Canal du Midi

I'm finally back from my vacation in the south of France with Sam. I would have done my blog the whole time, but I had neither computer nor internet. Where to start?

Sam and I took the train to the airport to fly to Marseilles. We were flying RyanAir, which is the cheapest airline in the world. After drooling after all the duty-free MAC makeup and incredible chocolates, we got on the plane. It was, to say the least, an interesting experience. The guy beside me ordered about 12 cognacs, which came in little baggies. I tried to do some sketches for the mural that will go in Sam's room of Baron Le Croix, but I didn't have much success. We landed, and I finally stepped foot onto the country that I will be spending the next 9 months of my life living in. My brain is going frantic searching for every scrap of French that I know. Customs were absurdly quick and we took a quick shuttle to the youth hostel which was the Hôtel Louisiana. There was no air conditioning, but the place was still pretty nice. We settled in our room, and I went downstairs to ask it there was any place to get food, like a vending machine or something.

"Excusez-moi Monsieur, où est-ce que je peux trouver quelque-chose à manger?"

"Avez-vous une voiture? C'est deux km d'ici."

Well poo. Apparently I needed a car because the nearest place was 2 kilometers away. They didn't even have a vending machine.
Enough with this hostel, on to my adventure.
We took the bus the next morning into Marseilles to wait at the train station. The scenery reminded me of Southwestern America. It was hot and dry, with scruffy foliage. The buildings were very industrial and concrete. I was getting a little disillusioned with the beauty of France when Sam pointed out that Marseilles was a very industrial city and to not compare it with the rest of the country, as would be much prettier. The train station was incredible and after securing our tickets that were très cher, we left the station to find something to eat before our train left. I sat in a bar/cafe outside of the station while waiting for Sam to return from making a phone call. I went to the bar to order an orange juice, and felt like an idiot. As soon as I approached the bartender, all of my french went out of my head.

"uh...um....um...yeah...jus d'orange?"

"something indiscriminate in French that I didn't understand a single word of"

"......"

"more French and a kind smile, and I understood that he wanted me to sit down outside"

"oh....merci."

Blushing, I went to sit back outside at my table. I felt like a moron. I literally could not understand a single sound that left the guy's mouth. He was however, incredible nice and took care of my drink for me with a wink and a smile.
Sam came back and we got up to find lunch in the city. We wandered around the Arabic ethnic part of the city. There were several beggars on the streets with children, poor immigrants from the Middle East.

I want to make a side note now about my impression of the poor and homeless in the UK/France. There are nothing, nothing compared to the homeless and poor in America. Yes, they have no money and are suffering, but the difference was astonishing. They were all fairly healthy. They had bags of stuff with them, and fairly decent clothes. Their faces aren't horrifically weathered and it doesn't look like they're about to keel over. I then realized it's because of the health care. It doesn't matter that they have no money or that they're homeless, they can still go to the hospital and get medicine if they need it. I am NOT saying that the homeless and poor here are fine, well-off, and pretty much ok with stuff. It is very grave, and they live an extremely tough life. It was just something I noticed. I wouldn't have pegged any of the people sitting on the streets as homeless by how they looked.

Back to my story.

The shops were enchanting and I felt extremely cool meandering though the streets with my backpack and the love of my life in the heart of a French city. We got a baguette at a bakery and found a tiny shop that sold various food items. They had a refrigerated section of cheese and dairy. I was astonished to find that real, amazing, fantastic cheese was only a couple of euros. I bought a huge chunk of pure edam for €2,30 that would have cost $8-9 in the States. Even for that much, it's likely it still would have been processed nasty crap that passes for cheese. I wanted to buy every piece of clothing I laid my eyes on, but passed it on as we found our way to a shady spot outside the grand entrance to the station. I felt very French eating my baguette and cheese with Sam.
The train ride was long but enjoyable. We ended up in Carcossone, and the city took my breath away. It is a very touristy place, but for good reason. In the distance, you could see a massive medieval city with castle walls complete with battlements. The streets had warm-colored tarp-things stretched artistically between the buildings. We got picked up by Dude and Pascal (Pascale?..) and they drove us to their boat on the canal. It was a beautiful green and white creation, with a wood table and shade umbrella on deck. We sat at the bar outside and had a glass of rose wine together. It was extremely delicious. We got settled on the boat and started to get dinner ready. Sam's uncle and aunt were so friendly and nice. Dinner was awesome, and I fed my bread scraps to the ducklings that were swimming about in the canal.
We set off the next morning for what would be a magical 5 days. It was very hot but very fun. The first lock we had to pass through was an incredible experience. I had never seen a lock before, and it was so cool. Every morning we had fresh croissants with apricot jam and tea. We bought two baguettes a day, and lunch was usually bread and cheese with white peaches and nectarines. While in France, I have tried and now love:

• green olives
• red wine
• Perrier water (mixed with pretty much anything)
• sheep cheese
• white peaches
• rose wine

Our following day in Carcossonne was magical. We visited La Cité, which is pretty much the most amazing place ever. It was extremely surreal entering the fortress the walking on top of the battlements and over all the inner city streets. I wanted to be in a Renaissance gown (and maybe have Sam dress up like Westley from Princess Bride). I wish I could have wandered through the castle by myself with the whole city empty for the experience, but obviously that is and will never be possible.

By the way, there are pictures of all these adventures that I'll post into this entry as soon as I can find the camera cord.

Another significant moment was the morning Sam and I went to get breakfast. We woke up to a glorious sunrise on the canal in a rural area of France. We took the bikes on the boat and road them to the local town. We coasted (I say coasted, the tires on both bikes were pretty crap) though unbridled sunlight between sunflower fields and vineyards. The boulangerie was amazing as always, and Sam insisted on buying me some sort of sweet French pastry. We got two petite tartes au pommes and ate them in a little courtyard that we had parked out bikes that had flowers flowing out of the fountain instead of water.

I'm going to stop for now because it takes a long time to write my blog and I want a break. <3