Bateaux - Toulouse - Boat trip on the Canal

Wednesday 28 August

Bateaux - Toulouse - Boat trip on the Canal

This was Mel's last day so we decided to go on on a boat trip on the river Garonne, there was one at 12.10 which included a nice lunch and a trip up the Garonne and into one of the canals. About 3.5 hours.

We just caught the bus in time, it was obviously in a hurry, or the driver didn't believe in going round roundabouts, he took the straightest route possible.  We arrived in plenty of time to catch the metro for a couple of stops and got off at Calme Square.  With about 40 minutes to go we consulted our trusty (albeit getting a bit worn out) map, however all four corners of the square and every street - sorry, Rue - was called Rue de Calme.  Something has happened to David's reliable antenna, must be the northern hemisphere, because we wandered around sort of vaguely hoping we were going in the right direction of the river.  We came out further down than we thought, so the idea of a leisurely coffee was out and we headed upstream for Pont Neuf where the boats are tied up.

It was a lovely day and a pleasant walk up the tree lined path beside the river admiring the beautiful buildings along the way.  David and I walked along this path last time we came into Toulouse, so we were able to impress Mel with our new found knowledge.  

We found the footpath down to the landing stage and checked out the boats.  Non of the advertising boards had a 12.10 lunch which was a bit of a worry, and there was no one there, except for a permanent restaurant boat and a smaller version of the one on the flyer that we had intended to go on.  No sign of any tables and chairs or any one preparing food.  

Fortunately there was a little cafe dug into the wall, so we got a coffee and sat down to wait.  I did ask the owner of the cafe about the boats and she was quite positive about them leaving on time every day (at least I think that's what she said). 

 

So we sat down and watched a young woman practising pole throwing, she was good, and then became aware of a French family next to us who we made out were also wondering about the boat and lunch.

We needn't have worried, we saw the boat we were waiting for coming down the opposite bank, it did a U-turn and tied up inbetween the two boats.  So many people got off it must have had a full compliment for the morning cruise.  So we waited until the crowd thinned and went down to see a Billy Connolly look-alike to ask him if this was the boat.

 

 It turns out he is the captain and waved us up the gang plank and into the inside where there were two tables set up, both occupied, so more tables were brought in and set up.  So the four tables filled up and Cap'n Connolly moved out and tied up next to the smaller boat - obviously didn't want anyone else for lunch.  We had the best spot on the river for lunch, there wasn't a lot of traffic on the river, but it was a beautiful day and we were visited by 3 little ducks, which were obviously well fed (Mel was not the first to throw her rather hard bread out of the window)!  

A carafe of red wine was set on the table along with a jug of water.  We had two glasses so one for red and the other for.... well we had no sooner filled it with water than she came along with a bottle of white wine, just as well we were thirsty, we downed the water and accepted her kind offer of a glass of sweet white wine.

So we started off with a nice Waldorf salad, the main was a bowl of cassoulet beans, which are haricot beans cooked up forever with lardons and tasted delicious (definitely something I am going to cook when I get home ) and a crispy duck leg (yeah, if I was those ducks I wouldn't risk it for a piece of stale bread) and potatoes cooked in duck fat, sounds terrible but I've seen it on Master Chef, and the dish has a name which I forget, but not greasy or fatty at all, just very tasty.  That was followed by a cheese platter, Brie, rockfort and Camembert,  (oops, should have saved our bread), followed by apple tart, two scoops of ice cream and cream, then coffee.  Glad we made it!

So onto the serious stuff of a trip down the Garonne, we went upstairs to select a good viewing spot, just as well, a whole bus load of what looked like a Golden Oldies day out, joined us, and Cap'n Connolly was running up and down the landing stage persuading yet more people to come on board. Dogs, prams, tourists, until I was a bit worried about the stability of the boat!

However, no worries, we moved gently downstream to the entrance to Canal de Brienne and he manoeuvred into the lock, we waited for the water to level out and the lock opened and we moved on down the canal.

 

There were many lovely bridges for us to go under, which was a bit of a worry for Mel and I as we were taking some great reflective shots and the sun shade roof was lowered over us as the bridges went lower and lower.  

No doubt Cap'n Connolly had given us plenty of warning - but it was all in French! And I have a feeling that we may have been the butt of some French jokes which the 'golden O" found hilarious.  Or maybe not, but the commentary was definitely peppered with plenty to make all the french speaking people laugh, Mel and I just looked at each other, and thought that their history can't have been taken seriously!  We did have one explosive laugh together when everyone was quietly listening for the next joke, however,  it was when I took a backward photo on my IPhone of the people sitting behind us....

We reached the end of the Canal de Brienne and turned round in a confluence of canals, and came back up Canal de Brienne, through the locks again and into the river Garonne.  

We watched a water Skier do his thing,

 

we watched the 'Toulouse Eye' go round with only only one carriage filled (the French all leave for their holidays in August)

 

we enjoyed looking at the beautiful buildings,

 

and we think Toulouse is a very pretty city. 

Such a lovely tour, we did have an information sheet in English, but they left the jokes out!

Tournefeuille Market

Sunday 25 August

Tournefeuille Market

Sunday is market day in Tournefeuille.  Rachel, Jasper and Penelope decided to ride their bikes there, the rest of us went in the car.  We parked by the swimming pool and headed into the market.  Mel and I didn't get past the first stall, so many clothes, all looking good, and cheap at €10!  We rummaged around and I found a nice top with a lacey cotton tunic over it,

 

very "French"  pastoral, but wasn't sure if it would fit, no changing rooms here, the stall holder came over and put it up against me, and of course it fitted, one size fits all.  

