Short Update

I am getting worse and worse at keeping up with this.  I have so much to talk about.  I think it might have to wait until I get back home.  I just finished day two of my three days working at the Yves Thuries Chocolate Factory.  So far it has been truly amazing.  I just went to Paris last Saturday through Tuesday and sampled more chocolate and pastries than I ever thought possible.  I am squeezing in as much as possible during my last few days in Europe.  I will update fully about Madrid, Ibiza, Paris and the Chocolate Factory as soon as I stop running around.  I have one more day at the Chocolate factory and then a few more days at the Musee du Sucre.  We are going to Perpignan on Thursday to see a pastry school.  My parents. arrive in Toulouse next Saturday and then we are traveling back to Cordes then Paris and Dublin.  I will be back in Chicago on Friday October 9th. 

 This is a photo of the box of Macarons we bought at Pierre Hermes shop.  They were delicious.

London and Reading

Saturday evening, I took the train to Toulouse and flew to Gatwick Airport.  I took the Gatwick Express Train to the London city center.  Then I took the underground to the International Students House.  ISH is campus housing so my room was  a single dormroom.  It had a shared bathroom down the hall.  I went straight to bed because I was going to the Reading Festival the next day.  I took the train to Reading at ten a.m.  

I got the festival grounds and entered the gates at around 11:15.  Then I walked around a little before the first band went on at noon.  I stayed at the main stage all day.  The lineup was Kids in Glass Houses, The View, The Living End, Noah and the Whale, Brand New, Vampire Weekend, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party and finally Radiohead.  It was a really great day. I stayed in the front row until a few songs into Radiohead.  The people around me were singing too loudly so I walked further away.  It was a really great show.  Radiohead opened with Creep.  They hardly ever play Creep live.  I wasn't expecting it at all.  They played almost every song I would have wanted to hear.  It was totally worth the trip.  It was good to see Bloc Party in England because they had a completely different attitude.  They said they met at the Reading Festival 10 years ago.  Karen O. from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs came out in a crazy outfit and kept changing her accessories the whole set.  It was great.  Their performance was fantastic too.  They played a truly beautiful acoustic version of Maps.  

Vampire Weekend was a lot of fun.  I had never seen them before, I'm glad I got a chance to see them.  Brand New were fantastic as usual.  They played mostly songs from their last cd, 2 new songs and one each from their first two cds.  Noah and the Whale were really great.  I think their new cd is going to be fantastic.  The Living Edge were very entertaining.  The View was unintelligible and Kids in Glass Houses were Welsh Emo.  Overall I am really happy that I got to experience a European Music Festival.  It was very different from the festivals I've been to in the U.S. in one major aspect.  The crowd surfing was insane.  There were so many people crowd surfing.  They had 200 security guards at the main stage.  They rotated after each act and were all at the stage for the final two performances.  There was a line of burly men near the crowd and then about 10 feet behind them was a line of women.  The women were there to run the people away from the stage after they came out of the crowd.  It was really entertaining to watch.  The head of security said that 1500 people went over the barrier the night before during The Prodigy.  

Radiohead played for two wonderful hours and then I walked back to the train station and went back to London.  It was 1:30 in the morning by the time I got back so I took a cab back to the ISH.  

long time since a posting

I have been spending all of my free time planning trips for my remaining time in France.  I am going to London on August 29th for three days.  Next is Madrid September 6th and Paris September 19th.  I am also planning my trip back home with my parents.  As soon as I have all of the accommodations and transportation booked I will do a more detailed update on my time in Barcelona with my sisters and what's been going on in Cordes.

Sisters in Spain

Last Saturday I took the last train to Toulouse to meet Kelly and Michelle on Sunday morning.  The earliest train the next day wouldn't have gotten me there until 9am and there flight got in at 8:15.  It was really important that I met them at the airport because none of us have cell phones.  I took advantage of my extra time in Toulouse and saw the new Harry Potter.  It's quite fun to watch films with French subtitles.  I'm so glad I got to see it.  I stayed in the same hotel as my first visit to Toulouse in April.  Everything was fine there and I walked to the bus station the next morning.  The bus to the airport is 4 Euros and leaves every twenty minutes.  It is very convenient.  I arrived at the airport with time to spare, and a sign that said, "Brennan Girls."  There flight arrived on time and then we headed to the car rental desk.  Kelly had booked a car in advance online.  The desk didn't open until 9 am so we had time to get some pastries and Michelle's first French Espresso.  She thoroughly enjoyed it.  Our rental car was a little diesel Citroen.  It felt kind of like a remote control car.  

