La Famillle Kessler a cheval

By Raoul Dufy (1877-1953)

Today was a busy day. First I rode out to help a friend in her garden and over shot the garden some how. My map only went so far and the directions were vague so eventually I had to come back to phone her and say I was fine, just directionally challenged.

Billy had to work on a talk he is giving at the University of Pierre et Marie Curie and the weather is very unspring like (much like the weather in Seattle only warmer) so I took myself off to a movie with my student card!

Quick movie review: KickAss has possibly more stabbing and chopping than the Lord of the Rings!

Didn't know that going in. I thought it would be some comic book like film and what I did know was that it was VO (no not like the brandy) but as in "Version Original" which meant it would be in English with French subtitles. This is a great way to study French!

After that we went out for a little museum/historic site visit and went to see the Foundation Bremberg in the Hotel d'Assezat and Les Jacobians.
The Foundation Bremburg is where we found the above painting with it's catchy title! It is a small museum but it had an amazing collection. It is housed in what was a palace built in the French Renaissance. The collection includes many impressionist paintings and the largest collection of Bonnard's works. As a small clarification the word "hotel" in this case does not mean a place that rents rooms. It was just the perfect size museum for a Sunday afternoon.

Then on the walk home we went by Les Jacobins, a church and Abbey, built in the 13th and 14th centurys. It is a marvelous example of Gothic architecture. You can still see how the walls were originally painted. They did a really cool thing of placing a large mirrored surface around one of the pillars that allowed you to see the ceiling arches through out the church. The grounds include the cloisters and Abbey though I don't think they are used much now. What they do have are the relics of St. Thomas Aquinas who only lived 47 years but was a force that shaped the Catholic church-naturally he was condemned before he died. Why his remains are in Toulouse is not entirely clear to me.

A great day and I even managed to get a few "femme de foyer" tasks out of the way to too!

I'm not a very aggressive street walker...

OK that came out wrong! (the picture will be explained later ;-)

What I meant was that the overly polite style of community action (possibly also known as inaction) popular in Seattle is a problem and the clearest evidence of this is squashed pigeons! Yes squashed! You know that when the pigeons are having a hard time staying out of the way that you have a serious problem for the overly polite.

Lucky for me Billy grew up in Manhattan so he has that big city style of walking down. You just pretend, no not pretend, actually see yourself as "Moses" and KNOW that the sea will part if you walk into it. If I'm right behind him it's fine but I have found myself waiting patiently on a corner and he is all ready several blocks away . It would not surprise me if he stepped on a pigeon sometime.

Today we rode out with the GPS attached on the bike and a map. It is starting to be over kill with the direction finding equipment. We took it one step farther on our trip to the coast. We had GPS, two maps, and directions cached on the iTouch if we had had nothing the signs were very good and it would have been fine.

This time we explored part of what the map said was a bike trail on one of the lessor little rivers, the Le Touch. ( no joke ;-D) I did not bring my road bike and this is one of the reasons, a bike trail can be a nicely paved trail, dirt path, or some old cobble stone thing. It was fun and we connected with one of the main drags and got back in time for "Les Voix du Midi".

It was very cool. Five hundred, or cinqante cent, singers in groups big and small started out at 2 pm from squares and intersections on the periphery of the city. Toulouse is a very old city that is roughly shaped like a wheel. For three hours the groups worked their way toward the center of the town stopping to sing along the way. Some had costumes some did not all sang beautifully.

My favorite group was a group that did not sing. They came down the street like a Mardi Gras parade lead by a guy on stilts (see picture above) that looked like he was walking on two "pogo" sticks. Behind him dancing and drumming were about thirty people of varying abilities. Some in wheel chairs, some walking, and some just digging the vibe. They were all dressed in the most outrageous colors it was truly Awesome! Meanwhile the guy on the "pogo" sticks was leaping and jumping in the air it was spectacular!

When we got to the center of the town, Place du Capitole, 500 hundred people plus the crowd, sang two songs. One was in Catalan the other in French they were both old songs about the love of the Mid-Pyrenees! Then we beat it back to the apartment at warp speed and this time I stayed with Billy the whole time!

School's Out For Summer........

It happened I passed my class!!! Now my head is stuffed full of French. So full that it is coming out my ears...but unfortunately not my mouth. I now can understand much more and if I repeat numbers over and over to myself I can puzzle them out. But this is not a good strategy for taking the bus because once I have it figured out ....it is gone! ;-)

I have a plan though, one of my fellow students who is continuing on to the next class can be hired to tutor me and it is the pronunciation I need to work on. He is Spanish so my French accent might wind up with a slightly Spanish sound but it will just have to do.

