I’m not sure about this phrase book I picked up….
The thing that worries me, is that it’s under the occupations section!
(what sort of career advances are there drag queening these days anyway?)
Fête de la Musique
Last night I found myself in the middle of one of the best street parties I have ever taken part in! We went downtown as usual for dinner, we have an established system now, we drive to the area with all the restaurants and then wander around until we find something new that looks good and isn’t too pricey. So far it has paid off and we’ve had a great meal every time! Last night though the streets were packed with people and for the longest time we couldn’t figure out what was going on, but after a few streets and a few crowds it hit me! The summer solstice! It must be some sort of massive street party for the summer solstice!
We sat down and had dinner, a huge heaping mound of assorted pig parts prepped deliciously and slathered in sauce, and then made our way into the street to see what was going on. The first place we came to had a band playing just inside the canopy of the bar and a massive crowd all around. They were singing English songs and generally whopping it up so we grabbed a couple of beer and watched em play for a while. Before long though they stopped and we figured that the noise bylaws had kicked in and they couldn’t play past 10pm or something so we wandered away to where the noise was still going on. As we kept wandering we came to a brass band that was inordinately drunk and blowing horrible noises on their instruments! They were on a little side street and were completely monopolizing the balcony of another bar, their black-and-white stripped shirts and red neckerchiefs seemed so French I figured they all probably had baguettes stuffed in the bells of their horns, it would certainly account for the horrible sound! After a while though they pulled it together and started playing some really cool music, marches and swing stuff and all sorts of goodness. There really is only so much brass band a guy can take in one night though, and the whole time a steady stream of people had been passing by us in the street; we figured it was high time to see where they were going. As we moved deeper into the streets it got more and more crowded, we passed two girls playing a tambourine and some sort of castanet things before coming around a corner into a massive surge of people! I have never seen so many people filling a street before, it was incredible! Each bar had a band out front and each band had a huge crowd of people that were either singing in French or yelling in English, it was amazing!
It was then that we figured out tonight was Fête de la Musique literally, Music Celebrates, in reality it’s a night when bands can play on the streets until 1am and everyone goes out to party and have a great time. It happens every year on the summer solstice, and I imagine that each year is better than the last.
We ended up at a place called George and the Dragon, or some such terribly English name; it had a three piece band, guitar, bass and drums and the guy was singing his heart out both in English and in French. The French songs were probably even better than the English songs, everyone was grooving so much, there was dancing and singing and shouting, it was great! I tried to sing along to a French song, and got totally busted by the girl beside me (c: she looked over with a horrified look and I said to her “I don’t speak French” and we had a yelled conversation over the music before the language barrier kicked back in.
All in all we saw dozens of bands and thousands of people, all of them having a great time and enjoying the night; what a great thing to stumble upon, and what a great reminder of why I’m on the road!
Pictures out the window
Clicking them makes big.
Verre de vin rouge?
Oh, speaking of wine… if there is any you want brought back from France let me know and I’ll see what I can do for you. Ever single store here has a wall of wine, it’s amazing!
Pixels and words
…because captions are as good as a real story (and I’m feeling lazy right now) here are some more pictures from France (click the picture for full size)
We followed this road for a while and then had dinner at a little place just off the main drag, very good
A nearby church, lit up with the sunset
The inside of the arch, it just looked cool (c:
Pictures
Here are some more pictures
Our plane on the ramp
Me “helping” the mechanic repair a fault
Hey look, Calgary is in the news!!
Yup, we were in the news here… it’s either a slow news day or a serious jump in housing cost!
Fromage
Picture post! Mostly cause I know you want something to read while drinking coffee on a Tuesday morning and delaying the inevitable work (c:
This is the wine I got for 5€ at the grocery store, its a 2002 Bordeaux and also quite tasty! Sadly, today there is only half a bottle left.
Shot of the hotel from the outside
Random scenery of the sunset last night
more scenery, this time from a local park overlooking a dirty river
Enjoy! I’ll probably write more later, but right now I really gotta get away from this computer!
Mangez et Francais
My first full day in France went really well. I met those of the crew I hadn’t met before and got re-acquainted with those that I already knew. We did a handover and worked most of the day, with the highlight really being dinner in downtown Toulouse.
From the hotel it is only a 10min drive into Toulouse proper, we are stationed out by the airport in another district/city/area called Blagnac (blan-yak) and the drive is nice and easy. One of the guys had been looking for a place called Chez George the other night but hadn’t been able to find it so we set out to see if would could conquer it this time. We parked the car and started walking around the area where it was supposed to be, the narrow winding streets lead to open pavilions and often gave glimpses of a lighted bridge over the canal; it was terribly European. I know, it goes without saying that France should be European, but it was just such a delight that I have to mention it. We eventually asked a young lady if she knew where it was and she directed us down another narrow street with cafes on either side and finally one had Georges in script on the sign out front.
Sitting down we noticed that the cozy brick building wasn’t as small as first thought, there were maybe 10 tables in our area, and from the door that had seemed to be the entirety of the restaurant. A quick surveillance however revealed that there was a courtyard in the back and an area downstairs as well! These areas were all empty still and at 8:30pm we were clearly their first guests of the evening. I could definitely get to enjoy eating at a later hour, it somehow seems more civilized, and as one of the guys put it “eating in France is much more than a stop at the gas station”. We cruised over the menu, and even with my limited French vocabulary I managed to pick a starter and a main plate; smoked salmon with lettuce, asparagus and creamed avocado followed by roast duck with masked potatoes, green beans and garlic. The food was heavenly! The taste was not to be equaled and the presentation was truly artistic with dabs of sauces and well-arranged components where the look surely added to the taste.
I wasn’t going to have desert but the other guys ordered creme brule which came with fresh raspberries… and really, I don’t think even Superman could hold out against that! I was anticipating a small dish of it, but what came was a saucer size dish of creme brule, and thank god it was that size because anything less wouldn’t have been enough!
It was an excellent meal, a great way to spend a Friday evening, and perfectly good use for 30 Euros.
After dinner, which ended at 11pm, we walked around a little and noticed that there were a lot of people with wine or beer just walking around the streets or camped out by the canal and having a little picnic; we also noticed that the smell of urine was overpowering and that a lot of people don’t pick up after their dogs… it kind of crushed the atmosphere. Regardless, I look forward to heading downtown again for dinner and enjoying all the France has to offer for cuisine.
