Written By: Paul
Bonjour! It’s been a while since our last Expat Life post here on Unlocking France. Instead of back-dating a bunch of monthly posts to get you caught up, we thought it best if we just did one post to update you – covering from the end of 2022 to now, July 2023.
So this post covers a lot of ground! Enjoy. We’re happy to be back!
November / December 2022
The end of 2022 was a busy time for us. It was our first winter in Montpellier, including our first Christmas. The weather (especially to two Canadians!) was beautiful – even with short days and cool mornings, we saw temperatures regularly hit the mid-teens by lunch time. The sun, ever present, made for bright days and a late fall / early winter season that was very easy to take.
We enjoyed our regular routine of working out in the mornings, shopping at the local markets, and enjoying the special events and festivals that always seem to happening here in Montpellier.
One festival that stood out for us was ZAT, or “Zone Artistique Temporaire”. Officially, it was an exhibition to celebrate urban art, and in recognition of this our entire neighbourhood of Antigone was basically lit on fire. I referred to it as “crazy lawsuit game” – in North America they wouldn’t even contemplate an event like this.
Fire installations, pits, candles, torches – basically anything that could hold a flame was lit through the main throughfare of Antigone. It was both beautiful and mildly disconcerting. The fire pits weren’t manned or controlled by anyone – if some lumber needed to be tossed in any random person could do it. I watched as a four year-old lit a small stick on fire and ran around with it while his sister laughed and laughed, parents nowhere to be found. What could go wrong?
Incredibly, nothing did go wrong that we could see. A good time was had by most and it was visually appealing. The main pathways of Antigone were lit by hanging cauldrons, making it feel like something out of Survivor. One particularly large installation blasted fireballs into the sky as the backdrop to a large stage where two DJs in wigs enthusiastically spun everything from ABBA to Metallica to French rap.
It was a unique experience, and unique experiences are why we moved to France in the first place. We love Montpellier for many reasons, special events certainly being one of them.
Following ZAT, the Christmas season began in earnest. Despite the lack of snow (this would be the first winter in our lives we didn’t have to use a shovel!), Montpellier manages to create quite the festive atmosphere.
We enjoyed the markets, light displays, and general joie de vivre evident throughout the city. I also love how you can still sit en terasse in December. Sitting anywhere outdoors in much of Canada in winter without six parkas and a bonfire is a pipe dream.
A friend of ours who works at our favourite restaurant (K&K Bistro) is also a talented artist. Her name is Nat, and she operates Nat’s Customs, a service where she creates custom designs on sneakers. For a present for Angela I had Nat recreate a Van Gogh painting (we’re big Van Gogh fans) on a pair of leather Stan Smiths. She did an amazing job, and it’s something unique, created in France, by one of our new friends. We both loved the work she did.
January / February 2023
Christmas gave way to New Year’s Day, as it usually does. It was a low-key affair for us, allowing us to enjoy the city without too much bother.
At the end of the first week we finally got to a city we had talked about visiting since we arrived in France…Nîmes. Nîmes is a beautiful city just twenty-five minutes from Montpellier on the train. Nîmes boasts some of the finest (and well preserved) Roman architecture in the world. Great shopping, good restaurants, and very friendly people made this a perfect excursion for a weekend in January.
The image below, of the bull fighter outside the colosseum, begs the question, “do they still have bull fighting there?” Yes, yes they do. It’s a controversial activity, but one that persists here as well as other locations in southern France and Spain. In Nîmes you see plenty of bull fighting imagery and posters from fights and events of the past. It’s not something you see in many places anymore, which – whether you agree with it or not – makes it unique.
Neither bulls nor fights were present while we were there, so we made it out of Nîmes unscathed.
Mid-January we jetted off to Amsterdam for a mini birthday celebration for me. We hadn’t visited since we were in our late teens, so it had been a while.
Amsterdam exceeded my expectations, and we quite enjoyed visiting the Van Gogh museum (right after the Van Gogh Christmas sneakers, this place was a shoe-in).
We also loved strolling through the city (when we weren’t dodging bikes!), shopping, the Heineken Experience, and we took an excursion out to Zaanse Schans to see some windmills. Windmills were in abundance, so we’ll call this one a success.
We enjoyed Amsterdam (except for the food prices – seriously Amsterdam?!) and would love to return and explore more of the Netherlands. As southerners now we found it a bit cold, but for Amsterdam in January it could have been much worse, so we’ll take it.
