Had another fun and busy weekend. Went out with friends on Friday night. At the end of the night we went to a cafe on a corner and just hung out having a few drinks and chatting. Said goodnight to them, started walking home and ran into someone else I knew, we ended up going out to some other random place that ended up being really cool. I didn't get home until after the sun came up, we had a great time. It's so fun meeting random people from all over the world and hearing their 'story' and their point of view on things.
Saturday night I went to Vienne (a city about 100 km away) and went to the kick off for the Jazz a Vienne (a 2 week jazz festival) with a guy from work and some random guy I met the night before. The drive was nice, I really enjoy driving in the countryside, and the city was pretty cool. We got there a little early and just walked around. We got some pita bread stuffed with lamb kebhab from a stand on the side of the road, good stuff!
We picked the wrong alley to try to use to enter the concert. Apparently this was the alley that protestor's were planning on using to make their point. Not really sure what they were protesting, I just know that they were mad and that they kept calling those of us with tickets 'sheep'. We moved to a different alley where police actually let the people go through, the protestors followed us. Nothing got too out of hand. Apparently the police were expecting it, cause there were 3 busloads of them there in full riot gear. The protestor's were just loud.
The concert was pretty good, nice classical jazz. It was held in an old Roman amphitheatre, the sound was pretty good. Since it lasts two weeks with different artists I may go back. A couple pictures are posted here.
Afterwards we walked around end enjoyed the city. We heard a couple other bands at different bars/restaraunts. Then we stopped to get something to eat at what looked like this little outdoor cafe. My food was outstanding. When I walked inside to go to the bathroom I discovered it was an incredibly nice looking restaraunt. The lobster and crab tank was the biggest I've ever seen! It was two levels, with a waterfall between them, and rock walls for the backside, so they didn't even look like tanks. It was probably almost 1000 gallons overall.
A group played at the cafe that was pretty good. They were actually the main reason we stopped there and got food. The group is called Mouss. They play jazz, but with an arab and african rythm influence. The vocalist has a good voice, and plays the stand up bass. It was pretty interesting. A few of their songs are here, here, and here.
I went to the 'bar-b-q'. It was a great time. The location was beautiful. I put a few pictures of it up here. Really, it just reminded me of a picnic. We kicked it off with a champagne toast! The grilled meat was OK, the beer was warm, the tabouille was terriffic. We got there at about 8:30, and stayed until about 12:30. We enjoyed a nice sunset and then campfire. It was alot of fun hanging out with them.
The music festival was Saturday night, and that was alot of fun. Heard a number of bands that had very similar styles to some things you would hear in Austin, but it was in French. There were a ton of bands and a ton of people! It made me feel a bit more at home, cause it reminded me some of Austin.
I'm adding pictures to some of the galleries that are already up (including those in the states) so check them out again from time to time. I put up a few songs from some groups that are popular here, some local, some not.
I was having lunch last weekend at Le Chateau in St. Hillaire. Their back deck is right off a cliff that lets you see the para gliders go back, and offers quite a spectacular view besides. I had just finished para gliding with a friend myself and was enjoying a relaxing lunch. The herbs my meal was seasoned with couldn't have been more fresh. The nice belgian blonde (beer) was perfect, it was a Leffe. The creme brulee was one of the best I've ever had. While I sat their enjoying the view this song was played. It's by a group called Gotan project, and I think they're out of Buenos Aires. Pretty interesting sounds.
I bought some wine this weekend at the local wine co-op. Locals grapes and extra grapes from large vineyards from all over are brought to it to make their wine. It's decent table wine at an incredible price (roughly $3). The french refer to wine storage places as a 'cave'. I think that's pretty interesting, I wonder if it has anything to do with how long they've had wine here? :-)
I went to a picnic this weekend and enjoyed that, but it was right by the river, so it was quite humid (probably close to 100 F also). Now it's probably about 77 F. This Thursday I'm going to my first French bar-b-cue. Believe it or not, the French invented bar-b-cue (or at least the phrase) so that should be an experience!
It doesn't get dark here now until about 10:15, and the sun wakes me up at 5. I'm glad there are mountains here to shade me!! I don't know if I could deal with the days being any longer. Saturday is supposed to be the longest day of the year, and is some kind of special music festival. Apparently everyone is supposed to go outside and make music. That should be something!
Well, I finally got my font loaded (special thanks go to Dael Calligraphy). So, I posted some more pictures. I have more to put up, but this is all I had time for now. I think everything I put up can be found here
Enjoy!
