February 21-27
Well, we are settling in nicely. We like the house a lot. The kitchen and shower leave a bit to be desired, but we are quite happy! The boys have new soccer balls that they have been using in the yard. That makes a big difference, they love having a place to run and be noisy. Much better than the hotel.
The week started off slowly. Andrew went to school all day with the tutor on Monday again. She is trying to make up for lost time at the beginning if the month. It is a long day for him, so we will only do it every once in a while. Usually, the afternoon session will be spent with "culture" lessons (a visit to the post office, bakery,etc). He is learning lots of math (even long division) and French and French culture with her. We are pleased.
Monday night has been christened "Pizza night." The local pizza guy seems to enjoy seeing Dave, so I think we will continue to frequent his establishment.
On Tuesday afternoon we had a visit from the plumber. This was very strange. Two men came to the door to look at the radiator in Andrew's room, which has been leaking. The went into the room, looked at it, shook their heads that yes it was leaking. Then they took a measurement and left. They were just the advance scouts to determine that there is a job, I guess. They will send someone else to fix it some other day. I wonder how much that house call cost?
On Thursday night, we had another date night. The boys so look forward to Roxanna coming that we are going to make use of her services as often as the budget will allow. This time we went to the store to look around without the boys pestering us. We found many interesting things and agreed that it was a good use of our time away from the boys. Then we Dave took Amy to a restaurant downtown that he has enjoyed on one of his previous trips. It is called J'Go. It was great. It is owned by some former Rugby players. There is a bar downstairs that you should avoid on nights that the French Rugby team is playing. It was very crowded and it wasn't even a game night. Then upstairs there is a restaurant. Amy had her first Truffles at dinner. The entre (which is the appetizer) was a truffle omelette. The omelette tasted pretty ordinary, maybe a little woodsy. But the little sliver of Truffle on top was awesome. The truffle melts in your mouth. And it tastes... hard to describe... Kind of outdoorsy. It was really good and I can see why they are such a delicacy here.
We knew that we wanted to go somewhere this weekend, but it is hard to decide where to go. We have seen so much of this part of France, that picking something new is going to be hard. So we decided to pick places that we really enjoyed and investigate them more thoroughly since the boys are older. So we headed off to Albi. It has a very beautiful cathedral and we both wanted to see it again (the boys don't remember much, although when Andrew sees the place he remembers).
WOW. I think that it is impossible to describe how huge this cathedral is. It is massive. We learned that it was built during the crusades against the Cathars, so it was built like a fortress. It looks like this massive fortress in the middle of town. But when you go inside, it is one of the most beautifully decorated churches we have seen. Every inch of the church is painted or ornately carved. Keep an eye on the web site. Dave is going to try to post some pictures.
We have never been to see the church's "Tresor." This is where the keep the treasures of the church, for example special crosses (used in coronations, that sort of thing) and the "relics." These would be the bones or hair of some of the saints. We saw things as small as pinky bones to whole skulls. All are in ornate glass and gold containers. It was very interesting. There were also some very old carvings from around the time the church was built, in the 1200's. We poked around the church some more until they closed for lunch.
Then we did as the French... had lunch. We ate at a very good Brasserie. Amy and Michael had a traditional French favorite, the croq monsieur (Toasted ham and cheese), while Dave and Andrew had omelettes (these are always very good, but never served for breakfast, only lunch and dinner). The boys all had dessert (ice cream and crepes), but Amy opted for the hot chocolate. WOW!! This was served the way all hot chocolate should be served. A pitcher of steamed milk and a cup with a half inch of pure melted dark chocolate. YUM!!
After lunch we walked along the ramparts and the riverbank until the museum opened. Albi is the town where Toulouse-Lautrec was born and therefore has the most extensive collection of his works. It was really an interesting museum. He painted a lot more than the posters for the Moulin Rouge that you associate with him. There were some very pretty pieces and lots of sketchings on cardboard boxes! One of the most interesting things that we saw was his cane that he often used. It came apart and hidden inside was a small glass and a vial of alcohol! Pretty tricky.
We headed home then. The boys are pretty worn out. They aren't ready to do long weekends of travel. They just wanted to go "home." So we went home and had tacos for dinner. Very American.
Today we took it easy. Dave made French Toast (pain perdue - usually a essert) for breakfast. Then we walked to the bakery for bread for lunch. We took naps in the afternoon and had dinner at the Reich's. They have just moved in this week end. It is a very nice little apartment (flat) downtown. Parking is going to be a problem, but other than that it seems just right for them. Andrew taught them a French card game that he has learned and then it was time to head home for bed.
The coming week looks pretty quiet. Michael starts French lessons this week. I think that he is very ready. He is very frustrated that he can't talk to anyone here. We will continue to have school here and Dave will continue to work a lot. But the weekend is all ours and we are eyeing a prehistoric museum and theme park north of here for the weekend (especially since Amy is reading The Clan of the Cave Bear series). Who knows where we will end up next!
Have a good week! We will try to have lots of adventures to tell you about in the next edition.
Amy
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