The Etap hotel, for my first 'home' in Montpellier, really wasn't too bad. Freshly decorated, with a modest breakfast buffet and access to a microwave, things could have been worse. I even managed to make friends with the cleaning lady after our run-in on my third morning there: I wanted to pay to stay for an extra night; she wanted me to leave so that she could clean my room. After we finally straightened out the slight miscommunication, I was able to go downstairs and pay for another night. Having done so, she was quite happy to leave me to my own devices with my fresh towels and empty bin. In fact, by my final morning there she was so accustomed to the slightly strange English girl who seemed to have taken up residence in room 226 that she left cleaning my room until last, and was most apologetic when she had to ask me to vacate at half past eleven.
Having lived off of nothing but pesto pasta from home (2 days), microwave meals (2 days), and eating anything that vaguely resembles dinner but can be eaten cold (1 day) I'd like to think I have some words of wisdom to share on Vegetarian hotel dining:
- Pesto pasta keeps well for up to 3 days in a cool bag!
- Goats cheese and spinach lasagne may sound yummy. It is not.
- Microwave tortellini is fairly horrid too. On the other hand, microwave pizza is surprisingly good, if a little soggy.
- Mozzarella and tomato pastries are yummy cold, even when the instructions say they should be eaten warm. Cous cous with extra vegetables is a good option when your body is screaming at you for some trace of vitamin C.
Best Hôtel was a little less impressive. It was a little shabbier round the edges, with a distinct lack of lift (the look on the receptionist's face when he realised he had to carry my suitcase up the stairs more than made up for that though), and a faint smell of stale smoke meant it didn't quite live up to the Etap standards. On the plus side, the bed was slightly more comfortable - less like the solid stone mattress of the Etap, and a little more like one made of pebbles... Still fairly solid, but with a little more give in it. Moving between the two hotels was a most hellish walk, with all of my luggage, plus 5 litres of water that I thought I'd be really clever and buy cheaply from the supermarket the day before. Buying the water was in fact very sensible, as bottled water from high street shops costs €2 for just your standard 500ml. However, buying it the day before I moved hotels was less intelligent.
Both hotels were about a 10 minute walk away from the Millénaire tram stop on ligne 1. There are two tram lines that create a kind of 'X' shape across the city, rather inspirationally named 'ligne 1' et 'ligne 2'. They make travelling across the city simple, cheap and fairly quick. Millénaire is on the east side of the city, and it only took about 10/12 minutes on the tram to get to the centre. I was also a mere 5 minute tram ride from the huge shopping centre, Odysseum, that houses a 'Casino Géant'. No, I haven't taken up gambling - it's the name for one of the French supermarkets. As it happens, I also became the proud owner of a €1 Casino Géant re-usable shopping bag when I went off to purchase my microwaveable goods... I had completely forgotten that for the most part the French don't give out carrier bags in supermarkets, at all, ever. Helpful.
Needless to say, I was pretty relieved when I finally arrived at my apartment on Monday morning (more on that later). Nonetheless, I will probably spend the next few months looking at Millénaire with a certain sense of fondness when I pass the tram stop on my travels.
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