Sue and Mark Come to Visit!

Guys, I've been a bad blogger. I'm sorry I've gotten so behind in my blog posts. I decided to take an online Kindergarten teaching course and it really put my blogging to the back burner. I know you've all been waiting anxiously by your computers hitting the refresh button constantly in the hopes to find a new blog post. Well you're in luck because today is the day!  I have lots to update you on, but I'll start with when my sister Susan and her husband Mark came to visit at the beginning of October.

Sue and Mark had a lovely vacation in Paris for a week and then decided to train it on over to visit us here in Toulouse. It was a tight squeeze in our tiny little apartment with four adults for a week, but we managed to avoid killing each other and had a really good time. We went on a few weekend trips, toured Toulouse, had an excuse to eat 3 course French meals, and even got to spend Canadian Thanksgiving together.  The first weekend they were here we took the opportunity to explore some of the surrounding areas of Toulouse. On Saturday we took the train to the beautiful town of Albi. Our friends here in Toulouse had been before and kept telling us we had to go see it and they were right. Albi is a beautiful and charming little town. We walked around all day and saw some lovely sights.

We found this beautiful courtyard garden in the middle of a church

Palais de la Berbie, now the Museum of Toulouse-Lautrec (the famous painter, you might recognize some of his Moulin Rouge Posters)

Beautiful bridges

You can't tell we're related at all.....

Beautiful cathedral

Gorgeous Albi

 We stopped for lunch midway through our tour of Albi at a nice restaurant. Dave and I both ordered steak and we got this.

 While this was indeed delicious, it was not steak. The meat was white and we're pretty sure it was pork. When we asked the waiter about it he insisted it was indeed steak. So, apparently not only is Albi a beautiful city but they also are home to the only cow/pig hybrid in the world. It was the best stork I had ever had.

We had a great day at Albi. The next day we headed to the fortified medieval town of Carcassonne. Some of you may know of the board game Carcassonne, well this is the city it's based on. Carcassonne is a really really cool place with a lot of history. We had a lot of fun touring the city and the castle on our day there. Here are a few pictures.

Carcassonne from a distance

Bridge entering Carcassonne

Dave and I at the entrance to the city

 On Monday, it was Canadian Thanksgiving. In France, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving and as you know I don't have an oven (in fact I only have a two element stove top), but I was determined to have a Thanksgiving celebration. During the day I toured Sue and Mark around Toulouse. We worked up our Thanksgiving appetite and I got to work cooking when we got home. It proved a bit time consuming, but in the end we managed to pull it off. We made potatoes, carrots, brocolli, stove top stuffing from Canada (courtesy of Susan), gravy, and we bought a pre-made chicken at the grocery store. We even had cranberry sauce that Susan brought from home, since they don't have that here in France. It was a fight getting into the sauce since we don't own a can opener because most of the cans here come with pull tabs. But eventually Susan MacGyvered her way into it and we enjoyed it with our turkey. It was a feast and it was delicious.

YUM!

Dessert (and we bought this at the grocery store, sometimes I love France)

Sue, Mark, and Dave enjoying our feast

Sue and Mark left us for a few days to go on a trip to Cahor and the surrounding regions. When they returned they treated us to a wonderful meal at Maison George. The food was delicious and the restaurant had a really cool atmosphere with books and other interesting things on shelves surrounding the tables. It really was like eating in someones home, only fancier haha. Unfortunately we were too busy eating to get any pictures of the restaurant, but we did manage to snap a few photos of our food before we devoured it. It was delicious and a wonderful last night with Sue and Mark.

Delicious caesar salad with all sorts of yummy bits of goodness

Dave's lamb was melt in your mouth good

My chicken. Stuffed with olive tapenade and covered in a cream sauce. Yum!

The next day Sue and Mark were off. We had a great visit and we were glad they were able to stop by during their trip to France.

Until next time...

Au Revoir

Lest We Forget

While in Munich, we had the chance to visit the first concentration camp opened in Germany called Dachau concentration camp. It's hard to describe standing on the grounds of a place that caused so much suffering and took so many lives. It was very moving. With Remembrance Day coming up I thought I would share a few of the pictures that we took. I recommend that if you ever get the chance you visit a concentration camp.  It is hard to wrap your mind around all the pain that was endured, but it is important to remember what went on at these camps. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The door to the camp, "Work Sets You Free"

Roll call area. This happened daily, took hours or all day, and prisoners weren't allowed to move. Everyone had to be accounted for, which meant dragging out bodies of bunk mates who had passed away in the evening.