Kelly drove, I navigated and Michelle was the official Photographer.  The route to Barcelona was only two toll-roads so navigating wasn't too difficult.  I had gotten directions from google as well as maps of France and Spain.  The ride was fairly easy and the countryside was beautiful.  There is a more scenic route that you can take, but we really just wanted to get to Barcelona.  If we had more time, it would have been very cool to stop at Carcassone and see the castle that we saw from the road.  Once we reached Narbonne, we headed south.  The border between France and Spain had a security checkpoint but everyone just drove right through.  The border patrol did stop a Ferrari on our way back into France, but otherwise travel within the E.U. is very easy.  

We parked  in a parking lot near the north bus station in Barcelona.  It was right near the Arc de Triomf metro stop.  We took the metro to Linsey and Michael's Flat.

Medieval Festival

Well it's been two weeks since I have posted anything here and I have been pretty busy.  I have passed the halfway point for my stay in France.  It is quite bittersweet.  I feel like I just got here, but at the same time I miss everyone at home.  There is still so much I need to see and do and learn.  

The day after my last post, Lisa and I attempted to take the train to Toulouse.  When we arrived at the train station, the ticket agent informed us that there is a greve for Mondays for the rest of the year.  Greve is French for strike.  The ticket agent was kind enough to call the taxi to come back and get us and take us back to Cordes.  Now we have to rethink some travel plans.  We went home and watched episodes from the second season of The Office on my computer.  The Office never fails to lift my spirits.  The rest of the week went by really fast.  We spent most of the time preparing for the Medieval Festival. 

Saturday the 11th was Lisa's Birthday so our boss gave us the day off to celebrate.  We successfully took the train to Toulouse for a movie, lunch and shopping.  We saw "The Hangover" which is called "Very Bad Trip" here.  It is a strange title change because it is very similar to another film "Very Bad Things which was also about a Vegas Bachelor party trip gone wrong.  It was in English with French subtitles.  There was one other person in the theater and she did not laugh once.  It was a little strange since I ended up in the fetal position laughing so hard that I was crying.  It is possible that she spoke neither French nor English.  I had popcorn and a Coke.  You can choose between sweet or salty popcorn and from the size of the containers, it appears sweet is more popular here.  I chose salty.  Everything here is super buttery except the movie theater popcorn.  Coca Cola is made with sugar here instead of high fructose corn syrup.  I think it tastes a little different, but not much.  After the movie we headed to lunch at an Italian place then wandered around for the rest of the day.  We both worked Sunday and Monday and then I had Tuesday off.  

The Medieval Festival Took place on July 13th and 14th.  The 14th is Bastille Day, like our 4th of July.  Cordes was transformed into a festival ground.  There was an admission cost for the city.  Adults had to pay 8 euros to enter the upper part of the town, where I live.  My name was on a list so I could travel freely.  Those who chose to dress in medieval attire were admitted free of charge.  There were banners hanging over the streets for days before the event.  They are still up now.  The weather was absolutely beautiful both days.  It was a little hot to be dressed in medieval garb but those of us in modern clothes were pretty comfortable.  There was entertainment throughout town.  There was a stage set up for theatrical performances as well as random street performances.  There were musical groups that walked through the streets playing and dancing.  I didn't get to see much on Monday during the day, but I got to see the parade Monday evening.  The parade was very interesting.  It was led by two men on horseback in complete medieval costume including chain mail and metal helmets.  Then there was a group of men with spears followed by music groups and people in costume holding candles.  The highlight, for me, was the group of fire wielders.  They had many different tools for spinning fire around there bodies.  There were also fire breathers.  The parade lasted about 25 minutes.  I was off the next day so I wandered around to take in all that the festival had to offer.  The pavilion had venders selling medieval souvenirs and a bar.  There were two blacksmiths shaping metal on the street.  There were also impromptu duels by people in costume.  At one point a boy about 1o years old came at me with a spiked club and said something that I didn't understand.  I just smiled and told him I didn't speak French.  The courtyard across from the Museum was full of tents with medieval games for children.  It was a very surreal experience.  There was a parade again at 3:30pm on Tuesday.  It was basically the same, it just headed the opposite direction.  There were costumed stilt walkers and less fire.  The festival went on for the rest of the evening. 

