I bought them some time ago. Even then, I knew I shouldn't give in... I wasn't sure I could go to France in the summer, and they weren't the cheapest concert tickets I'd ever seen. But I knew they would sell out fast (they were gone by the next day), and how could I resist seeing this:
in this venue?
So if anyone wants to finance my ticket to France in the next 2 weeks, I can promise to provide you with a ticket to the show.
The other day Jube asked me if my blog was dead. "Of course not!" I said, but then I realized that I really haven't been doing a good job of updating. So here's a try to get back into the swing of things:
I graduated on May 10! Now I just have to find a job.
BB visited, and we had a great time. He now knows that Norfolk, Virginia is really awesome.
Since finishing classes, I've been reading lots of books and updating lots of resumes.
Now, for something completely different (and vastly more amusing):
The other day, Jube, Lorene and I went to the president's house for dinner. Yes, that's right, I'm in tight with President Runte of Old Dominion University! (Actually we went for a different reason, but it sounds good to say that I know her really well, right? Except that now she's going to be president of a Canadian university, so bye bye reference...) Jube's real last name is the same as a relatively famous French author. Let's say his name is Jube Rousseau (as the French say, why not?) President Runte has her PhD in French Literature, and as she gave us our nametags she said, "Did you know that Rousseau was a famous French author?"
"Oh yes," said Jube.
"Ah! Et vous parlez francais?" she asked.
"Oui, oui, bien sur," he answered.
She turned towards the nametags again, and mistakenly addressed me: "Et d'ou est-ce que vous venez, alors?"
I thought about answering, "De l'Ohio," but instead Jube told her he was from Montpellier.
"Wonderful, wonderful," she said, abstractedly. "Well, bon appetit!"
As we were leaving, she again spoke to Jube, asking about his future plans. I jumped in, to prove that I could speak French too, and we chatted a bit about where we would find jobs. She mentioned moving to Canada, as she was doing, and I made a stupid joke about writing down her phone number to call her later. (She didn't laugh very hard.) Poor Lorene, who speaks German very well but not much French, pretended like she was listening to the conversation.
"Bon, bien, au revoir!" she said.
"Au revoir!" Jube and I answered.
"Au revoir!" put in Lorene, as we were leaving. On our way back to the car, we all burst out laughing. "I had no idea what she said, but I think that it looked good to say that, right?"
Now that I am almost a graduate degree holder, I'm finding it much more difficult to do the things I have to do. Senior year of high school wasn't this hard! Just getting out of bed to walk five minutes to work can be really difficult. I wake up on time, but then bed just seems so comfortable and warm...
But I have some great news - BB is coming to visit for graduation! Yay! And after visiting Norfolk, he's visiting Wales. He's becoming quite the world traveler!
Besides his visit, I don't have any firm plans for the summer, which is part of the reason le carnet hasn't been updated. I don't like not knowing my future plans. Hopefully soon I'll at least know what city I'll be living in after July 5.
I've been totally stressed out for the past month (when I wasn't blogging). First I went abroad (the same trip as last year, part deux, with Paris thrown in to the mix); then when I got back, I had work; Jube's spring break; my mom's visit; and, of course, worrying about jobs. I'm almost finished with my Master's, so I've been applying for jobs since January. Just before I left and just after I got home I stepped up my efforts, and so far I've had 3 interviews. I'm still waiting to find out about one... I thought I'd hear back last week sometime, but no luck. I hope that it's good news. (Jube has learned his English too well - he keeps repeating "no news is good news!")
And to cap off the stress, this weekend is my comprehensive exam. My master's program decided to change its traditional "three hours and write everything you can remember!" to a take-home exam. Ugh! I don't know about you, but I hate take-home exams! I absolutely despise them, for many reasons. Which I will enumerate for you, since the only alternative is the exam.
1. An in-class exam ruins three hours. A take-home exam ruins an entire weekend (or even entire week, in some cases!). 2. Professors expect more out of you for a take-home exam than an in-class exam. I've had to do so much research for this stupid exam - I much prefer studying in advance. 3. I'm better at in-class exams! (So yeah, this one only refers to me, but so what?)
All weekend I've had this horrible stomachache because I should have been working on my exam. And even when I am working on it, I feel sick, because I'm worried. I really don't want to take it again!
Gem [during a commercial break]: I think that this is the new song by Madonna and what's-his-name, Timberlake.
