Virtual Travellers--
Ah, once again I find myself with quite a bit of
catch-up to do, so I'll split it into a couple issues
again... I've been home now for almost a month, so I'm
flipping through the pages of my Europe Journal for
inspiration here.
I left off at the end of our blissfully relaxing stay
in the small town of Prades in Southern France, saying
that we were "headed back to civilization"--namely,
Toulouse, France. "Why Toulouse?" you may ask, noting
that Toulouse is not exactly the hottest tourist
destination in France (our tour guide book said
nothing about Toulouse, despite the fact that is one
of the biggest cities in France!). I'll tell ya... we
had people to visit, and as it turned out, we
continued our lucky string of European connections and
made some new friends while there.
The connection was pretty remote--one of my good
friends from high school dated a gal who is now
engaged to a Frenchman--but we hit it off from the
start. Bree & Cyrille welcomed us to their home with
an excellent home-cooked meal, courtesy of a friend
who is living with them for awhile, and some fine
French wine around a blazing fireside. After we got
to know each other a bit, the guitar came out and the
tunes and wine flowed until the warmth of the fire
lulled us to sleep.
While in Toulouse, we experienced a fantastic French
food. I've realized the that the French reputation
for fine cuisine is well-deserved!! In our somewhat
short visit (little less than three days) we sampled
about four or five types of cheese (of the literally
hundreds available at the market), some foie gras
(literally "fat liver", the liver of an overfed
goose), sausage made with raw pig meat (can't remember
the French name for it), great wine, delicious
pastries, mmmMMmm I can taste 'em all now...
We also ventured out at night and ate a relaxed dinner
at a Zen-inspired restaurant called "Home Sweet Om"
and sought out salsa dancing afterwards. The next
day, we got to see some classic French highway driving
as Cyrille "Leadfoot" Maraux took us to Rocamadour at
speeds of up to 230 km/hr (140 mph)!! Most of the
time, we cruised at a relatively sedate 200 km/hr,
without worries about cops, since apparently highway
cops don't have much clout. Also, he pointed out that
there was an election coming up, and most presidents
pardon all traffic violations as their first act in
office! It must be nice...
So what would have been a three hour roadtrip to
Rocamadour became more like two hours, and it well
worth the trip--it's a city that was built into the
side of a cliff, and became a pilgramage destination
for many Catholics when a series of miracles occurred
there in Medieval times. Pilgrims will climb the
hundreds of stone steps to the top of the cliff on
their knees, saying a prayer on each step. We opted
to climb the stairs on our feet, and ascended to a
fantastic view of the valley and surrounding
countryside.
The next day we bid "adieu" to Cyrille and Bree and
hopped a train bound for Barcelona. The scenic ride
through the Pyrenees mountains brought us to our ninth
and final country, Spain, the details of which will
have to wait for Part Two...
Au revoir, mis amis!
--Scott.
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