The rest of the week has gone by very fast.  We had a wedding cake and two croquembouches to make for this weekend along with appetizers.  I made bechamel for the first time for gougeres which are like cream puffs but with a cheese filling.  I also made olive cakes and tuna sandwiches on brioche.  It was quite a change of pace.  I have tomorrow off and will probably try to do some more Rosetta Stone and wander around a little.  Kelly and Michelle will be in Toulouse next Sunday.  I am meeting them there and we are driving to Barcelona in a rental car.  I can not wait.  The attached photos are from the Medieval Festival.

Tuesday in Barcelona

Tuesday was our big day in Barcelona, the entire reason we were there.  We had tickets to the opening date of the U2 tour.  Lisa and I had never seen U2 before.  We were going to see them on Lisa's birthday in Paris on July 11th but there is a huge medieval festival in Cordes the 13th and 14th so we knew we would have a lot of work to do here.  We also wanted to see Oriol Balaguer's Chocolate shop while we were in Barcelona.  

We started the day by changing hotels.  We were gone for three nights and stayed in three different hotels.  The third hotel was part of our concert package.  We waited too long to buy tickets so the show was sold out, but there was a UK company selling event packages through the U2 website.  We got a room with breakfast and floor tickets as part of our package.  The first hotel we stayed at in Barcelona was near the airport.  The hotel we moved to was right off Las Ramblas, the major tourist thoroughfare.  After we checked in, we took the metro to the stop closest to the chocolate shop.  Then we walked for about a half hour and stopped at a Starbucks on the way.  The chocolate shop is in a really cool area.  It is in a circular plaza around a beautiful church.  The shop is pretty small but has beautiful chocolate on display.  I bought a bar of 70% chocolate and 4 assorted bonbons.  I haven't tried them yet, they are almost too pretty to eat.  

Our trip took longer than we thought so we took a cab to the Hotel Arts for lunch.  It is the Ritz Carlton property in Barcelona.  Lisa knows a chef there and he prepared lunch of tapas for us at Marina, the restaurant of the pool.  It is a breathtaking place.  It is right on the beach.  The view is amazing.  The food was amazing.  We started with gazpacho and bread with tomato puree.  Next we had a salad with apples and walnuts and crispy roasted corn.  The next course was fish for lisa and grilled vegetables and potatoes for me.  Finally, we had cheesecake popsicles for dessert.  It was by far, the best meal I have had in Europe.  While we were eating the singer from Snow Patrol walked by.  After we finished our meal Lisa's friend took us for a tour of the hotel kitchens and the VIP lounge.  While we were in the elevator coming down from the lounge, the Snow Patrol guitarist got in at a floor below the lounge.  As we were saying goodbye in the lobby LL Cool J and his family got off the other elevator.  Then as we were waiting for a cab, The Snow Patrol bass player walked out of the elevator.  It was a star-studded few minutes.  The hotel was beautiful and the staff was really nice to us.  

We caught a cab back to our hotel to get our U2 tickets then headed to Las Ramblas to catch a cab to the concert.  Finding a cab was pretty difficult.  When one finally pulled up, two gentlemen were also waiting and asked if we were going to Camp Nou and would we like to share the ride.  We got really lucky.  The two gentlemen were a father and son from Ireland who were also going to see U2 for the first time.  The father was very enthusiastic and made conversation with us and also the cab driver.  It turned out the cab driver had been a tour guide for years and gave us a tour of the city on the way to the stadium.  It was fantastic.  We reached Camp Nou and entered the general admission area without a security pat down.  That was a first.  The stadium holds 90,000 people.  It is home to Barcelona's football team.  

