Scroll down to find an update to my Germany travels.
June 21, 2007
June 20, 2007
Cité de l’Espace
Today I drove Marissa and the kids to the Cité de l’Espace, a space-themed science centre located in Toulouse. It was decided before-hand that I would not enter the Cité de l’Espace as the admission fees are a little hefty at 19 euros (about $28 CA) per adult so I brought my bike along to pass the time while awaiting for Marissa and the kids to finish their visit.
I spent most of my time cycling along the bike path that parallels the Canal du Midi. Within the downtown core this was not all that pleasant—it seems this path is a favourite crapping place for dogs and the portions of the path that pass underneath the many bridges stink of aged urine—but things really improved the further I went from the city. There are beautiful trees that line both sides of the canal and this canopy provided a pleasant reprieve from the hot sun while I cycled.
One interesting thing that I’ve noticed during my many visits to Toulouse, including today’s visit, is that the homeless youth all seem to carry an entourage of dogs—apparently for protection. I noticed one such group of homeless youth today, close to the train station, getting into an argument with two older homeless fellows. One of the youths grabbed one of the bags belonging to the older-homeless person and then threw it into the canal before motioning to the older fellow that he should immediately vacate the bench that he was resting on. I’m not sure what the argument was about.
I returned to meet up with Marissa and the kids a little earlier than our scheduled meeting time. Rather than wait by the car I then rode to the nearby McDonalds to have a coffee. Upon arriving at the McDonalds I noticed an older cyclist trying to change a flat tire on his bike. I went over to the cyclist to offer my help and he accepted. The fellow, whose name is Louis, is 82 years old and has been cycling the area for over 35 years. He seemed very happy to receive assistance and I was happy to have someone to chat with. Louis thanked me for helping him and insisted on buying me something, so I asked for a coke and then we sat outside and had a great chat for about 30 minutes.
After re-uniting with Marissa and the kids we snacked at McDonalds and returned home for a nice dip in the pool. Speaking of McDonalds, I have to admit, sadly, that we’ve actually eaten there more in the last three months than we have in the entire previous year. Eating out is very expensive here and so our preference is to eat at home or to go to a grocery store or market and buy things for a picnic. But during some of our longer days out it is sometimes more convienent to go to McDonalds and also on days where we do things that are less interesting for the kids, the McDonalds playgrounds always seem to keep the kids in a positive mood while also giving them a chance to practice their French with the other kids playing there.
Marissa will give an update on the tour of Cité de l’Espace later tonight.
June 18, 2007
Munich Day 2
Well, it took me awhile to get this up but here it is. I got up, I explored, I shopped, I walked and I went home.
Oh, and I loved it!
June 17, 2007
Happy Birthday Munich…hiccup!
I do have stories and lots of fantastic photos to share but it will have to wait until tomorrow…the internet in this new Etap is not working so well so I won’t be able to sit here and add in everything i would like. You’ll get the scoop when I return home to France tomorrow evening.
Auf wiedersehen!
………………………
And meanwhile back in Giroussens we enjoyed a day of swimming along with a long walk to the village for an ice cream.
Today’s Photos (in Giroussens)
München birthday con’t.
Finally, after the Internet has stabilized, I can update the blog.
So, after touring Wolfegg I took an early train back to München. The day was beautiful and the landscape was stunning. I was traveling through parts of the German alps with lush evergreen forests and plentiful lakes, all the towns seemed really quaint. Some places seemed like I just stepped out into an episode of “Heidi.” I think I can see myself spending a month or two here.
Most of the homes here were very well maintained either because they aren’t very old or they all have the money to renovate. I also was quite surprised at the number of solar panels I saw. Way more than I have ever see in Vancouver or other Canadian cities. Many of these smaller villages were riddled with these solar paneled roofs. I was quite impressed.
After arriving in München I quickly dropped off my bags and was eager to start touring. One thing I noticed about the city is that is was very clean and very well kept and of course, lots of tourists.
I walked around quite a bit, saw inside and out of many churches parks a museum or two and eventually stumbled across a huge market that was spread across two streets. There were a couple of bands at either end of the market playing and celebrating München’s 849th birthday! Lucky me! I had a tonne of beer and bratworst that night – well a tonne for me (only 2 beers).
I was sad to see the Glockenspiel in scaffolding but I had a great day anyway. The bonus is, I didn’t see any dog pooh anywhere!!
