Travelog for: Pussy Galore

So we all went for a walk in the surroundings. First, we should have gone to the higher mountains, but because of the weather we just went to the premountains to visit small typical mountain villages...
On our way, we stopped in Lourdes... Not a real beautiful village, but famous since Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette, the little shepherdess in the past century ... Now, it became a big pilgrimage place for catholics and as Taro loves cathedrals and churches, we stopped here for a while ...
Here is Bernadette watching over her sheeps

I talked 5 min. with the two little sheeps standing at her feet. They were quite surprised first, but when I told them about my big adventures, the little black one asked to travel with me ... but the white one (the oldest) said they couldn't leave Bernadette ... they HAD to stay with her, and smile to the tourists ... the black one winked at me ... maybe he will join us soon ???

Behind me is the Lourdes castle



Then we went on to this so charming small village called "Aucun" in the Val d'Azun

with typical stone-built barns with their slate roofs


shhhhh !!!! I think I found a new friend


let's try to get closer

Maybe he will show me round his playing field ...

Well, this one was too shy, but here is his sister!


"Hello or Bonjour!" I said in french ... "Is there any mice out here" ???


but what a pity... I couldn't practice my french longer : Mood called me as we were going on our way ...

We have visited an exhibition about pastoralism


there were also strange animals, like this little funny thing called a "Desman des Pyrénées". It only lives here in the Pyrénées


or this bad looking one  ... You don't frighten me at all !!!!


this black bird with his red haircut is quite tempting don't you agree ?


I really enjoyed the surrounding villages ...


...  in the National Parc



in the Val d'Azun




Where you can see marmot

Ok .. this is not a real one, BUT ... instead I saw some kind of BIG marmots (just behind me)


In fact it's a special pyrenean grazing marmot


And look at this one with his baby


There are also white and brown mane marmots ....

Have you seen, she even smiles at you !!!

Today, I helped Mood to put together some I- K -A furniture ( no advertising, but I'm sure you recognize the instructions!)


You just have to be organised, count how many screws or nails


Follow the instructions without getting worked up


and here is a perfect drawer !!

Today I went to the cinema

Alas, no James Bond .. BUT I met the Silver Surfer:


I asked him an autograph but he told me he couldn't move because he was aching he said ... Wimp I answered !!!!

Anyway, we went to sea Ratatouille, you know, this little tempting mouse ...




And then I met Homer and Marge Simpson !!!!


Yes !!! Look at Homer's hand !



We took tea together, and I really enjoyed Homer's donuts


tooooooooooooooooooo

For my last week end in France, Mood took me to visit some places in Toulouse, the "Pink Town" capital city of Midi Pyrénées (south west region).
So I took the bus n°2 ...

... I punched my ticket

... and here I am in front of the Place du Capitole

Behind me is the Townhall : The Capitole ...

Sun was setting, and the red colours was much more nice !!!

As you might know, France is now hosting Rugby world cup, and Toulouse also hosts some rugby matchs, so they hung up this poster which says welcomes in the different languages of the different matchs that take place in Toulouse such as Japan and ... hheeuu ... I let you guess

As we didn't have much tilme to visit (as the sun was setting) we just visit the main places such as the St Sernin basilica

Mood told me that basilica Saint- SERNIN of Toulouse is most famous, vastest and most beautiful of the Romance churches of the South, richest of France in relics !!!

I have to say that I didn't really care about these relics.. I was much interested in these strange cement fish all around the basilica ?!!!


But our visit turns up into a race against the clock and we ran to the Garonne. The river that flows in Toulouse.
Behind me is the Quai de la Daurade (Daurade embankment) with moored flying boat. You can also see the St Pierre bridge in the background

After the Atlantic sunset, the Toulouse one :


The Daurage embankment again

From the Pont Neuf bridge (in fact the oldest of the town)

with its famous arches

and the flying boats in front of the Tounis embankment

and the small Garonnette ancient bridge

After some days in the envelope I slowly peeped out of it ... where did I arrive? The first thing I saw was a bunch a toytravelers curiously waiting ..... no danger there, so I ventured out of my travel envelope. Here I am Munich!

As the weather was nice, we all went for a nice walk. First we took the S-Bahn to Herrsching at the Ammersee (lake). From there we walked more than one hour to the Andechs monastery. It is a huge complex as you can see in the photo.

The forest was really nice in all the autumn colors. I enjoyed the walk from the Andechs monastery through the Kiental back to Herrsching. In Herrsching I saw a golden statue of the Virgin Mary. There are a lot of those statues in this area.

I went to Frankfurt for the weekend. The photo shows me on a brigde over the Main river with the skyline of Frankfurt. Some people call Frankfurt "Mainhattan" because there are a lot of skycrapers - most of them used by banks.

I accompanied my host to the Kloster Bernried (Bernried monastery) close to the Starnberger See to get one week of Qigong training. Very nice and relaxing even though the weather was foggy. Sometimes I though I would sit in a white cloud when looking out of the window.

Today I went to Marienplatz - the Christmas market has started and everywhere is the smell of cookies and mulled wine 
I also saw the Hofbräuhaus - what a huge beer hall!

This is it - I'm on my way to Australia! Hope to arrive soon.

Pussy arrived in Australia on a hot, muggy, wet, grey day, and immediately realized she won't be needing her pretty scarf while she's here!

PG was happy to see other cats visiting here, but another TV that had arrived today upset her somewhat, because he thought they were all out to eat him! PG was rather offended by Mousy Mouse's assumption, and did her best to snap him out of it.

I met Nik's two cats today. Rocky (black and white) was rather aloof, but Lucky (tiger cat) was very friendly, and started grooming me! I think I'm in love...

It's so hard to believe it nearly Christmas! It's so warm here in Australia. Most people have plastic Xmas trees because real ones just die in the heat. Isn't the tree pretty?
We took a group photo under Nik's nan's tree, and peeked at the presents! I know what Nik's nan is getting for Xmas now