Snow Patrol took the stage for at 8:30 and played for 45 minutes.  They were really terrific as usual.  U2 didn't start until 10pm.  They played for 2 hours and 15 minutes.  They were very good live.  One of the highlights, musically, was when they played Vertigo.  The stadium went crazy because of the Spanish lyrics.  It was incredible.  At one point in the evening, the astronauts from the International Space Station.  They were on a live satellite feed on the 360 degree jumbotron.  The stage was crazy and had a crazy canopy contraption above it with moving lights.  We were pretty close to the stage.  Bono dedicated Angel of Harlem to Michael Jackson and sang part of Man in the Mirror.  It was the most theatrical concert I have seen in a very long time.  When the show was over, 90,000 people poured into the streets surrounding the stadium.  It was impossible to find a cab and the metro entrances were jam packed so we walked back to our hotel.  It took 2 and a half hours.  We didn't have a map so along the way we met some people from Ireland with a map and tagged along with them.  We made it back safe and sound with the help of some Barcelona garbage men.  

The next morning we ate breakfast and headed to the airport at 830 am.  We flew to Lyon and had a layover then finally to Toulouse.  We made it back to Cordes at 845 pm.  We were exhausted, but it was well worth it.

Barcelona

Last Sunday, Lisa and I flew to Madrid on our way to Barcelona.  We couldn't find a direct flight.  We were only in Madrid to sleep.  Our flight for Barcelona was at 9 a.m. the next morning.  I can't wait to really explore Madrid.  We really only saw the airport and our hotel.  

We reached Barcelona early Monday morning, checked into our hotel and then left to meet up with my friend  Michael who is currently living and working in Barcelona.  He showed us around town all day.  It is such a beautiful place.  It is right on the Mediterranean.  It was hot and sunny and felt like a completely different world from Cordes.  It was 33 degrees Celsius which is about 92 degrees fahrenheitWe started at the beach where Michael works.  Then we went for tapas for lunch.  We had grilled asparagus, patatas bravas, and a tortilla.  The tortilla is not anything like a Mexican tortilla.  It is like an omellette with potatoes in it.  Lisa and Michael also had something with ham in it.  After lunch we were off for a whirlwind tour of Barcelona.  We walked for hours and saw so much of the beautiful city.  At one point we were walking around trying to decide at which cafe we should have a drink.  We ended up going to Haagen Dazs for ice cream.  

After ice cream we walked to Sagrada Familia.  It is a church that has been under construction for years.  There is no completion date in sight.  It is the strangest church I have ever seen.  After the church we walked around some more then went back to Michaels apartment to meet his roommates and drink Sangria and Spanish wine.  We finally had dinner at an Italian restaurant after 10pm.  Meals in Spain are a little different from what we are used to.  they east lunch and dinner rather late.  After dinner we headed back to our hotel to rest up for Tuesday.

I will post about Tuesday later on today.  Right now I have to walk down to the bakery and get a loaf of bread before there is none left.

Croquant Fest

Croquant Fest  On Sunday, Place de la Bride, where I normally sit to go online, hosted a croquant fest.  Croquants are a Cordes specialty that I make at work almost every day.  They are a crispy almond cookie.  I posted a photo of them earlier.  Two men in old fashioned straw hats came and set up a flat platform grill.  They started a wood fire and then brought the hot coals under the grill.  The process took a really long time.  The end result was really cool.  A plate of hot fresh croquant was 2 Euros.   Yesterday, Lisa and I went to Toulouse so I could get a haircut and to go to the cinema.  We hitched a ride with one of Lisa's friends who is visiting from Colorado.  We were planning on taking the train back, but there was a train strike yesterday.  We stayed at a hotel last night and I took the first train back this morning.  I was only an hour late for work which isn't bad considering we were stranded in Toulouse.  It ended up being a pretty enjoyable evening.  I was a real commuter this morning.  It took more than five minutes to get to work.   I like my new haircut and we saw Terminator Salvation.  It is called Terminator Renaissance here.  I think seeing subtitled American movies is helping with my French.  The cinema already has signs for Transformers in VOST.  VOST means version original sub titles.  That is the key element to not seeing a dubbed movie.  I love going to the movies.  At the theater we go to, you are corralled out a back entrance after the movie.  No double features.  It's always a little disorienting to leave a dark theater descend multiple flights of stairs and then exit onto a street behind the theater.  Luckily we are beginning to become more knowledgeable concerning Toulouse geography. I don't know what is in store for next weekend, but the following weekend we are off to Barcelona to see U2.  I am really excited to try to speak spanish and to go to such a huge concert.

draft

M.O.F. Event

Last Sunday, Chef Manu drove Lisa and I to Soreze for a day of M.O.F. Demonstrations.  It was about an hour and a half southeast of Cordes.  The M.O.F. is an honor bestowed on craftsmen and women in many different fields.  Many of those fields were represented in Soreze.

