Travelog for: Bertha

After the breakfast, I went to see the townhall closer. There are little maps like this one in front of every monuments here ! Maybe they have done that for little voyagers such as me ?!


This is the front of the towhall, with the French flag that has the same colours as the Dutch one !


And this is the back. It looks like the balcony of Buckimgham Palace where the Queen sometimes appears, but there is no Queen here !


This is the entrance of "Salle des illustres". It is a room where there are some nice pantings and where most of the weddings take place in Toulouse.


Unfortunately the room was closed, I don't know why, and we could only see the ground floor where there are paintings representing medieval scenes.


And this is the courtyard of the townhall, made of bricks like quite every monuments in Toulouse.

There are regularly exhibitions in the courtyard of the townhall, and this time it was about the European Community ! I learnt to recognize the different flags and discovered that the European hymn was a symphony from Beethoven. I wonder why they did not choose a song from Coldplay or Linkin Park ?!


Toulouse is situated far behind my nose, in the South West of France, so it is closer to Spain than to the Netherlands !


The exhibition was talking about European people than are living in Toulouse too, and for the Netherlands  ("Pays-Bas" in French) it was a lady called Monique Faber, but I can't remember what is her job here in Toulouse ?!


We could also take leaflets about recipes of each European countries. For my country, it is the Hochepot ! I don't know if Eryah knows how to cook it, do you Eryah ?

I'm here in front of the "Utopia", it doesn't look like a cinema, but it is a cinema that is most of the time (but not always) playing films that are not played in bigger cinema !


I'm waiting for the movie to begin... that's great, there are no advertisings at all in this cinema !


The movie I went to see is "into the wild", about this young guy who went to Alaska and lived for a while alone into the wild... The end was so harrowing that I even cried !

Today, while Mistigree was working, I decided to look for a restaurant for lunch. I saw this one that got a cow's sign on it and thought it was a restaurant for us, cows.


There were even cows drawn on the windows.


So I chose a table and started to wait to be served. Even the paper napkins had cows on them !


Suddenly I heard those words "escape, escape, or they are going to kill you and to cook you as a meal for the restaurant..."... They were coming from a little cow printed on the tablecloth... She explained me that this restaurant was not a restaurant for cows at all, but a restaurant that was serving beef !!! If only I had spoken French, I would have understood that the name of the restaurant was "La boucherie" that means "Butcher's" !!!
So I escaped quiclky before they catch me !


Instead of a lunch at the restaurant, I went to this "Boulangerie-pâtisserie" ((baker's and confectioner's) called "Pépé Batistou".


I bought one of those chocolate cows... "Miam-miam" !! (these are the French words for "yum yum" !)

Today was a great day... I met some others ToyVoyagers : Greedy, Tiger Tom and... Régis...


Régis is not a ToyVoyayer in fact, he is just one of Iggy-Korn's friend. You can see him on the right here.


We got on well with each others very quickly and...I think I'm in love with him... Look how impressive and handsome he is on his motorbike !


He allowed me to jump behind him and we went for a tour together... My heart was beating very fast !!

Since I've met Régis, we're seing each others every day. Sometimes, he comes with his motorbike and sometimes with his car. It is not a brand new one but it is enough to go for a ride.


Yesterday, he came and we went outside Toulouse, he wanted to drive me to a romantic place because he had a surprise for me.


We stopped near a park and alighted from the car, and then... Régis took my hand, and told me I had beautiful eyes and beautiful markings on my fur, and asked me if I wanted to marry him...


Of course, I said YES !!! And we had our first French kiss here in the park.

The day after Régis declaration of love, we went to a shop for future married couples to choose my wedding dress. The saleswoman proposed us 3 kinds of dresses.


I chose that one because I liked its pink colour and the way it was spangled.


I tried it, it suits me but it was a little too long.


The saleswoman told me she could make the dress shorter. She measured me and told me that I could fetch the dress back in a few days.

