Map of France with Montpellier marked.

Montpellier, France

While the weather app said no rain for today, it lied. But based on our previous experience in Britain where the weather app was always wrong, we brought umbrellas.

We walked around the old city center. The old streets were paved with marble! Nice to look at but terribly slippery in the rain.

We spent the day exploring Montpellier—the big city near our village.

Montpellier Street with Christopher in Panama Hat Olga Werby

Montpellier Street Olga Werby
Carousel in Montpellier Christopher Werby

Like seemingly every other French city, Montpellier has a carousel.

Elephant Carousel Animal Christopher Werby

Does this look familiar?

Bike on Wall Olga Werby

Apparently embedding bicycles into a wall is a thing…

We went to as many churches as I could drag my guys to.

Church Interior: Ceiling Olga Werby

Olga in front of church Christopher Werby

Church Interior: Organ Pipes Christopher Werby

Olga in wall with bite out of it Christopher Werby

Olga within the bite taken from the corner of a building.

And we had fun until it started to rain. See the threatening skies?

Bench Olga Werby

Bridge Olga Werby

Temple Olga Werby

Gate Detail Olga Werby

Arch Olga Werby

Then we stopped at a supermarket and got a picnic dinner to eat at home.

In general, all the small villages here seem to have homes that share walls—three foot thick stone walls! The windows onto the road are slits or are completely absent. The villagers share both walls and wall maintenance.

We get up very early tomorrow to drive for three hours to visit prehistoric cave paintings at the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave (a replica). The original is a UNESCO site.