-third of its inhabitants, is not only a scholastic city but a historical one as well. The population of Montpellier is composed of 5% Moslem (from Morocco), 2% black (from the west coast of Africa), 2% Oriental (from the former French Indo-China) and the balance European. The citizens of Montpellier seem to very liberal minded as one sees many interracial associations and relationships. It was not uncommon to see a group of young people (with a sprinkling of black, yellow and white) all enjoying themselves on an outing together. The only ones that seemed not to integrate were the Muslims. Most times when seeing those folks, one would see the man dressed in western sports clothes and the wife dressed in a full length skirt and of course a headscarf.
Montpellier (in the Department of Hérault 34 and the Region of Languedoc-Roussollon) has an unemployment rate of 12.3%. Many of the young Moroccans are unemployed and they would be seen on one or two of the corners in the town square. They (being idle) are a source of trouble with the police. The police make their presence obvious at the town square by parking a police car close to where these young Moroccans gather. Also, making its presence was the military where three or more soldiers with automatic guns at the ready would drift through the town square at odd times during the day. Remember this was the time of the Charlie Hebdo incident in Paris, where a number of journalists were assassinated. Another group that seemed to be unemployed were the Roma (gypsies) who either supplied entertainment in the town square or just outright stooped to begging.
I found that most of the French folk in Southern France (although light in complexion) had very dark hair, yes very black. When one did see a person with light coloured hair which was uncommon, they were either from the north or had bleached their hair. The citizens in this area were also quite short with an average height of men (I would guess) to be about 5 feet 7 inches  or 1.7 metres). The average French woman seemed to have a very slim figure for in the two months that I spent there, I only saw two obsess women.
I have often heard that the French were rude. Not so, as I found them to be very polite and helpful. Any time that I stopped to ask for directions, I would receive a smile and a very polite response. They would even use the opportunity to practice their English on me. Perhaps because my French was that poor. I was taken aback when the first time that a young person would make a gesture of offering me his seat on the tram. This did not happen just once but several times. I have not had this happen to me in Canada.
The only place where perhaps we do have it over the French is in the grocery stores where our checkout clerks pack one's groceries whereas in Montpellier at least, they only check out one's order, take your money but then you must supply your own bag (or buy one) and pack your own groceries yourself.
This picture is taken in January as you can see where the folks here are wearing heavy coats. On this particular day January 02, 2015, it was a bit cold about maybe 5º C. but mostly in the month of January it was very pleasant at around 15º to 20º C.

Place de la Comédie

This is the town square (in the old part of Montpellier) known as Place de la Comédie. The town square or Place de la Comédie is equivalent to the North American Downtown. Everything that is exciting happens here. Many entertainment venues such as the Opera Theatre, Play House and Movie Theatre are located here. It is a great place to meet people as everyone seems to be drawn to this area. Those people sitting at the right of the picture are waiting for the tram. The tram tracks run parallel to la Comédie.  In the picture below, that blue object is the front end of a tram that operates to one side of the square.

Demonstration at Place de la Comédie

As one can see, there is a group of demonstrators banging on drums and blowing noise makers to get the attention of the crowd. I have no idea of what was going on as there was too much noise and my French at the time was not that good where I could determine what the demonstration was all about. Anyway the noise caught the attention of the crowd as one can see in the photo.

Notice the carousal at the back of the square. These seem to be very common in town squares in French Cities as I observed them in the town squares in Avignon and in Strasbourg as well.

Busker at Place de la Comédie

Another thing one sees at la Comédie are the buskers who strive to entertain and hopefully gain some reward (money).  The one here in the picture is blowing on a long tube, much like the Swiss Horn seen in photographs taken in the Alps. The sound (I would imagine) is about the same. I was hoping to get a picture of one of my favourite buskers who was a little gypsy women who banged on a drum and chanted something or another either in garbled French or Roma. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on me when she was out performing.
There was one musician (playing both a guitar and a accordion complete with an amplifier) who was very good. He had no trouble in collecting from the crowd as everyone seemed to enjoy his music. I often sat at an outdoor cafe bordering la Comédie and enjoyed his renditions of light pop music.

Monument in Place de la Comédie

The photo to the right shows some of the architecture and monuments bordering la Comédie that one sees in the town squares in Europe.
You will notice that many folks are wearing winter jackets but the one young lady in the forefront is pushing it a little, I think.  But perhaps she is just proud of her legs.