Kilmer [after listening for 5 seconds]: It sucks.
So as you can see, my absence from the blogging world could possibly be attributed to meager blogging material. We'll see what I can scrounge up soon--exam time = procrastination.
Last Wednesday I got an e-mail from my friend Kilmer saying she'd gotten free tickets to see Margaret Cho at the NORVA (a small concert venue in downtown Norfolk). Did I want to go?
Heck yeah! Jube and I had seen Margaret Cho last year for free at ODU, but I had a feeling she'd softened her act a little bit. Plus I'd never been in the NORVA before, and I've wanted to check it out for awhile (ever since my boss told me it was awesome).
After I said "yes," Kilmer told me that she'd received her free tickets from her old internship coordinator, and that we were going to be VIPs for the night. Awesome!
The show started at 10:15, and at 9:45 there was a line stretching down Monticello Avenue for about 50 feet. Kilmer and I bypassed the plebeians, heading straight for the Members Only stand. We were carded and given 2 wristbands: one to say that we were over 21, the other to show that we were "Members," and allowed to go in the Members Only Bar. Oh yeah, we were rockin'. We walked upstairs where we thought we'd found the Members Only Bar. But really, that was just the upstairs bar. The Members Only Bar is through some double doors with handles shaped like guitars. Once inside, we found a bar with a barmaid who seemed to know everyone (but us), a small lounge area, and a closed-circuit TV where we could watch the show on sofas if we wanted. Instead we just got some drinks and then headed back outside when we could hear amplified voices.
The Members Only section is made up of a balcony that gives a much better view of the acts. We sat about 10 feet away from the comics. Most of the audience was made up of die-hard fans. They screamed, laughed, shouted, and contributed to the performance. Directly across from us, on the Members Only balcony, was a group of three or four gay men who squealed every time Margaret said "queer."
The show was hilarious, and even though Kilmer and I weren't able to get backstage passes like we thought (we are unfamiliar with the term VIP as it relates to ourselves), we were lucky enough to have a place to keep our coats safe while we watched.
Oh my oh my... I still haven't finished talking about our vacation in France, but what can I do? I'll promise a post about St. Saturnin and La Fontaine de la Vaucluse, is that all right? In the meantime, be content with this:
Once upon a time, during assistantship days...
At my going-away party, all of the English teachers and some other colleagues gathered to celebrate. We had a really fun time, eating, drinking... and someone had brought a karaoke machine! I was able to sing a lot of the English songs (one of the teachers even played "Wild World" on his guitar for me to sing), but I was unfamiliar with the old French karaoke chestnuts like "Cette annee-la." By the end of the night, we were all pretty happy and silly. It wasn't just a goodbye party for me, but one of the other English teachers had recently been promoted and was leaving the school.He was one of the best teachers and I had really enjoyed working with him.
All of a sudden, I realized that nearly everyone was in the living room listening to that same teacher boogie down with thekaraoke machine, laughing like crazy. I couldn't understand many of the words of the song (which is okay, because half of them are in Creole), but he was singing the girls' part: "Vas-y, Francky, c'est bon! Vas-y, Francky, c'est bon bon bon!"* It was probably the funniest thing I'd ever heard: an older man, with stylish clothes and graying hair, simpering about how sexy Francky was in bed... He was really hamming it up, too!
He ended up sounding (and acting) like this girl I just saw on YouTube:
If you'd like to hear "Fruit de la passion" in its entirety, feel free to watch Francky Vincent get it on. My favorite line? "Il n'y a pas que la fesse dans la vie... il y a le sexe, aussi!"**
*Go for it, Francky, it's good! Keep going, Francky, it's good good good! **I'm not translating that for you ;)
You may remember that on Christmas day, when le Parisien was in town, we tried to go to the new aquarium in Montpellier, "Mare Nostrum." Unfortunately they hadn't published the right holiday schedule and it was closed. Finally we all headed back one day to check it out.
When we got there, the line stretched across the parking lot. Parents yelled at kids who ran away, heading toward the streetcar tracks or the movie theater. Le Pacha wanted to brave it out, but the rest of us decided that it would be too annoying to wait for over an hour to get in. Instead, we went to the Zoo, with its new greenhouse/Amazonian rainforest exhibit.
This was a great choice, since there were about two people ahead of us in line and it was a lot cheaper than the aquarium. It was warm in the greenhouse and there were plenty of interesting animals. Afterwards we watched the lemurs fight over their food before going back to the car.
