Hokay, this will keep ya busy for a bit!

Well. Where do I start with this one. The past few days has been unreal, and I found a new favorite city. A little city (only 250,000, making it the 8th largest in France by volume) but HOLY COW! Alright, I'll start with the end of Toulouse. I got out of town pretty easy, aside from a little communication troubles with my car sharing adventure, but I managed okay. Originally, I was going to head from Toulouse straight to Spain with it being so close, but then I remembered something about Fetè de la Music which is a nation-wide music festival, but I'll get to that in a bit. I booked a room through a website called AirBNB which was actually close enough to town that I walked it every day. But upon arriving in town the only thing I can describe it as is stunningly beautiful. Palm trees, sunny weather, beautiful clean buildings, the list goes on. Well, just to give you a taste...

You get the idea. Oddly, Montpellier is one of the only cities in France without Gallo-Roman heritage, and one of the few on the southern coast without a Greek foundation. That said, there was a lot of Roman-esque style buildings. Anyhow, once I arrived at the central transit area surrounding a new train station I did my usual "getting lost and getting angry that my gps wasn't working" thing, and heard a yell. Looking around I see running towards me the Italian guy, Antonio, whom I had met in Toulouse! This city has been a string of freak run-ins, but I'll get to those. So we exchange contact and I head to find my house. On arrival, a small American-Japanese girl answers the door. Weird that I picked the only American on the AirBNB website. I settled in and decided to look around town a little more. Another thing, music and street performers everywhere! And not the ones in it for the money like I found in Paris, but actually talented ones!

I'm trying to remember what happened next, the whole thing seems like a blur. I think I crashed pretty early that night actually, Toulouse and the three-hour car ride with three people I didn't know and didn't speak English kinda wore me out. By the way, I apologize for the barrage of media in this post, but there was just so much going on. You don't have to watch everything!

Day two. Antonio goes to the beach and says he'll meet me in the afternoon. I walk around town a little more and run into...guess what...yep, a cathedral. Once again though, different than the rest.

I love the way the sun shone through the glass like that, I thought it was funky LED lighting at first! Now the town is starting to buzz with preparation and anticipation for the Fetè de la Music starting that evening. I think at this point I found some food and asked some guy at an English pub for directions to a stage that was featuring mostly Latin-American style music. Remember this pub though, it comes up later on! I find some food,  and the stage, and wait for stuff to happen.  And boy does it happen! It starts off with Brazillian batacuda drum groups, two of them, and goes from there. They start parading down the streets and I followed them the whole way I think! I apologize for the bad sound on these videos by the way, I didn't want to lug my camera around that night so I just used my phone.

And then African drumming!

And then Portuguese drumming!

Yeah, if you didn't notice I love ethnic drum groups. Oh, and I'll never say another bad word againt a saxaphone again.

So at this point Antonio messages me and says he's back, and I should meet him at the hostel, he has wine! I show up and he meets me in the lobby where there's a bunch of people hanging around, and I hear my name again! Paul, one of the Aussies from Toulouse, comes up behind me! This is just getting too cool, and we decide to check out more festivities. Myself, Paul, Antonio, a couple German guys and a German girl, Maija from Virginia (who I might coordinate a UK bike trip with) and Ben from New Orleans. The night quickly turns into a massive party in the streets with DJ's on every corner. Imagine the biggest music festival you've been to and then stretch that out over every street in every city and town in the nation, and all free. Amazing concept! Here's what it turned into. Obviously, the Aussie is the crazy one.

Now that isn't normally my thing, but you get caught up in that atmosphere of everyone out in the streets and just feel on fire. About 3:00 rolls around and with everyone either getting lost, seperated, or tired and leaving, its just me and Daniel, one of the German guys left. After swapping emails and walking him back to the hostel cuz he was lost, I made my way home. The next day seems like a good day to hang at the beach. So I head to the tram station and did not expect to get stopped by a communist party demonstration!