Out Door cafe at Place de Comédie

Here on January 2, 2015 and there is crowd at an outdoor cafe in spite of the cold weather at 5º C. The French enjoy their outdoor cafes. They even will sit out when it's raining but of course they would be under an umbrella then! Many of the outdoor cafes are heated and are enclosed by means of tents with transparent sides.  I chose to eat at the La Café Riche which served an excellent Caesars salad. I loved sitting out in the outdoor cafes eating, drinking and just watching people that strolled by.

Grand Rue Jean Moulin

This narrow street (which is typical of the streets in the Old Town)  is called "Grand Rue Jean Moulin" where the "Institut Linguistique Adenet" (ILA) that I attended is located. The street is paved with ceramic tiles which are very slippery when wet as they were each morning after the street cleaners had washed the streets in the Old Town. One had to be careful and not take a header when navigating along the streets in the morning. The citizens of Montpellier don't seem to care about keeping their streets clean as they drop cigarette butts and scraps of paper on the street and sidewalks. They also allow their dogs (some unleashed) to relieve themselves on the street and the owners do not pick up the doo-doos (crottes de cheins) after them. Also when walking along these streets, one has to watch out for cars, motor cycles, mopeds, and bicycles coming up from the rear. Fortunately the cars travelled cautiously but not so the motor cycles, mopeds or bicycles.

The Irish Pub Fitz Patrick

Just around the corner from the ILA was this Irish Pub that I frequented at the end of classes on Fridays. Not far from my studio apartment was an English Pub called the Robin Hood. I wasn't able to find a Scottish nor a Welsh Pub but maybe I didn't try hard enough as the Fitz Patrick and Robin Hood pubs were just too convenient.

Me & My German Drinking Buddy Olf

The young man here with me is Olf a student at ILA who was in the same class as me. He had been in the army with  the rank of a lieutenant. At present time, he is a student at one of the German universities studying shipping and traffic and therefore had to improve his French so he was registered at ILA. This picture was taken after we downed a few pints.

My Classmates

Here is a photo of some of my classmates. The classes were kept quite small as in that way we were able to receive individual instruction. The tall person at the back is Olf and our "professeur" is the lady wearing the red scarf standing to the left of Olf. Each week the classes were changed somewhat as some students were there for a short time while others  were there for a longer duration.


Institut Linguistique Adenet (ILA) divided the classes according to one's command of the French Language. There were seven levels in the "Cours Standard" at 20 lessons a week: Beginner; Elementary A1; Elementary A2; Intermediate B1; Intermediate B2; Advanced C1 and Mastery C2. I started out in Elementary A1 but advanced to Elementary A2 and was going into Intermediate B1 if I had stayed a bit longer. All-in-all, I found the course quite difficult with lots of "devoirs du soir"  (homework).
Those who wished for more instruction could take extra lessons which ILA termed "Cours Intenif" which were three, three hour courses for an extra 100 euros per week. I took three weeks of intensive courses which for the first two weeks, we had Audrey who was an excellent teacher. But on the third week, we had a complete idiot for an instructor. I even asked for my money back as he was so bad (pious hope of that). As a consequence, I quit the intensive course and opted just for the Standard Course as shown above.

Le Professeur

The girl, (clowning around) in the photo is Judith our "Le Professeur" (note all professions and trades are masculine). She was an excellent instructor who was very animated.
When we were assigned exercises she would come around to each student individually and correct or instruct how it should be done. She went out of her way to see that we understood the lesson. (She was nice looking too.)


The Map of the Old Town of Montpellier

The Map of the Old Town of Montpellier

The shaded part of the map colored orange is the old town of Montpellier. The various coloured lines are the routes of the various public transportation trams routes. If one follows the blue tram line, it will lead to the station "Comédie" just about a quarter of the way up the page on the right hand side of the coloured area. As can be seen by the map, the streets go in every direction. The circle penciled to the left of station Comédie is the location of the Institut Linguistique Adenet (ILA) where I attended French lessons during the months of January and February 2015. 

To the upper left of the Old Town, those buildings numbered 13 and 14 are the "La Faculté de Médicine" which started in 1220 and is reported to be the oldest medical school in Europe. Right below the medical school is the Palais de Justice.
After a poor experience with boarding houses, I rented a studio apartment (its location is shown circled at the edge of the map) just south of the old town. This area still had streets going in all directions. But at the same time, it was a good place to live as it was only a 5 minute walk to ILA and a short walk to la Comédie 

My Broom Closet Bedroom

As one can see, this is my broom closet  which was my bedroom for a short time. Shown in photo is my bunk bed where I hit my head every time I got in or out. There was no place in the closet to hang my clothes as the landlady had the closet chuck full of things, as she saved everything; for she was a collector and she obviously threw nothing away. Crammed up against the window to the left was an improvised desk ... a flat piece of plywood board on two saw-horses.