We decided to check the aquarium one more time before going home. Since we arrived around lunchtime, the line was cut in half. We waited for half an hour or so, our stomachs grumbling, and then explored the aquarium. It was very nice, complete with penguins, sharks, and a little girl who wiped her nose on Belle-Maman's hand.
Afterwards we went to the nearby China buffet, making le Pacha's day complete.
One of the most amazing gifts that Jube and I received was lunch for two at la Maison de la Lozere. Jube and I have been to some nice restaurants, but we aren't usually able to afford the really really nice ones. (One exception, of course, was the Manor House Restaurant where we had our wedding!) I was getting over my cold and Jube had just caught a watered-down version, but we were both able to smell, taste, and see. We were in for a treat!
We both ordered kir royal for our aperitif, which came with two plates of mises-en-bouche. The first plate was a savory trio shaped like desserts. They were: one cream puff with a vodka cream filling (chou a la creme a la vodka), a dark chocolate bonbon with leek filling, and a little hard-candy shaped mozzarella treat with poppy seeds and herbs. The three were served on an inch-thick rectangle of Plexiglas. The second plate of mises-en-bouche was a bit more substantial, including one salmon sushi and one carrot gelee. They were both very tasty!
By this time, though, Jube had begun to worry that we were only going to be getting tiny portions for lunch. Our first course proved him wrong. It was a marinated tuna steak served on top of a citrus gelee, with a small salad on the side, a candy-like rectangle of seaweed, and an "emulsion d'eau de mer" (a small amount of what looked and tasted like sea foam). The food was wonderful, and I was getting excited about our main course.
Jube chose hare, which was served wrapped in ham. His sides included a "croustillant de tete de veau" (a 3-d rectangle of fried meaty goodness) and a poached egg. I chose the fish, which was served with a sweet corn mousse and tempura-fried leeks.
At la Maison de la Lozere, every main dish is served with aligot. Aligot is a mixture of cheese (tomme de Lozere) and mashed potatoes. It is the regional dish of Lozere. (We actually made it once, and you can see the picture here.) Jube happened to grow up in the region, and he was used to eating aligot made by the peasants of Lozere: in a big pot with a huge wooden spoon. When the aligot would stick to the spoon, the peasant (probably smoking a cigarette with dirt under his nails) would push the aligot back down into the main mixture. It would be served by slapping the aligot into the bowl or plate that was offered.
It is served a bit differently at la Maison de la Lozere. The waiter or waitress picks up a serving of aligot held between two spoons. He or she then twists the aligot into pretty patterns while placing it into our single-serving bowls. Jube and I were both reminded of a Japanese steakhouse where preparing the food is as much fun as eating it. The aligot filled up any holes we might have had from small portions, and we were offered more (and we both declined).
For dessert, Jube had a plum crumble (mirabelles) and I chose a small turnover filled with bananas and mangoes. Both were served with sorbet, and mine was served with a sweet avocado puree. (In fact, the avocado puree was part of the reason I chose my dessert. In Nice I fell in love with the avocado ice cream sold at several of the artisanal ice cream stands. I have to say that the avocado puree was almost better!)
Afterwards our waiter offered us coffee, but neither of us took it. Mistake! I thought that our lunch was over, but how could I forget that sweets often come with the after-dinner coffee in France? Luckily, we were still able to eat the after-dessert dessert. It included a small glass of chocolate ganache, one coffee-flavored macaron, and one white-chocolate truffle. The macaron and the truffle were served impaled on sticks that protruded from another inch-thick slab of Plexiglas.
The food was wonderful, and I only wish that someday I can go back - and get coffee!
(Yes, I know there are no pictures! Jube and I were too embarrassed to get out our big digital camera. Rest assured: the food was beautiful, as was the restaurant. It is located in one of the medieval buildings in Montpellier, with vaulting stone ceilings and a view on a private terrace.)
The next day, after waking up late, we headed to Montpellier for some last-minute Christmas shopping. We had already gotten gifts for everyone, but we wanted to add an iTunes gift card to le Parisien's bounty and pick up some wrapping paper. And of course, I wanted to visit my favorite town, get a crepe from my favorite crepe stand, and take some pictures.
Les Trois Graces, looking as beautiful as ever. L'Opera.
