Albi and Keeping House

I am now half way through my second week and I am beginning to settle in. I am loving it, but it definitely hasn't been easy trying to cook, clean, shop, live in a new way. My biggest challenge, however, has probably been adjusting to my appliances. My oven is literally a toaster oven. I have managed to still cook dinner every night, although I cannot find many of my usual cooking ingredients. I have spent most my time sight seeing in Toulouse. I have gone to the movies, eaten lunch in the park several times, seen some of the museums, christmas shopped, and I even got a French cell phone. I am enjoying the food very much, and I must say I quite enjoy the way of life here.

This past weekend Dustin and I drove to Albi, which is a town about an hour away from Toulouse. It was wonderful. Toulouse-Lautrec was born here and they have a wonderful museum with rooms and rooms of his works. Being a big Toulouse-Lautrec fan it was fantastic!! The big cathedral in town, St. Cecile is probably the biggest church I have ever seen, height wise. It is a beautiful gothic church and was even more beautiful inside. The river Tarn runs through the city and we were able to walk down onto the banks and take some fabulous pictures.

We have planned several trips over the next few months that I am very excited about. Next week we will be heading to Paris for Christmas, then Nice for New Years. In January we are headed to Avignon, Bordeaux with Dustins parents, maybe Bayonne and Biarritz. The last week of January we will be driving to Barcelona. Next weekend we hope to go to Carcassone, I have been told I must try the Cassoulet there.

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