Ahhhh, i love München.
June 16, 2007
Willkommen in Deutschland
Woke up early this morning to check out of my etap hotel and head into München, it was a gloriously sunny morning. I took the S-Bahn train which was a 10 minute walk from my hotel. S-bahn which stands for Stadtschnellbahn – fast city train. Was very fast and had all the stops announced in both German and English. They have 3 train systems here…the bahn – long distances, the U-bahn – subway and the S-bahn for commuters in surrounding areas.
Once arriving at the München downtown Hofbahnhof – train station, I was able to purchase my ticket to Wolfegg, which is the town where Nathalie currently lives. Nathalie was my school exchange partner back when I was 16.
The train ride down was really great. The further south I travelled the more lush and familiar the landscape was. All the announcements were in German which was a little difficult for me as one train had a broken car so all passengers from that car onward were asked to get off and move forward. I didn’t realize what was going on until I saw everyone going off and had to ask someone…what’s up?
As I journeyed I was happy to see so many evergreens and some of the alps in the distance as well. I transferred to two different trains before actually getting to Wolfegg. Funnily enough, the further south I got the older the trains got too. They were all pretty good to me, fast on time and well maintained.
Nathalie’s father greeted me at the train station and took me to their home called “Wasch”, just like in France they have homes here addressed with a name instead of a street number. Nathalie fixed me up a great meal of Weißwurst, bread and salad – my favourites.
Then we all took a drive into Ravensburg which is the town close by and where I spent most of my time when I stayed here years ago. Some was familiar but most of it wasn’t, however, all of it was really great to see. Ravensberg has about 10 or more towers throughout the city, some are gates to enter the city and some are clock or bell towers. This town was apparently a fortified “free city” from the middle ages, you can still see some of the wall around most of it. There was some sort of festival of town/village bands here today so i caught a glimpse of some laderhosen.
We met up with Nathalie’s mother in town and all of us went out for a really great Shwabish dinner. I had a wunderbar time catching up even though it was a short visit. I’m sure I’ll see them again in hopefully, the not toodistant future. I’m super glad I was finally able to make it out here, I’m just sorry that my kids, Francois and Diane had to miss it. Hopefully there will be another time soon.
On to München tomorrow.
June 9, 2007
To Market again…
Spent a great couple hours at the Lavaur market. Mom and Dad really had a nice time looking at all the great stalls. We picked up our usual rotisserie chicken and a few other things and went home for a big lunch and a siesta.
Later we spent awhile outside in the pool where we cooled off from a blistering 35 degrees Celcius!
Blog you tomorrow.
Day in Albi
The weather was definitely on our side as we took my parents to go tour Albi today. They enjoyed the sites of St. Cecile, the Palais de Berbies and the Pont Vieux (1000 year old bridge). While walking around the shops we stopped for some ice cream as well as lunch and some splashing around in the town square fountains – I love those things!
I think that Canada should adopt more of these town plaza/piazza/platz/squares complete with tonnes of sidewalk cafes and kid friendly fountains. It makes a town much more inviting to visit. I love sitting in the cafe and just watching the action all around us Рtr̬s cool! I will defintely miss that.
After Albi, we went home for some swimming and a fabulous wine, cheese and p̢t̩ dinner Рmmmmmmmm.
June 8, 2007
Parents arrived safely
We drove down to Toulouse to pick up my parents from the train station around 4:30ish. They had a great train ride from Paris to Bordeaux (at 300km/hour) and then got off for some lunch before they boarded their next, much slower, train to Toulouse.
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and catching up. Today we’ll give them a tour of Albi.
ONLY 3 WEEKS TO GO!!!!!
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May 30, 2007
Day in Castres
Today started off really warm and sunny so we took a drive over to a nearby town of Castres. We didn’t know what would be there but we decided to explore it anyway. We immediately found a park for the kids to play in and spent a good hour or so before we toured around the town.
The downtown was pretty with many fountains around so the kids proceeded to get nice and wet while playing with them – refreshing! There were a lot of expensive shops and a big open plaza with cafes. There seemed to be quite a few young kids, or punks as we like to call them, hanging around. Not sure if there was an event going on that day or if this was the norm but after finishing our ice cream we decided to head for home.
Good thing we left, about an hour later the rain came.
Tomorrow we start our journey over to Paris – all of us!