After we got home, Belle-Maman made us put on nice clothes for Christmas Eve dinner. Although Jube grumbled a bit, we dressed up and waited around for his relatives to arrive. They are always late, and everyone teased Belle-Maman for having told them to arrive between 8:30 and 9:00 - we knew they wouldn't get there before 9:15.
We had a wonderful Christmas feast, which included homemade foie gras (gorgeous and tasty); oysters (ick); little "oriental" (middle-eastern) meaty appetizers with salad; and fish wrapped in crispy ham with an orange cream sauce. Everything was wonderful except for the oysters, but everyone else seemed to enjoy them!
After dinner we opened up our presents. Le Pacha was initially quite disappointed... For some reason, he was convinced that "le Papa Noel americain" was going to bring him an iPod, when in reality the American Santa Claus brought him a polar fleece from Old Navy. He was further disillusioned when he unwrapped the package my mother had sent from the US to find an Xbox 360 - a box that turned out to be filled with food and candles. Happily, le Parisien had given him a brand new cell phone that triples as a camera and an mp3 player, so he ended up with at least a little bit of the electronics of his dreams.
The next day we woke up late again. As I stumbled downstairs, I noticed that the table was set with the nice china and silverware. That was when I remembered that Memee was coming for Christmas lunch, and we would have more gifts to open. I quickly dressed and was presentable in time for the aperitif - Beau-Papa's delectable pate en croute: (How delicately he cuts it!)
For this meal, we had turkey with chestnuts and the Belle-Famille's favorite mushrooms, cepes. As our first course, we had more of Belle-Maman's foie gras - you can see the only remains, the yellow fat, on our plates.
We ended the meal with a homemade buche de noel. After lunch, le Parisien decided to take us to Montpellier's new aquarium, le Mare Nostrum. We checked online to make sure it was open, and then headed out. When we arrived, we discovered that there had been an error on the website, and it was actually closed. Many families stood around the door, complaining about the misinformation. We headed back to Gallargues, a bit disappointed but with the knowledge that leftovers awaited us at the house...
Jube and I are still in France, but I finally have time to start writing about our trip! It has been full of activities, so that Sunday morning is the only time I have had to sit down in front of the computer to catch up.
On Saturday evening we caught our flight to Marseille. As I'm sure you remember, we had a long layover in London which required us to switch airports and amuse ourselves for 8 hours or so. To pass the time, we decided to spend the day at the Tower of London.
As you can see, the London fog really gave us the impression that we had gone back in time. It was impossible to see any modern buildings while touring the Tower of London. While the weather wasn't the best for my recovering cold or photos of the city, we had a good time taking the tube and touring a bit of the city.
The fog didn't lift all day; the closest we came to seeing the sun was when we emerged from the left luggage counter at King's Cross Station. We did not capture photographic evidence of this amazing moment.
Funnily enough, it seemed to us that most of the tourists we encountered were French. They must have taken advantage of the beginning of the school holiday to spend a long weekend in London. Every time we heard another French-speaking group of vacationers we were reminded of our final destination.
After all of that, it was time for us to take the train to Gatwick. British Air has a new option of printing out your boarding pass in advance; all you have to do is drop off your checked luggage and you can go on in. We used this option in Washington, which was great! We used the "preferred passenger" check-in line and were out in at least half the time of the normal people. However, we ran into two problems at Gatwick: everyone there seemed to have printed out their tickets in advance; and I threw away our boarding passes before getting to the check-in station.
Luckily I knew which trash can they were in, so I ran downstairs and pulled them out (in front of a couple of disgusted passengers). The line for the checked baggage was a quite a bit longer than in Washington, but we made it through. At least half of the flights leaving from Gatwick that day had been cancelled due to the fog. Luckily our plane was only delayed by an hour, which we used to try to stay awake.
We finally arrived in Marseille at midnight. My left ear was completely clogged and I was ready for bed, so when we walked out of customs to find le Parisien and Jube's Marseillais cousin with cameras flashing in our faces, I was less than thrilled. Jube was very happy to see everyone, and was in a much better mood. We finally fell asleep at around 2am French time, with Jube assuring everyone that he would be up and about by 9am. We woke around noon the next day...
You may be wondering where I've been for the past month or so. You may not have been wondering. But if you were, wonder no longer! For I will tell you exactly where I have been and what I've been doing!