But after a while they moved on after proceeding straight down the tramway line, and we moved on. A thirty-minute train/bus ride found me at the Mediterranean Ocean for the first time in my life!

So feeling a little self-conscious about my farmers tan, and it is a real farmers tan by the way cuz I was farming, I took a stroll down the beach and back, collected some shells, and boarded the bus. Well, the second bus, the first was chalk full. I get back to the centre of the city and message Ben, the New Orleans guy, to grab some grub, but he has other plans. Remember that English pub I mentioned? Well it was pretty close, and I really needed some comfort food so off I went. So I walk in, glance at some people sitting at a table...glance again....and holy crap, it's a friend of mine from Penticton!!! Turns out Lyndsey, whom I used to go to youth group with and is good friends with my cousin, is touring France and Spain with her mum and just happened to be there at the exact same time, in the exact same pub. How weird is that?!

I had a good chat and some of their pizza, it was awesome.
I went for a little walk afterwards and it was pretty calm out there, I think people were still recovering from the night before. It was starting to get dark, and Montpellier is amazing at night.

 But then I heard a noise...a beat in fact! Turns out the Latin stage was never torn down and there was a Brazillian trio playing!

And then another batacuda group showed up! And then they lit a big bonfire in the middle of the parking lot! And then people started dancing! And jumping over the fire!

I don't know if that was tradition or insanity, but it was cool anyways! After they finished a really awesome French punk/folky/ska band took the stage and rocked the night. These two guys were playing the most bizarre combination of instruments, the gaita (bagpipes) some klezmer clarinet thing, oud, and my personal favorite, the hurdy-gurdy.

However I was getting pretty sleepy so I headed out. On the way back there was a few more street performers in the square, in particular a dance troupe who were actually really good!
The next day I decided to hit up that big church, it being Sunday and all. Turns out there was a bunch of kids getting their first communion, so it took longer than usual and I went over my checkout deadline. She wasnt there so it was all good.
Now at this point I'm getting a little panicky because I asked a few people about car sharing and they all replied, but I hadn't heard from them in a couple days. Time is running out and there's one train leaving at 5:30, and its already 3:00. I decided to go up and grab a ticket which is a bummer because it's 66 euro instead of 25 for the car share. There's a bit of a lineup so I take a ticket, no. 238, and wait. They call no237. My phone rings. It's one of the car sharing guys! Then I get a text literally 1 minute later. Its the car sharing girl! Then half an hour goes by. My phone rings again. Its the car sharing lady! This has been the most random part of the trip yet. I decide to go with Carla, the girl, hoping she spoke a little more English than the others. She didn't but the other guy in the car did!
So ends my amazing time in Montpellier, and I will absolutely go back one day, hopefully for that music festival again! Now I sit at the hostel at my next destination, still burnt out but further along in my journey. And I have a feeling this is gonna be a good chapter, one of the Brits and a couple of the Aussies from Toulouse are meeting me tomorrow, and I just spent the day with Ben, he showed up yesterday. Wanna know where I am? Take a look at this picture and tell me if you can guess! Ciao!

To loose....

Alrighty, here's a multiple choice question for you:

Which option best describes Toulouse?

a. Filthy
b. Hot
c. Looks like it was hit by a bomb
d. Full of really cool people
e. Full of really annoying people
f. Strangely appealing
g. Can't wait to get out
h. All of the above

Well those of you who chose anything other than option H are WRONG! Toulouse is by far the most bizarre town I've been in, but I seem to have gotten a little stuck here for some reason. I showed up Sunday afternoon and walked out of the train station to brown brick buildings everywhere. Now I know that doesn't sound that odd to us Canadian, but when you're used to granite and flint in Normandie or plaster and terra cotta in Bordeaux, walking into a city that looks like Calgary is just plain weird! But the thing that really got me was how broken this city is. Paris, Rouen, Flers, Bordeaux, they all had their messy bits, but for the most part they were well-swept, clean, and taken care of. Here you see bricks falling out of buildings, dirt everywhere, the parks are all either closed or overgrown, roads are all torn up and not being fixed, graffiti absolutely everywhere you look....but for some reason it's one of the most happening towns I've been in! That could be due to the two major universities in town and Toulouse being the air/space command of France. But to give you an idea of what it looks like,

