Carcassonne

Last week, I was sent to Toulouse, France on the usual 2-day Moto-notice. We were scheduled to be here for a week, but that has turned into two weeks (so far). So, I ended up "stuck" in southern France with a weekend off (I know, I know.... boo hoo, poor me!).

My travel buddy from work (Kai) likes to hike around and run around as much as I do, so we headed for this medieval fortress/castle called Carcassonne. Saturday started out rainy and humid. The weather then turned great and we took the train from Toulouse to Carcassonne past huge fields of sunflowers. Once there, we stumbled into a nice little Chinese restaurant and had lunch. From there, we hiked to the fortress. I have many more pictures to post, but I hit my limit on flickr, so I'll wait a couple of days before I post those.

Le Dragon!

On Sunday, after visiting the (horrible) Museum of Modern Art, we walked to the Japanese garden. It was a beautiful place, but I was too lazy to haul the big camera around for a 2nd day, so I will post Kai's pictures later.

Le Menu

Choose your poisson (fish that is!) I'm actually learning enough French that I can read these menus. Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks. If you click on the picture, you can see some of the prices. 1 euro is currently about $1.57, so a 22,50 E plate is about $35 US.

Night time

Night life in Toulouse. Lots and lots of little street cafes. The weather is great, unfortunately, the people at the next table are usually smoking. I'm spoiled by the smoking ban in Illinois!

Try it, Mikey!

Don't know what the heck I'm eating!

Actually I did, this was duck pate (ground up duck liver) with lard (AKA fat) congealed on top. A spread for the bread. In Toulouse, all the traditional dishes are made with duck parts... livers, hearts, you name it.

458 Miles

Yesterday, Bob, Yarko, and I met up with Kim in Janesville, WI. From there, we did a big loop on some twisty country roads to the Mississippi River and back. Totals for the day -- 458 miles, 13 hours, 1 memorable ride. Bob found the route on the web (here) and I loaded it into my GPS and we went where the GPS lead us. It was a great route that we'll probably do again. The views of the Mississippi were very much like the views from my Savanna trips last year. I didn't get pictures of the Mississippi on this trip, we were too focused on getting gas and lunch.

The GOOD Pictures

I'm back from two great 4-day vacations. To supplement the crummy phone pics below, here are the pictures from my Nikon:

For the first part of my vacation, I took the kids to Ocean Isle Beach to visit with their grandparents. Click here to see these photos.

After that, Jody took me to NW Michigan where she spent many of her teenage summers. Click here to see those photos.

Sunset over Lake Michigan

Happy 4th!

Sleeping Bear Dunes again

Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan

Michigan sized sand dune!