Travelog for: Luffy

Today I arrived in France... The Postman put the envelope in Mistigree's mailbox. Everything was dark but I could hear a voice just near... It was Muki, another ToyVoyager who was waiting for Mistigree to come and open the mailbox !! As it was stifling here, I opened my enveloppe by myself and helped Muki to escape from his too. But we couldn't succeed in getting out of the mailbox, so we decided to wait for Mistigree.

Ah !!!! What a relief when Mistigree opened the mailbox today !! I was beginnig to suffer from claustrophobia and I could not have spent one day more in this obscurity !!

I was so under stress and nervous because of all these days spent in this tiny little envelope, that the first thing I did when I entered in Mistigree's flat, was to go on her balcony and take one of her cigarettes to destress !!... Unfortunely, the cigarette didn't agree with me and I couldn't stop coughing !!


Then I saw a little tree with fruits on it, so as I was very hungry, I picked one of them and ate it. It was the first time of my life that I ate a kumquat... Mistigree was not very happy as this little tree is ornemental above all, and not especially meant to be eaten by a ToyVoyager...


Then I realised that everybody in Mistigree's flat was looking at me with my kumquat in the mouth, and I was ashamed !!


They were all waiting for me to introduce myself...


I shaked many hands. Here you can see me with Monsieur Van de Kaub, who's Belgian and who will soon go on honey moon with his wife.


Alpina was there too, and as we were the only ToyVoyagers for now, we decided to have a picture together with Muki before Alpina's departure in a few days... She's lucky, she's going to meet my owner niftylite !!

Simon the crow asked me if I could lend him my tshirt and my corsair's hat... I accepted at the condition he lends me his wizard's cape.


Then, as I'm a bit pernickety, I washed my tshirt and let it dry on Mistigree's balcony. Muki washed his shirt too as he had been sweating profusely during the days in the mailbox.

Today we went to visit Carcassonne, which is about 100 kms from Toulouse. Maybe you've heard of this town ?? It has a big fortified castle, with ramparts that seem to go on and on for ever !!



I met a knight and asked him if he would like to become a ToyVoyager as me, but he replied that he prefered to stay here and look after the castle !!


To become a knight and stay with my new friend was very tempting, and for a while, I totally forgot my corsair's hat... I wish I could have bought a suit of armour, with a shield and a sword !!


Mistigree wanted to find a new tshirt for me as a souvenir, one with knights on it, but we didn't find one suitable, they were all for children, but not for ToyVoyagers.

In another shop, they were selling French bérets. Mistigree explained me those ones were fancy ones, with FRANCE written on them, but the real bérets are simply black or red (the colour depends on the region). There is a famous bérets fabric near where Mistigree's parents live (in a town called Nay). At a time (Mistigree doesn't know if they still do)  they even manufactured the blue bérets for the United Nations Organization peace soldiers !


And those French flag ears made me think of Mickey Mouse ones, don't you think ?!

After having visited the castle and its ramparts, we went to see "Le musée de l'école" (school museum) which is situated in one of the little lanes of Carcassonne. I went there with Taro who is hosted by Mood, a friend of Mistigree.


In fact they have reconstructed a French classroom as it was before.


Look at the Marianne bust on the wall !! Marianne is the symbol of the French Republic and we can find it nowardays in each townhall. At the time it was also in each classroom (now, it isn't anymore). We can find Marianne on French stamps too.


I looked on the wall and there was plenty of interesting things. First an old map of France to learn all the French subdivisions. I learnt that Toulouse was in "Haute-Garonne", Carcassonne is in "Aude" and Mistigree's parents lives in "Pyrénées-Atlantiques"... but I don't know if I will remember all...


Then I learned about French history, you know "La prise de la Bastille" during the French Revolution (when they beheaded their king !!)


I also learnt in the years 1880, they created what they called "le bataillon scolaire" (school batallion). Children over 12 had to follow a kind a military training, but it didn't last a lot (hopefully !!)


Do you know Jean de la Fontaine ?? He's a French writter who wrote many fables featuring animals. One of his most famous fable is "La cigale et la fourmi" (the cicada and the ant) whose illustration we could see on the wall. It is a French classical fable that every children usually learn at school !


I approched a cupboard... but when I saw what there was inside, I prefered to escape.... There were several bocals containing dead snakes and frogs with formol (I presume) !! Hopefully there were no monkeys...


In another cupboard there were bottles of ink and different old nibs (the most famous brand was called "la plume Sergent Major") because at the time, they were not writing with pens, but with nibs and purple ink !!


