Busy busy!

Hi, everyone! Sorry I've been so scarce this past week or two. In general, you can safely bet that if I post a blog, I'm having a good time. If I don't post for a while, it means that I'm having an awesome time! Since my last post so many fun things have gone on. I've been busy in the lab, but also busy out and around town. I couldn't possibly recount everything in large amounts of detail without writing a book, but I'll give a little highlight reel, with little photos and a brief description. So what have I been up to?

1. Visited the Natural History Museum of Toulouse. I got asked to go by another student in my lab; there was an event going on that day where various agricultural research groups came and set up kiosks for the general public to come enjoy and ask questions at. He (the student) told me I could go around and enjoy the museum, that I was here as a guest today. So I did! The museum was amazing. An astounding, incredibly detailed wing dedicated to the tree of life, from the smallest insects to the largest animals. Also lots of cool things involving geology (minerals and volcanoes! Yay!), the environment, and ancient cultures.

Lots of pretty butterflies!

More pretty colors. This time, seashells!

Having all these owls stare at you is a touch unsettling...

A human skeleton riding a horse skeleton. Creepy, or cool? I dunno.

2. The botanical gardens of Toulouse, just outdoors next to the museum. Like the incredible catalog of the animals kingdom in the museum, this garden also houses a massive number of plant species - from Lebanese cedars to American cacti and tons of flowers. There were also peacocks (and peahens!) wandering around, and in the adjoining public park there was also a city-sponsored "martial arts day" where all the different city martial arts associations had their kiosks and demonstrations. It was quite cool. I also had a gaufre (Belgian waffle) with nutella as a snack. It was delicious. I'll cut back on the dessert once I go home.

Flowers, with the museum in the background.

 

Pretty Mr. Peacock.

Peahen!

 

I love water lilies!

Nothing too special, just a walkway :)

 

Cute kids doing a kung-fu demonstration.

Yummy!

3. Walked along the Garonne River, which was incredibly flooded due to all the recent rain. It was actually quite impressive how high the water level was, and unsurprisingly there weren't any people sitting at its edge...since on one side, the walkways along its banks were completely underwater!

The Garonne.

 

Those benches aren't normally like that...

 

Look! A black swan!

Rapids - water dumping into the river.

There was a walkway here, at one point...those signs aren't supposed to be underwater either!

4. Went to the Galeries Lafayette, the French department store...except 90% of the clothes are designer. Like, seriously designer, as in 500-euro shirts and stuff. Stuff that makes me wonder what kind of job people have that gives them this sort of insane disposable income. Of course, I resigned myself to the fact that this stuff will always be out of reach, and I bought myself a very cute, reasonably priced, store-brand scarf...with cats on it! This store also has the best view over the center of town from its top-level rooftop balcony, so I got to go up there for awhile and listen to the sounds of the city below. It was quite nice! Also, when I was hungry later that day, I sampled some Vietnamese food in a little hole in the wall restaurant downtown...had the tastiest egg rolls imaginable, too.

Hello, Toulouse!

 

Gah..so...good.

Shrimp noodle sauté! Yummy!

This one's hard to explain - street entertainer who plays the flute and sings opera. Super fun!

4. Went to the Musée des Augustins, the museum of fine arts of Toulouse. It is housed in an old abbey and was a great way to spend a Wednesday evening. It also had a cool courtyard in the center with an impressive fruit and herb garden, that made me wish I had more motivation to practice my green thumb. Seriously, all the edible plants were astounding - when in season, this garden will provide plum, cherries, grapes, figs, carrots, lettuces, artichokes, radishes, all kinds of berries, multiple species of mint, parsley, rosemary, lavender, basil...well, I couldn't possibly name them all, but I had a blast walking and examining every single plant. They were helpfully labelled, for my convenience!

The courtyard of the museum.

 

Artichoke plant! Do you know that they make blue flowers?

Part of the herb garden. Yummy!

In one of the rooms of the museum.

5. That same night, went to my first (of two) night of the Rio Loco festival. Basically, it's a big music festival in Toulouse featuring music from the Antilles (Caribbean islands) - anywhere from Haiti to Cuba, Puerto Rico to Jamaica! Incidentally, the major concert that night to kick off the festival was a very famous Jamaican reggae musician, Jimmy Cliff. If you haven't heard of him, go look up some Youtube videos or Wikipedia and enjoy! You may recognize him from the songs "I Can See Clearly Now" or "Reggae Night." Really though, reggae concerts are a ball. People are fun, relaxed, and listening to a crowd sing an English song with a French accent was quite cute. Jimmy Cliff, in addition to his band and singers, also had his two kids on stage dancing with him the entire time. It was precious! No photos - I just decided to enjoy the night!

6. Hiking in the Pyrénées! A great day hike that probably merits its own post very soon. I'll get to this one ASAP!

So as you can see, in addition to work, I'm keeping myself pretty busy lately. Until next time, thanks for reading!