There were shoemakers, blacksmiths, marble carvers, fur makers and embroiderers to name a few of the crafts.  The food world was represented by a Chef from Toulouse who demoed Foie Gras cooking, a breadmaker who had an oven set up to make fresh bread to try and Jean Francois Arnaud creating a sugar sculpture.  Chef Arnaud worked at the Musee du Sucre, where I am staging now, for many years. He made many of the sculptures on display in the museum.  At the demonstration, he created a dragon sugar sculpture.  

The event was free and open to the public.  It took place in an Abby.  It was a boys school in the past.  The event was pretty crowded.  

I will post a photo of the sculpture and the building in my next post.  The photo in this post is Lisa and I in the courtyard at the Abby in Soreze.

Back online

It's my day off again and I'm finally back online after a thunderstorm knocked out the modem at work.  Since my last post Lisa and I went to Toulouse.  We took a 9:35 am train that got to Toulouse at 10:35.  Then we walked around all day.  We ate at a cafe facing the Capitole.  The margarita pizza I had was quite good.  After lunch we walked around and went to what felt like hundreds of shops.  The weather was great and it was nice to have a change of scenery.  We took the 7:45pm train back to Cordes.  We are doing the same thing tomorrow.  We are going to see Angels & Demons tomorrow morning.  It's the only film not dubbed in French.  Later on I am going to see a film in French while Lisa gets a facial.  I haven't decided which film yet.  

This week at work we started making quiche.  I have been lining tart rings with dough for the past few days.  We also made some new petit fours, tart tatin and cherry eclairs.  We still make Croquants and bread every day.  

Cordes has been pretty crowded lately because it's a holiday weekend here too.  Thursday was Ascension day, so there have been people here everyday since.  It's nice to have people around.  The shops here don't open unless there are going to be crowds.  

Lisa's sister mailed her old copy of Rosetta Stone this week, so I have been practicing French.  Hopefully I will be fluent soon.   

The photos attached are of the cherry eclairs and The Capitole.

Partly Cloudy

Today is another partly cloudy day.  It's been a bit rainy with some sun the past week.  Bad weather here means that shops don't open and there are no tourists.  It's kind of a ghost town.  

On Wednesday, the chef, Lisa and I went to visit the Yves Thuries Chocolate Factory in nearby Marsac.  We went into work early so that we could leave for Marsac at 2:45.  The town was about 30 minutes away via a very circuitous route.  Luckily the chef has G.P.S.  When we arrived at the chocolate factory, the employees had already left for the day.  The chef there took us on a tour of the whole facility.  It was very cool.

We got to try Pistachio praline, almond praline, violet, cinnamon, fresh mint and caramel chocolates.  They were very good.  The almond praline was my favorite.  We got to see the entire production from making the fillings to packaging.  I'm really glad we got the opportunity to visit.  While we were there our chef got a  phone call informing him that we were moving out of our hotel room for three nights.  When I asked when we needed to be out by, he said they already moved our things.  That was a bit of a shock.  When we came back they had moved our belongings to a dormlike apartment closer to work.  We stayed there three nights and just got to move back last night.  The move really made me appreciate our hotel room.

Tomorrow, Lisa and I are taking the train to Toulouse.  We are really excited to go to a bigger city.  Hopefully it will be an easy trip and we will be able to go monthly.  It is an hour train ride.  The train station is 5km from Cordes.  Mathilde, a woman who works at the shop, is driving us to the station tomorrow morning.   

Happy Mother's Day

Today is my day off.  This morning I walked down the hill to buy a baguette and then came back up the hill on the other side.  The whole trip took me 30 minutes.  The weather has been really great here for days now.  There are flowers in bloom everywhere.  

