A Dream Come True, Our First Day in Ireland

We left Paris this morning.  I paid Luke to drive my family and I to the airport.  Luke is a very personable 20 year old that stays in the FAR house.  Nice kid.  We spent each evening after my return from walking and touring Paris having a few drinks and talking.  When John Mark and Fieron (I can never get his name when he says it, so this will probably be changed) the conversation was even livelier in the late evenings.  I really enjoyed their company, which made stay at FAR much better.

As I mentioned, we left Paris and fulfilled a dream of mine.  We went to Ireland!  The trip was uneventful until we picked up our car rental.  On line, the car was to be a Ford Focus and was to cost about $225.  By the time I finished paying for the insurance, a GPS, and everything else, the cost became $1075!  That would make a good down payment on a car back home!  The car was a Ford Monedo, which is much larger than I wanted.  One of the reasons I wanted to have a smaller car was that I needed to be able to drive it on the tight streets on the opposite side of the road that I am used to.  This was difficult and became even more difficult because the car is a standard with the gearshift on my left, since of course I was driving on the right side of the car.  Also, shifting and braking was difficult.  As we came closer to the  hotel, our GPS was telling us to take a left, but there was nothin but a barricade to the left.  We ended up going around the blocks, which contained mostly one way streets and me being confused as heck, never really figuring out how to pull into the traffic.  This went on for about 20 minutes of te GPS recalculating.  Finally, we spotted the hotel, past the barrier and in a spot I could not get to, so I parked on the road and walked over.  They told me how to get to the garage.   Since the car was larger than I was really used to, it was a real adventure parking it in the garage next to the hotel.  Jenn had to get out to direct to help me pull down through the -2 gate.  It took at least 5 minutes.  The last bit of bad news was that although it costs 10 euros to park per day, we can't take the car out for day trips without additional charges. 
After going back to the room for a short nap, Deb, Jenn and and I walked around the hotel.  We found we are within minutes of the Jameson Distillery and a number of pubs.  We entered a pub named The Richmond and I had my first pint in an Irish Pub!  How neat that was for us.  Deb even enjoyed a draft cider named Balmer.  Jenn aslo had a Balmer's  and I elected to have a Foster or 2.  The bartender was your regular Irish Pub owner, friendly and liking to talk.  As we were leaving, he suggested coming back that evening around 10 for some music and a few more pints.  He didn't have to twist my arm!

I'll leave the story of the visit and the friends Jenn and I made for a later date.

Deb, Jenn and I enjoying our first pub!

Paris Travel

While the students, Lori, John and my family stayed in town at various hotels, I was put in the house in Fontenay aux Roses (FAR).  It is outside of the city.  I mention this because I will discuss it later. 

There are two major public transportation systems in Paris, besides buses.  They are the RER (railroad) and the Metro (subway) systems.  When it town, there are a variety of ways to go just about anywhere of notes.  Although crowded at times, and sometimes disorienting, the Metro system seems to offer fairly reliable service.  Although we accidently took the wrong Metro a few times, which lead to some pleasant interactions between my wife and I, we basically could get wherever we wanted to go.  A few times we were pushed around a bit, and we both landed in laps of perfect strangers a few times, but by the end of the week, we were pretty handy getting around. 

Then there is the RER.  While seldom as crowded, the RER trains came and went much less frequently.  And the lines were harder to figure out.  On several occasions, I was misled into believing the train went to, and here it is, Fontenay Aux Roses.  It seems that when the train has the final destination as Robinson (which is the line for FAR), there are times when they “run empty”, meaning no passengers.   There was also something about an “incidente” on the train toward Robinson, but I don’t know what that meant.   At that time, they may say Robinson, but there is no time listed for departure.  I took that to mean that the train with time departure listed above the Robinson train, was the Robinson train.  This lead to a miserable trip Thursday.  With the temperature of 2 C, I was sent down the wrong track.  I was not alone, as a number of people had the same problem.  I quickly got off the train to try to find the branch back to the other line.  I did not need to hurry.  The train was due to go through in 40 minutes!  Disgusted, I sat and waited by a women and her friend.  They also had left the train when I did.    When the train arrived, I got on, went back the two stops I needed to get the right branch, and ran over the terminal stairs to get to the other side.  Once again, noi need to run and the next train was to leave in 55 minutes.  By now it was freezing, and since the day had started at 54 F (14 C), I had only worn a light shirt and jacket.  I was freezing.  As I sat awaiting the train, the  woman sat beside me (sans friend) and started to talk to me in France.  Even though I let her know I didn’t speak French,  and she knew a little English, we conversed anyway using some few words we recognized and hand languages.  It was like a great game of charades!  She was called by someone, and they were worried about her.  She kept talking and every now and then sprinkled, “es OK, Americain”. I imagined she was telling her daughter that she felt safe because she was talking to an American.   I found out in our conversation that she had been shop keeper, was widowed, was 68 ans (years old), and had a 26 ans daughter.  The daughter was a school teacher, who had 2 children and was divorced.  She showed me the children (her grandchildren) and smiled.  I guess that crosses all cultural barriers.  I was able to tell her I was staying in Ambialet for a few months (je habite Ambialet) I am a professor (je suis professor, I guess) and that I had a wife and 2 daughters.  When the train finally came, she sat beside and we continued to laugh and interact in some miracle fashion.  She got off the stop before mine.  When we departed she kissed me on both cheeks and said Aurevoir,  mi Americain frère.  It was a miserable night the interaction was priceless.