So you sort of get the idea. Now that I've told you the horror story, I have to tell you why this town is so amazing. When I finally got to the hostel I booked, the staff was incredibly friendly and accommodating. The rooms are very clean, have a bathroom, two shower rooms, and a kitchen each, and WiFi is pretty reliable. After looking through the net to find something to do that night I found something called Rio Loco, a music festival celebrating African and South American music. I bought the ticket online but had no way to print it out, and when I asked the guy at reception he says "Oh just email it to me and I'll do it." Bet hostel dude ever, and the music was amazing that night! Five euros for some of the best live performances I've seen, I'd say that was a good deal.
Anyhow, the next morning I went to explore the city a bit and found that it was pretty much the same everywhere, just old and ratty. Even the churches compared to others were in bad shape, but they were some of the weirdest I've seen yet! Forget gothic architecture here, its all romanesque.

This statue has an interesting story. Back, and I mean way back, some roman official in charge of Toulouse decided to drain a lake that was along the river Garonne for some reason I can't remember, and at the bottom they found this black statue at the bottom. Taking it to be a sign from the gods, this roman fella erected a temple on the site of the old lake. Years later, after the fall of the Roman Empire, it was decided that it wasn't a roman god, it was in fact a statue of Mary. Now the people of Toulouse took quite a liking to this Black Madonna as it was named. It was said that if a woman wore a belt from the statue (because she had quite a few wardrobes that circulated) around her belly during childbirth, it would ensure a quick and painless delivery. To this day, you can still get a belt from the statue, consecrated by a priest at the church, as a souvenir or for some pregnant family member. Usually a daughter or granddaughter. However, it wasn't just expecting mothers that were touched. Back in the 16 or 1700's (I'm getting so much history these days I'm mixing the days up) a great fire threatened the city of Toulouse, and try as they might the people couldn't put it out. Similar to the great fire of London from what I hear actually. Now the Bishop of Toulouse took it upon himself to attack the threat. He armed himself with the Eucharist and stood in front of the fire and prayed for God to put it out, but to no avail as the fire raged on. As a last resort, he ordered the Black Madonna to be brought to the fire and as soon as the statue arrived a wind sprang up blowing the fire in the opposite direction and eventually died. This caused a bit of stress among theologians who began to think that Mary might be more powerful than Jesus himself, but it sure makes for an interesting story! Anyhow, I headed over to a market to buy some food as my hostel FINALLY had a working kitchenette, got back to my room and started chatting with a Brazillian fella who was staying in the bunk above me, and that started a snowball rolling. We headed to the store to get a couple things, ended up making dinner and eating it downstairs, and by the end of the night there was a TON of people all hanging out and talking. Hands down the best hostel experience yet! There was a Swiss guy, a couple American guys who were biking, an Italian, and a few I cant remember. The next night was the same thing but with different people. During the day I found out that there is actually nice parts of Toulouse, if not small parts. There was another interesting church dedicated to Saint Sernin, who was the first bishop of Toulouse. He was dragged through the streets of town by a sacrificial bull. Now he's a pretty popular guy around here!

The coolest thing about this church, though, is that I walked in during a pipe organ recital! I recorded it on my phone and as soon as I figure out how to get it online I'll post it. Actually, a couple churches I visited had pipe organs playing, apparently this town is kinda famous for it.
So I got home, attempted to find some semblance of a plan for the next bit, and decided to go out again. On the stairs I met a Canadian fella! He says "Where ya goin," I says "I think to see a cool church" and he says "mind if I tag along?" And the rest is history. Turns out we got drenched within ten minutes or so by a freak rainstorm, but we got a couple beers and met some more people in the common area. This time an Irish guy, three Ozzies, and a couple others. We made plans to make dinner for the next day and that got wild! During today though, I decided to rent a bike and cruise the Canal du Midi that runs through town. That proved to be pretty disappointing to be honest, but it was nice to get out.

