Focus on Montpellier
In my last post at the beginning of March I outlined a potential itinerary for our September scouting trip to France. We only have thirteen days to spend in the south, and this schedule would result in a lot of driving and no deep dives into local culture. We have since revised our plans and have decided that we will focus on Montpellier, which is a moderately sized city a few kilometers from the Mediterranean. Now we will have almost two weeks to explore one city and the areas surrounding it. Montpellier is a modern, liberal university town with a thriving expat community. The core city is set up for walking and it has an excellent public transit system centered on trains, trams and buses that connect the various districts of the city proper with one another as well as the surrounding communities. The climate is warm and dry in the summers and moderate in the winters, with mostly clear skies for much of the year. The city boasts a major medical university (it is home to Europe's...