First, I had to live through exam week. I had reading, papers, exams, work... But now it's done. I have my final grades and I'm ready for vacation.
My mom came down to Norfolk last Friday to pick me up. I have more vacation than Jube does, so I decided that she could take me to spend this week in Northern Virginia with my family. Jube is still in Norfolk.
On Friday we took Mom to the Pagoda restaurant for dinner. When it came time to pay, she realized she had forgotten her purse. No problem, I can pay, right? Well, since I had recently made a purchase in the UK with my credit card (remember those 12 hours in London? I have to buy things like tube passes), my card company blocked it. I usually only carry around one credit card, in case my wallet is stolen. It didn't work out for me that night!
Jube pulled out his credit card to pay, but unfortunately it is the same account. Which was blocked, remember? So I figured I would walk a couple of blocks to an ATM where I would withdraw the money. However, since I was so frazzled from the credit card fiasco, I couldn't remember the correct PIN for my card! I entered the PIN from the card I used throughout college, Spain, and France. I lost my new ATM card in the machine. So we had no way to pay for dinner!
Let me recommend the Pagoda Teahouse. The ambiance is amazing, the food is inexpensive, and the waiters let you leave without paying if you promise to come back the next day with your *working* credit card.
I was expecting a relaxing week at home, but I caught a cold, so I've been spending my "extra" week of vacation sticking q-tips up my nose (it's supposed to get you over your cold faster... I'm waiting!), popping pills, and reading. I really hope to be over my cold by the time I get on the plane Saturday.
Jube recently volunteered to teach a community education course at a nearby school: Introduction to French Culture and Language. He was in for a bit of a shock when he read the course description...
"If you want to learn about France and its language, what better person to learn from than Jube? She is a native of France, educated at Universite Montpellier III in the south of France, and she has worked at several middle and high schools in France as an English teacher. Her informative course will cover beginning French for travelers/tourists, a discussion of contemporary French culture, and analysis of French stereotypes."
"One of my coworkers pointed it out to me," he said. "I guess the first thing I do will be to make sure they know I'm the teacher! Actually, maybe I could get you to teach the class... they'll never know the difference!"
We're off! It's more like "over the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and North on 17," but we're going to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. The past few weeks have been pretty intense, so a little holiday will be great.
Le Pacha just called to talk to me about visiting the US next summer.
Le Pacha: "I'll be on vacation, and I'll bring my friend Manou! I told him that he could see some hot girls in the States."
Me: "Oh really!"
Le Pacha: "Yeah, that's right! Everyone thinks that the girls in the US are fat because they eat at McDonald's all the time. But there are skinny girls, for sure!"
Me: "And you tell your friends?"
Le Pacha: "Yeah, I tell all of them, 'Open your eyes, guys! [Détrompez-vous!] I went to America and there are definitely skinny girls there!' I show them pictures, and they all say, 'Well, they must not eat at MacDo.' I even tell them about your brother's girlfriend, that she's vegan or vegetarian, I don't know which, but that she definitely doesn't eat there."
Me: "You know she isn't vegan anymore, she eats cheese and eggs."
Le Pacha: "That must be because she visited France and tried all the good cheese!"
Me: "Yeah, that must be it. And what do you say about your belle-soeur, do you say she's fat because she eats at MacDo?"
Le Pacha: "No, you're skinny! But I can't tell my friends that you're hot, you're my sister now!"
Yesterday was our first anniversary. We weren't planning on celebrating on the real day, because I had to prepare a big presentation for class. But when I got home, Jube needed to go out and get some supplies for work that he'd forgotten before, so we made a night of it and went to the Indian restaurant. Our waiter was very nice, although I think he was embarrassed to talk to women, so he addressed all of his conversation to Jube. Unfortunately Jube finds it quite difficult to understand Indian accents, and he kept trying to direct our waiter's attention toward me.
We had already gone out to eat for our anniversary on Friday night. We headed to The Monastery restaurant in downtown Norfolk. It is a very nice place with an Eastern European theme. I had duck with sauerkraut while Jube had the entrecot de boeuf grille aux champignons - the waitress said that he was the first person to pronounce it correctly.
The part of the meal that I was most excited about was our appetizer - raclette! It wasn't real raclette, since the cheese was pre-melted for us and came out as a puddle on the plate, but it tasted very authentic.
And that was how we celebrated our first year of marriage!
