- Invited to have dinner with an English teacher from the lycée... Very nice evening. I ate so well, and probably drank more in that one night and following day (as I ended up staying) than I had since I arrived in France (not that it would take much as, ironically, I've been almost teetotal!). Also listened to old classic French songs, and some créole stuff too.
- Days that start at 0 degrees, but then get to about 17 in the afternoon.
- Random bike-rides... I set off in the hope of finding somewhere I haven't been to before (preferably on the flat, as my bike doesn't have gears). This often fills a couple of hours. And, forcément, my camera accompanies me. So I probably spend about as long taking photos as I do biking, but who cares?
- Trip to Luchon with people from music school to listen to a dude talk about composing music for films/tv series. We were kinda disappointed that it was more about him and his life than how he goes about the composition, but never mind.
- Once again, chiming in on a family dinner chez my bike owner... and wussing out on trying oysters.
- Getting the train to the next town on a whim, and spending the morning wandering about in the sun, with sweet mountain views, taking photos, and checking out the cute chapel there.
- Promising to lend my 'Great NZ Songbook' CD to the PE teachers here so they can listen to NZ music for PE. One teacher then started planning how they could get all their students to do the haka as a warm-up!
- Monday nights which have suddenly got really full: rock climbing at the collège, and then choir. I'm really popular at choir because they like to see young people coming along. Teehee, it's great. I'm not fully convinced that I'm meant to be a soprano, but I'm happy to stay there 'cos it's an easier part to learn.
- Listening to cheesy French pop CDs that a teacher lent me. Kids, if you haven't listened to Claude François, then you probably should. (Especially you, Lorenz, if you are reading). Even if you're not a French speaker, you may recognise some songs...
- Feeling really lazy 'cos Xavier, my flatmate, keeps speaking to me in English, and then I switch into English mode and keep responding to him in English.
- Trying to read a book in Spanish, which results in me occasionally getting confused with French. Eg, the other day étudier became éstudier because I was thinking of estudiar.
- Receiving a combined email from 3 of my friends in NZ, who were drunk at the time of writing. Gold.
- Trying to arrange a way to stay in Europe... this weekend, I meet up with someone about a potential au pair job. So, watch this space (again).
Showing posts with label luchon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label luchon. Show all posts
Saturday, February 12, 2011
That's (My) Life
Brief snippets of life atm.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Luchon: Départ, Bien Fatiguées!
Would have been lazier if I hadn't known that brekky started at 8am, but headed down near 9. Started the day with juice, a croissant, bread, butter, jam, and a hot chocolate, so that was pretty positive in my opinion!
Went off for a wee mission up a walking track we'd spied the previous day. We were up in the snow (even though it was a fairly light coating) and there were some icy patches...
Had some great views over the town, even though we had to sneak over/under/around some fallen trees.
Went back to the hotel to check out, but still had about an hour before our train, so set off in another direction to get maximal exploration. Felt quite at home when we discovered the local rugby stadium... but imagine heading out to play in your stubbies (rugby shorts) during winter when you're that close to the mountains! Brr!
You can't really see, but Kingi is on the scrum machine here. Think he was keen for a game.
Found out that our train was, in fact, a bus. This turned out to be kinda good, because we went through some little towns and got some sweet mountain views. And it was so warm... Kate and I were both getting really sleepy!
Bus reached terminus in Montréjeau, where we had two hours wait before our connecting train back to our respective towns. We hadn't eaten, and had the smart idea that we could use that time for eating. Not a smart idea. Montréjeau was tiny (or, the part of it near the train station was) and the few shops near it were shut. I guess it was Sunday, and a small place, so what can you expect. But still. We were reduced to hanging out at the train station, making the most of the vending machines there, and watching a movie on Kate's laptop.
Saint Gaudens is the next stop after Montréjeau so, had I been keen enough to try, I could probably have walked home in that 2 hours. But, anyway. As I was walking back home, feeling very cold, some random dude stopped an offered me a lift, which I accepted gratefully. Turns out he spoke pretty decent English (as he was a geologist and had worked on an oil rig).
May be hard to go back to speaking French after a very English-speaking weekend...
Went off for a wee mission up a walking track we'd spied the previous day. We were up in the snow (even though it was a fairly light coating) and there were some icy patches...
Had some great views over the town, even though we had to sneak over/under/around some fallen trees.
Went back to the hotel to check out, but still had about an hour before our train, so set off in another direction to get maximal exploration. Felt quite at home when we discovered the local rugby stadium... but imagine heading out to play in your stubbies (rugby shorts) during winter when you're that close to the mountains! Brr!
You can't really see, but Kingi is on the scrum machine here. Think he was keen for a game.
Found out that our train was, in fact, a bus. This turned out to be kinda good, because we went through some little towns and got some sweet mountain views. And it was so warm... Kate and I were both getting really sleepy!
Bus reached terminus in Montréjeau, where we had two hours wait before our connecting train back to our respective towns. We hadn't eaten, and had the smart idea that we could use that time for eating. Not a smart idea. Montréjeau was tiny (or, the part of it near the train station was) and the few shops near it were shut. I guess it was Sunday, and a small place, so what can you expect. But still. We were reduced to hanging out at the train station, making the most of the vending machines there, and watching a movie on Kate's laptop.
Saint Gaudens is the next stop after Montréjeau so, had I been keen enough to try, I could probably have walked home in that 2 hours. But, anyway. As I was walking back home, feeling very cold, some random dude stopped an offered me a lift, which I accepted gratefully. Turns out he spoke pretty decent English (as he was a geologist and had worked on an oil rig).
May be hard to go back to speaking French after a very English-speaking weekend...