Now I am free to be a "femme de foyer" French for "Haus Frau" and "House Wife" As you can see by the photo above it is a very cute place.

The layout is a little weird. In the photo you see one of the stairways to one of the bedrooms, what you don't see is the other stairway to the other bedroom. Our kitchen is called "American Cusine" and I was told that it comes from Westerns where people stand at a bar. The kitchen has an eating bar but I thought the name came from standing and eating in the kitchen!

The other thing is the bathroom or "salle de bain", it is huge by French standards which consider a bathroom huge if you are NOT able to stretch your arms out and touch the walls. However instead of a shower this one has a huge soaking tub with a nice ledge that you can sit on and a hose spray shower faucet. Not sure what to call it, "Shoub" or "Tuwer", any way one of the best things about or visiting a hotel is being able to take a real, okay I'll say it, "American" shower-God we are getting old! I'll spare you any, "European Tales From the Digestion System". ;-D

But while we are on the subject, there is this myth that French can eat whatever they want (like duck gizzards and livers in their salads) and not get fat. So not true! In fact the American diet industry has gained a few foot holds here with both diet drugs and businesses like Weight Watchers. On my way to school their are two very chic shops that specialize in clothing for the larger femme which is not considered "grande" that means tall, but "grosse"

Plus they really are concerned with cellulite and you see lots of advertisements in the windows of pharmacies for the treatments using the firmest pair of legs I have ever seen any where. I'm thinking of trying it......

....of course, it will have to be scheduled between stints of cleaning the foyer.

A Room With a View

This last weekend was another holiday. No school on Monday due to the Feast of the Pentecost or Whitsun an ancient holiday celebrated for centuries BC to celebrate the return of the dead to their after life. Now we celebrate it by renting a car and taking off!

The picture to the left is from our two star hotel room! In a little town called Banyuls sur Mer. You can visit it web wise at http://www.banyuls-sur-mer.com/. It use to be a sleepy little fishing village and compared to neighboring towns it still is. We happened to come to it because the place we were headed for was so crowded and busy that there was no way we could stay there. Luck found us a beach parking spot, then when we asked at a hotel that was full for a recommendation the person at the desk very kindly called a friend at another hotel and reserved us a room.

True it was on the 3rd floor but I climb stairs for fun. ;-) The hotel was right across the street from the beach. It was clean, with a view, and wifi! I wanted to stay for a week. But alas that was not to be we left at 11 am the next day to resume our one family effort to restore the European economy. We are like the "Johnny Appleseed" of euros emitting them in small towns across France.

The day before we had climbed to the last of the Castle stronghold of the Cathar's to fall to The Roman Church. Montsegur

Here is a quick Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXYyfCdiKaU&feature=related.

At this spot on 16th March 1244, 220 people were put to the stake for being Cathars and on Pentecost Sunday 2010 there were flowers on the marker remembering them, something to ponder as you catch your breathe climbing up to the 1200 meter top!

After the first 30 castle ruins you see you can start to get a little blase about them but way up in the hills we came across a little church that looked very old and we stopped to take pictures. It was small but was obviously still in use had a very interesting door and while we were looking at a woman came by to show it off. It had been established in 980 AD over a thousand years ago! Even Paris was a burg at that time yet way up in the hills a little village has made time stop and stand still.

But time does not stand still for a rental car on a holiday so we hopped in the car and started up the GPS and buckled up because the hill roads make surviving the weekend sort of chancy!

French School Field Trip

We were also assigned the irregular verbs but I have admit that this assignment was easier to do!

Today Billy and I join up with other students from Alliance Francias to spend the day at a local French vineyard. We started out on a bus at 9:30 and returned at 18:00 and it was a fabulous day!

The name of the place is Chateau De Cointes and it is owned and run by Anne and Francois Gorostis who are now in their fifties (possibly, I don't know for sure but now everyone I meet seems like they must be in their fifties ;-) The Chateau has been in their family since the 1920's they live there with their teenage and young adult children plus a nice assortment of animals; horses, dogs and a really cute 8 week old kitten.

Their vineyard is in the area of the south of France that gets the weather from the Mediterranean and the weather from the Pyrenees Mountains. The area is referred to as the Malepere which is around the famous castles of Carcasonne. Here is a quote no doubt translated literally from the French:

"Mala Pera, a Land with Character....Mala pera (bad stone) cracked by the sun, dried up by the wind, people bent, clinging to the slopes wanting to make it sing."