Yesterday we made macarons for the first time at the shop and of course more croquants.  We make croquants every day.  They are the specialty of Cordes.  They are really crispy airy almond cookies.  They are very good.  We make them at our shop and they get sent to Yves Thuries shops all over the world.  The shop sells chocolates and cakes and other pastries and confections.  The photo attached on the top of the post is the kitchen where I work.  The other photo is a bag of croquants.  I will take a close up photo soon.  

Saturday afternoons are the busiest tourist times.  The cafes fill up at lunch on the weekends.  There is a little train that will bring you up the hill for 2.5 Euros.  It is pretty funny but very helpful.  The hill is steep.  We are on top of a hill that is located in a valley, so you can't see the town until the last minute.  It's truly beautiful.

Seis De Mayo

In case you were wondering.  Cinco de Mayo is not a holiday celebrated in France.  However, the bar near the hotel serves Corona.  That's about as close as it gets here.  Today at work I made Cannelle batter and baked some citron diamants.  I also made pineapple pate de fruit and cinnamon hazelnut diamants.  Today we listened to my iTunes at work instead of the local radio station.  The radio plays Lady Gaga's Poker Face about once every hour.  Another local favorite is the Enrique Iglesias and Ciara duet.  Needless to say, today was a much better day sonically.  

This morning Lisa and I took some cardboard boxes to the dumpsters a few feet away and were followed into the alleyway by the fois gras lady.  She wanted to make sure we disposed of our trash properly.  At least I think that's what she wanted.  I really have no idea.  We put a box in the wrong dumpster and had to be shown through gestures where it belonged.  The joys of a small town.  Hopefully we can live up to her standards in future refuse deposits.  The dumpsters are called poubelle.  Sounds kind of oxymoronic.  

So to sum up my day, garbage and music were my greatest concerns.  France is truly exciting everyday.

First Days Off

I had yesterday and today off.  Yesterday I walked to the bottom of the hill to encounter life outside the two blocks I have been staying on the past week.  There is a pharmacy, pizzeria, bar, bank, and card shop and a few other shops.  The walk down is incredibly steep.  I don't know how people do it with strollers.  When I got back up the hill I was winded.  I went back to my room and read some of The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon.  It is a terrific book.  Later  on I met Lisa and we went to dinner in the garden behind Le Grand Ecuyer.  We eat lunch and dinner there everyday.  It has a terrific view.  After dinner we went to the courtyard outside the pastry shop to go use the internet.  After that we got Magnum ice cream bars.  They are one of Lisa's favorites.  They are available in Australia.  They also have Coronettos here which are the ice cream cones featured in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.  I haven't tried one yet.  But I am sure I will soon.  Today we went to Albi to get a sim card and go to a supermarket.  It is a fairly large town about 20 minutes to the southwest of here.  I am doing laundry now and who knows what I will do later. I am back to work tomorrow.  I am trying to plan trips to music festivals throughout Europe on the Sundays that I am off.  If anyone cares to join me let me know.

Good Weather

Today is the first truly beautiful day here.  The sun is out and there are people everywhere.  I don't really know where the visitors are from.  I know they are French but other than that I have no idea.  The doors to shops are wide open here when the shopkeeper is in.  There aren't any screens on any of the windows or doors.  It's just wide open.  Almost every restaurant here serves ice cream.  I haven't gotten any yet.  I didn't bring my camera to work today so I don't have any new photos to share.  I will be off work on Sunday and Monday so I will take more photos then.  I am excited to have some time off.  I really like the kitchen but it will be nice to unwind a bit.  

My roommate Lisa is Canadian so I might come home saying eh at the end of sentences.  It would be funny if I came home with a french accent and did that.  At this point it seems unlikely but you never can tell.  I got my first pay today in Euros.  That was fun.  It's hard to get used to everything under 5 Euros being coins.