The walk up the hill from the train, to my “home” is a step inclined hill.  It is about a 10-15 minute walk, unless like me, you were lost most nights.  Thursday was no exception, as a wondered the streets of FAR for about 30 minutes.  I still don’t know why I got switched around like I did!

When I finally arrived at the “home”, I felt relieved and excited.  There was no one there as one of the other people staying there had to get off a train and was told there would be no more trains that evening towards Robinson.  The others in the house went to find him. 

In my next blog I’ll talk about my Fontenay Aux Roses “home” and the people I met there. 

Paris is a Whirlwind

On Sunday we went to mass at Notre Dame,  it was great.  We also ate at a Couscou restaurant and had an amazing variety of great food.  After running around some more I brought Deb back to her hotel and we awaited Jenn's return from Germany.  No problems this time!  I then went back to Fontenay Aux Rose on the train and became completely lost.  It was around 10:30 at night, not the best time to be lost in Paris.  Luckily I was able to call Lori, and she reminded me of the Mediatechnique we were staying close to, so I just walked the streets for about an hour, asking people if they knew where it was.  No one seemed to, and finally on my own I was able to find it.  When I got to the house, I could not work the key to get in and once again had to rely on Lori to let me in.  Seems the key is a little tricky because Lori had similar problems.


We are going all around Paris.  Yesterday we went to the Louvre, the Arc de Triumphe, and another Arc where we went to lay a wreath on the grave of the Unknown French Soldier.  Melanie and John did the actual wreath placing and the students all participated in the activity.  My role was that of pack mule because most of the students handed me bags and cameras to hold.  I held them for over a 1/2 hour and my arms were pretty sore, but the students all enjoyed the activity.  We walked many miles yesterday, and the walking took its toll.  Deb is sore and I had hamstring and calf spasms last night.  Today we went to the St. Michel Fountain and the D'Orsay Museum.  In two days we have seen many of the works done by leading artists throughout history. Pannini remains my favorite (not the sandwich, the artist).  We'll put some good pictures on here very soon!

Tonight if we're able to walk(and the judge is out on that), we will go to the Eiffel Tower.  We also tried to find a laundrymat, with no luck.  We had better soon of I will be walking outside sans clothing.  Where we are staying has a washer, but no dryer and they hang the clothes in the basement to dry.  If the towels are an indication, I will not want my clothing dried in that manner, because the towels feel like drying with brillo pads! 

As in Venice, many places in Paris charge to go to the toilet, so my advice to anyone coming here, make sure you have many .50 and 1 Euros on you.  The trains and Metro are pretty easy to get around on, and I'm sure by the time we leave I won't be getting lost as often as I do now.  Big place, lots of sights and adventures!

Addendum.  We did go to the Eiffel Tower and th students asked me to take a picture of them with the Eiffel Tower in the background.  I did, and as I did Jenn took a picture of me on the ground.  It looks like I got mugged! What I won't do for my students, LOL.

Paris at last!

We came into Paris yesterday afternoon.  It is a very quick moving metropolis.  There are people everywhere and they all seem to be in a rush.  But today we have some exciting activities planned.  We will be going to the mass at Notre Dame!  I can't wait to see touchdown Jesus.  Oh right, that's the other Notre Dame.  It should be great.

Lori and I decided to stay in Paris last evening.  I stayed with Deb and Lori was able to find a room here.  We will try to find Fontenay aux Rose after mass.  I'll let you later if we do.

Paris by Train

Paris by Train

We found out yesterday that we would be taking a train to Paris.  My last train trip was a redeye from Johnstown PA to Chicago.  We boarded it at 11 at night and arrived in Chicago the next day around 9.  I spent a horrific night sitting beside a 6’8” Swedish kid that spoke no English and proceeded to fall asleep and “stretch out”.  I was never so crowded and uncomfortable in my life.  When I’d wake the young man to tell him he had to get his legs off of me, he’d smile, say something Swedish, and go back to sleep without moving.  It was a miserable trip.  So I wasn’t quite sure what to expect on the iDTGV train we were taking. 

Riding in the car to the train station was the first obstacle to the trip.  We had 6 people in the car, 4 huge suitcases, laptop bags and I virtually no room.  I had given John my suitcase having considered the problem we would have with packing all of ours. Good thing I did.  I volunteered to sit in an “almost” a seat in the middle row.  I had my backpack on my lap with my computer and much more than I needed, and rode cramped up from Ambialet to Toulouse, about an hour 15 minutes away.  About 20 minutes into the trip I had a huge cramp in my hip and had to stretch my leg.  I stuck it straight out between the two front seats, but Deb then reminded me that because we have a standard, I’d have to put my leg back.  That was much easier said than done.  It took about 5 minutes and about 56 internal curses to do it!  Vision of Chicago redeye danced in my head.

We arrived at Toulouse Rail Station (Toulouse Matabiau) and had to wait to board the train.  About 300 people stood anxiously watching a board that would announce what track the train would take.  When #2 was shown, a mad rush ensued to get to the train.  Deb and I knew we had the 51 and 54 seats in car 12.  But when we got to the gate, there were 2 trains.  Which one we were supposed to go on was not evident.  Thankfully some English speaking passengers asked where we were headed and they showed us the way.  Now that we found the train, we had to find car #12.  Now having my Ph.D. and all, I decided to just count the cars from the engine and go 12 back.  Unfortunately, there were not 12 cars, and so I was stymied.  I asked a person that looked like a conductor and they looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language (which of course I was), and shrugged.  I even said douze, which I thought meant 12.  Still a shrug.  So we went to the front car and started working our way back.  3 cars back, there it was, a 12.  We boarded and noticed there were 2 people in what we thought were our seats.  I looked puzzled and showed a kid of about 11 our ticket, and he shakes his head and points to the next car back. 