And yet the wine is really Good! First we got a tour of the vineyards then we got explanations of how the wine is made. (I'd say I get about 50% of the information which means that Billy and others translate for me or I wind up with odd ideas. Like thinking that we are going to "shop" through the vineyards, REALLY? When it turns out that we were "walking" through them!) Then the real work began! The wine tasting!

It starts with the white wines, the the rose, then the reds. There was the opportunity to spit them out after you tasted them but well waste not...... This is one activity that did not require much translation ;-)

After the wine tasting we all sat down for a meal on tables set up outside overlooking their vineyards. They prepared a great meal with two fabulous salads, bread, sausages, a cheese plate and apples plus coffee. Oh, and wine to go with of course!

The next part of the trip was an opportunity to visit a black truffle orchard. I chose to go with the walkers, it was a beautiful warm day and off we went.
The walk lasted about an hour was lead by the owner at a nice clip through hill and dale. I had only one awkward conversation with him that used up my French repetorie, a sort of" name, rank and serial number" conversation with a lot of smiling. Then after our little 5K up the hill (props to the girls in the group wearing the strappy sandals, who not only kept up but never complained) we got a lecture under some old oak trees in French that was so heavily accented the French speakers needed a translator! The gist of the lecture was "Truffles are worth 1000 Euros a kilo we work pretty hard to make sure we get good truffles and we have been doing it a long time." There that just saved you a long walk in the hot summer sun!

After that, hot tired, and well lets call it "well fed" we hopped on the bus to get back to Toulouse. Another homework assignment successfully completed!

Chocolate! ou Chocolat!

Here is something that I haven't mentioned yet. They have wonderful chocolate here. I think I mentioned that they have an entire street dedicated to little chocolate shops!

Lucky for me I haven't learned enough French to confidently stride into a store and come out successfully with the object I was trying to purchase. In fact there is another place I go to where I boldly order only to find out that I got something different and I just can't risk that when it comes to chocolate. ;-)

However, despite my inability to successfully negotiate small shops I am a pro at the Super Marche and there is where the problem starts. they also have rows of chocolate and it is inexpensive by our standards and that is for the good stuff! So now I have a chocolate "Monkey" on my back that I am trying to wean myself off of......at least until I can successfully order stuff at those shops.

In the mean time the wine is pretty inexpensive too.......

Medieval France Predicts Invention of Cell Phone!

Yes, it is true. Here is the proof from the Bridge of Alexander III. The medieval french knew it was coming and managed to represent it in the statue, a minor one at that.

My third week of French started yesterday but to be fair last week was only three days. Unfortunately it has caused me to develop a delayed onset of a form of Tourettes or as I like to call it: Tourettes Francais. I know what I want to say and as I start to say it, it comes out as,

"Je suiss f**k (I know that word), Non J'ai didn't mean sh*t-, no, no Je didn't mean tu or is that vous? Cr*p ou Merde, etc......"

Finally I am reduced to pantomime and the frenetic waving of hands and arms with lots of eye brow action.

There are a couple of other people in the class who are struggling but they are already using a second language (English) to understand French!

Ooh La, La ! (Yes, they really say that.) .

Last Day In Paris

Our last Day in Paris we would have been sad to leave but: a.) we were tired and needed a rest and b.) we were cold and tired of wearing all our clothes all the time :-) our big purchase in Paris, 3 scarves one for Billy two for me!

This is a picture of me on the Eiffel Tower! We got up and out early, the Tower opens at 9:30 am and we got there by 9am. The lines were long already. We got in the "stairs only" line and waited an hour. Our strategy to wait for better weather worked perfectly but it wasn't warm. We waited for an hour then hit the stairs. They won't let you walk up to the third level any more so you have to take the elevator. It is 704 steps to the second level but they do a nice job with lots of landings. Then it was a nice 40 min wait for the elevator to the top. There is a cute display of the apt. that Eiffel build at the top now that is a view property!!! The whole trip (including coffee on the first floor) took us 4 hours but it was worth it. We had 4 hours left before we had to get back to the airport.

We enjoyed a nice lunch at a Cafe on the Left Bank. Then strolled over to the Musee de Moyenagy it had the famous tapestries of the Lady with the unicorn. It was built on the sight of a medieval church that had once been a roman building. After that we went to see the Ille de l'cite to soak up the history (that is where the Place of Justice and Notre Dame are). Then it was a couple of Metro rides, bus ride and airplane ride and we found ourselves back in Toulouse.

