Overnight flight on AC to Paris. Only half the plane was occupied which meant that I manage to grab a row to myself and could stretch out to "sleep". I'm pretty sure I didn't really sleep, more like lay there for a few hours with my eyes closed. But it was better than nothing as I arrived in Paris at 8:45 in the morning, not feeling like a zombie.
My flight to Montpellier wasn't scheduled until 12:45pm so I had time and made my way to the domestic terminal. The. Longerst. Walk. Ever. Good grief that was far and made worse due to one stubborn wheel on my luggage which meant I was half dragging, vs rolling my suitcase.
Interestingly, half way to the terminal I came across a wall of people. Stopped by security as they had cleared a section of the departure lounge as there was an unattended bag. That was a bit unnerving. Turned out someone had clearly purchased something last minute, from Gucci of all places, and clearly decided to wear there purchase instead of pack it or carry it on. so they left the large shopping bag, full of all kinds of garbage, in the departures area instead of throwing it out. Seriously? What do people think?
Once in the domestics terminal, it was a whole lot of sitting around. But I did finally get to enjoy my first French coffee. un café avec du lait. Or a latte. 4.50 Euros for what would be a "short" latte at Starbucks. I'll never complain about "5-bucks" again. But it was good.
Quick flight to Montpellier. Cab ride to the apartment I had booked on Airbnb and I was officially hear.
The apartment was quite cute, clean, tidy and well organized. It was a great reminder of the last time I was here in France.
All the old apartments have a main door that leads from the street. The door opens on a long dark hallway that leads to the staircase that takes you up. The first thing you need to do is find the light switch which turns on the lights in the hallway and stairwell. It is timed and will go off after a few minutes.
You then climb the staircase, round and round you go. At each floor you come across multiple doors that lead to each apartment on each floor. In my case it was three. Once you find your apartment, in you go.
Once inside I find myself in an apartment that essentially radiates out to a french balcony and the only source of direct light. The apartment has other sources of natural light, but these come from light wells. Remember, these buildings were built hundreds of years ago and this was the way of getting natural light into the interior of buildings. In the modern era, as these buildings were upgraded to provide for our new needs, like bathrooms etc, this is also how plumbing was brought in. You can see in the picture I provided how all the drains run up and down to each unit, on the exterior of the walls, but inside these light wells. These light wells also provide me with my first introduction to new grammar. They are called simply, puits de lumière (light wells).
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