This is a bunk room. Each single bed would have to fit 5 to 6 people. Sometimes they would get so crowded that people would get smothered and die in their sleep.

Disrobing room. Victims would remove and leave clothes in this room before entering the gas chamber disguised as a "shower".  Clothing was brought to the disinfecting chamber before the next group was brought in.

This is where the guards would put the poisonous gas (zyklon-b) for the gas chambers. 

This is the gas chamber. Victims were told they were going to take a "shower" and the room even had fake shower spouts in it. During a 15 to 20 minute period up to 150 people could be suffocated in the gas chambers. 

Death chamber, where the dead were brought before they were cremated.

crematorium

A picture from liberation day. If you look closely you can see the bad shape that a lot of the prisoners were in. The man on the bottom right corner with the "X" on this back, who looks like an old man, is only in his 20s. He is so malnourished that his spinal cord is visible at the back of his neck. Our tour guide did not know how this man could still be alive, let alone standing.

Oktoberfest

I've been meaning to tell you all about our trip to Oktoberfest for awhile now, but we had a busy few weeks (there will be many blog posts to come). I LOVED Germany and the Bavarian lifestyle. Beer, meats, carbs! I mean what's not to like? The people were so friendly...although that might have a lot to do with the beer now that I think about it. We had an awesome time.

We arrived in Munich on Tuesday, September 25th in the afternoon (turns out Oktoberfest really starts in September). We were meeting some Canadian friends of ours who are currently living in London, England. Oktoberfest was the perfect opportunity to reunite over a beer, or several. Dave and I arrived earlier than our friends and got our vacation started with hair cuts and our first German beer of the trip. That's right, we got our hair cut at the airport. Neither of us had been for a hair cut since we left Canada in June and let's just say things were getting out of control. My fringe was no longer a fringe and Dave was threatening to grow a pony tail....we had to take care of this soon. We intended to get a hair cut in France, but the idea of trying to explain how we wanted our hair to be cut, in a language that wasn't our first, kind of scared us. But, while waiting for our friends we had a brilliant idea. Surely, they speak English at a hair dressers located in an international airport. Luckily, we were right and we both ended up with some freshly cut locks. We looked pretty good, for an airport hair cut. Then to celebrate the fact that Dave wouldn't be growing a rat tail anytime soon, we waited for our friends over a pint of white German beer. It was delicious! We couldn't wait to try more in the days to come, and boy would we get to try lots more!

When our friends arrived we all headed to our hotel. We booked this hotel months ago and weren't expecting much because most of the accommodations were already taken for Oktoberfest. We were stuck with the cheapest hotel we could find and were sharing a room with all four of us together. We had low expectations, but it actually turned out to be a fairly decent hotel and was recently renovated. It worked out really well and the free breakfast was definitely worth it and provided us with some much needed fuel for our days at Oktoberfest.

That night we toured around the city centre of Munich and Dave and I purchased our Oktoberfest outfits. Dave bought a pair of lederhosen and I bought a dirndl. We figured we might as well dress the part if we came all this way to go to Oktoberfest. I'm glad we splurged and got the outfits because it was a lot of fun to dress up and be a part of the festivities, most people in the tents were dressed in the traditional outfits and it really made us feel like we were a part of the celebration. Plus, those dirndls do wonders for a girl's figure and the lederhosen don't look half bad either. After purchasing our outfits we wandered down to Hofbrauhaus, one of the biggest beer halls in Munich. We settled in at one of the long tables and ordered our first litre of beer and some dinner. I had the schnitzel and Dave ordered the pork knuckle (which sounds disgusting but was so tender and delicious). It was a great introduction to Bavarian life and was kind of like a mini Oktoberfest. There was a polka band, beer all around, and people singing and having a great time. It was a really fun first night in Munich.

Town Centre of Munich

Town Centre of Munich

Oh look, a polka band! How fun!

Dave's pork knuckle and potato dumpling. I selfishly ate all my schnitzel before it could be photographed.