You know I have never been to London I would really like to see London........

Next Day In Paris

Next morning we hunted down these "Paris Passes" which pays for entrances at most museums but most important lets you stand in a shorter line. The we saw Notre Dame, yes it is incredible, made a quick stop for coffee and hit the Louve.

The Louve is immense! It has two metro stops of it's own. It has HUGE lines but we got to go through the short 20 min line to get in. Then it is just "Wow", "OMG", Wow" for 4 hours straight. A one point I thought I should be wearing my fuel belt and have water and Gu's for this. Well the gigantic purse came in handy as a sub.

Here is a picture of a mirror with pictures in it which is pretty much what happens to your mind after a while. After 4 hours we just had to stop. It turns out that "stair practice" comes in handy in Paris but "stare practice" would have been useful too!

After a quick bite to eat it was off to the Arc de Triophe by walking through the Tulleries (a couple of side trips to check out some interesting things) up the Champs Elysee where we saw our first Starbucks. In fact the Champs Elysee is where you can drop big bucks should that be a goal you have. Then we climbed the Arc (no line standing for us we already had our tickets, OK short line standing before we figured out where to go). The weather did not make for great pics, cold rain, but it was amazing 284 stairs to the top and quite the display of history.

Then it was a Metro ride to Montmartre to visit Sacre Coeur Church of the Scared Heart. It was 225 steps up to the church then another 20 or so to get inside. An amazing Church outfitted with Nun's singing away, while tourists made a circuit. I wanted to stay for Mass just to sit down but it was 6:30 pm and we need to get back to the apt. and find some food-which we did!

Paris C'est Magnifique!

We had a fantastically....active weekend in Paris! You know Rick Steves, the famous NW travel writer? Now try to imagine him on Crack now you have an idea of our trip!

We left Toulouse early Thursday morning (Thursday was a National Holiday the Feast of the Ascension) we flew into Paris at about 9 am and caught the bus into town. We were headed to the apartment of the sister of a friend to stay for the two nights we would be in Paris. We asked directions and the first person we met in Paris turned out to be a super nice Parisian who offered to use his GPS and then gave us a ride to the apartment! The apt was about 1.5 k away from the Eiffel Tower so we walked to the Eiffel Tower looked at and stood in line briefly then decided we'd have a better chance on a another day.

That's when the frenetic walking started. The problem with Paris is that there is an intense amount of historic sites and museums all in a relatively small area. So we went up and across a bridge to look a giant museum across from the Eiffel Tower then back over the brige and along the famous river Seine , then over a very decorated bridge, Pont Alexander III. We would have taken the Metro but there was so much to see and we didn't want to go underground it wasn't raining...yet! then back over to Musee D'Orsay where we stood in line 50 mins. The Museum was fantastic even with a floor closed off but many stairs and many floors of stone. After thatwe finally climbed onto the Metro for the way back to the apt. Fortunately for us we had left chalk marks (no not really) but we had turned around at intersections for land marks to find our way back. That night we took the sister's room mate out to dinner (sister was out of town so we had her room) and had a great Parisian meal. It was delightful.

Be True To Your School!

Here is a picture of my school

Alliance Francais

Look at the second floor, first window on the guache (left ;-) and that is one of my classroom windows. The class goes from 9am to 12:45 pm with one break at around 11:15 am.

The teacher's name is Quinne Roosenberg and she is quite the actress. I swear it is never boring and she keeps 14 very diverse students actively interested the whole time.

The last time I mentioned the "cool kids". The rest of the students include; a 71 year old retired woman school teacher from New Zealand; a mother of two from Shanghai; two beautiful young women from Germany; the other woman from Seattle (yes, the only other American is from Seattle too!); a man from Thailand; an 18 year Persian boy whole lives in Montreal; a guy from Hong Kong; and another guy from Venezuela who is a computer programmer on vacation.

The teacher starts immediately at 9 am, no waiting for late students. She speaks only French and is funny and engaging. Over time we have learned a little about her.
She loves Rugby (which is HUGE in Toulouse); her boy friend is Italian; she has a cat named Meesh Meesh; and she has a Masters in Television and Film.

The class moves very quickly and I find myself sputtering like some caricature of a hot teapot on top of the stove!
Although it is really challenging it is also a lot of fun and with the weather kickin' Seattle style it has been the perfect activity to get to know a new city and culture with.