February was all about Barcelona and a half marathon (21.1 kms) I had been training for. One of the big benefits to living in southern France is the warm(ish) winters. No snow means you can train outdoors year-round, a huge benefit for both Angela and me.
We took a train to Spain, arrived at Barcelona Sants, and went straight to the race expo where I picked up my bib. There’s nothing more loaded with potential than the moment you pick up your race packet. 🙂
The race would begin and end near the Arc de Triomf, and we were lucky to get a good hotel room right at the start line. My training had been up and down due to injuries but I got through it and was excited to hit the start line. Barcelona is one of my favourite cities, and I couldn’t wait to run through the city and see it in a way that very few people ever do.
The course is stunning, providing a running tour of Barcelona. Here I am below, looking much happier at the start of the race course than I was at the end. I got it done, but I had to fight for it. Even so, it was an amazing experience and we treated ourselves to tapas at El Nacional afterwards.
March / April 2023
Back in Montpellier we enjoyed the gorgeous weather, the temperatures often hitting between 15 and 20 degrees Celcius by mid-day. I was running less, so we made up for it by going for long hikes through the city and along the River Lez. After our hikes we would occasionally treat ourselves to a pain au chocolat, often warm just out of the oven, from a pattiserie / boulangerie called Galzin. We have come to the conclusion that Galzin has the finest pain au chocolat in the city.
I threw myself into my boxing training with renewed vigour, a sport I began back in November to help supplement my running and karate practice (I hold a brown belt in goju ryu, a style of traditional Okinawan karate). In Montpellier I had been very fortunate to find a phenomenal trainer, a former Italian national champion. Her name is Romina, and she pushes me to stay at my best. Thanks to the weather in Montpellier we were able to train outdoors all winter and spring with no problems.
March also meant another trip to Paris, our first in 2023 but our fifth since moving to France.
March was an interesting time to be there as Paris was embroiled in strikes related to the changing of retirement age from 62 to 64. Everyone from transit operators to garbage collectors were on strike and it definitely made things tricky. The garbage not being collected meant mountains of trash piled up in sections of the city. Where we were staying in the 8th arrondissement you could hardly walk down the street, there was so much trash flowing over the sidewalks. In the 9th, however – no problem. Each arrondissement handled their trash independently, so only certain sections of the city were impacted.
Trash or not, we enjoyed shopping, museums, and the usual sight-seeing.
We were officially there for a doctor’s appointment but managed to turn it into a four day getaway. When it’s Paris, why not? During the weekend we hit the Yayoi Kusama exhibit near Samaritaine; it’s a huge hit with all the Parisian Instagrammers.
April meant our first visitor of ’23! Our life-long friend Shailla came to visit for three weeks, as she did in ’22, and we continued our quest to check out as much pro tennis on the clay court swing as we could! Last year we went Nice / Monte Carlo for the tournament there, followed by Barcelona and then Roland Garros.
So after a week here in Montpellier we zipped off to Madrid to take in the Mutua Madrid Open. We had never been to Madrid and had no real expectations, except that it was a fun city with nice weather and great food. We learned it’s an increibly picturesque place with nice people and a cool vibe.
We hit all of the highlights you read about in the guidebooks, but really Madrid was just a great walking city for us. Each corner led to another pretty square, full of people, steeples, and cafes. It was a city that surpassed our expectations.
Our hotel was perfectly situated, just across from the royal palace. We had one of the best views in the joint, with a balcony that looked straight across at it.
Aside from taking in the city, the main reason we were there was the tennis. The Mutua Madrid Open is a phenomenal tournament, boasting most of the world’s best male and female tennis players. We spent two days at the tourney, enjoying the warm weather (temps in the high 20s both days) and the competition. We caught up with most of the Canadian players, cheering on Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Alliasime, Eugenie Bouchard, Bianca Andreescu, Rebecca Marino, Gabby Dabrowski, and Leylah Annie Fernandez. Pictured below is Canadian #1, Felix Auger-Alliasime.
Following Madrid we re-visited Nîmes, this time with Shailla. It’s a good day trip option from Montpellier and I am quite sure we’ll be back again.
May / June 2023
May was quiet, for the most part. We worked out in the mornings, visited our usual markets, and followed our routine. Montpellier is a good place to have a routine – even when things are quiet there are always events going on at Promenade du Peyrou, Place de la Comédie, and other locations around the city. I did a fun photo shoot with Shailla to help her with pictures for her website. Montpellier is one massive, living and breathing studio – so many great locations.
