the good and the not so good

The least favorite place we visted on my Tour de France was ... (sorry Madame Bencze).. .. Limoges. But before I left on the trip, we were talking to our french friends. Alain asked me what cities I would be visiting and a I drew a blank. I remembered that we would be going to Paris and Lyon (the obvious ones) but the only other town I could remember was Limoges simply because the french teacher with whom I taught at STE is from there. Our friend Alain remarked, "Why would anyone go there... there is nothing to see... nothing to do... That is a very bad idea." I thought... hmmm... we will see.

We arrived in Limoges just before noon on a Sunday. The tour director took us into a porcelain museum. Yeah, a museum with lots of painted teacups and plates. I don't think the men on the tour got as excited about the teacups as our tour guide did - and honestly, neither did I. She actually said... "I am sorry you do not have more time to spend in here. You should spend a day instead of an hour."

So after spending what seemed like a day in the porcelain museum, we went into the center of town. It was Sunday so everything was closed except for the bakery. I bought a baguette and happened to have an apple in my bag so Gin and I sat on a park bench, ate our food, and fed the birds. First there were a couple of little tiny birds - then they must have told all their friends because we then had about 20 little tiny birds around us. Then came the bully pigeons. As I glanced to my right where the concrete met the dirt of the garden, out peeked a mouse wanting his fair share.

And that was the excitement in the city of Limoges. By the way Alain... you were right.