As we could try to write with a nib, I sat down on a table, and tried to make a fair copy of something in French that was written on the black board.


Hopefully, there was a blotting paper !


Isn't that good for my first time with a nib ???


As we had worked enough, it was time for the break now, so we went in the playground and I played "Marelle" (hopscotch).

Hey !! Look !! I can nearly touch the sky ! I wanted to go for a walk on the roofs of Toulouse, but Mistigree did not let me go, she was afraid that I may fall !!


Today, I saw le Capitole, the Townhall of Toulouse, it is so big, I'm not persuaded the mayor needs the whole building to work !! The green plants that you can see just in front of the Capitole is a labyrinth for children !! It is only here during summer.


Inside the townhall, I saw many Middle Age paintings, but an old man on a painting seemed to look at me maliciously and I got scared and escaped rapidly !!


In the same building, there is the National Theater too, but I don't think we will go to see a play here, it is quite expensive !!


I tried to enter by the stage door ("entrée des artistes") but they forced me back outside !! I told them that I was a friend of Gérard Depardieu, the French actor, but they didn't believe me !!


Then, Mistigree showed me another theater," le théâtre Sorano".
"Un tramway nommé désir" will be played here soon !! You certainly know it with another name..." A streetcar named desire" !

Do you remember France won the football worldcup in 1998 ??? (hum... they often forget to tell they lamentably lost in 2002 !!)


See what Zinedine Zidane is doing now !! An advertising campaign for glasses !!!!!

Today I took the train to go to Mistigree's parent's house for a few days. The station is called "Toulouse Matabiau".


In the station's corridors, I saw this poster that made me laugh !! It is an advert for a Country Music festival that helds every year in Mirande (a town in Gers, not too far from Toulouse). This year, the "prestigious" hosts were those old actors from Dallas !!! Sue-Ellen has not changed a lot, I guess she has a good plastic surgeon !!

While Mistigree was cooking the midday meal, I secretly decided to taste green peppers and chorizo... I'll never do it again !!!!! It was too hot and my mouth was burning !!

This afternoon, I went to Pau. It is a little town just near, and Mistigree told me there were many English people who were living here. In fact, the duke of Wellington (future victorious of Napoléon), stopped in Pau with his army in the XIX century and British discovered Pau at that time and introduced their way of life here (hunting for the fox -poor Foxforce !-, golf, hippodromme, many villas...)
Mistigree showed me the castle of Henri IV who was a king of France. He was nicknamed "le bon roi Henri" (good king Henry) or "le Vert galant" (the gallant Green).


It is said that Henri IV (who's not as physically "strong" as our Henry VIII in England !!) was baptized with a Jurançon drop !! (Jurançon is a famous wine from the area) !! And he is well known in France for having said the following thing : "God willing, every working man in my kingdom will have a chicken in the pot every Sunday, at the least !"... So you can find in the region many recipes of "Poule au pot" (Mistigree's father sometimes cook it).


This is the garden at the foot of the castle. It is what we call "un jardin à la française" (a French garden) as you can notice when you see the thickets shapes !

Once back home, I saw Mistigree's father had a bottle of this wine Jurançon (which Henri IV was baptized with), so I discretely opened the fridge and drank some of it straight from the bottle !! I'm sure Tiger Tom will be jealous !!


I tried to open a jar of Foie gras too, but I did not succeed, it was too hard for me !!

I made a little trip by train today as we went to Lourdes, not far from Mistigree's parents house.


Maybe you've heard from this town before ? It is a pilgrimage city with a big basilica dedicated to Virgin Mary.



People who come here usually come to see the grotto where Virgin Mary appeared 150 years ago... That's what catholic people think in any case, but who really knows ??


They also come to drink water from the grotto as it is supposedly miraculous !


And in case the water doesn't do miracles, you can always light a candle for a prayer.


I found this statue of St-Margaret, the patroness of Scoltland, and it reminded me of my native Great-Britain !


I also went to visit the castle fort which is quite smaller than the Tower of London but which doesn't contain any royal jewels !


This miniature house was in the courtyard of the castle and represents a typical house from the Basque Country which is a region 100 kms from here ! Mistigree told me she liked the colours of those houses and therefore she painted some things in her kitchen with the same dark red (it is called "Bordeaux") colour !


I also noticed this very strange tree in the courtyard !! Look at its trunk !!!


We came back with the high speed train which got nice colours !

Today Muki organised a party because it was Szandra's birthday (Szandra is her mentor).


Muki asked me to blow up the balloons !!


I must confess that I did not stay a lot to the party because I met a beautiful blue-eyed French girl who made me crazy (I think I'm in love...)