Today, after a late breakfast, I headed to the train station. I took the 11:33am train to Bayonne, a larger town located about 30 minutes from Tyrosse. My plan was to meet Alison there so we could explore the town together. When I arrived, I called her to find out where she was. Then I set off to meet up. As I was crossing the bridge, I stopped to take a picture of the view. There was an older woman just in front of me, who noticed that I was taking a picture. She stopped to comment on the beauty of the view, and then started talking to me. She asked where I was from and then proceeded to tell me all about how much France has changed since when she was younger (she is 85 years old) and now the French are rude and mean. She told me all about her problems in the apartment she’s renting, how people in a hotel didn’t help her with her luggage, and how her favorite restaurant was sold to a new owner, who remodeled and made it look modern, which she can’t stand. The whole time we would walk a few steps, then she’d stop to tell me more. My phone kept vibrating in my pocket as Alison tried to get ahold of me (because I should have met up with her by then). Eventually (about 15 minutes later), she asked where I was headed and I pulled out my phone and told her I was meeting up with a friend. At that point she said, “Bonne Journée!” and headed off to have her lunch.
I met up with Alison (and apologized for being so late) and we started wandering around the old part of town. There are a bunch of narrow streets that are car-free, so we had fun just meandering. We stopped in a bookshop and a shop that sold post cards (and other interesting things, such as aprons with fake boobs attached…hmm?). We also visited the cathedral, which is gorgeous. Unfortunately it closed 5 minutes after we got there, so we only had a quick look around.
Photo: The cathedral
Then we headed out to find a place for lunch and ended up eating at Mezzo di Pasta, which was a favorite of mine during my studies in Angers. It’s pretty basic—you pick a kind of pasta (spirals, cheese-filled, meat-filled, spinach-filled, etc.), you pick a sauce (vodka, tomato, cheese, meat, tomato, etc.), and you pick a cheese topping (emmental or parmesan) and then they make it up for you in a little cardboard take-out box.
We ended up hanging out for about an hour in the restaurant, looking at Alison’s guidebook for Southern France. I’m hoping we’ll be able to make more day trips to other interesting towns nearby.
We headed back out and ended up at the cathedral again. This time we visited the cloister, which has tombstones from the 1600s!
Photo: The cloister
It was absolutely beautiful and there was a nice view of the cathedral spires.
Photo: A tombstone from 1652
We then went out in search of a pastry (since I still hadn’t had one in France) and had many shops to choose from. I ended up getting a flan at one shop and Alison got a lemon tart at a different one. We sat on some stairs by the river and enjoyed our treats!
Photo: Me and my flan!
And, since we had explored the center of town pretty well, we just sat and talked for about and hour and a half. Alison is really nice—it’s sad that there really isn’t any transportation between our towns. It makes it a lot harder for us to hang out. But, I’m sure we’ll make it happen.
I arrived back in Tyrosse around 6:30pm and had a nice dinner with the whole family (a veggie and cheese casserole). After dinner we watched “The Sing-Off,” which is a contest for a cappella groups. I watched it last year (in the US) and apparently now it has become popular all over the world, so there’s a French version here. I think the groups were better in the US version—I wasn’t particularly impressed with most of the voices in the French groups. But, it was fun watching it with Catherine, Margot, Hugo, and Lucas! It’s weird because I’m kind-of torn…I know that I don’t really want to watch too much TV, but I feel worse holing myself up in my room—even if I’m just reading a book. So generally I end up just watching TV, because then I feel like I’m being somewhat social. Maybe next week I can get them to play a game instead! :)
All these adventures and you still have your beautiful smile. I'm so enjoying your stories and adventures, especially about old ladies who think that France is going to pieces, and becoming rude. Sounds like you're in contact with America so you know it's fall and the rain is starting. The high school girl who will live with us as she goes to school in Monmouth is arriving in one week so we need to fix up her room and tidy up the place. Have a another great week of adventures.
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