while idle and not getting lost, i watched some american movies in my room such as lethal weapon (in french).	and had more room service. here: blaquette de veau a l'ancienne riz picaf (veal in white sauce with pilau rice) and a half bottle of saumor rouge "les bondonnieres".	while eating, i watched sphere in english with french subtitles. this was a nice french lesson.
sharon stone, who probably doesn't speak french, acting badly.	graffiti was all over the place in toulouse yet there was not a single hint of crime.	for a while, i almost thought that perhaps some of it was organized. this dilapidated building made me think otherwise.
even in france, one can't escape parking tickets.	i doubt this green outfit and his furry coat was enough to protect him from the elements. it was 3 degrees that day.	after an unsuccessful attempt to rediscover the wine store i had found near the capitole, it was back to watching tv again. this time: dark city in french. it was a great movie.
i also dove into neal stephenson's 918-page tome, cryptonomicon.	and had even more room service. i had to step things up this time, so i got dessert as well! shown here: supreme de poulet fermier aux cepes (supreme of free-range chicken with cep mushrooms), mousse au chocolat maison (home-made chocolate mousse), and a half bottle of baron de lyssart "fut de chene".	a pleasant surprise, kim keeton, also a former berkeley now project member, was also in town. she gave two talks and had some controversial but well-respected opinions during a database panel in one of the workshops.
as mentioned, the reception was held in the capitole.	which featured some fine visuals.	and more.
the art on the ceiling was interesting and looking at it kept me busy while listening to an over-extended reception talk about the history of toulouse, which i had already learned from reading through the guide that they gave us.	hpca attendees trying to look interested.	another shot inside the capitole. i'm getting rather bored of this place.
and so after drinking a couple glasses of champagne and chatting about metacomputing systems, it was off to dinner and the pubs.	en route to our destination, i decided to take a picture of this fountain. and gave my companions incorrect directions. we walked for a while and took some pictures like this one.	decoding the map, pete figured out where the river was and so we walked along it for some time.
we went for drinks first as pete was not planning to join us for dinner. more of the river.	drinking under a heavy blanket of smoke, jun and pete. matt massie will be quick to point out that the glasses they hold contain his favorite beer. i had some french thing, which was pretty good.	after drinks, an attempt by some locals to misguide us, and an eventually correction by a helpful french woman, we eventually arrived at our intended destination to experience the culinary genius of michel sarran.
we were severely underdressed. stuffy french people sitting around us gave us dirty looks while we ate. the servers, on the other hand, seemed quite delighted to chat with us. we began with this.	i followed it up with the lobster. excellent.	and for my entree, i had a french specialty whose main component is some part of duck which the server did not specify. asked what it was, he thought about it for a while which made me think that it was probably something "non-standard". whatever it was, it was really good.
and finally, i had this wonderful dessert. this photo does not do it justice.	jun came along as he apparently was in the mood to drop 500 ff for dinner..	i think he started with some duck thing.
er, then something else? :)	and finally something that's recognizable.	we drank a very nice bottle of wine whose recommendation i requested in french and was quite proud of that. :) chateau de roc, 1996.
the dessert wines were also wonderful and complimented our desserts flawlessly. excellent job by the staff!	when we were done, we sat in front of empty plates for no particular reason. they were brought out and nothing happened. if you know what the significance of this is, please let me know.	inside the room on the second floor where we were sitting.
a table where the stuffiest of the stuffy gave us dirty looks all night. geez, eat your food and live your life! why they were so concerned with what we were doing is beyond me.	and finally, we actually got to meet the man himself, michel sarran. after dinner he came to our table and chatted with us for a bit. turns out he'd just been to san francisco on a trip. he has a friend who works at campton place too. definitely worth checking out!
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