Sunday, June 20, 2004
Avignon
StephenWhen we arrived we bought our train tickets to Toulouse at the station next door and then headed back to the Hotel Blauvac to see if our suitcase was still there. It was, but on opening it, it seemed that nothing in it was very important or necessary. It would all have to be repacked.
I had a list of hotels in Toulouse. We confidently headed for our phone booth and about an hour later and calls too numerous to count, we had a place. Not halfway between the restaurant where we had a reservation and the train station, but out in a suberb near the airport. The city was full. Something about graduation week at the university. For a while we thought we might have to sleep in the airport lounge. It is not Dawn's favorite occupation to spend a lot of time on the phone, but she did great as each place that was full gave us another number to try until we found a home for the night.
That evening we went to a restaurant because of the following comment on the Internet
Le Chandelier at 29, rue Saraillerie; tel: 04.90.85.21.83 SUPER
Dinner was fabulous! Chuck started with champignons with almonds de mer, a saute/brothy concoction, and I had foie gras with aspic of marc of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, with C-d-P grapes, fig quarters, starfruit and black sesame seeds. Chuck went on to a chunk of leg of lamb roasted in crepenette with tapinade and courgette jus. I had stuffed quail with tiny "fried" ravioli and demi glace jus. It was one of the best dishes I have ever had, and I order quail frequently!! Not knowing where this meal was heading, we had only ordered a caraffe of the house Cote du Rhone, which was not at all bad. With the usual Badoit and coffee, the entire bill was 379FF!! In addition, madame was beautiful (curly red hair, pale skin and sparkling eyes) as well as very, very charming; her husband is the chef.We had a great time. We sat outside and it was very lovely. Toward the end of the meal we showed him the review, helped him translate it and got the corrected version. Madame with the red hair was his mother. When we found this out, we gave him the review to show it to her. The people who run the restaurant are brothers, one out front and one cooking. And the food was good. Entertainment was provided by some traveling musicians that cost us a Euro and by two elderly English ladies who ordered "French coffee". Through one language barrier they were never able to reconcile the two conceptions of what this might be. In the end, the two ladies drank their coffees, sans brandy, and the patron comped them for their disappointment.
Monday, June 21
Back to Lou Mistral for coffee, and then down to the train station. Then a train, a metro and a bus brought us to the Hotel L'Aeroport, a three star businessman's hotel where everyone was there to talk to Airbus whose headquarters are in Toulouse.
Le Capoul
The restaurant shows a different face very time we go here. This time it was filled with the businessmen that have seemed to overrun the city. They don't serve the moules anymore but the food is still very good. This was our fourth visit and perhaps the magic has worn off a bit. Also, we had a collection of wonderful and magical meals for Le Capoul to compete with.
After the meal, we took public transportation to the end of the line and now were faced with calling for what we knew would be an expensive taxi ride back to the hotel. Again, the luck of the trip surfaced in its usual form, bad followed by good. First, it started to rain as we walked to the pay phone in the deserted parking lot, and second, a cab pulled up moments later and dropped off some passengers. Dawn hesitated not for a moment and snagged the cab.
We arrived at our hotel fifteen minutes later warm and dry and having made arrangements for the driver to pick us up the next morning for our trip to the airport. We celebrated our good fortune with a couple of degestifs at the bar. The bar itself looking like something out of a fifties movie.
Tuesday, June 22
We both think that the next time we travel, it will just be with the backpacks. We have grown very used to them now and having to cart our rolling suitcase, lift up and down from trains, up and down Metro station stairs has quickly become irksome. Even for regular trips we have been debating rolling carry on bags vs.our packs and have decided that we like the packs over those paragons of rolling convenience. It will mean looking at each other in the same clothes a lot more, but also not having a ton of clothes scattered all over Amber's and Patrick's guest bedroom (ie. their small office) when we visit them in San Francisco. The packs might make our travels a lot easier.
Today, we flew home. First back to Paris and right on to the United States. It all went right on schedule and before we knew it we were standing over the largest pile of unopened mail that I have ever seen. Instead of opening any of it we relaxed with a bottle of Bordeau that I had bought with my last 15 Euros at the Charles de Gaulle airport.
Thanks for reading. It has been a pleasure to write.
Dawn and Stephen
November, 2004