Since we came back from the wedding shop 2 days ago, Régis was strange, as if he were distant from me. I thought he was just a little bit scared of the wedding and did not pay attention to this, ... but...oh, you can't imagine what a terrible thing happened to me today...I came back to the wedding shop to fetch my dress back, but when I opened the door of the shop, what a shock... Why did it have to happen to me ?? Régis was here, just in front of me, giving a kiss to the saleswoman !!


It was a dreadful moment for me... I was trusting Régis, I was in love with him, and all that I deserved is a betrayal !
I was so shocked that I felt down in a faint and the ambulance had to come and pick me up to the hospital.


I kept my hospital bed during some hours, I couldn't stop crying and crying and crying...


Hopefully, Tiger Tom, Greedy and Bonz went to visit me and comforted me in my grief. They advised me to go to the country for some days and to try to forget Régis.

I followed my friends advice and went to the country in the village where Mistigree's parents live. All is very quiet here and it helps to get fresh ideas instead of thinking of Régis betrayal.


This very little river is called "Le Gabas". Farther it goes into a larger river "L'Adour" that flows into the Atlantic Ocean then. I hope one day I will be able to go on a cruise on the Atlantic Ocean with a new fiancé...


I was very impressed by this big big tree in the garden of the house, maybe 200 times (or more) taller than me !! It was so delightful to stay here under the shade of its leaves, because the sun was shinning hard.


I also enjoyed smelling the different flowers.




Look at this white spider on pansies !! She seemed to be afraid of me, but I meant her no harm at all !


In the evening, I stayed outside and looked at the moon. I was still a bit sorrowful, but I made myself see reason : Régis was not a bull for me... He was too young and too impetuous... I'm sure I'll meet another bullfriend later during my trip and this time, it will be the right one !!

Look !! Some like of me here in this field !


Hey, you ! Can you stop grazing a little bit and watch me !


Do you mind to have your picture taken with me please ?! One of my mission is to meet cows and you're a beautiful cow, with your little fringe and your nice horns ! Please, please, say yes !!


Oh thank you so much for posing with me, it will be a nice picture that I'll always keep as a souvenir for our meeting !! Yes, yes, of course, you can go and graze again now !

Today I worked hard... Mistigree asked me if I liked agricultural labour... I said yes but I did not think it would be so hard !! There was a big sweetcorn field to plough !


So I rapidly learnt how to drive this tractor and here we go !!!


I worked hours and hours, and when the sun began going down, I was still there on my tractor !! Never again !!

Dear Eryah,

My stay in France is coming to an end... I will be leaving tomorrow for Germany. Lately I wrote in my travel notebook all the things I've done and seen here, it will be nice souvenirs when I'll read it in some years...


We had a last group picture with Greedy, Bonz and Tiger Tom, I will miss them, but I'm sure I will meet others ToyVoyagers on my way... and maybe the great love ???

oh..oh...I am so excited! I just made it to Germany today and my hosts picked me up in Schweinfurt. Yes, Schwein means pigs and this area is farming and industry. I will experience the both of two worlds. My hosts are Americans and Adam is a US Soldier so I will spend a little time learning about the Army and military life AND they love experiencing Germany so I will learn about Germany,too!! They already have another visiting TV who they had plans to take out of town to a town called Bamberg so for myself and another TV who also arrived today, we made it right on time for the trip. Before we left town we went by the Yellow Ribbon Room on post. This is where soldiers and their families can go for phone use, fax use, computer, to talk with others or simply watch TV. It is nice to see they take good care of the soldiers. Then it was off to Bamberg to see a small Residence. This is where a Bishop once reigned and it is beautiful especially the flower garden. We all took group TV photos in the garden area. We also went to a church. Here in Germany they have the largest and most beautiful cathedrals. My hosts are still new to learning German culture and it was bad timing. We were suddenly standing in the middle of a funeral without knowing it BUT so were others who were visiting there...kind of funny but perhaps not. Anyhoo it is time for dinner. I think we are having BBQ steak and maybe the weekend we will ger German food. Miss you and I sent you a postcard today! Love ya.

Bertha

photos soon