Shailla headed back to Toronto mid-month. It had been an amazing visit, and we were sorry to see her go, but it wouldn’t be long until seeing her again.
The end of May meant the 2023 edition of FISE. FISE is the world’s largest action sports festival (think “X Games”), so everyone with a trotinette, skateboard, and a penchant for breakdancing was in our neighbourhood of Antigone for the massive event. More than 500,000 people show up in Montpellier for FISE, meaning an abundance of tattoos and Red Bull are in close proximity. I jest, but FISE is actually a blast, and we enjoyed each day of the event for the second straight year. I wrote about last year’s FISE in more detail in this post.
June was our month to return to Canada. After more than a year and a half away (was it really a year and a half?!), we found ourselves on an Air France flight from Montpellier to Paris, and then another from Paris to Toronto.
Arriving in Toronto we jumped on the UP Express, a train which took us from the Pearson International Airport to the Bloor TTC (metro) station, where Shailla was waiting for us. We were back!
We enjoyed a day and a half downtown at Shailla’s and then schlepped (yep, it’s a word) our way back to Pearson where an Air Canada flight whisked us off to Halifax on Canada’s east coast. We left a few bags at Shailla’s, as we would be returning to Toronto a week later.
Halifax is a beautiful city on the Atlantic ocean, a place close to our hearts as Angela grew up there and I lived there during high school and university. Her parents and extended family are still there, as are many other friends and acquaintances. Every time we return we know we’ll enjoy seeing heaps of friendly faces, people who have known us for many years; an experience we missed in France (save for the occasional visitor).
We did the usual things – I had my traditional Nova Scotia donair (nature’s perfect food!), Angela got her Sobey’s cinnamon buns. We ate fish and chips with Angela’s uncle and cousin, went for the usual hikes in Shubie Park, visited with scores of other friends and family, and had a nice trip out to West Dover and Peggy’s Cove to spend some time with Angela’s cousins, aunts, and uncles.
Nova Scotia is definitely a special place, one I have come to appreciate more and more through the years.
Visiting did bring a few shocks, though – thanks to inflation the cost of groceries has shot through the roof! Both Angela and I walked through the local grocery stores, mouths agape, gobsmacked by the prices we were seeing! I picked up a box of crackers only to drop them like they were on fire once I saw the price. Inflation in Canada is no joke these days.
Our time in Nova Scotia up, we zipped back to Toronto on Air Canada, and back to Shailla’s via the UP Express and TTC. We enjoyed staying downtown for a few days, and chowed down on some amazing khao soi at Salad King, one of our favourite Toronto Thai places. We met up with Angela’s brother, and together with Shailla we managed to get some amazing rush seats for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Mirvish Theatre. The staging was spell-binding, the performances magical.
We also got in a fantastic dinner with some of my family who are based in the Toronto area, a rare opportunity.
For a few days we ventured west, out to Fergus where we saw my mother, my brother, and his family.
We also used the time for some mundane things – banking, paperwork, storage unit – when you move overseas the admin work, even when you come home, can be a bit much. But all was good and we got through it without a hitch.
A highlight for me was returning to my karate dojo. I had continued training while in France (online, as well as on my own), but I truly missed the dojo and all of the wonderful people there. I spent a few days training and was welcomed with open arms – it felt great. A very sweaty (and happy) version of me is kneeling in the image below, first row, in the middle next to Sensei Tetsuji Nakamura. Many friends who I have trained with for years are also in this image.
A highlight for Angela (both of us, really) was meeting up with Angela’s French conversation group, an incredibly friendly and supportive group of people who Angela has met up with – both online and in person – for many years now. They hosted a beautiful lunch in Oakville, and it was such a pleasure to connect with everyone and celebrate all things France. We were even gifted a small jar of Canadian peanut butter, or as we refer to it here in Montpellier – pure gold! We happily packed it and brought it back to France to enjoy.
On our final day we met up with my brother and nephew and enjoyed venturing out to the Ontario Science Centre, an assault on the senses. We followed it up with ice cream at Dutch Treat, an iconic Toronto dessert place. A perfect ending.
Our time in Canada up, we packed our bags at Shailla’s and jumped on the UP Express back to Pearson. Air France would zip us back to Montpellier, the place we are pleased to call home.
Hearts full, we loved every minute of our trip to Canada, but we were also happy to be back in France, ready to take on the next chapter of our French adventure.
So you are all caught up! Look for a return to our regular monthly posts soon! Thank you, and feel free to comment or ask questions below – cheers!