Plus they have field trips, next up is the Wine and Truffle tasting trip.

I really love this school!!

The More Things Change....The More Things stay the Same!

I know you were just waiting to see how long it would take before I got in trouble in school!!!


OK it wasn't that big a deal but I got in trouble because I was hanging out with the Smokers.

France like many other countries (civilized or other wise) now requires all smoking to be outdoors and some undetermined distance from the door or perhaps the Cafe that is right outside the door. So I went over to socialize and figured that everyone would go in when the break was over but....nicotine is stronger than the desire to learn a second or in most cases third language. We all trooped in late and received a short lecture in French that went over our collective heads!

Because, "When your a "Jet" your a "Jet" all the way...." ;-D

It is an interesting idea to see how the tobacco plant from the America's has come to dominate and place into submission the people of the world! In our little group we have a guy from Turkey, a woman from South Africa (French is like her fourth language), a Palestinian from Saudi Arabia, two guys from Spain and me the non-smoker!

I'm just a hanger on, clearly I haven't paid my dues but they are a pretty social and friendly and I know where to find them!!!

Here is a photo of the "play ground" and the building right across from my school, Place du Capitole

One , Two, Three, It's easy as A, B, C......

OK honestly coming from English or anglaise, as we say here in Frants. The ABCs aren't that big of a leap. However the counting is another thing altogether.

The first ten numbers or eleven if you count zero (which they do) are straight forward. Then the teens are reminiscent of Spanish and then it is back to the familiar system of counting until the magic number of 70. That is where the "wheels come off the bus". There is no word for 70 so you say 60 + 11 for 71 etc until you get to 80 where it goes to 4x20 which is 80 then 4x20+1, etc. It doesn't stop there. At 90 you say 4x20+11 which is 91 and use that until you get to 100.

However in other Francophone countries they have succumbed to numbering that resembles anglaise so if you go to Montreal or Belgium or Switzerland you have to learn the other numbers for 70 through 99!

Even though I am learning the numbers it is still really hard for me to hear them. People say them fast just like in the US then look at me and my attempt to count in my head (and, I will admit, sometimes on my fingers) and say the numbers in English.

It has been two days and a week of French lessons and I was starting to despair but this weekend on our bike ride we stopped for directions and afterwords I realized that I basically understood what he had said ! None of the subtleties but I got that the road was close ahead because they were doing work on it. Whether he was able to slip in, you, "DoDo Head" I will never know ;-)

The Downside of Childrens Literature....

It is shopping day in Toulouse and we are lucky to live within easy walking distance of several outdoor markets and one large reknown indoor one. It is call Marche Victor Hugo. Inside it there is every imaginable kind of meat as well as cheese, fresh pasta, bread, fish and my personal favorite crepes.

Today we walked the stalls selecting our food for the next couple of days and here is where childrens literature causes me problems. There is a stall for veal which shows a picture of a calf nursing; one specific for lamb (how those hours at the Petting Zoo come back to bite you in the butt); horse (you can get freshly ground horse burger if you like); pork (damn that ""Charlotte's Web); duck (Make Way for Dinner? I think Not!); Goat; and of course rabbit.

The fish comes unmolested so you get to see just what they really look like. Although as far as fish go I am unsentimental as there did not appear to be any, "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" available. ;-)

Yes, I will admit it, I am an unconscious Omnivore and was hoping to remain so, but now "Old McDonald's Farm" has another meaning altogether. Will my sojourn in Frants cause me to develop a taste for legumes?

Unfortunately, for our dining pleasure, Billy's reaction to the market is, "Yum!" He longs for the opportunity to "mix it up" cuisine wise. I am encouraging him to go ahead! There are always adventures in salad for me!

Returning to School Makes You Bright!

You will notice my new mascot (actually a graphic from Fresh Off the Couch!). Okay maybe you can't see it. Having a bit of a tussle understanding how to use Blogger!

Today the promised rain did not appear!! So after we had a nice lunch of pizza and coke light ;-) we jumped on our bikes and head North on the Canal du Midi.

This canal was built some time in the 1600's and you can go all the way to the Mediterranean on it. The canal made trade easy throughout France and really caused a boom in commerce. It was 200 years old before it was made "Old School" by the railroad which was faster and didn't require barges to be towed everywhere. Now the old tow paths have been turned into bike paths and it is pretty cool to ride along.