I did find a park that was open though!

Weirdest goose I ever seed. There was all these weird little houses all over the park that looked like little gnome or hobbit shacks, and I stared putting the pieces together that it was probably a zoo at one time! That would explain the amounts of wild chickens everywhere...
I also found another Cathedral that was just downright weird, it was never really finished at any given time so the whole thing was a little lopsided, but the carving and decoration was unlike anything I've seen yet.

There was also a guy playing pipe organ here too which was cool. Until I realized he was playing the same piece over and over, probably 8 times within the 30 minutes I was there. After that I headed back to finish some laundry and start some dinner, and that turned into a wild party! Add three more Auzzies, another Canadian, another Irishman, and a Brit and you have a good time! It was just so awesome to meet so many people doing the same thing from so many places. Out of the 10 or 12 people there, only two were travelling together. I got contacts for some of them as they're heading back to England to do the same thing as me! When the hostel police came to break up the party at midnight I headed back to my room to find two more people have arrived and speak perfect English. Turns out Ronnie and her husband Jann are from Portland (Jann is from Brittany originally) and Ronnie used to holiday in Penticton every year with her family! Such a small world.

So thats the story for now, tomorrow I'm heading to the nearest train station to try my hand at car sharing. I'll be riding with a lady named Cathrine to Montpellier for three days in order to catch the nation-wide Fete de la Music that takes over France on Friday! I gotta say, this trip is really getting awesome now, and I think it's just gonna get better from here on in! Till next time, keep fit and have fun!

Hey everybody! I'm not dead!

Well, that was a fun two weeks. Didn't even feel like I was in france actually! I learnt a fair bit about plants, French economy, actually the whole thing was fairly uneventful which was kinda nice for a change. Just good to have a chance to wind down and do some not-last-minute planning for a change. I made a couple significant decisions as well!

For the past 10 days or so I've been wondering if the bike tour idea was the best way, and it definitely has it's perks, but I had hoped to be a little futher along than Basse Normandie within the first three weeks! After much stressing and hours spent awake thinking, however, I made the decision not to continue with the bicycle for now, and it sits in a nice home in a shed at a farm. As for me, I spent a day in town, and once again having ended up at McDonalds, finally found the internet access to make a couple arrangements. At the moment I'm on my second of three intercity trains I'm taking today on my way to Bordeaux.
Anyone who might have looked at my position in Lonlay d'Abbaye and compared it to Bordeaux might be a little surprised at the distance between! There's a good reason for this...I hope it's a good reason at least...

While looking at options for the next stage of my trip I scanned through the SNCF (French Railways) website and one option popped out at me, literally in bold, orange print! It was a rail pass from Flers to Bordeaux for about half the usual price so I took this as a sign and went for it. I know I'll probably miss a couple cool things in between, namely La Rochelle and Bretagne, but I can always check it out on the way back I figure. So that's it so far! I've got another couch-surfing adventure waiting for me for a couple days and then we'll see where it goes from there! Also, I do apologize for the lack of updates and communication, there wasn't quite as much internet access as I had hoped at my little WWOOF farm.

-June 16th updated-
Well, I started this post on the train to Bordeaux, and now I'm finishing it on the train to Toulouse. I can't express excited I was to be somewhere other than rainy Normandie, but I wasn't expecting such a drastic change in scenery! It is stunning down here, there's palm trees, sunshine, vineyards galore, and instead of the grey stone and flint farmhouses I'm used to everything here is terra cotta, adobe, and plaster! And smells like flowers all the time. I wish I could've stayed much longer in Bordeaux, that city was just alive. I'd say 70% of the population was my age or younger! I stayed two nights with a fella named Bruno who'm I found through CouchSurfing. Really cool guy, obsessed with Belgian comics. I think He knew more about Tintin than Hergè himself! But enough talk, picture time.