The next day we loaded up on breakfast and made our way down to the Oktoberfest grounds in the early afternoon. The first tent we decided on was Hacker. I loved the atmosphere in this tent and it had a lot of locals. It was also beautiful. The top of this tent looked like a beautiful blue sky with clouds. We wandered around until we found a spot at one of the tables beside some nice, local German boys who spoke a little English. We ordered our litres of beer and that first sip was delicious! Oktoberfest is everything you imagine it to be. The tents are huge and there are so many people. There's a polka band playing songs and they pause every few minutes to play the Ein Prosit song, this is basically the theme of Oktoberfest and everyone stops to sing along when it is played, raising their glasses and swinging back and forth, it ends with everyone giving cheers and saying "Prost!". We quickly become friends with everyone at our table and by the end of the day we definitely knew all the words to Ein Prosit (or we think we did anyway).  We witnessed many people attempt to wow the crowd with their beer chugging skills. Some successfully accomplished this task, to a crowd of cheers. Like the man who chugged his litre of beer with out using his hands, holding the stein with his teeth. This would be more impressive if you could feel how heavy the steins were, I could barely lift mine with two hands. Others weren't so lucky and were met with a crowd of boos. Like the guy who attempted to chug not one, but two litres of beer in a row...let's just say I'm glad I wasn't sitting at that table because the two litres did not stay down for long. It was a very fun atmosphere.  We had a few snacks,a giant pretzel and this delicious cheese and bacon bread thing, and a few beers before moving on.

We decided to try out another tent. We headed to the Hofbrauhaus tent because we heard it had a young international crowd and thought it would be a fun place to spend the evening. Plus, we enjoyed our time at the Hofbrauhaus beer hall the night before and wanted to check out the tent. We lucked out and got a table almost to ourselves somehow, so we decided to take advantage of the space and eat some dinner. We all had the roasted chicken and some potato salad, It was delicious. After eating we were joined by a nice couple from the states who were travelling Europe for their honeymoon. The tent was getting more crowded as the evening went on and the band was playing less polka and more rock and roll songs. Soon, everyone was standing on their benches , singing along and making friends with the tables around them. It was a lot of fun. We sang our hearts out and finally called it a night. It was a great first day at Oktoberfest.

At the entrance to the Oktoberfest grounds

Hacker Tent

Dave impressing us with his ability to lift 4 litres of beer at once! The bar maids carry about nine at once.

Hope he has a dentist

Enjoying my chicken and potato salad

The crowd at Hofbrauhaus

The next morning we decided to visit Dachau, the first concentration camp opened in Germany. I will write about that in a different post, because it deserves a post all on its own. It was very moving.

In the evening we went to dinner at a beer hall called Augustiner Keller.  This beer hall had a lot of charm. It was filled with very long tables where everyone sits together, had chandeliers and a nice warmth about it. It reminded us all of Harry Potter, we felt like we were at Hogwarts or something. It also had our favourite meal and the best beer of our trip, in our opnion. The beer was nice and light and had a great flavour. Although all the beer in Germany is pretty good, it's hard to go wrong. This beer just stood out for us.  For dinner, Dave and I both got the sausage platter that had a variety of sausages and was served with roasted potatoes and sauerkraut. It was delicious. We also shared an apple strudel for dessert. Yum! I have to say the Germans love meat and potatoes. I don't think any of my meals came with vegetables the entire trip, but I wasn't complaining because they do meat and potatoes well! It was a great beer hall and I wish we had discovered it earlier because I would have loved to have gone there more than once. If we are ever back in Munich we will be visiting again for sure. We then headed back to the Oktoberfest grounds for a last night. We wandered around looking at all the stalls and vendors. Dave and I got some nice beer steins as souvenirs. They will go in our bar one day, which we better have because Dave has a pretty serious addiction to collecting bar glass wear, in fact I'm pretty sure we could have supplied all of Oktoberfest with drinking vessels we have so much on our hands. But, the steins we bought are beautiful and they will make a nice souvenir of our time here. We then somehow managed to sneak into the Paulaner tent, despite the fact that it was full.  We squished our way into a table and closed out our last night at Oktoberfest with one final litre of beer. Everyone was up dancing on tables and singing and it was a great evening.

Inside Augustiner Keller

Delicious sausage platter

Apple strudel in a vanilla cream sauce

Outside Paulaner tent

Inside Paulaner tent
 

Last night with our friends. Prost!

 Here's a short video to give you an idea of the atmosphere in the tents during the evening. Like I said, lots of singing and dancing.

