During my recent trip to California, my husband and I met with a group of adult students who use my French site. In addition to treating us to a lovely lunch (at Nora’s Café, in Palo Alto), they had thoughtfully printed out information about some of their favorite French restaurants in San Francisco. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to visit any of them as we were leaving the next day, but I thought I’d share them here.
Travel
It’s raining doo-doo in Toulouse
This video was done by the City of Toulouse to encourage dog owners to clean up after their pets. Can you imagine a government-sponsored ad like this anywhere outside of France? I love it!
Warning: this animated video contains gross-out material which some may find offensive.
The Golden Gate Hotel
During my recent trip to San Francisco, I stayed at The Golden Gate Hotel on Bush Street, which was so lovely that I decided to blog about it. I found it online and chose it partly due to the location (I had two days of meetings near Union Square), partly due to price (it was one of the cheapest lodging options I found), and partly due to features (I love bed and breakfasts and this one was described as European, which sounded interesting). In any case, it turned out to be a great choice – our room was darling, the staff was delightful, and the warm croissants were divine. If you need a place to stay in SF, I highly recommend The Golden Gate Hotel.
Travel will never be the same
I thought the shoe bomber’s legacy was bad, but after last week’s foiled terrorist plot to blow up planes with liquid explosives, it’s official: travel will never be the same. Not being able to bring liquid in your hand luggage means no beverages… will airlines now offer an endless supply? And the flight that was diverted from DC to Boston – it’s hard to imagine how a claustrophobic woman could be that disruptive. If she had been acted exactly the same two weeks ago, I wonder if the same emergency procedure would have been followed. I hope things have calmed down a bit before I go to California in October.
Not going to France yet
If you’re subscribed to my French newsletter, you know that I didn’t leave for France on Thursday as I’d planned. Why? Because my visa was turned down. Why? No reason given (!) but they said I could appeal. So I wrote a long letter of appeal, but you can imagine how tricky that is when you don’t know what exactly it was that they objected to. Anyway, that was nearly two months ago, and the only response I’ve received was a letter of acknowledgement. My ticket was non-refundable (natch), so I had to eat that, but the real drag is the fact that I expected to be in France by August and I’m not, and I don’t know when I will be. 🙁
Photo Gallery: Toulouse
Toulouse, also known as la Ville rose (Pink Town), is the fourth largest city in France. Located in the southwest of France, within a few hours of the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterreanean Sea, and the Spanish border, Toulouse is a beautiful town filled with friendly people and interesting architecture.