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.