I decided to go to Tarbes to visit my Tall Man and, since I didn't have class again till Wednesday (thanks to Armistice Day), I could do a little sumthin sumthin extra afterwards. I bought my ticket online, packed my bag, went to class on Friday, took an exam (after spending all night Thursday celebrating Obama's victory by eating Moroccan food with my friends), then headed to the train station. I got there and it was raining, but I really had to pee, so I broke out my new umbrella (it's silver on the inside! My friends call it my Space Age Parapluie), and braved the cold drizzle to go to the bathrooms on the other side of the station.
I should have known that the bathrooms were outside, thus they were those hole-in-the-ground, hold-yourself-up-by-these-rails-on-the-sides kinda bathrooms. I've braved these before. What I wasn't expecting was the 30 centimes tax! Outrageous. I decided it was a meager fee to pay to relieve myself, because who knew if the train was going to have a bathroom or not? I'd hate to wait all that time to discover that it was ill-equipped.
I approached the door and realized it was vacant, but that the person in front of me had already paid. I did a little dance :) I then opened the door, closed it behind me, and turned around to see a middle-aged, red-headed Scottish woman, pants around her ankles, saying, "Ohp, sorry, I don't know how to lock the door do you speak English will you stand guard?"
Wow. Ok. I stood guard for her, then when she was done apologized profusely and asked her to do the same for me. I got inside, hung my bag on the hook on the back of the door (probably the best move I've ever made), then made my way to The Hole. What happened next scared me unimaginably. The lights turned off, the door locked, and the entire bathroom stall was suddenly soaking wet and roaring with the sound of liquid. Apparently, every person has 15 minutes to get their business done in the little bathroom. After that time, the stall will lock automatically and spray-disinfect itself. With disinfectant. Sprayed. Everywhere.
Let me remind you that I was in the bathroom at the time this happened. I was wet and shaken up, but somehow I was able to pee, gather my belongings (dry, thanks to that trusty hook on the wall), and head for the door.
It was locked.
Apparently, after the bathroom disinfects itself, it will only unlock when a new customer comes and drops their shiny 30 centimes into the little receptacle. I'm sure you can imaging me, moist and feeling dirty (though in fact I was very, very clean), yelling through the crack in the plastic doorway to a Scottish woman I only just met that I needed her to pay again for the bathroom so that I could escape.
We became fast friends.
After that, the weekend continued rather normally (even for me!) I got to Tarbes and Tall Man and I went to the park to enjoy the great weather. The mountains were visible and bright, and even closer than they are in Pau--of course I took a bunch of pictures. To celebrate a friend's birthday we ate raclette for dinner, which is a Swiss dish (popular in the French Alps, too) that's similar to fondue. Everyone has their own tiny skillet which they fill with cheese, then heat up under a little heatlamp, then pour over baked potatoes and bacon. So good :) All the guys thought I was disgusting, though, because I ate the potato skin. Nutrients, fellas. Nutrients.
We had a few drinks and the guys decided they were going to teach me how to play poker. It was a disaster. I don't even understand poker in English! We also played Mikado, a game of pick-up-sticks where all the sticks overlap and you have to pick them up without moving any of the others. So hard. We ended the night by going to the biggest discothèque I've ever seen (they told me it was a supermarket by day and I believed them--that's how big it was) where we danced until 5 am. Fun times, I'm telling you :)
On Monday I woke up and decided I wanted to take a train to Toulouse for the day. I met up with my British friend Charlotte at the train station, we drank tea from a flask on the train, and when we got to Toulouse we spent the entire day just roaming around. Absolutely no agenda. Nothing pressing, nothing mattering, just us, alone in a town we don't know at all. It was grand. We bought dinosaur stickers, leopard-print leggings, and temporary tattoos at the 2 euro store, ate goat cheese and honey pizza, people-watched, then came home, exhausted, but having well-spent our holiday. You can see photos of all my adventures (this sounds like a tagline at the end of a TV show) at www.wanderlust3.shutterfly.com. Until next time :)
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