Seasons May Change, Winter to Spring (2016)

To absolutely no one's surprise, the holidays were fantastic, as always, but not very restful, as always, and getting right back into the swing of things at work in the new year was challenging, as always. When we got back to France, we celebrated our 3rd (official) wedding anniversary with an adequate yet slightly underwhelming dinner at L'atelier de Franck. It had recently come under new ownership and was not the upscale bistro that I had seen in the months before but instead a deserted shell of its former self with dishes that were trying too hard to be original but not quite succeeding. (Yikes. When I did I become such a food snob? This is what 3 years in Bordeaux will do to you.) Despite the fairly average food, the wine was very delightful and it was nice to have an intimate dinner in such a massive and undeniably beautiful space. We'll have to give it another shot when it changes hands again any day now.

January was a bit of a whirlwind but we were back in the groove by February. Classes at Kedge were going well and keeping me busy enough, I was giving a few private English lessons to some friends of a friend on the side, and I even signed up to do the Teach For America phone screen process again. We have had our differences over the years, but I still like to believe the organization really does do more good than harm and I enjoy being a part of finding really great teachers for the youth of America. If I can't be there myself, I am going to find you someone awesome who can. Life was good!

But then we learned that the CEL was going out of business and all of the teachers that worked there would be out of a job come the end of their current contracts. I tried not to panic but unlike many of my colleagues, the courses through the CEL were my sole source of income. Their closure meant I was about to be looking for work again. The one shred of hope that I had was that 99% of my classes were at Kedge and they would always need teachers. I just didn't know how to ensure that I would still be working there come September...

March was a bit hectic, but it was good for keeping my mind off my impending unemployment. Between all of my classes, we spent a beautiful weekend in the Dordogne in a little town called Carlux, not very far from Sarlat. Jayne's friend has a little house there that she only lives in half the year and it just happens to share a wall with a legit castle. No big deal. I am pretty sure I had a sinus infection but I was not about to miss out on sleeping in (close proximity to) a castle.

There are worse places to spend the night

Picnic in Sarlat

Quick stop in Domme, a lovely hilltop town that overlooks the Dordogne River

Power couple

Easter came a bit early this year so we had a long weekend at the end of March to kill. No better way to spend four days than in another country! We had talked about doing Oktoberfest but decided
against it after realizing that it was going to be insanely expensive for something that had become a glorified frat party so we decided to check out Munich at a quieter time of year.

Our first impression was not super positive: It was cold and rainy so we sought shelter at the Hofbrauhaus, the city's most iconic beer hall. It was a holiday weekend so I suppose we should have anticipated a crowd, but for a place that was so massive, I didn't think it would have been quite so impossible for two people to find a place to sit and have a drink. We finally got a spot on the ground floor and waited for a server to come around. We waved at every person in the damn place for half an hour and couldn't get anyone to bring us a drink. I was annoyed but Jason was furious. Everyone around us was happily knocking back liter after or liter of beer and we couldn't get a drop! We eventually moved to another table and were served fairly quickly but neither of us were in a great mood at that point. After a few steins of beer, however, we were feeling a bit better. We chatted with some Swiss tourists, watched a teenager get absolutely plastered with what appeared to be his family, and snacked on soft pretzels. I am not sure how long we were there but when we finally decided to get dinner it was dark and we were both very drunk. I swear the fries that came with my wienerschnitzel were the best fries I have ever had in my life.

All smiles with a beer in hand

Very sober. I swear.

Since Salzburg was only a short train ride way, we took a day trip to Mozart's hometown while we were in the neighborhood.

Hohensalzburg Castle

I foolishly forgot to bring the passports (Austria is, in fact, a separate country) so we had to dodge the border patrol officers getting back on the train, but we managed to not start an international incident. Back in Munich, we continued eating and drinking our way through town. Check out the size of that meat bone! (Also note: sausage tits in the background)

Der Pschorr. My favorite of the beer halls

The glockenspiel at Marienplatz. A little cheesy but definitely an essential part of Munich 

I am glad we went but I can confidently saw that Munich is not my favorite European city. Aside from the beer halls, there's not much to see or do, and four straight days of nothing but fried pork and assorted sausages left me feeling like a giant swine myself. When we got back to France, we ate salads morning, noon and night for a week.

April and May were fun because we had a bunch of visitors, starting with a random day with Jason's brother-in-law Jon. He was in Paris for work and decided to take the train down to see us. We went for lunch at the Café Cheverus and Jason decided to try a dish called tête de veau. It's basically boiled calf head where they trim off the face skin, roll the tongue inside it and then cut it into slices. It was exactly as appetizing as the description makes it sound! I would still give it another shot because you have to try everything twice, but I can't say I enjoyed it this first time around. We went for a decent meal at the Bouchon Bordelais for dinner that night and got oysters and white wine at the Marché Capucins in the morning. I know I just complained about eating and drinking being the only think to do in Munich and here we were, doing nothing but eating and drinking again but it's just not the same!

Jere and Joyce dropped in for their second visit to Bordeaux and were the easy guests that they always are. They do their own thing during the morning, we find them nice places to eat in the evening and show them the cool insider spots to check out the following day. We even drove them down to the Basque country for the day so that they got to see something new!

Iconic and beautiful Place de la Bourse at night

Can't go wrong with raclette!

At the Dune

Bayonne

Biarritz

A bit later that month, Annie, an old friend from Ithaca and her boyfriend Todd were traveling around the world and came to crash with us for a couple nights. Unlike Kim and Kyle who still seemed pretty excited about their adventure when they got to us, Annie and Todd were just about over it, even cutting their trip a bit shorter than expected because they were ready to go home. I can't say I blame them. Living out of a suitcase and going to a new place every few days is cool for a while and then you just start to crave a little normalcy, a little routine.

Our last round of visitors didn't exactly come to see us but when the Waltons are anywhere within driving distance, you find a way to go see them! David and Margaret have (begrudgingly?) accepted us as Rick's bizarre American cousins, allowing us to hang out at family functions and now we're on the Christmas card list. Bam! We scored a lovely gîte for a couple of days in the middle of nowhere in the Dordogne, and got to take in that nice country air just before the summer heat settled in. Canoe rides on the river in the shadow of castles, prehistoric settlements, beautiful sunsets... There are certainly worse places to spend a weekend.

The Waltons!

La vie est belle, non?