Life in Cordes

Today was my third day of work.  Lisa and I work with one chef in a kitchen behind the Musee de Sucre.  Today I made pound cake and fruit cake and shaped olive bread.  So far I have done something different everyday.  The town is very quiet right now.  It should get more crowded in the summer.  There is a museum of sugar art right above the kitchen I work in.  People come and take tours to see sugar and pastillage sculptures.  It's pretty cool.  On Tuesday a group of school children came and watched a sugar demonstration in our kitchen.   The chef made a swan, apple, pear and a rose.  Lisa and I rolled and shaped pastillage.  It's pretty difficult communicating, hopefully I will pick up more French.  I only have internet access at work.  Everyday at about 5pm here, I am able to go online.  There is no internet in my room right now.  I am staying with Lisa in a two bedroom suite in the Hotel de la Cite.  It is right up the street from where we work.  The hotel is closed right now, so we are the only people there.  I'm not sure if we will get internet access when the hotel opens.  The connection I am using right now is wireless, but the walls are so thick here, the signal doesn't make it to my room.  I am getting used to using the internet here.  So hopefully I will be able to update this more.  Everyday I go to work at 7 am.  At 12:30 Lisa and I go to the Hotel Le Grand Ecuyer to eat lunch with the people who work in the hotel there.  We come back to work at 1:30 and then work until about 5pm.  There are only three of us in a pretty big space.  At 6:30pm we eat dinner at Le Grand Ecuyer with the people who work at the restaurant there.  I told the chef that I am a vegetarian and I get meatless food now.  After dinner Lisa and I usually watch a movie or tv show on DVD.  There isn't really anyone outside after we leave the Restaurant.  I'm sure things will change when the town fills up with tourists.  I am hoping to travel on my days off.  Monday Chef Manu, Lisa and I are going to Albi to a supermarket.  It should be pretty exciting.  

Paris to Toulouse

Yesterday afternoon I walked down the Champs Elysees to the Louvre.  The Louvre is open until 10 pm on Wednesdays and Fridays which was really convenient for me.  The walk is truly spectacular.  I got to the Louvre at 6:45pm and entered through the pyramid.  There are many different places to purchase tickets once inside.  I got in a short line for ticket machines and had a ticket in less than 5 minutes.  Then I chose to see the Denon wing first.  This wing included 13th to 18th century Italian paintings as well as Italian sculptures and Large Format French paintings.  It felt like walking into an art history textbook.  I always knew the Louvre has a wealth of priceless art, but until seeing only a portion of it, it was hard to grasp the extent of the wealth.  I viewed the Mona Lisa and countless other famous works.  I then went to the Sully wing and saw Greek art, Egyptian artifacts and 18th and 19th century French paintings.  I saw so many amazing things and only really saw a portion of the museum.  I have to go back again to see the rest.  I spotted many people having twilight picnics on my walk back through the Tuileries Gardens.  It was such a perfect sight.  

On my walk back to my hotel I stopped inside a McDonald's. I was to curious to pass it a second time.  They serve Macarons and tarts at a McCafe counter inside.  Once back at my hotel I was completely worn out and went to bed.  This morning I took the TGV to Toulouse.  It took 5 and a half hours.  Then I walked to my hotel and have since been relaxing.  My day in Paris really wore me out and the weather her is cool and overcast.  I will explore the city tomorrow.  I am meeting Lisa at 5pm so i have all day to enjoy the sights.  

Paris

Today has been beautiful so far.  I flew into Paris this morning and got to my hotel around noon. My hotel is right by the Arc de Triomphe.  I walked from the Arc to the Eiffel Tower.  The weather is absolutely beautiful and so is the city.  The parks are amazing.  I am going to the Louvre in about an hour.  Tomorrow I am on my way to Toulouse.

Dublin

I just got back from wandering around Dublin in the rain.  There has been a constant misty rain.  I stopped inside The National Gallery of Ireland.  Admission is free.  I went in the back door which is much less interesting than the front door.  I walked through Grafton Street, by Trinity College and St. Stephen's Green.  I didn't take any  photos due to the rain.  I bought dinner at a local grocer and spotted Brennan's Bread.  Very exciting!  I will go back out and get some photos after I eat.  Then I will probably go to bed early.  My  flight to Paris tomorrow morning is at 7 am so I have to catch a bus at 4:45am.  

The Beginning

I'm off to Dublin tomorrow night. This is the beginning of my European summer. On my way to Cordes Sur Ciel I am stopping in Dublin, Paris and then Toulouse.