Surfing at the atlantic coast

Picture are here

This weekend the surf was on! Friday after work a friend and I met with Marcos who would drive with us to Seignosse on the Atlantic coast. We took the motorway which would lead us first to the south and then westwards with the Pyreneans on our left. It was quite different than when I was going surfing in Australia as first we were fewer people, second I didn’t had my surfboard with me, third no big white sharks and fourth it was warm! The board computer of Marcos BMW showed 26° and it was sunny! By the way it’s end of October!

After we arrived at the surf villa, led by an Austrian (Lando), who dedicated his life to surfing, I got a board (a 7,8 foot of plastic) which was not like my board but showed the following days, that it would do the job. We put on our wetsuit and headed down to the beach. We where joined by Maria who Lived/worked at the surf villa. The conditions were ok, pretty easy to get out but with a big crowd already out there and as it was the first time I surfed after Australia I only got few chances and did scored only one wave. Though I managed to get up it was a pretty late take-off and I headed straight towards the beach.
We then headed back where we met Mark, Kai and Christian (all working at AIRBUS, too and had a great dinner.

The next day a big swell was announced, to big for the open beaches and we had to go to Cap Breton. Arriving at the beach I realized fast, that the waves were too big and too crowed for me so took out my camera (I know these conditions from Australia). While Lando and Marcos had a go and scored some pretty nice waves, Maria, Kai, Mark and me watched them and took photos and videos. Christian tried to surf, too but Christian doesn’t like crowds and the waves were to steep for him. For most of the others the waves were too big. In the evening the waves on another close-by beach got better and I tried to get some waves there. It was much crowded and especially the long-boarder took off early and it was sometimes hard to get out of their way. Near sunset some of the surfers went off and so I had my go. I was pretty close at 2 or 3 waves but had only one or two straight ones. Anyway it was great to be out on the board at sunset.

On Sunday we chilled out till the afternoon, we had another sunny day with 28°C but the waves where still too big. We first went to a local skateboard ground and Marcos showed that the surfboard wasn’t the only board he was good on. Maria and Mark had a go, too and I took the pictures. Later we wanted to try to get some waves on the bodyboard but after only a few tries we resigned. We then had a bit fun on the beach: Maria was put into hole and we covered her with sand. After that we swam a bit in the shorebreak. Back at the villa Maria prepared another great meal and while eating we all came to the conclusion that it was a great weekend. Little after we said goodbye and headed back to Toulouse, While I’m sitting in the car I’m writing these lines and I’m looking forward to get to my bed and to get some sleep…

A fully packed week...

The last week was pretty busy, Monday my parents were still in town, Tuesday I came home from work at 9.45pm (it took me over an hour to get to town from the AIRBUS site), Wednesday I had my “chill-out evening” and watched some episodes of “How I met your mother”, Thursday was the birthday party of Gian (an AIRBUS trainee) and from Friday noon on and the whole weekend I was out of town. So please be patient as I have to rework and sort out some 700 photos, once done be sure to come back!!!

A weekend with the Parents

On Friday my parents came to Toulouse to visit the city and the surrounding area on the one hand and to bring my some winter cloth and additional stuff on the other hand. As they had first planned to arrive in Toulouse late in the night I had planned to go on a Halloween costume party. It was great fun and I met some great people there. A lot of people had really nice costumes, like one of the local guys was styled like the Joker, there were some devils and I went as Dracula. I had a black cape, white shirt and painted my face white. With shoe-polish I emphasized my eyebrows and tried to style my hair. It was ok for the options I had. I went home at about 4am and knew that tomorrow would be a pretty tough day.

I had to meet my parents at 9am and was still very sleepy. We had breakfast in the hotel and then headed out of town to the northwest. We had not very great weather but it still ok. We visited a first village and I think it was pretty average. Though the market was interesting and I got a Opinel (a knife with a folding blade). After that came Gaillac which had some churches and some interesting street but the highlight was really the restaurant we went for lunch: Though it was listed in the guide Michelin it was quite inexpensive. It had a great ambience and the meals where very good. Although the restaurant was know for its long list of regional wines I decided to stay without alcohol (last night’s party and don’t want to drink too often).
We than went to Castelnau de Mont Mireille which I liked very much (not only because of the cool photos) and to Cordes sur ciel. Both are really worth to be visited and you should go on top of the hill facing Cordes to a have a great view on the city on sunset or sunrise.
We had a small dinner back in Toulouse in a crèperie called “Sherpa” which has good prices and for the lovers of tea a selection of 30 different types and flavours.

The night from Saturday to Sunday the clocks were turned back an hour and so I had a long night to catch up sleep from Friday. Saturday night I changed the time on my mobile which I used to wake me up (dam* what’s the English word for “Wecker”?!?!) but unfortunately it changed the time on its own, too. I was an hour late but the hour extra-sleep was good ;-).
This time we went south of Toulouse to Castelnaudary, the origin of the Cassoulet and had it for lunch in a small restaurant in town. The Cassoulet was good but will not list of favourite meals.
We continued to the town of Carcasonne which is famous for its old city complete protected by ramparts. This time the sun came out behind the clouds and we had a great time there. We walked around in the city trough medieval streets and found a store of a local photographer. Most of the pictures were very interesting especially the aerial views of a ruin of a former castle. I will try to get there while I’m in France. I watched the photobook of him but hesitated, as I thought some of the photos in the book were quite average and the theme was not so interesting. We had a drink at one of the bars and I was pretty disappointed when they served my Cappucino: They made a normal French café and put whipped crème on top of it. Sorry my French FOLLOW MAN, but you CAN do better! In every average bar in Germany you’ll find a better coffee. Anyway it was a great day and it ended in a real funny dinner in the “Taverne Bavaroise” (remember the photo in one of my earlier posts). I had very good Moules with average French fries and with that a pint of Paulaner. The Taverne Bavaroise is not very Bavarian by the way, not at all…

On Monday I worked in the morning while my parents had the guided tour at the final assembly line of the A380. I met them at noon and we went to the “Cité de l’espace”. It was interesting there but the entry ticket is rather expensive, though an IMAX film and a presentation at the planetarium was included. The IMAX film “Walking on the moon” was probably the highlight of the visit. It was produced with Tom Hanks (he played a role in “Apollo 13”), the score was made by James Newton Howard (Batman Begins, Dark Knight (with Hans Zimmer) and The day after tomorrow) and some Hollywood stars have given their voice to some persons (like Matt Damon).
To save some money I prepared a small dinner in my flat but it was fun, too. My parents left the next morning to visit some relatives.

(photos will follow..)