A couple of weeks ago, while watching The Office, I was surprised by one of the jokes. The officemates had created a banner that was supposed to read, "Launch Party!" Instead, Phyllis messed it up and printed out a banner that said, "Lunch Party!"
It was a cute joke, but it reminded me of my junior year in high school when my friends and I would put together our own Lunch Party! every Friday. It operated on basic potluck principles, with everyone bringing a dish and sharing. I usually brought the drinks, 2-liter plastic bottles of pop. I even bought plastic champagne glasses from a party supply store. I'd bring them to the Lunch Party! and rinse them out afterwards, keeping them in my locker for the next Friday.
One of my friends was the editor of the school paper and wrote an article about Lunch Party! (forever immortalizing the silly exclamation point). Another one of my friends painted a posterboard that said "Lunch Party!" and hid it behind the pop machine in the cafeteria. I think it lasted for a couple of weeks before one of the custodians threw it away.
I hadn't thought about Lunch Party! in years. High school might not have been the best four years of my life (as promised in my class's valedictorian speech), but I had a good time with good friends.
This Christmas Jube and I will be heading back to France to visit with la belle-famille. It took us the better part of a month to find an acceptably-priced plane ticket. Unfortunately it leaves us with a 12 hour layover in London and some of the worst ever arrival and departure times. And we have to switch airports during the layover. Added to that - we're flying into Marseille instead of Montpellier, so Beau-Papa will have to drive about an hour and a half to the airport to pick us up. I wonder if it was worth saving $400...
The only good thing about having such a long layover is that it will give Jube and me the chance to visit London together. I've been there twice before, and he has been there once, so we'll be able to take touristy pictures in front of the Houses of Parliament, ride the London Eye, have tea at the Orangery and be able to say, "We visited London!" Of course, the $400 we saved on our tickets will probably all be spent during our time in England.
I've been having a good time planning our "trip." I learned the importance of planning these things out during our trip to Vienna in 2005. We were visiting one of my friends who was teaching in Austria, and that was about all the planning I'd done. We managed to do lots of fun stuff - touring the Hapsburg palace, the cathedral catacombs, checking out Schonbrunn, and even watching the Lipizzaner stallions practice. We also had a huge fight that almost ruined our trip when my friend and I lost Jube; we didn't eat at any nice restaurants because neither of us had any idea where to find one; and we didn't even visit the art gallery that I discovered later was full of Klimt.
Our 12 hours in London will be really great with all the planning I've put into them. Now we just have to hope that we won't be too jetlagged to enjoy them...
After writing about my mp3 player-less state a couple of posts ago, I decided to treat myself and bought an iPod nano (2nd generation). It only cost about $80 because it was refurbished! What a wonderful idea it was to refurbish old models and sell them for cheaper! And with warranties and everything!
So after I ordered it, Jube teased me for awhile. You see, Jube has some kind of resentment for Apple... He says it's because everyone thinks they are SO COOL but really it's just overpriced and we should all buy the "normal" stuff because it's better. But when my refurbished iPod came in the mail, he realized that this made it affordable.
Of course, it hasn't softened him toward Apple.
But it has made him scour the internet for refurbished deals. I've had to deal with him saying, "One of these days we'll get one of those flatscreen TVs so I can play video games on it." But he knows we can't afford one right now. The problem is, now I'm hearing things like, "We can get this Philips TV for only $300! Isn't that a great deal?"
Oh well. At least the new Radiohead album is pretty rad on my new iPod!
This blog is about Gem's life. She lives in Maryland with her husband, Jube. She just started her career. Her blog deals a lot with France and Europe, since that's where she has spent three years of her life. (Written by Jube, her husband.)
Les Trois Graces, looking as beautiful as ever. 
L'Opera.
(How delicately he cuts it!)
As our first course, we had more of Belle-Maman's foie gras - you can see the only remains, the yellow fat, on our plates.
After lunch, le Parisien decided to take us to Montpellier's new aquarium, le Mare Nostrum. We checked online to make sure it was open, and then headed out. When we arrived, we discovered that there had been an error on the website, and it was actually closed. Many families stood around the door, complaining about the misinformation. We headed back to Gallargues, a bit disappointed but with the knowledge that leftovers awaited us at the house...
The fog didn't lift all day; the closest we came to seeing the sun was when we emerged from the left luggage counter at King's Cross Station. We did not capture photographic evidence of this amazing moment. 
