Magique!

That was the headline on the newspapers this morning, after the insane world cup win. People were running around the streets of Foix until 3pm, honking car horns and yelling. It didn't stop for 4 hours straight. I gave in and went back to the hotel watch the recap of the game. The photo on the right is how I watched it - with the view of the chateau in the background.

Now I'm onto to Tarbes, a middle-sized city further towards the Atlantic. So far I've been fortunate enough to run into very nice people. Like the other frenchmen in my train car that didn't think it was too weird when i asked if ratatouille had any meat products in it, and other bizarre questions. I've been told by a few Spaniards that I speak French very well, but I guess that's not really a compliment. Once people realize I'm not a French tourist, they assume I'm a Spanish tourist, which makes for a interesting conversation when I tell them I'm from California but don't speak Spanish. I haven't worn my American flag t-shirt yet though (wink, wink).

My days as a fact-checker are slowly coming back - that job never ceases to be useful skill-wise. It's all about getting information from people who either don't want to talk to you, or don't really know about things. The ground rules are: 1) always ask two people the same question. Even if you get first-hand information, confirm it with someone else. "Really, three courses with foie gras in every course?" 2) Repeat what everyone says and pause heavily. Not that I don't already do this since I'm speaking french, but once you repeat something, people tend to expand on it since they assume you're a bit out it. "Pretty good spanish food." pause "Good spanish food?" "Yep, good tapas and other things." 3) Ask the most specific question possible. People are really bad a giving good advice. It's hard to think of a good restaurant off the top of your head, since you don't really know what to think of. Instead, ask people where they had lunch, if they're a local. This usually works, unless you're dealing with British tourists (who eat the most bizarre things so far.)

Tomorrow I cover almost all of Tarbes, the experiment begins...