We rode to the town of Fenouillt which is about 11 miles from our place in Toulouse. Everyone rides bikes here but apparently only for short distances.
This is despite the fact that it is "Burke Gilman Trail" FLAT here. Maybe flatter, water even in canals, does not do hills well at all ;-).

Despite this flatness not many people take to riding very far so when we started asking directions (yes we should have brought the GPS with us, we forgot to charge it from last time) people would look at us like, "You rode ALL the way from Toulouse??? And Now you want to ride back???"

Well it was a lovely ride and we had a fabulous time. However all this flat riding got us to thinking.....How are we going to be able to ride in Seattle after no hills for three months??? I guess we could head for the Pyrenees.

We will definitely need the GPS for that!

Sunshine

Yeah! For the first time in a week it is sunny! However it is suppose to rain tomorrow, Oh Well at some point it is going to dry out and I will miss these cool, misty days.

What I won't miss is wearing the same clothes day in and out! My packing strategy did not anticipate an extended cold snap!

After an entire week of French class I can now confuse people in two languages! Someone pointed out that I am now bi-confusing and I guess it is true I always wanted to be Bi something but I was looking for lingual!

I did, however, get a student ID which is great because now I get the student price at the movie theater while over here Billy gets the Senior price! Don't laugh, we saw Ironman II in English with French subtitles because enough French people speak English and hate the translations. Fantastic!

This weekend is a holiday. It is the celebration of the liberation of France from Germany. Stores close and the military parades!

We are hoping to see some of the museums in town this weekend.

Caio!!!

Records Are being Set!

By the weather!

It hasn't been this cold here, at this time of the year, since 1946! It is OK, it gives me a chance to catch up on my French homework and believe me I need the extra time.

Today when my French teacher asked me, as part of a class exercise, how old I was I proudly stated that I was 508 years old. She was appreciative of how well I have aged!!!!

Things are suppose to warm up soon but we have our reputation of bringing the "rain" to maintain so I have my doubts.

The "Whine" Report

Whoever said, "When it rains it pours" must have lived in Toulouse! Because it is raining and it is "Froid" (cold), and to think that it was only last week I was asking for water with that very word.

Today I used my French homework and Google translate to keep me warm. I was able to spend 2 hours doing homework that was probably intended to take all of 15 minutes!

The class is very interesting and is a good example of "It's a small world". On the first day a woman came in and her accent sounded American so I asked her where she was from and it turns out that she's from Seattle, specifically Beacon Hill. She is much younger as is everyone else, except the 70 year old from New Zealand who is quite the world traveler! The rest are people from Germany, Turkey, Iran, Venezuela, Palestine, Thailand, South Africa, Spain, and China !

When it stops raining I am going to take a picture of my school. It is quite impressive situated right on the Palce du Capitole, if it doesn't stop raining I will use Billy's underwater camera!

A Picture of Our Apartment!

Made you look! You history buffs might recognize this as the Castle at Carassone.
It was built on a site originally settle by the Romans and an old Roman floor lies below the floors of the old castle.
It's past is heavily associated with the Cathars a religious sect that was wiped out by the Catholic Church in the 1200's as being heretical which I guess they were since Cathar comes from the Greek meaning "good men" and even then the Church's representatives were often the bad men. It was completely restored in the mid 1800's and is quite beautiful!

They are every where.....

The French love McDonalds and why not? You can get a beer with your hamburger and really make it a "Happy Meal"

The other thing you can get is coffee to go! You see French people walking the streets eating sandwiches, ice cream, pizza, etc but unlike in America where everyone seems to be caring coffee no one here does ! Mostly because Cafes are in the business of having you sit down and drink your coffee not wander around!

Oh and the McDonalds here have free WiFi (pronounced Wee Fee) I'm "Just Lovin It" ;-)

I Was Wrong About the Rain, Again.....

When I was packing for the trip I said to myself, "I don't need this raincoat. By the time I get there it will be hot and sunny and this will just take up room and sit in the closet." Very reasonable however I forgot the history of our family travels.

There was the time we went to Death Valley and it rained for three days, the time we went to the Outback in Australia and the temperature dropped 30 degrees, and again in New Caledonia where it rained steadily for three weeks. It can also work the opposite too. Once we went to a rain forest, rain ponchos at the ready, only to find it dry as a bone and uncharacteristically sunny (I felt sorry for the poor Spanish moss drying on the trees). Yes despite all of that I forgot!

Fortunately I am from the land of mist and rain and know that I will dry out ;-) Next time I'm going to bring the rain coat even if the weather forecast is warm and sunny!