And lo and behold, 2 seats with our numbers on them were sitting empty.  They were across from each other, and they were very comfortable and roomy.  While I had to sit backwards, I soon found the ride to be quite enjoyable.  We did not have the promised internet access, but it was still nice.

I am currently writing this while riding in the train. I will paste it when I get online.  The train has a bar car, where we are able to buy drinks and food .  The ride will be about 4 hours and 20 minutes long, but it is going quickly.  Traveling through the French countryside is really a neat experience and is very enjoyable.  Deb and I may take another trip on the train if we want a long weekend off.  That would be nice.

I am beginning to wonder why trains are not popular in the U.S.  This is actually a very nice way to travel.  While slower than a plane, it’s a straight ride with no layovers, no running through security and passport reviews, no going to gates in one building from another and then catching an airport bus to go to the plane, and no worries about missing connections.  I rather like it.

Packing for Paris

We'll be leaving for Paris by train tomorrow morning, we were told the trains are running.  I have been having some difficulty determining what to take.  Aer Lingus, the airline we are traveling to Ireland on, limits the weight to 44 lbs.  But the clothes and materials I have will far excede that amount.  I did realize that we will be leaving cars in Paris, and therefore plan to leave some excess things there, while I fly to Ireland.  The trip to Paris will last a week, to Ireland 9 days and then 2 more days to drive back to Ambialet with a stop or two.  It will all be pretty exciting, but very taxing.

We drove Jenn to the airport today so she could visit a friend in Germany.  She will return to Paris Sunday by plane. It will be difficult getting her, but we will find a way.

I hope to take quite a few pictures in Paris and Ireland and will share them when I do.  I have wanted to visit Ireland since my Grandfather spoke about it when I was a child.  I plan to golf there, no matter the weather.  And it doesn't look promising.  But as my buddy Jim will attest, I have a canny optimism about weather that should serve me well there.

Back in France, Just in time for the civil unrest

France has one of the most advanced and costly welfare systems in the world.  The services are excellent and provide benefits to just about all of the population.  One benefit was government sponsored pension that was to start at age 60. Due to a lower tax base and increased debt, the French government decided they needed to raise the retirement age to 62.  There are now strikes and picketing throughout France.  Fuel stations have closed and railroad and plane trips have been limited.  With our whole group traveling by various methods to Paris this weekend, it puts us in a perilous situation.

Those of you that know me probably believe that the strife the nation is facing could only be accountable to my infamous Lynch Luck.  Like Murphy's Law (it must be an Irish thing), anything that can go wrong, does with Lynch Luck.  But the problem gets even worse because there is no respite. There is always something that gets out of kilter.  Now I will probably have things work out, because invariably things have to do so.  I have learned to adapt and respond effectively.

Jenn, my daughter, also has inherited the Lynch Luck.  You may have already remembered her trip here.  Well the other day she chipped her tooth.  We found a dentist in a nearby town and made an appointment for today at 10:45.  John was to drop the students off in Albi, bring the car back,drive to Valance and translate for us at the dentist.  However by 10 he hadn't returned.  I started to try to call him.  I spoke with Tim and made arrangements for him to take Jenn, Deb and I to the dentist.  At around 10:20, as we were ready to leave, John came up the lane.  He had to avoid picketers in Albi and it took him a long time to return.

Jenn needed a filling, and when she went in, I realized that we did not have insurance to cover her expenses.  I imagined a huge dental bill.  So I went to the ATM in Valance.  I took out 200 Euros, hoping it would be enough.  When John came out from where jenn had the procedure, he said 21.  I thought 21 what, cavities, hundreds of Euros, what?  He said 21 Euros for the work that was done.  Now the dentist took over 45 munites with Jenn, and gave her a filling, and yet it was only 21 Euros.  Very good price for medical procedures of all kinds here. (see, good health care does work).

Some pictures as promised

I have some of the pictures of venice, but will start with 2 of the food.  The first is of a restaurant that served seafood.  the second is me and my pizza at the local pub.

The pizza had mushrooms, artichoke, ham and olives and was super.  Jenn felt it tasted quite a bit like Capri pizza back in the states.  We didn't try the squid, fish, lobster, crabs or other assorted seafoods shown in the first picture.  The cost was pretty steep, but the picture was neat, I thought.

Now for some more pictures.

San Marcos Plaza its famous for its beautiful architecture, cathedral and shops. 

Here is the Cathedral of San Marcos.  It is so huge you cannot possible get it all in one frame.

Here's Jenn in front of the Cathedral.  I have no idea who the rest of the people are.

Another building in San Marcos Plaza.

Deb and Jenn in front of the Gondolas and Water buses at San Marcos Plaza Pier.

This is a pictue of the Rialto Bridge.  Deb says its famous for some reason, but I'm not sure why.

This was a small chapel by the Rialto Bridge.  We walked in as the people were saying rosary.  The chapel had a donation bin asking for .50 Euros for coming in.  I only had .40 Euros and put it in, but still feel guilty about the last .10 Euros.