So, it's pretty hot here. It's a heat not quite like anything I've experienced before. It's not that it's hotter outside than it gets in Austin. I think the high today was about 96 F. The difference is the culture, and the technology. It's the kind of city heat they show on TV for Los Angeles, or downtown in some other big city. People hanging out their patios and windows for some breeze. Think 'sweltering'. People sweating, and sweating, and sweating. You get in the shower (cold of course), get out, dry off, and commence sweating. AC is quite rare. I don't have it. It does cool off alot at night, but it's still warmer than I like it.
I decided to fix that. I've heard rumors of portable AC units and fans at the Conforama (Walmart type place). I'm told they get one order at the beginning of the summer, and once they're out, they're out. Conforama is madness just like most places on Saturday. Most everything closes at the end of the day during the week and on Sunday. So, everyone goes shopping on Saturday. In fact, because of that, crooks often rob homes in the middle of the day on Saturday. Apparently with everyone at the store, it's a convienent time for crooks to do their 'shopping' as well.
So I went in and wlaked, and walked. Finally, I found a large crowd of people and I knew I had found what I was looking for. Many people seemed to be there just to experience the display units without having an intention to purchase one. I looked at the AC units. Out of the different ones available only one seemed to be a good choice. It was about $1200. I decided I would try to use a fan for this summer. I'm not home during the day, and the nights are already almost bearable. One of the display fans looked perfect, the others were just cheap imitations. It was sleek, sturdy, multi speed, had an oscillating option, variable height, and 40 cm (not the conventional 30) blades. This was what I had been searching for.
I looked on the shelves to pick mine, and the shelf was empty. I saw the price tags, but no fan. I looked around to see if anyone was carrying one that I could take from them, but no. Just as I was about to cry out in desperation I looked across the aisle and saw 1. Just 1. I looked around to see if anyone else had seen it. A guy about my age made eye contact, glanced across the aisle and then back at me. I took a few steps and he took a few steps, but then he bumped into some people that stepped in front of him. I took the fan easily.
As I made the triumphant walk to the front with the box under my arm people looked at me and smiled. Some people pointed and whispered as they saw from the box that I didn't just have a fan, I had a Calor 8615. I slept with it on in my bedroom last night, and looked up every now and then with a smile on my face just to make sure it wasn't a dream. It cools down an amazing amount when it rains. In Austin it hardly ever rains in the summer, but when it does it's just steam. Here it can cool down about 20F in an hour. But, it hasn't rained here in almost two weeks. It's sprinkling now, and I'm praying for rain.
I've averaged a holiday every other week since I've been here. Apparently this is pretty much the 'holiday season' here. We'll pay for it soon though, cause I think we only get 3 days off over the next 4 or 5 months. This last Monday was Ascension Day I think, so it was a 3 day weekend. Saturday I went para gliding for my first time. Boy was that something! I'll post pictures soon. I like the idea of getting my license for tandem flights so that I can take friends up. However, even though you can get your pilots license in a couple weeks, the tandem license takes something like 2 to 5 years depending on how committed you are. Basically, you need a whole lot of flying hours to do it.
Late that afternoon I was at a friend's house on the river in the village of Bernin. We spent the rest of the afternoon and late into the evening listening to music, grilling seafood, and drinking wine in his backyard. Quite a nice day! The next day I drove south with a friend to locate Vallon Pont D'Arc, or something like that. It's basically a cool part of a river that people from all over Europe go to for canoeing in the summer time. Apparently there is an enormous natural landbridge (the Arc) over the river. It's supposed to be quite a sight. We got there too late to go canoeing, but the trip itself was worth the trip.
The scenery was spectacular, and there was the wonderful fragrance of jasmine and other flowers growing for the better part of the trip. The trip down there was supposed to take about 2 or 2 and a half hours. It took us 4. We got sidetracked, but it was great seeing some of the remote little villages. Once we got to our destination it was slightly dissapointing cause it was so commercialized. But like I said, the trip itself was worth the trip. Marseille and Nice are also about 2 and a half hours away, so I think those will have to be my next roadtrip.
The garbage men finally came. I think it piled up for 3 weeks while they were on strike. There was a big strike today for public transportation. I heard it took people in Paris 3 hours to get to work. Teachers have been on strike for a total of something like 13 days now. The mail is intermittent, I never know when they are striking.
Vive le greve!