Playing the Tourguide in Saint Gaudens: Day 3

Day 3

Today was market day... and also, cold, rainy weather! But the market was still there, so we had a good wander around.




Then went in a few of the free shuttles that run between Saint Gaudens and some of the (really, really, REALLY) small surrounding towns. Good thing to do when it's wet... except when the shuttle fogs up and you can't see much!







Went to the crêperie I'd been to with Sabrina for lunch. Great deal, actually. We got the meal of the day (a huge plate with several different kinds of meat, and a salad), a dessert crêpe and a drink for 10E!

For the arvo, went in a couple more shuttles and, later on, I dragged Tessa with me to my music practice. ;p
When we arrived, Wilfrid started taking off his sweatshirt and saying 'look, look!' Lo and behold... something very photoworthy!

Outdoor Lunch: Tick; Feed People Marmite: Tick

Sometimes, I have moments here when I think "yeah, that's exactly what I imagined France to be like."

Eg: when I first found the market in Saint Gaudens. It takes over the whole town on Thursdays!



Most recent example, was a lunch in the back yard at the Atelier des Cultures. Have been doing a language exchange with the French lady who runs it; that is to say that we meet each week and spend an hour speaking French, and an hour speaking English.
She invited me to come along to a workshop at the Atelier and, at midday, we had a shared lunch in the back yard. We had amazing luck, because it was a beautiful day, and quite warm. A week later, it was about 1.6 degrees outside, so clearly we picked the right one. ;p





There were many countries represented here: France, Spain, Argentina, Britain, America, Holland, Germany, New Zealand. Everyone brought something typical of their country and, as you may have seen in the photo, I introduced these poor, unsuspecting people to Marmite.

The British lady insisted that British Marmite was better. One French guy was like "that stuff's disgusting" and told me about how someone had told him it was like Nutella, and given him a spoonfull. If that's not cruel and unusual punishment, I don't know what is!

I forget that people don't have any concept of what Marmite is like, so it was the Brtish lady and French guy who were giving the "no, that's too much" instructions.

It seemed that, in general, people thought it was pretty yuck. Oh well. All the more for me.

Sens-ational

Can't get these pix to move where I want, so will have to be pix first and text later. Too annoying!

Me with my 'French name': ie the French word for Libya.

Majorettes at the Sens Xmas market

Sens Xmas market

Sens Cathedral, where I finally lit a candle for the miners.

Sabrina being proud of her new town!

Sorry, couldn't resist a cheesy pun since I couldn't come up with anything original!

Day 2 in Sens started with a big sleep-in I had been pretty exhausted after the big journey, and was trying to fight off signs of a cold, so it probably did me good!

Next mission was to look at another apartment for Sabrina (which she ended up taking). A wander in town.

And then... off to the Christmas market! This turned out to be a fairly small affair, but had a look around the stalls at the products on offer. There were some rather tasty-looking foods, especially at an ethnic stall from I'm not really sure where, but possibly somewhere MIddle-Eastern?!, but we had already bought our lunch from La Mie Caline.

After checking out the market, we decided to go and eat aforementioned lunch, but didn't really know where would be a good place. Ended up sitting in a bus stop in amongst lots of HLM (more or less equivalent to state housing). I very much enjoyed my beignet gout chocolat: kinda doughnut-like thing, but without the hole in the middle. Instead, there was chocolate!!

Headed back to the Xmas market to see the marionette display (accompanied by some dude that Sabrina had asked for directions, and who seemed to want to befriend us. This was the first time we were asked if we were speaking German).. Don't know if it's just me who hadn't heard of this before but, if you're the same, it was basically young girls dancing with batons. The youngest ones were especially cute! One of the tracks was a sped-up version of La Vie En Rose, so will have to search that one out. Quite liked it!

Didn't really know what to do with ourselves after this, so ended up going to a museum. Aside from anything else, a good way to escape the cold (or so we thought, until we got down into the basement). The lady on reception asked if we were speaking German (twice in a day! Is it the NZ accent throwing them off?!) I found the museum pretty interesting, as it had all kinds of info on the area... going right back to time periods that I don't know the name of in English and have forgotten the word for in French. Go me. Anyway, iron age and before. There were old arrow-heads, and mosaics, pieces of stone facades, tombstone enscriptions, paintings... There was even a hat worn by Napoleon at Waterloo. Well, provided I understood that sign correctly. This was the one downside of the museum. Museums are tiring in another language! Took me rather a long time if I wanted to read the notices telling me what the display was all about.

Went back to the hotel to be lazy for a while, then re-emerged to get a kebab and a crepe for dinner, before calling it a day.

Day 3... well, we did a quick walk in the am. Found the pools and a game of handball (don't quite understand how it works, but it seems pretty popular over here). Also found a sign with the French word for Libya on it... this is what my name sounds like with a French accent. So much so that, when people have trouble with my name, I pronounce it the French way and say "like the country."

Then it was time to get back on the train... 1 hour to Paris, approx 2 hours break in Paris, 6 hours to Toulouse, 30 min break, 1 hour to Saint Go!

Tried to make use of my time in Paris... went between the train stations on foot at a relaxed pace, so saw a nice park, walked over the Seine, past one entrance of the national library (wow, it is massive!), then carried on past the station a bit to get some food. After Kate mentioned that she missed Indian food when we were in Luchon, I was sold on a take-away Indian sandwich. Which I ate in a nearby park, while dripping sauce on myself. Must stop doing that every time I travel.

Then back into the train... this trip was a bit of a trial as I didn't quite manage to doze but was too lazy to read AND was trying to ration my tissues to last the trip! But I survived. :)

Actually saw someone I knew at the Toulouse station (amazing!)... the Bolivian assistant who works at the same school as Kate. So that was pretty nice.

Got back to Saint Go pretty late, so shoved down some food and then went to bed... back to reality!

Bon Marché: Good bargain/market

Had to go into town - I say 'go into town,' but it's literally about 5 mins walk - to pick up stuff from the bank, and stumbled upon the market. Which wasn't really hard to do, as it seemed to spread through most of the town. Wherever there was a square (or any kind of open space), there were stalls of all sorts. Fruit, deli-style caravans, clothes, plants, shoes... There was one stall with a huge pan of extremely tempting paella!
I felt very French. Lol. But, seriously, it was all that stuff that you get told in French class coming to life. At one particular fruit/veg stall, the vendor had the sales patter down and was busy weighing everyone's purchases. At another, I heard the stallholder say "So, the usual?"
So, now I just get to feel frustrated that I'm presented with all of this fresh produce and have no real kitchen. It's so unfair. ;p