Submitted by Groundblizzard on April 17, 2006 - 7:12pm.
Our trip went well except for something major going wrong every day. That said, we had a wonderful time. We were there and Paris during the demonstrations so it was interesting.
We didn't get out of Montpellier when we were there - which was for three days - because we spent most of that time visiting with our daughter and her friends. That said, we stayed at Hotel du Palais which is in the medevial part of the city. It was quite fine and I have no complaints. One of our mistakes was not to confirm our reservation, so when we arrived, we had no rooms... sort of. They had them reserved under my first name and not my last but we didn't know that and it didn't get resolved until we got back home. But they resolved it just fine. It's location is near a patissierie where we picked up fresh baguettes every morning - by fresh, I mean almost hot to the touch.
We also ate at two wonderful restaurants - Le Petit Jardin, which is down the street from du Palais, and Isabellas (I think). Le Petit Jardin is a two star but the food was wonderfully fresh. I don't eat seafood ever, but there I did and enjoyed it. At Isabellas we had my daughter's birthday dinner and had a wonderful piece of veal and a duck salad that was great as well.
On a daily basis, there are many patisseries and brasseries to choose from and none stick out in my mind - mainly because they were all fine and I had no bad thoughts.
Shopping in the medieval city is more fun than at the Polygone mall, but each was enjoyable. My wife discovered a wine shop that was exclusively Languedoc wines and the shop keeper spoke well enough that my wife picked some nice wines.
Things to keep in mind for Montpellier. The city itself isn't all that much of a site-seeing town. The medeival part is fun to walk and browse, but watch where you step. The Place de Comedie is pretty plaza and is a good place to get your bearings for the town. Antigone is fun too look at, but not much is happening around the New Arch. The tram system is a little overrated, imo, but it does connect you from one end of town to another. They are currently working on a second line. If you are coming there after Paris, it may leave you underwhelmed.
We enjoyed our stay quite a bit. We did not get to the Sea because A) it was cool when we were there and B) the day of hte Protest was the day we had planned, so it all went up in smoke. The fun of Montpellier was just walking the streets and finding new things around every corner - a store here, a chapel there, the university there. However, less English is spoken there than in Paris, which is probably understandable. Everyone was quite friendly, even though I and my wife mangled the language something fierce. We did work on saying "Bon Jour" and "Merci" whenever we entered an establishment and left. The other popular phrase by us was "Parlez vous Anglais?" The restaurants were very good about translating the whole menu to us, and in return we left a pretty good tip. I do mean the whole menu, so I felt very comfortable showing appreciation for their working so hard. We tried hard to be courteous and let our daughter lead the conversations when possible. Just that little bit of etiquette seemed to help everywhere we went. Also a bit of a cultural tidbit - Montpellier is land of 3 kisses for a greeting rather than the expected two. If your not ready for that, it can be a bit of a surprise.
If I went back again, however, I would try to spend a day or two outside of Montpellier such as at Nimes and the aqueduct and also at Carcassone. I do think we missed a bit and our daughter has confirmed that much as well.
The TGV ride from Paris was wonderful. The countryside is beautiful and you see the range of it. Near Lyon, if the sky is clear, you will be able to see the Alps. That contrasts with the rolling hills around Paris and the slightly more rocky landscape as you get closer to Nimes and Montpellier.
On our way there, security helped us through Gare de Lyon due to what I expect was our exceptional ability to look like tourists (for some stupid reason we took a large hardside that I regretted having every footstep I took) and then on the way back, protests had our train putting in at Gare de Bercy rather than at Gare de Lyon (which meant a little jaunt to Gare de Lyon to get a taxi because no one was expecting the arrival at Bercy). I heartily endorse the TGV as the way to travel.
We didn't get out of Montpellier when we were there - which was for three days - because we spent most of that time visiting with our daughter and her friends. That said, we stayed at Hotel du Palais which is in the medevial part of the city. It was quite fine and I have no complaints. One of our mistakes was not to confirm our reservation, so when we arrived, we had no rooms... sort of. They had them reserved under my first name and not my last but we didn't know that and it didn't get resolved until we got back home. But they resolved it just fine. It's location is near a patissierie where we picked up fresh baguettes every morning - by fresh, I mean almost hot to the touch.
We also ate at two wonderful restaurants - Le Petit Jardin, which is down the street from du Palais, and Isabellas (I think). Le Petit Jardin is a two star but the food was wonderfully fresh. I don't eat seafood ever, but there I did and enjoyed it. At Isabellas we had my daughter's birthday dinner and had a wonderful piece of veal and a duck salad that was great as well.
On a daily basis, there are many patisseries and brasseries to choose from and none stick out in my mind - mainly because they were all fine and I had no bad thoughts.
Shopping in the medieval city is more fun than at the Polygone mall, but each was enjoyable. My wife discovered a wine shop that was exclusively Languedoc wines and the shop keeper spoke well enough that my wife picked some nice wines.
Things to keep in mind for Montpellier. The city itself isn't all that much of a site-seeing town. The medeival part is fun to walk and browse, but watch where you step. The Place de Comedie is pretty plaza and is a good place to get your bearings for the town. Antigone is fun too look at, but not much is happening around the New Arch. The tram system is a little overrated, imo, but it does connect you from one end of town to another. They are currently working on a second line. If you are coming there after Paris, it may leave you underwhelmed.
We enjoyed our stay quite a bit. We did not get to the Sea because A) it was cool when we were there and B) the day of hte Protest was the day we had planned, so it all went up in smoke. The fun of Montpellier was just walking the streets and finding new things around every corner - a store here, a chapel there, the university there. However, less English is spoken there than in Paris, which is probably understandable. Everyone was quite friendly, even though I and my wife mangled the language something fierce. We did work on saying "Bon Jour" and "Merci" whenever we entered an establishment and left. The other popular phrase by us was "Parlez vous Anglais?" The restaurants were very good about translating the whole menu to us, and in return we left a pretty good tip. I do mean the whole menu, so I felt very comfortable showing appreciation for their working so hard. We tried hard to be courteous and let our daughter lead the conversations when possible. Just that little bit of etiquette seemed to help everywhere we went. Also a bit of a cultural tidbit - Montpellier is land of 3 kisses for a greeting rather than the expected two. If your not ready for that, it can be a bit of a surprise.
If I went back again, however, I would try to spend a day or two outside of Montpellier such as at Nimes and the aqueduct and also at Carcassone. I do think we missed a bit and our daughter has confirmed that much as well.
The TGV ride from Paris was wonderful. The countryside is beautiful and you see the range of it. Near Lyon, if the sky is clear, you will be able to see the Alps. That contrasts with the rolling hills around Paris and the slightly more rocky landscape as you get closer to Nimes and Montpellier.
On our way there, security helped us through Gare de Lyon due to what I expect was our exceptional ability to look like tourists (for some stupid reason we took a large hardside that I regretted having every footstep I took) and then on the way back, protests had our train putting in at Gare de Bercy rather than at Gare de Lyon (which meant a little jaunt to Gare de Lyon to get a taxi because no one was expecting the arrival at Bercy). I heartily endorse the TGV as the way to travel.
I hope that was of some help.
JL