Getting used to doing things the French way?

Monday 16 June

David and I have planned to go to Bordeaux on Wed and Thurs this week, so had a practice run getting an early bus and metro into the station in time for the 9.04 train.  All went according to plan, the 7.35 gave us just enough time, remembering the traffic could be congested that time in the morning.  

Toulouse-Matabiau Railway Station

We bought our tickets, and then went for a walk along the canal 

and through to the 'Jardin du Plantes' - botanical gardens. 

 It was a lovely morning, warm and not too sunny, we enjoyed looking at the various plants and sculptures 

and the various birds that enjoy life there.

We went in one side of the park and out the other, we crossed the road to check out another sculpture and while waiting for the traffic to clear a middle aged, respectable looking man walked behind us and bent down to pick up something off the ground, it was a gold ring.  He hesitated and then went on walking, he could see we were watching him so he called out to us in French and asked if it was ours. Naturally we said no and he looked at it carefully and then showed it to David to inspect the gold stamp on the inside.  We were all tutting and saying what a shame someone had lost it, etc, etc, then he said to me, you keep it, it doesn't fit me. So we said he should take it to the police, he then told us he was from Yugoslavia and had no papers , no job, and couldn't do anything with it, but did we want to give him any money for it.  (Mmm... getting the picture now). He was so insistent that we keep it, David said all he had was €2 and gave it to him, when he said how about a more realistic price, we knew it was a scam and left him with the ring and €2!  It was worth it for the entertainment!  What a scam, it's the best one yet we have come across. What an actor, we were really sucked in for a while. 

It was time for a coffee and pastrie - we are getting used to having our morning tea outside in the sunshine.  

Then it was time to go back, so we thought we would take a ride on the tram to Arenes and then catch the metro home.

Tuesday 17 June

We went with Rach and Hannah on a shopping expedition to an 'outlet' centre called Naillou.  On similar lines to Woodbury in NewYork. 

 It took just over half an hour to get there and we had such a lovely drive through the countryside and through village after village.  

France has such a lovely 'villagey' feel to it, quite rural really and rustic, plenty of old buildings with a lot of history attached. 

The shops were mostly designer shops with really good clothes, and usually cheaper than you would buy in town. I really enjoyed looking through the different goods for sale, not just lovely clothes, but handbags, shoes, jewellery, golf gear (!), and menswear, etc. David bought a bright check shirt, looks great, and a beret with the logo of the Toulousian rugby team on it!

We had lunch and returned home in time for Rach to pick up the kids from school.  It's a long school day here, from 8.30 to 4.30 each day except for Wednesdays when they finish at lunch time. 

James was in Berlin today inspecting an engine, he will stay overnight and be home late tomorrow.

Wednesday 18 June

We were up early to get the 7.35am bus and metro into Toulouse Railway station, we packed last night, just an overnight bag.  We arrived in plenty of time, only to find out that there was a strike on and there were no early trains, the first one to Bordeaux was at 12.15pm!  We had booked ourselves on a half day wine tour to St Emillion starting at 1.30pm from Bordeaux, so that was obviously not going to happen.  We just didn't know what to do, we had booked our hotel for the night and the train ticket home for Thursday.  So we asked how the trains were running back from Bordeaux tomorrow, and there was just a French shrug with open palms, can't say for sure!!  What to do, what to do??

We had to cancel really, we were going to miss out on the wine trip to St Emillion anyway, delaying it to Thursday when there was no guarantee of a return trip by train was just that bit too 'Intrepid' for us.  Fortunately we were able to get our train fares reimbursed, and think that we will be reimbursed for the wine trip and hotel accommodation, so fingers crossed.  We are going to Carcassonne overnight on Tuesday next week the same sort of deal so hopefully the rail strike will be over. 

We arrived back in time for lunch and it was such a beautiful day that it's hard to be grumpy for long.  So we walked to the local shopping area called Bernadette, 

and had a lovely 'Plat du Jour' at the wine shop to make up for our disappointment.  The 'Plat du Jour' is a great way of having lunch, for around €12 to €15 you can have a set menu of starter - ours was half an Avacado filled with lobster mayonnaise on a bed of lettuce, followed by a main of Veal Fricassee in a basil sauce, and finished off with a creme de brûlée for desert.  Not bad eh?  This was washed down of course with a local Rose wine.  And over lunch we planned another event for Thursday, a history tour of Toulouse city.