Toques et Clochers

An aerial view of Limoux

Notre Dame de Marseilles is
 the church that will be restored.

We have had a good week.  We managed to survive the ten hours of French on Sunday.  I'm still having some French phrases slipping out when I am speaking English.  We have started the process to get our American Drivers Licenses exchanged for French ones.  So far it seems that this might be a smooth process.  Bible study went real well last night, we had four people including my langauge helper.  My stand at the market went well this morning as well. There were about 10 people who stopped by.  One reason was because there was a lot of people out because "Toques et Clochers" starts today. . . okay that might need some more explanation.  Toques (the hat chefs wear) et Clochers (bell tower) is a festival unique to this region of France.  It celebrates French cuisine and wine.  There are activities all weekend long and proceeds are used to repair one of the church bell towers in the area.  They are expecting a crowd of 50,000 people (about 5 times to population of Limoux). They have 120 police, 60 other security personell, 20 red cross volunteers and a helicopter standing by to help if someone is injured.  The main events are the concerts, meals, and wine tasting.  They have already closed many streets in Limoux.  I might stop by tommorrow afternoon to see what's going on.  I have been advised by several people, that it is not good for young children. I am a little saddened by the fact that they cancelled basketball practice.  I am looking forward to the weekend.  God bless, JASON