A view from the canal as we floated through.  First some interesting buildings and then the tall ship Amerigo Vaspuccio. 

In the background is one of the huge cruise ships we saw in the canal.  In the background you can see the tall ship as well.  That's me in my Steeler sweatshirt in front.  It was a very cold day in Venice, but that didn't dim our enthusiasm.

Another thing there were a great deal of were stores that sold hand painted masks.  The were amazing.

Last, but not least, our rental car which Hertz is ripping me of $101 for no fuel.  I loved the car, hate Hertz! Here is the car getting a ride on the ferry.  The car reminds me of my old Festiva.  Its a Fiat panda.  Wouldn't mind having one.

As I mentioned, the pictures will never do the city justice.  It was really spectacular.  But I hope you enjoy them.  One of the best things about being in Ambialet is the opportunity we have for traveling.  The students went to London, John went to Paris, and all is well with the world, sort of.



More time in Venice

We spent about 2 full days and a full $2000 on our Venice trip.  We saw some wonderful things while there, but I found especially interesting a tall ship called Amerigo Vespucci, the sailor that America is named after. I have always been fond of tall ships and this one was great.  I only wished we had seen it with its sails up. There were also 2 huge cruise ships that landed in Venice.  What a sight they were!
We found out that you have to be careful when eating in venice.  We had 3 bowls of spaghetti and a drink each and it came to 53 Euros ($80).  We stopped for to Colas and 2 cookies and the price was 18.3 Euros.  It was ridiculous.  We were able to find Deb and Cait souvenirs.
When we got back to Lido, we decided to go out for a quick meal.  We found a pizzaria about 3 blocks from our hotel.  There we all had a reasonable meal, but had to put up with about 30 young boys at a birthday party.  They had food fights, were screaming at a soccer game, and were about as loud as thunder the whole time.  I also got to see some European basketball on Sky sport.  They played like a second level college team and were very awkward.  I still can't believe the Lakers lost to Barcelona last weekend because this was not good B-ball.
I passed my cold onto my wife, Deb.  So we both spent most of the night coughing.  We had to get up at 3:30 to catch the ferry to the mainland so we could get our rent a car back.  But the ferry did not leave as planned and we ended up being late for the rent a car by about 10 minutes.  I had stopped to refuel, as the agreement with Hertz went.  Even though, there was a 101 euro charge for fuel on my bill.  I plan to look into it, I will not pay this amount.  I had only gone about 110 miles in a Fiat Panda for pete's sake.  It was something like 10 liters of gas to fill it up.  Something is wrong here and I intend to find out what!  When I took the car back, there was no information regarding parking the car, so I took it to the rent a car building.  After talking to the woman (who cold not het it through her head nthat I had fueled the car up), she said to leave the key.  I told her that it was right out front, did she want me to put the car somewhere.  She had me take the car back to the rental lot, which was 1/2 a mile from our departure gate.  I doubt I use Hertz again!

The trip back was also memorable.  Every airport we left from had us take a bus to the plane we were taking.  In Paris we took a bus from the gate we landed at, to another ate where we took another bus to the plane.  This is no way to run an airport!  Deb and I continued to have coughing fits and were just miserable.  We made it back to Ambialet and were happy to be home.  As mentioned previously, pictures of Venice will be coming.  They can never do the place justice, but it is better than nothing.

The Venice Trip

Once again we traveled out of France.  This time, my daughter Jenn, Deb and I flew to Venice for a long weekend.  It will be very expensive for just 3 days, but we just wanted to try to go there.  It is without a doubt the most beautiful city I have ever seen.  But, as usual, I made my fair share of mistakes.

First was renting a car.  If you know anything about Venice, it is made of a bunch of islands.  I actually booked a hotel on what's called the Lido, which is an island away from Venice.  I have to take a car ferry to Venice to go there and the is no place to park anyway.  So we park the car and take a water bus to the island.

The hotel is still in the Venice "hot" season, which means no heat is available for room.  Unfortuntely the weather man didn't remember and the temperature today was in the upper 50s only and it will be worse tomorrow.

Another mistake, which acctually lead to us renting a car, was booking a flight out of Verona.  Orbitz had it listed as a "close' airport, when in fact it is 75 miles away.  A taxi would have cost 380 euros, so a car rental was atually cheaper.

I also got lost twice coming to the Lido.  First, I couldn't find the ferry, so I drove all around Venice to find it.  Once we got to Lido, we spent over 1.5 hours looking for our hotel, which is about 2 miles from the dock!  The directions were terrible.  So we didn't get in until after midnight.

I have also caught a horrendous cold, probably related to the soaking I took going to the Dali museum in Spain.  If you have ridden in a plane with a head cold, you know that it isn't what most people consider pleasurable.  I'm coughing all the time and really don't feel well.  But I'll get better soon.  Have to be ready for Paris in a week!

I hope to put some of the great pictures of Venice on the blog soon.  Be looking for them.

