dad and the dead queen

Dad and I are curled up watching an episode of the West Wing, so this will be short.  He arrived Tuesday afternoon, bearing all my winter clothes and jet glue, a most welcome sight.  Since then our days have been mostly full of the theatre, with shows of La Reine Morte every night and rehearsals every day.  Even with the many hours I had to be sitting around backstage, we've managed to fit in lots of lovely breakfasts and little walks around Toulouse that usually end up with a glass of wine somewhere or some quite excellent French food.

A Wine Bouffon with a Ballet Bouffon :)

The shows all went smoothly, minus the fact that during class Saturday morning (our one day with two shows), the first cast principal woman injured her ankle, just badly enough that the entire second cast ended up having to perform both shows.  The principal couple in this ballet had I think seven different pas de deux (as opposed to normally one or three in most ballets), so we were all a little in awe that they were still standing at the end of the second run -- luckily, the first cast woman was healthy enough to perform Sunday's matinee, so they didn't have to perform again on beat up legs.

Dad in Albi 

Today (Monday, my one day off while Dad's here) we hopped on a little train through the French country side to Albi, about an hour away.  The Saint Cecile Cathedral is the largest brick building in the world, and stunning, the town was charming and cosy, and the Musée de Toulouse Lautrec was fascinating.  The museum had 4 or 5 large rooms of his paintings and lithographs, including his portraits of his mother, many anonymous women from Paris' brothels, and some of his most famous posters advertising for the Moulin Rouge.  Plus a fantastic South-Western French meal of Cassoulet Toulousain for Dad and Onion Tarte and veggie soup for me, with frites that came with an ancienne sauce de Roquefort, and a little Pastis, of course.  All in all a splendid day.

More pictures and stories to come, mostly it's just wonderful to have Dad here to share in all my little French moments and get to see the little corners of life here.  :)