Day 4
We took our time getting out of bed. We had a 3:30 flight out of the old international terminal of Orly. After packing up our things, eating breakfast, straightening up the place heading out the door, it was almost 12. Yes, we needed almost two hours getting to the airport because trying to use the most cost-effective method when you don’t really know what you’re doing is a horrible idea.
With minor strings of confusion we got to the airport and took the easy flight down to Toulouse, home of Airbus. When I booked tickets to go down there, I don’t know why I made them three nights. Toulouse is nice but there really isn’t anything to do there.
We found our hostel, easy enough with the help of a man from Senegal who was studying in Toulouse. Really nice guy who walked us all the way to the hostel. Whatever hostel we stayed at, it was nice enough. We spent enough time changing into shorts and t-shirts and heading back out. We walked around Toulouse and eventually found a place to eat.
The French are interesting. Or France is interesting. We had a 3 hour meal. Mike and Laura went fancy. I did not. We all got the menu of the day, but I didn’t get the fruit glazed duck. Oh, and everything was served in a crepe. It was interesting. Fortunately, I know both Laura and Mike well enough to know they can’t usually eat everything on their plate, so I got a taste anyway. It was a really nice place.
That was about it for the first day. Getting to the airport, flying, walking around, and eating…
Day 5
The day again started really early. Most of you don’t really know anything about me other than what I write here and whatever you can deduce or extrapolate but I have always been a huge airplane fan. When Laura said she wanted to go to France, “Airbus factory” just flashed in my head. So I managed to book tickets so far in advance the dates weren’t set, and my only other option was to call/email them. I was ready to go. Something I was really looking forward to. Mike went with me and we took the thirty minute tram ride out to the Airbus site. The site itself was really impressive, the tour center was not. It honestly looked like a makeshift tent structure someone just set up in two hours time. Also, some of the tour was cut out because they were filming a movie. To offer compensation, they gave us 10% back (all 1.40 euros) and took us on a bus tour. It was not exciting and, the lady didn’t have all her facts straight. You may think I am being pretentious here, but the FAA is not the Federal Air Authority. That is something a tour guide at a major airline company should know. This is one of many examples of the lady lacking as a tour guide. She spoke in an outrageous French accent though, which basically nullified any care I had to learn anything…
There are a lot of things you cannot see at Airbus…
Afterwards, Mike and I went to the giftshop. Don’t worry Dad, I bought maybe 3 small things. We headed back to Toulouse and walked around. Mike and I saw churches and bridges and got a general sense of the city we were traversing. We met Laura and Katie later on. Mike is a character though. If you can picture a heroin addict, that is Mike with sugar. Being in Frace, there are pastry shops, desert shops, etc. everywhere and each time I have to try and distract Michael before he runs over and puts his mouth and hands all over the nicely cleaned windows. Even right after he finishes eating a 2500 calorie desert, and claims to be full, he still talks about other pastries…
That night we ate at a lasagna place. Well they had more stuff but that is what I got. Mike and I had a conversation about Italian and French food. I prefer Italian… Don’t know why I told you…
Day 6
For whatever reason, I didn’t have socks. I thought I packed two pairs, but I didn’t. North Face does a great thing and offers PCVs a discount on merchandise so I bought some shoes in addition to other things. North Face shoes are super comfortable and roomy, but don’t for an instant think you can go more than a day in them without changing socks. Your eyes will water…
For this reason, I had another pair of socks. I couldn’t find them. I panicked. I made the executive decision to go to a store and buy socks, but leave the hostel… barefooted (I mean with shoes on but not wearing any socks).
Nothing was open yet so I had to delay my purchse. Finally things opened and I bought socks. Interesting huh? I snuck to the dressing room and put them on wondering if I was committing a crime even though I was clenching the receipt to immediately prove to a policeman that I was indeed the rightful owner of the socks.
They were the best socks ever because they were super expensive. I don’t care if they had needles in the bottom, after what I paid, they are the best socks ever…
After that disaster was averted, we went to a tourism office and figured out how to leave Toulouse as Airbus is all there is to see (and we know how much of a failed expedition that was). It really is a pretty city, you don’t need more than one full day there. Anyway, we talked with the lady and decided to go to Auch. So we walked to the train station and off we went. 90 minutes later we were in Auch with not a clue on what to do. So, just like anyone else, we walked toward the church and as expected it led right to the middle of town.
There we went to the tourism place and asked questions and received enough maps to keep us entertained for days even though I first told the lady, we only had three hours… We began walking around and then were approached, many times, by disgusting college kids covered in trash bags, paint, whipped cream. Basically they wanted to have a huge college party and according to tradition, they need to go around the city asking for money. No matter how much money you give, if you give it, you can throw whipped cream into someone’s face. So naturally, I took this opportunity to do this. – refer to pictures…
We spent the rest of the day just walking around, staring at Michael freak out at every pastry shop, and seeing how much we needed to spend to get a can of duck liver…
We then said our goodbyes to Auch and headed back to Toulouse to eat at the restaurant we ate at the first night. After a whole day without eating, I got the menu of the day, again. It wasn’t the same though and that was a shame.
Until next time... (like 5 minutes...)
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