Golf in France Part 2

I had a chance to go back to Golf d' Albi today with Tim.  What a nice course.  We played at 8:40 and were again the only ones on the course.  Before playing we putted for about 10 minutes.  I made 2 extremely long putts in a row on the practice green.  This is a sign, of course, of impending doom.  In fact I holed many putts on the practice green.  As you may have probably guessed, these were the last long putts I made all day.  In fact I missed a whole lot of short ones.  Being a calm and patient golfer like I am, I of course didn't let this frazzle me in regards to the rest of my game(LOL). 
We had one very interesting hole, and Tim and I both parred it.  It is a par 4, 372 meter hole with water on the right and sand on the left.  I hit my drive right and hit my second shot onto the green, 2 putted and had a par.  Tim hit his ball far left.  He then proceded to hit his second shot right, heading towards the lake.  The ball went past the red stakes, hit some rocks, bounced back left, and landed on the green.  Tim looked very disgusted as he took his club back to the bag and then approached the lake.  "What are you looking for?" I said.  He gives me this look like, "You know darn well what I'm looking for", but he didn't say anything.  I said that it was an amazing shot, and pointed to the green.  When we looked at the lake, we still coldn't fignure out what rock it could have hit to bounce out and over the lip of the lake.  But there it was, on the green.  Tim proceded to 2 putt and made his par as well.  He then started to act like he tried the shot, and I reminded him that he didn't even know that he hadn't landed in the water.  Tim played well today, around the mid 80s.  I would say my score but my calculator doesn't go beyond 6 digits.  Actually, it was probably mid 90s or worse.  I know to never make putts on the practice green before going out!

The two pictures are of the old duffer (me) and of the pro shop.

Beer in Barcelona

Beer is as popular in France as it is in the U.S., but Spain really likes the brew.  Here I am having a draft of San Miguel.  It is a nice, smooth, beer.

We had the beer at a Tappas restaurant where Deb and I shared a Pialla(?) and shrimp.  I bought the girls each a rose from a  guy walking around the restaurant, but found out later that it was 10 times more than I needed to pay.  Oh well, the beautiful women deserved a beautiful flower.

The Students

One of the blessings we've had on this trip is the students that have made the trip with us.  They are an eclectic group of students that really appear to get along.  They seem genuine in their concern for their fellow students.  They also enjoy interacting with each other, and watch each others back.  In the picture below, Gabe is absent.  In fact, I have no picture that has him in it.  I'll have to fix that.  From right to left, Ed, Melanie, Shane, Kirsten, Rebecca, Lauren, Lori Woods and me.

During the recent trip to Barcelona, I was able to watch the different personalities emerge in a strange situation.  As I have mentioned, we saw some naked men near the statue of Christopher Columbus.  We had a number of students, in fact everyone but Ed was there.  I guess he had some gasrointestinal distress from something he had eaten.  We were after all, in Spain, and they have quite a few exotic dishes.The reactions were kind of fun to watch.  Gabe was indifferent and ruing the fact that he had missed the naked women earlier.  Melanie was embarassed and would not look in the direction of the men. She didn't think they were very classy (well, duh!). Lauren tried to talk me into taking a picture of her and the man, which I believe Becca said she would. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) the man moved before we could cross the street for a picture.  Kirsten, I believe, did take a picture, but that didn't really mean much, she takes a picture of everything.  I'm not sure what Shane was doing at the time.
eac and every student, at one time, has offered or actually helped my wife or I.  Deb's knees are pretty bad, and so she is often a bit slow on walks.  I think that most of the students have stayed back with her one time or another to keep her company.  Like I mentioned, they are nice students.
Oh by the way, here's a picture of the group with Gabe!

Barecelona

I want to apologize, because I have been unable to get on for an extended period of time because of having no internet where we are staying.  I will try to break down the trip so far from the day it started, last Thursday.
We left for Barcelona at 8:30 in the morning, this after our day from Hell (yes, that's the name).  We first stopped at a place called Carcassonne, a medieval city in the south of  France.  It was a great place and amazingly beautiful.
It was a major placement for many wars of the past.  of course it also had a beautiful cathedral.  And like all things France, it seems, had been made into a tourist trap.  But if you come to France, you really should try to get here.
We then went to an Abbey, where we saw where monks lived over the years.  It was now privately owned and of no great interest to me.
We left for Narbonne, a city on the border of France and Spain.  When we got there, I followed Tim.  He went on the A9 (kind of a turnpike), and ended going the wrong way and did a U turn.  I followed, and of course the ticket wehad just picked up did not want to work at the same gate we were now leaving.  Tim was able to explain what was going on to the ticket person, and he then signaled me to follow.  As I did, a bunch of siren type noises started and I had to back up.  I told the person over the intercom that my situation was the same as the guy that just went through.   They had no clue what I was talking about, and we sat there as cars started to back up behind us. I know the attendant was trying to say where we got on and we just said Narbonne , and here, and he kept saying, "No, where you got on."  Finally he just got exasperated and lifted the gate for us.
The hotel was small with few amentities.  But, that is how many European car hotels are.  Just basic.  When a motel makes Motel 6 look like a 5 star place, you know it is bad.  We were givin no wash cloth and the towels were so thin that there was no possible way to dry yourself completely.  But, it was a place to sleep.
We then traveled toward Spain.  Once again the turnstiles on the pike got me.  I saw Tim looking like he wanted me to go to another gate. As I did a van in front of me started backing up.  The guy was in the wring type of gate, so I backed up and went to another gate.  But then the turnstile would not accept our credit card, and there was no place for cash.  I asked over the intercom what was happening, and I swear the same voice from the day before said ticket.  I said I put the ticket in and he said tocket carte.  I said I have no clue what you are talking about.  He said TICKET!!!!  I said WHAT????? And I then said, it won't take my ticket.  He asked where I got on and I said Narbonne.  Finally, it took my credit card and passed us through.  (Julie, we need credit cards that are acceptable here. Some sort of chip needs to be in them).

