Aimless Wandering in Montpellier

       I realize I haven't said much about Montpellier itself, so I thought I'd take the opportunity discuss it, since I've been here for a while and have tourist-ed around a bit.
My host family, as I may have mentioned, doesn't actually live in the city. Their house is in one of the surrounding suburban neighborhoods (les banlieux in French), but since my French class was in the city center, I had a lot of time to do a bit of exploring within Montpellier itself.
       Montpellier- being a small, walkable, beach-accessable city in the south of France- is a big tourist destination, but so far I haven't encountered too many other foreigners- as least, not that I've noticed. I felt a little awkward wandering around with my camera and making a tourist of myself, but fortunately, I managed to put aside my dignity and actually take pictures of things.

This is Place de la Comedie, Montpellier's central square, and the tram stop closest to my French class. Since I walked through here twice a day for four weeks, this is probably the location in the city that I'm most familiar with, and where I'm most comfortable. Which is great, because pretty much all roads in the city lead to Place de la Comedie, so whenever I wanted to explore, I had a great starting point. There are roads branching out of the square in all directions, and at this point I think I've been down all of them.

This is the Fountain of the Three Graces, so called because of... uh... the three Graces (handmaids of Aphrodite) standing on top. I don't know if these particular goddesses have any significance in regards to Montpellier, or whether they were just put there because they're pretty. In any case, it's a great fountain. The building in the background on the left is the Comedie theatre, from which the square gets its name.

As you can see, as central squares go, it's not very crowded. Though, with tourist season starting, I imagine that will change.

This is a nice little park that leads into Place de la Comedie.

It has a really cool play area.

This is the only surviving section of the medieval city wall. It seems to be a popular lounging spot for local teenagers.

 This is a triumphal arch that was built in the late 1600's to honor Louis XIV, who apparently did a lot of good things for Montpellier. Not the most impressive triumphal arch I've ever seen, but not bed.

Beyond the triumphal arch is a park, called Peyrou, also honoring Louis XIV- you can tell by the big neoclassical equestrian statue of him in the middle.

This week on "Is it a Roman Emperor, or is it Louis XIV?"!

(Spoiler alert: It's Louis XIV.)

Beyond the statue is this building, which marks the end of an aqueduct leading into the city.

Here it is! It's not a Roman aqueduct, but it's still pretty cool.

The area also offers some great views of the city. Apparently there's a law limiting the height of new buildings, which is why the skyline is so... flat. It lacks the personality of other, bumpier skylines, but I like it.









I've also just enjoyed walking the streets and exploring the city. There are some big, touristy, crowded walking avenues, but once you get off of those, the place turns into a relatively quiet maze. It's great.

Look at this great use of trompe l'oeil (optical illusions)!
I knew there was a reason I took that art history class.

This is a really cool church...

 ...inside of which is an art exhibit about the degradation of humanity. I can't imagine anything classier.

I also found what might possibly be the coolest store in the multiverse. It's a labyrinthine, bigger-on-the-inside toy store on a quiet side-street, and I swear it's actually magic. It just has that ambiance.

These are just two of the rooms. There are many more. This place seems to have every kind of toy imaginable, from vintage metal wind-up toys to magic trick sets to voice changing devices to the lone, random Daredevil action figure in the outer space room. And there's no one who appreciates random Daredevil action figures more than me.
In other words, I'm going to be spending quite a bit of time in this shop, absorbing the magic and trying to pick out something to buy.

I've also been spending a lot of time in bookstores (because, if given the choice, I would happily spend my entire life in bookstores) and in the process, I found the greatest American Gods cover in existence.

So about a week after I arrived here, my host mom lent me a copy of the local newspaper, for me to practice my reading skills. And there was an article about an amazing new machine that had just been installed in a pet care shop in the city- a dog washing machine. It's exactly what it sounds like: you stick a dog inside, and the machine washes it.
Well, of course I had to go find the thing. I've wandered past the shop on several occasions, hoping for some cheap entertainment, but so far I haven't seen anyone use the machine. I can't say I'm surprised.

If Superman isn't in there, I will be very disappointed.

And speaking of Superman...

My comic book shop! I couldn't believe my luck when I found this place, and realized that I would not have to spend two months comics-less. I spend a lot of time in here, and it's really great. The people are friendly, and they have a lot of comics in English, as well as (obviously) French. They also have a really intense action figure collection. They don't have many current ongoing series, but I've managed to keep myself occupied with the older stuff. I've... Well, let's just say I've done my part to contribute to the local comics industry.  
I regret nothing.