We reluctantly left Munich the next day. We had a great time in Munich and loved Oktoberfest. I would like to go back and see more of Germany one day and hopefully we'll make it back to Oktoberfest one of these years. It was great. 

Until next time....

Au Revoir (and Prost!)

Vimy Ridge

It's been awhile since my last post, but I'm back baby! And since I've decided to take an online course over the next few months, I'm sure I'll be blogging more than ever (procrastination at its finest). So stay tuned over the next few weeks for a bunch of blog updates.

Let's start with the beginning of September when Dave's parents came to France for a visit. We met them in Paris , where they had spent a wonderful week exploring. They managed to beat us there for a visit! While we haven't had a chance to have a trip in Paris yet, we did manage to tour the airport and the train station, also a McDonald's. But, I somehow feel we may have missed out on the true "Paris" experience, so we'll be planning an actual vacation there in the new year.  Maybe we'll even see the Eiffel Tower next time! We took the train to a little town called Arras, in the north of France.  We chose to stay in Arras because it was the closes town to the Vimy Ridge Monument, only about 10 km away. But, Arras actually ended up having  a ton of it's own war history and the little city is quite beautiful. When we first got there we decided to check out the Wellington Quarry. This quarry played an important role in the First World War and consisted of a series of tunnels and quarries that dated back to medieval times. During the war, more tunnels were dug to connect to the medieval tunnels, most of the digging being done by the troops from New Zealand. This created a series of underground tunnels and rooms that were used by the troops to live in leading up to the Battle of Arras in 1917.  The quarry has been preserved and is now a museum. We were able to catch an English tour just as we got there that took us down into the quarry. It was really interesting to see where these men were living , preparing for battle during the war. There was still writing on the walls and pictures sketched into the stone of the quarry. It was interesting to be standing underground in the exact spot as all the soldiers that fought in the Battle of Arras, wondering what they must have been thinking before they ran onto the front lines.

In the quarry, you can see the arrows on the walls with directions

One of the tunnels

Can you see the elephant drawn on the wall?

These stairs led to the exit of the quarry, on the other side the soldiers would find the Battle of Arras

The next day we made the drive out to Vimy Ridge. If you ever get the chance, I recommend that you go see Vimy Ridge. It's something every Canadian should do, if possible. This part of land was actually given to Canada by the French after the war for the important part Canadian soldiers played in recapturing the land at Vimy Ridge.  So, technically, it's Canadian soil, which we were reminded of by the many Canadian government signs and the maple trees that surround the property. It did sort of remind me of being back in Canada. The tours are also run by Canadian students who get the opportunity to live in France for 4 months and work at the Vimy Ridge tourist office, not a bad job if I do say so myself. We had a tour of the tunnels and the trenches. It was really good. Again, it was a bit surreal standing in the same spot as all the men who battled here and standing in the trenches looking across to the enemy lines. I think the thing that really stands out in my memory is the giant craters that are still there on the grounds from the bombs that went off. They are huge! In fact, because of the rocky terrain and the possibility of remaining mines on the grounds, they use a herd of sheep to "mow" the grass.

In the tunnels

One of the trenches

Point of view of a sniper

One of the crators, it's hard to see in the picture how huge it is

Lawn mower

 After touring the battle grounds we made our way up to the monument on Vimy Ridge. It really is impressive and giant! I don't think you can really appreciate how large it is until you are standing in front of it. It's beautiful. We took our time climbing the stairs and looking at all the names of soldiers written around the monuments walls. The number of names is really something you can't wrap your head around, so many lives that were lost. And the ridge that the monument stands on really is quite a ridge. You can look out and see for miles, standing there it's easy to understand why this was such an important piece of land for the Canadians to recapture.  It was quite a day of remembrance.

The monument from a distance

close up of front of monument

close up of back of monument

After our weekend in Arras, Dave's parents came back to visit us in Toulouse. It was fun getting to be a tour guide in our "home" town. When you live somewhere everyday you don't end up doing the touristy things that you should do, so it was fun to be a tourist at home. We also had the opportunity to tour around with a few of Dave's Aunts and Uncles later in the week, they were visiting in other parts of France and made the drive up to Toulouse for a day to visit with us (thanks guys!). We enjoyed our little family get together in our home away from home. It was a great week visiting with family and taking them to all our favourite spots and restaurants. We were sad to see them go, but we were glad they could come to visit.

Until next time...
Au Revoir