Actually, the feel I got from this place wasn't unlike when I stepped off the plane in Sydney!

This is the longest pedestrian-only shopping street in France, and I think second only to Denmark or something like that.

Of course I gotta throw in the token cathedral pictures. What was really interesting about these cathedrals is they have much more colour to them.

The Grand Hotel Bordeaux, right across from the Opera.

This nifty fountain was erected I don't know when, but it's a dedication to the French Revolution so it must be a little old! So my short time in Bordeaux was amazing, and one day I will go back. I think I might have liked it a little more than Paris even!

But now I'm on the train watching the vines fly by at 300kph, seeing cyclists and freecampers and feeling a little guilty I'm not among them anymore....but only a little...and I'll soon be in the airspace headquarters/university town of Toulouse for four days, so I promise my updates will be much more frequent! I kinda feel like this adventure just started......

Oh, here's some McLarens that were sitting in the middle of the road. Bye for now!

I've Learned Something About France...

I've learned two very important things since I've arrived here, the first is "When in the city, keep your eyes down" and the second is "When on the bike, keep your mouth shut." The reason being, apparently these people have no concept of cleaning up after their dogs, and the bugs on the roads here are hugs and seem to be on a kamikaze mission for your throat! Sorry, just had to get that little rant out.

So I finally made my way down to Lonlay d'Abbeye, and it was a pretty nice easygoing ride, though my GPS took me down an interesting path. I still cant figure out how my GPS knew there was a path there 'cuz it took me a while to find it, and it was mostly overrun with weeds!

I showed up at the aforementioned herb farm and was a little surprised I have to say. First off, I knew these hosts spoke a little English, but I didn't expect an actual Englishman! And his wife, who is German originally, speaks more English than French! What a relief for a bit eh. I think they could tell how out of it I was, because they showed me to my "room" right away. The reason I say "room" is because it's not really....well....look at the photos.

Yep, that's my house for the next week and a bit, and actual holiday cottage all to myself. Here's the view from the back window,

And from the front.

Pretty relaxing, I must say. And the work is pretty fun too, actually. Mostly watering plants, digging up beds, and a bit of picking. You wouldn't believe how much better the herbs taste here though! Organic, natural methods really do make a difference. Some of the things they've shown me are really weird too, in particular something called herbe electriquè which makes your tongue go numb for about 15 minutes. Oh, and I prepared and helped plant a potato bed which was neat.
I'm definitely learning a lot there, but I got my first official day off today, so I headed South to the village of Domfront, which is sort of the district council apparently. A kind of sleepy little town, but really interesting history. This is one thing I found on the way...

This let me to believe that it's sort of a historical town, as that building is one of few standing medieval structures. And there were frogs in that pond that scarred me for life, I'm sure I will have nightmares of the sounds they were making...
Further down the road I stopped in the courtyard of yet another church, but this one was definitely different than the others I've seen, much older given the look of the cemetery.

Then I found the town itself. Situated on the top of a hill, the biggest I've seen here yet (which isn't saying much my BC standards) is the site of an authentic medieval village, much of which is still intact.

Nice to see something a little different for a change, I must say! But here's the view from the ruined castle.

Other than Monmarte in Paris, this is the first birds-eye I've got in France, and it made the climb worth it for sure. Oh, and a really cool lookin church that I couldn't go into and had no information, but was still really cool!

So that's my story up until now, for I'm actually sitting in this castle as we speak as it's the only place around here I've managed to find some WiFi! But I think here marks a turning point in my journey as I have to make some tricky decisions involving transportation. I had hoped to be a little farther along in the trip as I still have three or four countries to see, but after three weeks to the day now I still haven't managed to make it out of Normandy. But I still have some time to think about it so until then I'll keep snagging the odd herb and planting the odd garden for now! 

Ta good folks!