It was a test of patience, planning and temperature control. I was navigating and in charge of music (hurrah- finally, no more japanese pink bubblegum pop!). The first problem was that the directions were in french. My pronounciation and reading (of french) is rubbish- but by the time we got to the 3rd roundabout i could say rond-point like a proper sailor from marseilles (i have a serious sailor jerry obsession at the moment and a slight southern french accent. i can also cuss in french now with considerable ability).
The views were amazing-massive sunflower fields, some in full bloom.....little villages, castles, fields with bales of hay.....the stuff impressionist paintings are made of. Gor-ge-ous!
What got to us was the sun though. It wasnt that hot with the windows down, but then the sun just burns. I gave up conversation- it was talking rubbish and getting on his nerves. Instead i sang along to stuff on the radio- it was the first time i heard 'jenny dont be hasty'- i fell for it at the first listen....I tried painting my nails, but he cant stand the smell of acetone. There was a bit of speeding, me trying to get the guy to slow down and general scowling at each other.
We had to drive back to Aix to return the van and it was better this time, although there was a little road rage involved. We ended up playing time crisis at one of those highway stops to take the edge off all that road rage. On arrival in Aix we had champagne in plastic cups- in the park! And since he lost a bet, the champagne was on T.
We arrived in Toulouse in one piece (both times), but the problem was he didnt have a place in town yet- we had to dump his crap at a friend's place (we were crashing there too). His friends were not informed of me coming, and so i got some quizzical looks (i may have just been the bluer than blue hat). His friend's place is a great apartment in the centre of Toulouse- unfortunately still shiny and new and sans furniture. We dumped all his boxes in the huge living room, with everyone else's boxes as well. We ended up sleeping on the carpet in the living room- me in his sleeping bag and him on the sleeping bag mat.
Generally Toulouse is not the most touristy of towns- there's loads of churches and interesting architecture, but not much else. Its small enough to walk about comfortably, and the churches have that old feel about them, many still unrestored. Didnt have a chance to go near the Pyranees, but Toulouse is probably the largest town nearest to the Pyranees. It had a chilled out feel though, i guess its all that Spanish influence. There's a canal system running through town, coming off a pretty big river. Its nice to walk around, lots of interesting shops and things though i got lost once or twice (i was frazzled by all that sun).
We went to Domino's a lot for pizzas- it wasnt just because it was cheap, but there's this really cute girl there that T took a shine to. What are the chances- she's half malaysian and goes to his school. I've decided to keep my hands outta this, cos so far my matchmaking have had disasterous results. We'll let the higher powers handle this one. I kinda got sick of pizzas after that- it was 3 pizzas for the price of 1, and so it was pizza for breakkie, lunch and dinner. For about 3 days.
We took and early train to Bordeaux and so had to spend the night at the train station. The damn train station closed at 1, so we had to spend the night outside, on a bench near the canal. A rat infested canal. Big, fat, curious rats. I was so scared, i couldnt sleep and so keyed up i couldnt stay still. It was overwhelming fear. I saw the rats creeping everywhere- my eyes flicked left and right, ready to kick any rat that dared to even come up the kerb. I didnt even have a anything to whack them with. I screamed once or twice, when a rat dared come up the kerb and that was enough to make them run away- thank God. T was happily asleep on the bench throughout all this drama. The bliss of the fearless. The train station opened at 3, and i duly fell asleep in the bright, rat free station, leaning on T.
Continued blissful sleep in the train all the way to Bordeaux!
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