France: markets and such
Saturday morning we headed into Arles to check out the market – the theme of the market was rotisserie chickens… so we bought a chicken (sans feathers) for dinner. I also pushed that our chicken didn’t have talons, thankfully brother cooperated and we didn’t have to deal with those either.
They were also big on their Bull sausage… mum picked up a new boyfriend at the market who was passing out Bull sausage – though she debated dumping him when he told her what she was eating. Regardless, she bought two sausages which we will now consume for happy hour over the next week.
In the afternoon mum and I headed into Avignon for lunch and some shopping. Lunch was nothing to write home about… so I won’t. But shopping was decent and even resulted in me buying a new pair of shoes.
We then proceeded to drink wine while Jay cooked and somewhat picked on mum for a bit until she forced us into a truce.
I love France.
Did I mention that I was in France? No, that would require having posted something on this blog in the past month. I’m just going to blame it on the Olympics, and my lack of schedule during the Olympics (and over consumption of alcohol combined with lack of sleep, and the opening of the Hotel Streefkerk).
Since the Olympics, my cold has disappeared, the Hotel Streefkerk has closed and my workout schedule has resumed… oh yeah, and I ran away to the South of France with mum and Jay for 10 days.
They beat me out here and spent a couple of days in Paris, I met up with them yesterday in Marseilles and we drove out to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where will will be stationed for the next 9 days.
This morning we woke up to a crazy rain storm and were convinced that we would be spending the entire day inside vineyard tasting rooms. Much to our delight the clouds parted and it turned out to be a wonderfully warm day.
We ended up going into two vineyards (Mas de la Dame, Chateau D’Estoublon) and an olive oil shop (Castelas). We then hiked up the hills to check out the ruins of Chateau des Baux – which were situated on the mountain top above the vineyards and olive groves.
As you can see by our pictures, we are having a horrible time… so bad that we may never return home.
If you’re interested in reading more about the wine and food we are consuming, I’ll be posting over at Two Girls, One Cork – sharing some of our culinary adventures.
Hockey, hockey, hockey!
On Thursday Mike, Jess, Greg and I headed to the USA v. Norway men’s hockey game… I’m not going to lie – I secretly wished that Norway was going to win to knock the USA down in the standings but they had no chance so I resorted to cheering alongside the USA fins sitting around us.
After the game we headed out to Cactus to watch the Canada game with a large crowd of rowdies… and resorted to taking shots of Patron after Canada won in a shoot out. In hindsight, saying ‘tequila if Canada Looses or patron if Canada wins’ is not really the smartest logic and has now led to a ban on tequila shots on school-nights.
Oh Olympics, I love you.
Spring?!
This weekend I could have been convinced that Spring has arrived in Vancouver…
It made for an amazing ride along the beach and up through UBC.
The end.
Olympics: Day 1 – Day 4
I’ve been spending some time wandering around the city taking in the sights of the Olympics – not to mention people watching… oh boy is the people watching wonderful!
On Friday we watched the Opening Ceremonies from home (how great was KD Lang??) and then decided to venture downtown for some alcoholic beverages and in hopes that Wayne Gretzky had decided to hang out around the flame for a while to bask in his own glory. (he wasn’t there).
Needless to say we got some sweet shots of the Olympic Flame and Robson Square…
Sunday I ventured out in daylight with Samba and experienced the insanity that was Yaletown, Coal Harbour and Robson Square by day. There’s nothing like being pinned between a mob of 500 and the chain link fence that holds the crowd back from the Olympic Flame!
Yesterday Trevor arrived in town – and him and his friend showed me that I really am old and lame and that being 23 apparently gives you the energy to go out till four in the morning. I also came to the conclusion that I never want teenagers as I woke up every 15 minutes wondering if he was lost in the city and couldn’t figure out how to get home.