The Kitchen

The Studio Bedroom

The Bathroom

 The photos show the  kitchen, bedroom and bathroom of my Studio Apartment that I finally rented after my poor experience with boarding houses. My original plan was to board with a family so that I could be immersed in French, both during the day at class but also during the evening with a French Family. That plan didn't work out that well as the first boarding house was with a divorcee who was a tyrant and the second was with a widow who squeezed me into her broom closet, both places had no family atmosphere so there was no chance to be immersed in French at either place.
In my studio; the toilet, washbasin and shower are all located in the same room, whereas; in most apartments and hotels in France, the toilet is located in a separate room which may discourage washing one's hands after visiting the "John". 

Arc de Triomphe

Referring back to the map on page 5, just below the Palais de Justice is the Arc de Triomphe. At the end of the 17th Century, l'Intendant du Roi (steward of the king) built this arch in honour of Louis XIV. This arch (an imitation of one of the many Parisian Arches) was built in the location of one of the eight gates to the old city.
One thing I noticed while in France was that the French do not display their flag like one does in North America. The only places where the Tri-Colour is displayed are on government buildings where as in Canada one sees the Maple Leaf  on many commercial buildings and on private homes.

Place Royale du Peyrou

From the Arc de Triomphe to the left is a park called Place Royale du Peyrou. The form on the horse is of Louis XIV. Together with Louis XIV, the Château d'Eau and the Aqueduc (shown of the next page), it makes an interesting ensemble of three outstanding structures.  

        Château d'Eau

If one looks back to the map of the Old Town, the Château      is to the left of the Arc. The Château d'Eau was built at the same time as the Aqueduc shown on the next page. The Château stands at the edge of the reservoir that supplies water to the Old Town and much of the east side of Montpellier.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Aqueduc Saint-Clément

This is the Aqueduc Saint-Clément constructed in 1754 and brings water to the Old Town of Montpellier from the town of Saint-Clément which is the source a distance of 14 kilometers away. The Aqueduc is 880 meters long and has a height of 22 meters. The span width of the main arches is 9 meters which support the smaller arches above which have a span of 3 meters in width.
When one considers that at the time of building this facility, the engineers and builders did not have cranes as they do now thus they had to use tri-pods and scaffold structures equipped with tackle-blocks and with horses supplying the power to lift the forms up and doing the same when pouring the concrete. They built well as the structure is still used to this day but the aqueduct  is now enclosed with pipes rather than an open channel as in the past for conducting the water.
At the east end of the Aqueduct next to the Château d'Eau is where the reservoir is located.

Centre Commerial Odysseum

Montpellier has some nice shopping centers. There was a centre just off the la Comédie (or town square) similar in size and shape as the Bay Centre in Victoria (or to the former Eaton Centre in Toronto). As it was very handy, I frequented that centre often.  There was a farmer's market a short distance from la Comédie that was open on Sundays. But this is an exception in France as all the stores and many of the restaurants close on that day. This is very noticeable at la Comédie as the crowds are away down compared to those during the week.

On the far east side of Montpellier is a very large shopping complex, called Odysseum which has everything (even sells cars). I was out at this center twice and on my second trip, I purchased a heavy wind breaker as the high winds were very cold on that day. Odysseum has everything besides a vast number of stores and cafes, such as: a movie theatre; a swimming pool (la piscine); a hockey arena; a planetarium; a huge Ikea which occupied a whole city block; Place du XXe Sieclè (a museum show casing important leaders in the last 100 years); Maison de l'Agglomération (office of the amalgamated towns in the region); as well as many other facilities. Of course there were a number of out-door cafes where folks were out even on a cold day.
In France, many people shop at the individual shops, such as the boulangerie (bread bakery); pâtisserie (cake-shop); poissonnier (fish monger); boucherie (butcher shop); magasin de fromage (cheese shop); boutique de salade (salad bar); cremerie (dairy bar); etc. One sees one or two of these shops on every street block all through the Old Town as they are very popular as they always seemed to be busy.
Also, in the old town are the many small (hole-in-a-wall) cafes or coffee bars  that serve coffee and snacks. All of them seem to be making a go of it somehow.
As January and February passed, my time spent in Montpellier came to an end. Would I do it again, YES in a heartbeat. It was a wonderful experience that I had in France and what a wonderful place to live.  In general I found the people very cooperative and in all respects quite happy. What else can one say but only this: "Vive La France".