It was nice to have to have a bit of a lie in this morning, although my stupid body clock still woke me up at 6:40am. Tossed and turned till 8:00 when I finally gave in and got up. Cindy, my host, was already up and reading up on her new articles about climate change. She is a kind-hearted lady underneath it all, but climate change is her only topic of discussion....well, I say discussion, more like she just talks AT you.
Last night she offered to take me around the city to show me some sights etc. I thought this was a nice offer. I found out this morning that there was a little more info in that offer that she didn't want to share. Upon leaving the house she asked if I had my keys, I said no, she said that she doesn't mind driving but I would have to fill her car up with petrol to do so........WHY would I do that? A whole tank of petrol for 3 hours of sightseeing? I would rather fill my own car up if I am going to pay for petrol. Why would you offer to take someone out and then suddenly at the last minute say that they have to pay for it? Who does that? I told her in that case that I would rather take my own car.
We drove around some of the fancier houses in the area....this one is only for 2 people!
Next stop was up the top of Mount Washington so that I could get a view overlooking the city. There is an incline that takes you up the hill. I could see the Point where the two rivers come together and the financial district as well as two of the three stadiums in the city - american football, baseball, hockey. You also get a good view of the flats where people used to sail upriver from the islands to sell their produce.
Had a sneaky peek in the church at the top of Mount Washington too. Nice, quaint church with some lovely stained glass windows.
After not eating breakfast, and having a lot of cues from my growling stomach, we headed to a plaza in the middle of downtown to see if there was a nice place to eat. I loved seeing some of the architecture around and how funky some of the lines were.
Cindy got talking a policeman on a bike in the plaza. She ended up waffling on about climate change (surprise, surprise) to him for about 15 minutes. Poor guy!!!!! I decided to look the other way and take some nice pics of the outdoor yoga class that was going on for families. No, of course I wasn't trying to pretend that I wasn't with her ;-)
Nothing much interested us in terms of food in the plaza so we headed down to "The Strip" district. It is on the edge of the river and is a street behind all of the old loading bays from where people used to sell their produced. There are market stalls, delis, restaurants....everything you could imagine. We ended up, on Cindy's recommendation, having lunch at Kava. It is a creole place near the loading bay street. The food was lovely and the owner was very friendly. Good food and service, what more can you ask for? When the bill came, Cindy just sat there and didn't say anything. Didn't discuss whether we were paying separately etc. She just assumed that I would pay for her lunch too. I don't mind treating someone who has let me stay in their home, but after telling me I would have to pay for gas etc. I don't think it is polite to ASSUME that someone is paying.
Last stop before heading home was St Anthony's Church. Lots of sculptures depicting the journey of Christ's crucifixion. I liked the jars that hold the candles that people can donate towards and then light.
Saw a few more nice homes on the drive back to Cindy's house.....
I made sure that I had packed everything up and went outside to put it all in my car. Cindy followed my outside and said, "You said you were leaving at 3pm". At this time, it was 2:45pm. What difference does 15 minutes late? I'm not on a strict timetable...I'm on holiday. She said that seeing as I was going to Columbus that I could give her a ride to her friend's house who lives just north of there. I looked it up on google and it was an HOUR out of my way. I personally thought that this was really cheeky. She didn't offer to pay for petrol either. So no asking whether she could have a lift, she was telling me. When I told her it was out of my way, she said that I could drop her off at a hotel lobby in the city centre and her friend would come and collect her. She was just waiting for a text from her friend to confirm that she could do that. How crazy is this woman???? I told her that I was going to go and get petrol as the unexpected detours this morning meant that I didn't have enough to get to my next stop. She said that I should go and get gas and then call her when I was done. If her friend had texted back by then, she would walk down and meet me so that I could drive her. Funny enough, I thought...cheeky bugger...and drove off quite quickly. I sent her a text saying that I was leaving as I had my gas and that I wouldn't drive back to town after 30 minutes to come all the way back and pick her up. Weird experience. Another nutter to add to my list.
It was a 4 hour drive to Columbus to meet Jeana, my next host. She is great! She is my age and an accountant. Turns out that we have the same birthday, she is just a year older than me. There is a guy, Nate from Montana, also staying here but through airbnb. He's come to a conference here at the uni so is staying till the end of the week. It's certainly a small world as I found out that he has relatives in Pibrac that he visited last summer and so came to Toulouse. Jeana is really nice to talk to and made me feel extremely welcome. We all talked for a couple of hours but as she had to get up early for work etc. we left to our rooms.
A great end to a day of craziness!!!!!
Night y'all!
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