Luchon: Forme et Bien Etre
The weekend mission started well, with a scenic train ride. Kate (fellow Kiwi assistant in a nearby town) and I were busy exclaiming over how picturesque the countryside was. Amazing how awesome a coat of snow can make everything look.
Even after an hour or so in Luchon, we could see it was going to be an adventure. Not yet being the ski season, many hotels, shops, etc here are closed so, when we went to the tourist office and asked her to recommend something not too expensive, she also suggested 'open' as a criterion. Which is fair enough, I think.
Anyway, our main criterion was actually wifi, internet-starved as we are. Which led us on a merry march around town, to many (shut) hotels. We were getting more and more desperate, and were just leaving one which had an unattended and unlit reception desk, when a man came along and said "Mesdemoiselles?" This somehow resulted in us having to go through to the attached restaurant to ask about the possibility of a room. Which was weird, because the waitress looked very surprised to see us there, so I don't quite know what was going on. Fortunately, they had a room for us.
As for the wifi, well, we couldn't get it to work from our room.
Gave up and went to lunch, as we were both really hungry. Had lunch at what I would consider to be a pretty typical French corner restaurant: both had the menu of salad, entrecote of beef with chips, and a dessert. I also was unable to resist the 'vin chaud' (mulled wine), even though it wasn't on the menu (waiter seemed a bit upset). For dessert, I heard 'fromage' and decided to order that. Turns out it was fromage blanc, which equated to plain yoghurt. Never mind. I was healthy...
Next mission was a wander around the town (without our extra baggage this time). Lots of photos were taken as it is very picturesque! Wandered pretty much up to the base of the mountains and into the snow, and noticed it was only about 8km to Spain. It was tempting to keep going, but we decided we weren't prepared enough to do an Edmund Hillary across the Pyrenees.
Chilly Kiwi...
It was with great disappointment that we discovered the spas were closed. Kate, especially, had been looking forward to a nice soak! Had we been a couple of weeks later, we would have been right for that and for the gondola thingee up the mountains, but never mind.
Luckily, back at the hotel restaurant, we were able to "remonter la morale" (get our spirits back up) with a flavoured hot chocolate (one caramel and one hazelnut) and a crepe (one Nutella and one chocolate). This was definitely worth doing! So tasty. Then, it was clearly time to do nothing for a couple of hours (once it had been established that the wifi was just not going to work).
Braving the cold, we ventured out of our hotel in search of dinner. We were slightly distracted by a patisserie, and stopped to get dessert (oh, the sugary goodness of caramel millefeuilles and whatever the creamy/moussy/pastry thing that Kate got). While trying to find a supermarket, we came across a pizza place and a Moroccan restaurant, and ended up choosing the latter. Good price, good food (Kate was stoked to have some veggies!!!) and we could eat there.
Once we got back to the hotel, we decided to go and have a drink (a blackberry Kir each) and then decided to move into the back room with these to watch the rugby. The man who was running the bar was busy explaining to everyone "they're New Zealanders." Watched the Aussies beat France, and ate pastries. Good times.
Even after an hour or so in Luchon, we could see it was going to be an adventure. Not yet being the ski season, many hotels, shops, etc here are closed so, when we went to the tourist office and asked her to recommend something not too expensive, she also suggested 'open' as a criterion. Which is fair enough, I think.
Anyway, our main criterion was actually wifi, internet-starved as we are. Which led us on a merry march around town, to many (shut) hotels. We were getting more and more desperate, and were just leaving one which had an unattended and unlit reception desk, when a man came along and said "Mesdemoiselles?" This somehow resulted in us having to go through to the attached restaurant to ask about the possibility of a room. Which was weird, because the waitress looked very surprised to see us there, so I don't quite know what was going on. Fortunately, they had a room for us.
As for the wifi, well, we couldn't get it to work from our room.
Gave up and went to lunch, as we were both really hungry. Had lunch at what I would consider to be a pretty typical French corner restaurant: both had the menu of salad, entrecote of beef with chips, and a dessert. I also was unable to resist the 'vin chaud' (mulled wine), even though it wasn't on the menu (waiter seemed a bit upset). For dessert, I heard 'fromage' and decided to order that. Turns out it was fromage blanc, which equated to plain yoghurt. Never mind. I was healthy...
Next mission was a wander around the town (without our extra baggage this time). Lots of photos were taken as it is very picturesque! Wandered pretty much up to the base of the mountains and into the snow, and noticed it was only about 8km to Spain. It was tempting to keep going, but we decided we weren't prepared enough to do an Edmund Hillary across the Pyrenees.
Chilly Kiwi...It was with great disappointment that we discovered the spas were closed. Kate, especially, had been looking forward to a nice soak! Had we been a couple of weeks later, we would have been right for that and for the gondola thingee up the mountains, but never mind.
Luckily, back at the hotel restaurant, we were able to "remonter la morale" (get our spirits back up) with a flavoured hot chocolate (one caramel and one hazelnut) and a crepe (one Nutella and one chocolate). This was definitely worth doing! So tasty. Then, it was clearly time to do nothing for a couple of hours (once it had been established that the wifi was just not going to work).
Braving the cold, we ventured out of our hotel in search of dinner. We were slightly distracted by a patisserie, and stopped to get dessert (oh, the sugary goodness of caramel millefeuilles and whatever the creamy/moussy/pastry thing that Kate got). While trying to find a supermarket, we came across a pizza place and a Moroccan restaurant, and ended up choosing the latter. Good price, good food (Kate was stoked to have some veggies!!!) and we could eat there.
Once we got back to the hotel, we decided to go and have a drink (a blackberry Kir each) and then decided to move into the back room with these to watch the rugby. The man who was running the bar was busy explaining to everyone "they're New Zealanders." Watched the Aussies beat France, and ate pastries. Good times.
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