Violets!

The whole time I've been in Toulouse, I keep hearing about these violets that are supposedly everywhere. Even their football club is called "les violets." However, I've yet to see any of these purple lovelies... until I went to the Violet Festival on Saturday! I'll admit, I wouldn't exactly call it riveting, but it was cute. There were about 15-20 different booths set up and full of all things violet. And I mean all things. Crystallized violet petal candies, gummy violet candies, violet chocolate bars, violet wine, violet liqueurs, violet tea, violet scented candles, photographs of violets, violet lolly pops, dolls holding violets, bread baked with violet petals in it, violet scented bath salts... and I can keep going. I sampled as many things as I possibly could and my favorite things that I had were the violet hot chocolate and the violet macaron. Honestly, they were almost too good. There was also a group of Toulousians dressed up doing traditional dances, which was fun to watch. It was almost nice enough to make me forget the anti-gay marriage rally going on simultaneously on the other side of the square. Almost.

 Besides the violets, this week was full of lots of other activities. I spent WAY too much money, but it was worth it visiting all of these new fabulous restaurants. Tuesday night the girls went to dinner at a little Lebanese place in town, which was delicious. Dinner was followed by drinks at Cafe Pop, which happened to be Ladies buy one get one free night, thankfully. I feel like I did things the rest of the week too, but I can't remember for the life of me. Friday, a few of us went to this vegetarian all you can eat buffet. It sounds strange, but it was so good. And I was so full that I didn't even have room for free ice cream. I can guarantee you that that is the first that has ever happened. After, we went to the rum bar close by, but we called it a night after one drink thanks to our full tummies. Saturday, I met Lorna for the violets and we got lunch together at this cool little sandwich/salad place which was a really good value for a quick easy meal. Then, Saturday night, we had a night out, which was really fun. I went to this "Australian" bar called Snapper Rock, which was really packed and loud. Normally, that's not my scene, but it was a good time and had good music playing, so I'm okay with it. And I can't forget to mention the late night kebab for the walk home! 

As an American, my Sunday was obviously scheduled entirely around the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, in France, the Super Bowl doesn't even start until midnight. Luckily for me, we found a bar that did a quiet little lock-in and stayed open for the whole game. Considering the game didn't end until 5 in the morning, it's also lucky that I didn't have to work on Monday. 

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. BEFORE the Super Bowl celebrations, the girls and I met up for dinner at a restaurant called "The Hippopotamus" for some burgers and unlimited sides. We went straight to the pub afterwards and we happened to be there early enough for the pub quiz they were having! We split up into two teams. My team came in 5th place, which is much higher than we were anticipating, but the other girls came in first! So, we had a lovely prize to split between us! A bottle of our choice: vodka, whiskey, or gin. Vodka was the winner in this case. 

Although I was rooting for the 49er's, I didn't care too much about the outcome of the game, so I was doing my share of chatting and eating and drinking delicious Guinness. I got to meet some new people, who were really cool, even though I yelled at them for yelling and joking during the National Anthem... oops. You can't take us Americans anywhere. People brought in pizza and wings and it was a really fun night and a great weekend in general. 

But, now it's time to painfully look at my bank account and take it easy for a week or so... except that my tax refunds just came in and the sales are still going on in France for another week... so... I'll save after that.