We found our apartment after driving through a terrible amount of traffic.  After settling in we attempted to go to the museum that was being seen with the students.  As we walked through a plaza we saw 2 completely naked women walking towards us.  They had no clothes and no hair except on the top of their heads.  Deb, my wife, said their bodies were flawless.  Of course I didn't look (LOL).  Later we saw 2 naked men, and the students were a mixture of shocked, amused and embarrassed.  I didn't acutally look for real this time!

We saw some great artists work, including Picasso, Miro, Gaudi and the Dali museum.  What artistic masters, well accept Miro in my opinion, who did not impress me.  Tim mentioned that he didn't think anythoing was art that he himself could do.  That's how I felt about Miro's work.  The other 3 were very impressive.  No, that is not one of the naked girls we saw in Barcelona, its a art figure in the Miro exhibit with Tim and I.

We had our usual problems as well.  Barcelona is a party town and they start early an then stop early.  I mean it like this.  The parties go on all night, each night it goes until 6:30 a.m. and then start again at 7:15 a.m. I guess the 45 minutes is for work, lol.  We looked forward to rain last night and thought that the party in the alley would disperse early.  Not the case.  Instead of individual parties, they started to all sing and party together.  It seemed like the rain causes them to all become friends.

We all went out to eat last night and saw the aftermath of a mugging.  It was bad and only reinforced our desire to make sure the students understood that while this is a great learning opportunity and loads of fun, there are dangers they should be cognizant about.

As we left barcelona, we ran into a rain storm.  It rained for the next 10 hours, between hard rain and very hard rain.  Then we got lost (becoming a common theme).When we stopped at the Dali museum, I was forced to park about 1.5 miles away. Jenn stayed with me so we both had to walk to the dali museum in what semed to be monsoon conditions.  I had one of those little Tote umbrellas that I may as well had as a drink decoration, because it didn't keep me dry at all.  The rain swept water down the road so fast that at one point it knocked Jenn's flipflop off.  It carried it swift down the hill, so I had to chase it to retrieve it, including running in the stream of water to catch it.  By the time all I had dry was my sense of humor. 

The entire trip home it continued to rain.  I found out something interesting about French drivers as a group.  When it rains and the hit a puddle, they slam on the brakes,  No matter if they are going 30kmph or 130kmph, they slam them on.  It made for a very exciting and profanity ridden drive home!

Two things I learned on the trip.  Watch your wallet and we need a GPS for the cars!

A rough day

First of all, I wantd to call this a day from hell, but thought that would be a bit bad for a blog.  So I called it the above.  As you read this, you may feel that the latter was a better title.

It occurred yesterday, actually started Monday afternoon with a ext message from my daughter, Jenn.  It read "I'm in Pittsburgh and my plane had been delayed.  I may miss my flight from Dulles to Munich."  I quickly Skyped Jenn.  She said that they had been told that the plane they were taking would not leave for a couple of hours, and told my daughter at first that it would be no problem.  jenn knew better and this started the process for her that went very badly. To hear of her day, check her blof attached to this blog under craftiworks@blogspot.com, I think.  Anyway, I spent the next several hours working with her over the internet.  She told me she had finally aranged a flight, and then I didn't hear of the number or the time of arrival.  I stayed up until 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, and then got up at 8:30 to try to find out her situation.  Deb and I decided to go to the Toulouse Airport early.  On the way there, I was passing a car and suddenly heard a terrible noise.  I had blown a tire!  I got out of the car and looked for a spare. had one, but it was one of those bubble tires.  48 miles per hour limit.  Then I looked for the jack.  None to be found. in the tire well or anywhere else I could think of at the time.  I looked all though car.  Then I ecided, maybe the owners manual would have a location, if it was a hidden jack under the frame or something.  Guess what, no owners manual.  I then took another look in some of the cubby holes and finally discovered that it was well hidden, but I had somehow found it.  I changed the tire (after over 1/2 hour of looking for a jack).  We started again and Deb said, 80 kms(the tire speed of the replacement),  I was going around 86kms.  I slowed dowwn, and she again said "80"  and I snapped at her pretty bad.  Well, that was not the thing to do and the rest of the ride to the airport was a bit tough.  I knew that I'd been wrong, but I was tired, and wanted to just get this all over with.  As we arrived at the airport, Jenn texted us and sad she was in Frankfurt Germany and would be in Toulouse at 2:15.  What great news, I thought.  We coulod pick her up and still get a tire to replace the flat one!  Ha!  What a joke.
20 minutes later Jenn is texting again.  I missed my flight from frankfurt because I had to go through customs twice.  She was losing it, i was losing it, and her mother was no happier.  Again check herblog for her part of this.  She said she'd call but I called her instead.  She said she'd text when she found anything else out.  A little later she called and said she'd be in at 6:45.  I said that this could work,I could get a tire before I picked her up now.  So I went to a tire dealer/garage at a mall.  The man behind the counter could not understand English, and my French phrase book did not prepare me for this sort of issue.  So after miming and charading for about 15 minutes, he figured out what I was telling him (never was good at charades).  He said, "tomorrow, you call".  I said what?  He said "call tomorrow", too busy today.  I said my tire was not good and I needed one now.  At about that time a helpful person came up and explained my plight to the salesperson.  The salesperson smiled broadly, shook his head yes, and said "tomorrow, you call."  I left the joint.
Deb and I happened by another tire centr by pure luck,  Wewent in and the salesperson asked, I presume, "can I help you," in French.  I started miming again and was ready for another round of charades when he said, "I speak some Englick"  Not a typo, that's what he said.  I told him about the tire.  He said he could find one and asked for my green card.  Now I didin't understand what a green card was, but I didn't think I was given one for the trip and said I didn't have one.  Was I going to be deported like some illegal immigrant.  He takes me to the car and we precede to look at every piece of paper we can find.  No green card. It, I found out later is the owner's card.  He said never mind and went back to write me up.  He then says, "Come back in 2 hires (again, no typo).  I said OK.  I hand him my keys and he says "Go, come back in 2 hires" and throws the keys at me.  Long story short, the tire caame to 131.89 Euros or around $180 American.  I told him I hadn't asked for a set of 4, just one.  He didn't get the joke!

