Le Matin: There is nothing more French than an open air market. I didn't need any directions; I just followed the nicely dressed ladies with their baskets hooked on their arms. It looked as if the socializing was at least as important as the shopping. Ladies were chatting and blocking aisles as they stopped to talk. I just wandered slowly by each table admiring the ...
Hotel de Paris, Auch. Gord and I are settling into stillness for a bit. I am going to rest and recover until Monday, as ordered by my new favorite medical practitioner and then we will see. We will stay put in Auch for the time being. We love our hotel. It has all the right ingredients: affordable, friendly( run by the same family for the ...
Gimont -Auch 30 kmHotel de Paris, AuchThe weather was truly nasty today. It rained and the 30km/hour head wind whipped us pretty hard. My back also decided to spasm and complain, so all and all a pretty crapy day. We are going to rest here for two nights and I'm going to try my luck with an Osteopath tomorrow Maybe the problem is that I haven't ...
L'isle Jourdain-Gimont 24kmToday was a great ride up down and around on beautiful tiny roads. It feels like we are back on the camino, although we haven't seen another pilgrim yet. We had the municipal gite all to ourselves last night, which would have been wonderful except there was no hot water!!!!! The note claimed it was just a recent thing, but the complaints in ...
Gord chatting with a gentleman on a Roman bridge.Toulouse-L'Isle Jourdain 45kmRight now I am sitting in the sun in a square drinking Pernod and thinking about how much I love France. I love it enough to even turn a blind eye on the cultural practice of not cleaning up dog poop. The French get so many things right. Like windows, for example as my sister ...
Today we roll out of Toulouse on the via Arles route of the Camino.My back is still a problem but it is better on a bike. Our plan is to go slowly with lots of breaks. We passed our French level(A2.2 if that means anything) and we are now legally qualified to order a coffee in France. We were dumbstruck with surprise to discover that ...
ToulouseTomorrow is our last French class. In three weeks I think I have learned quite a bit. I am far more comfortable speaking in the past and the present. It has been really fun getting to know our classmates too, even though we are at least twice their age. Fortunately our maturity level puts us on an even footing with them all. I don't know ...
Gord and I are now the proud owners of two shiny new bikes!!! We gave them a test run on the Canal du Midi this weekend and they seem fine. This Saturday we will head off on the Chemin de Arles.
Toulouse is a city of bikes. They have velo stations everywhere and for very little you can pick up a bike, use it, and return it to any station when you are done. Since my back has loudly suggested that I not walk at all for a bit, I have become a velo enthusiast. The convenience for urban riding is amazing. You never have to ...
I love how the French take to the street en mass! Today there was a general strike in France in opposition to Sarkozy's pending legislation that changes the retirement age from 60 to 62. After class, equipped with our new labour vocabulary, Gord and I hit the streets to find the demonstrations. Unfortunately we found them a little late, and most of the workers had ...