Jenn finally arrived at 6:45.  We had a quick sandwich at the airport, and we left to find out way home.  We didn't find theproper 4 lane and ended up driving for 2 hours on back roads.  Finally, I saw a sign for Albi 68A and went happily to egt on the road.  We were finally on the freeway!! For aaround 10 minutes and we were sent off an exit because the 4 lane was closed!  Unlike America, there was no detour sign to suggest where to go.  At around 9 at night I couldn't ask anyone how to get to ALbi, particularly when I couldn't understand the answer anyway.  So I called Tim.  I had no clue what he was saying on the phone, but knew when I trid to repeat his directions, he was not excited with my comprehension.  Finally I understood him.  I went back under 68A and into the center of Albi.  From there it was a 30 minute drive to the Le Preiure!  WHen I got here, Timhad a bottle of Jameson's and a bowl of ice!   What a guy!

Well, you tell me, which title would be better.

Notre Dame in Albi and the Coal Mine

Today was the feast of Saint Francis so the Franciscans from Cathedral de Notre Dame en Albi invited us for lunch after mass.  The Cathedral was absolutely beautiful, but very busy in regards to art.  Not a single space on the wall in the entire Cathedral was without a design or picture of some sort.  Amazing.

The mass was in French, except for a priest thaat gave a short homily in our honor in English.  He was originally from India and had been in Albi for a number of years.  Very nice guy that I had a chance to talk to after mass. 

We went to a small hall where women brought trays of pizza and cips around.  Thee was also a very sweet raspberry wine and peach wine.  I thought that this wasn't much of a lunch, but told the students to enjoy and fill up because we had a long afternoon ahead of us.  We then returned to the Cathedral where we looked at the relics.  Some of them very incredible.  I enjoyed the hand sown vestments handed down by different priests.  There were also around 100 chalices of all sizes and designs.  Many were very beautiful, and jewel laden, but my favorite was a plain one.

After looking for a while, a young friar came in and said lunch was ready.  Huh? We just ate.  The students looked at me and I just shrugged.  We were taken to a dining room where there was a salas with what I found out to be liver pate on it.  I'd never eaten and convinced myself it was something else.  I wouldn't make a habit of eating it, but it wasn't half bad.  We then were served a meat (a great peice of pork or beef with really tasty mushrooms), and some type of potato.  Including the bread, wine and all, I was really getting stuffed.  Every time our wine glass would empty a little it semed someone else would be putting more in!  The meal was over, I thought, and then realized they were bringing out more food.  This time it was a number of chesses and more bread!  I ate a bit of that as well.  Then  the brought out a fig pastry of some sort to finish off the meal, as well as coffee for those that drank it.  The students, particularl those that had chowed down due to my urging earlier, did us proud and ate well.  I felt like I was ready to explode, but everything was really good, except maybe the pate'.

We then returned to the church, looked around a bit, and then went to the bell tower.  It is 101 steps straight up, and for those that don't know, I'm a bit afraid of heights so when we came out on the roof of the Cathedral, I started hugging the wall.  Great view, but very high.  Many of the students had an opportunity to ring the bell, which is interesting because it plays the gongs as notes.  I can't imagine what the town's people thought was going on at the cathedral with the weird notes these students were playing.  Maybe theye thought the heathens had attacked the church and had taken over!

We then went to a mine museum.  They showed a film about mines, but with the combinatio of wine and food as well as the climb up and down to the bell tower, I fell asleep.  When I awoke I was a bit confused, and couldn't figure out why there was a film of coal running down a mining belt.  It was kind of surreal.
We then went into the mine and had a great tour.  The guide constantly mentioned the rats and how they actually would eat cats that were brought down to control them.  I remember being in my grandfather's old independent mine, and I know how right he is.  The mine showed all the different machines and tools used over the centuries to mine and was very interesting.  Miners in France are government employees and are paid well.  However, they have a very short life expectancy.  No thanks, I'll stick to being a professor!

Here's Lori Woods and I in the mine.

French waiters

I know you have heard the rumors about French waiters.  They are rude and obnoxious.  Well guess what, I have found for the most part that the rumors are correct.  Unless you have something going for you, and that is that you are a pretty girl.
Yesterday when we went for pizza at a cafe, we sat outside.  We asked a waiter where we should sit and he looked at us, pointd to any number of tables that were empty and implied, "are you stupid, sit where you want".  We then waited at least ten minutes for a menu.  We waited another 10 to order, and only because we got the waiter's attention and motioned him over.  He looked perturbed that we had bothered him. 
Soon after we put our order in, 3 pretty French young woman sat at a table beside us.  Two waiters about knocked each other over trying to be the first to wait on them.  They had menus immediately and had there drinks well before we had ours.  This ocurred even though we now had been sitting around a half hour.  The waiters joked and smiled at the women and then scowled when we asked where our drinks were. 
I have a theory about all of this.  First, of course 3 nice looking women would be preferable over 4 people, the youngest of which is 57.  Second, the French waiters, by law, are given a 15% tip  directly in the purchasing price of food.  They do not have to be respectful to earn a good tip, so "to insure prompt service" loses its luster for them.  We watched as the three women got their food, 3 pizzas, just like we ordered, well before us.  Ticked me off a bit.
The orther rumor about French waiters and hygiene, in my experience,( so as to not generalize), being odiforous is also true. For those that do not know what that means, it means smell bad.  It seems they don't think highly of deodorant either.  My eyes watered, not my taste buds, when we were finally served. 

The Concert

Went to an organ and choir concert in Albi this evening.  Before we went we tried to eat at a nice little pizza place Tim knew of, but when we went to enter the owner came running at us and emphatically said a bunch of things in French.  I thought he was mad at me or something.  What he was saying was that there would be no tables until about hour.  A lot of drama for such a little announcement.

We ended up eating at the same cafe as last time.  As we started to relax Batman, Superman, Wonder Women, the Hulk and the Flash came walking by.  It seems that there was a marathon race and college students often dressed up to run in it.  We watched as many more normal racers went by and, of course, a few more "theme" oriented runners.  One group all wore toga type clothing and one group had white capes.  Quite strange.  The other strange thing was that the marathon started at 8:30 pm.  A bit late, of course it would only be 2:30 in the states, so maybe I just time disoriented.

We ordered pizza for each of us, Deb had a Coca light and Tim and I had a beer.  The bill came to 55 euro, around $75.  A bit steep, but it was good.  My daughter Caitlin would have loved the thin crust.

The concert was really good, although the organ player seemed to miss some notes.  The choir and two soloist were very good.  The organ was not as impressive to listen to as I hoped, but the acoustics in the church were great for the choir.  It was a nice night out.

Golfing in France

At long last!  We were able to go to Golf D'Albi today.  Its a beautiful, but expensive course.  It cost 53 euros for 18 holes and a pull cart ($73.09).  It was 75euros for 18 and an electric cart!  So we decided to walk.  It really isn't a bad course to walk.
The course is set up pretty tough.  There are very large bunkers on the sides of every green except for the holes with a lot of water.  SOme have water on one side and sand on the other.  No escape is available.  This is bad.
Tim and I arrived at 8:30, and not a golfer was to be seen.  Tim stated that the French don't golf until later in the day.  My first tee shot was okay, a bit right,  and Tim's was way right.  I explained what the American tradition of a redo from the first tee and he quickly took advantage of it.  He hit his drive a mile!  It went around a corner and looked to be in the fairway.  Unfortunately, it didn't quite clear a bunker.  Tim  proceded to hit it from this bunker to the next bunker.  He then hit the ball into the bunker by the green.  Of course I had to stifle asking him if he wanted a sand bucket and shovel.  I think I ended with a bogie.

Tim hit another rope a mile off the next tee.  My ball sliced right, but was playable.  We walked up to Tim's ball, and you guessed, more sand.  Of course feeling very bad for him, I hit mine in the sand by the green, wanting to let him know that I could relate. 

The next hole was uneventful until I got on the green and a course worker was changing the holes.  Imaagine an American trying to convince a French speaking person to put the hole beside where his ball was.  It must be a universal language because he immediately knew what I meant.  Laughed, actd like he was going to do it, and then walked off to another spot, laughing.

I had my first European par on the 6th hole, a 381 meter par 4 ranked hardest on the course!  Hit a good drive, a fair second shot and hit a nice approach shot that landed about 3 feet from the hole.  I looked at Tim, wanting him to say "Pick it up", even if it was a bit long, but there was a deadly silence.  Oh well, I had to make it.  And did.

Tim and I did pretty well, and I had gotten to the 10th hole with my original ball!  I was just feeling cocky until I looked at the hole, it had water on three sides of the green, and the water started at about 210 yards on the right.  Perfect for my slice.  I somehow was able to hit it straight enough to be just right of the water.  Tim was over th other side, behind a mogul.  I hit my second shot towards the green, it hit on the fairway, and kicked dead right.  In the water!  I reloaded, hitting a mulligan, and it went straing down the fairway, hit, and went dead right also, joining his brother in the water.  Now I had lost 2 balls on a hole.  the next hole, a 210 meter par 3, had water all over the right side.  You guessed it.  Kerplunk.  I no longer felt good about my lost ball pecentage.

I really didn't get tired until the 17th hole.  The course is challenging and fun, and not a bad walk at all.  Overall I had around a 90 and Tim was about the same.  Not bad.  And we ended the at 11:45.  We had walked the whole course in 3hours and 15 minutes.  Also not bad.

I had decided to take some pictures, but unfortunately my camera was not working.  Battery was dead.  We found later that the battery was not charging correctly.  Hope we can find something that worked.

                                                                   Aerial View of Golf'd' Albi