Mel fancied a rather stylish pair of black capris with a buttoned down leg, but I noticed there was a big fault in the material in the front, so the stall holder found another pair, which looked too small even for Mel,  she stretched it out as far as she could but although it may have fitted at a squeeze, Mel decided not to buy.  And that's how it went, so much to see, we all went our separate ways and kept meeting up saying, oh you must see...., or look what I have bought.

There was such a great variety of stalls, but the food stalls were the most interesting to me. 

Just a small selection, one of many vegetable stalls

Toulouse sausage rings, chickens, rabbits with kidneys intact, lamb chops, kebabs, and that's all we can see in the picture I took, there were also many interesting cuts of beef. 

Olives, olives and then more olives, gorgeous.  Dried fruit of every variety in the background.

Mel and I did some serious shopping, we stopped at one of the butcher stalls, and there was this old guy with bushy eyebrows and only 4 front teeth.  We wanted to buy some ham and we were trying to decide how many slices and how thick.  So he took the ham leg over to the slicing machine and cut a slice, just right, so he gave Mel half a slice to taste!  Well "moi aussi" I said in my best French, it was like I wasn't there!  Then we decided we needed 6 slices, so he held up five and a half fingers just to confirm what we said, "ok, five and a half then!" I said, fortunately he had a sense of humour!  It's a sign of a good butcher to have half a finger missing.  Then with a big grin to Mel he put in 4 slices of prosciutto for free.  After that I took her everywhere we went!  Mel bought some paella which was crammed full of seafood and chicken, and David bought a freshly roasted  chicken.

And what did we do with all this delicious food?

Had a great lunch of course!

Auch and Sarrand

Saturday 24 August

Auch and Sarrand

We left in two cars this morning, Rachel drove Mel and I through some lovely country roads and through some little villages until we hit the motorway then she put her foot down and without realising it had overtaken James, David and the kids in the other car.  Don't know what Ken told them but I bet it wasn't as pretty as the route we took.  So we drove in tandem until we reached Auch (pronounced Osh), and then somehow lost them as we took a wrong turn around the roundabout.  We met up in the car park and as soon as we got out of the car we knew why we had come.  There ahead of us was this medieval city on a hill. 

Wikipedia says:   "Auch is a very ancient town. The name of Auch comes from the Aquitanian tribe that inhabited the area at the time of the Roman conquest in the 50s BC. The name of this tribe, as recorded by the Romans, was Ausci (pronounced [awski] in Latin), singular Auscus. Aquitanians spoke a language related to the old Basque language."

The city's history was set out on a storyboard at the top of the steps, we climbed 232, Jasper counted (remind you of anyone?).

Half way up there was a statue of d'Artagnan, one of the three musketeers who came from this region.

The Cathedral St Marie dominated the square, and of course was just amazing, both inside and outside.  

We wandered around the interior taking yet more photos of lovely stained windows, but there was a surprise in store, we paid €2 to go into the choir stalls and the carving there just blew me away,

 

each stall was different, each seat was different and there were four sets depicting an event in the church, they were carved out of oak that had been aged in water.  

We were given an information sheet which we had to return, and unfortunately I cannot find anything on google about it, which is a shame as it really does deserve a mention.

It had started to rain so we found a restaurant close by, which seemed quite full, but the 'patron' took us up a couple of flights of stairs to the attic and it was an ideal place where we could relax, there soon followed two other families, so we disturbed no one and had a lovely meal and were well looked after.

It had stopped raining when we had finished and we wandered back to the car, as we reached the square we heard a lot of car horns blaring, and a horse and carriage came round the corner with a bride and bridal party.

 

 I thought the cars were just being impatient because they couldn't pass the horse and carriage, but they all pulled up behind, so I guess thats how they celebrate weddings.  There was a bit of a queue at the church -

 

another bride was coming down the steps!  

Rachel knew of a great toy shop so we marched off to check it out.  It was a bit of a wonderland really, like a maze only with small staircases up and down, and little nooks and crannies, every inch covered in toys of all shapes and sizes.  Children bliss!  So we left Rachel, Jasper and Penelope there to do some more browsing, and James took Mel, David, Hannah  and I on a 'tiki-tour' on the way home.

The countryside is really delightful, for as far as the eye could see there was field after field a mix of ploughed and ready to go, yellow sunflowers, corn, vines, just a patchwork quilt right to the horizon.  Our main stop en route was to the village of Sarrand, James and Rachel had come upon this village by chance on one of their 'discovery' drives.  

When we got there the main roads around the square were taped off, there was a serious Boules Tournament going on.  We parked the car in a field and walked round the village, that took about ten minutes!  

That was all there was, once again medieval, ancient old homes, but sadly in rather bad shape,

 

however the activity in the middle of the village was certainly hot, there must have been 10 games going on, all serious stuff.  

We wandered round like lost tourists taking pictures, and no one seemed to mind.  It was just a lovely atmosphere under the trees.

We had a lovely journey home through more country lanes  and came across a field of really large sunflowers, so Mel was able to get her photographs set up at last!

We have seen so much  of the French countryside, we are almost experts on restoration of medieval buildings, we have driven through so many small villages and towns that contain a treasure trove of historical buildings, and almost always a church with a steeple, and this won't be some small ordinary church, it will be the biggest building in the village and will be alive and in use almost daily.  The French economy might not be held up as a shining example to the rest of the world, but if that is because they invest an inordinate amount on preserving their history then they certainly have something to be proud of. 

Carcassonne

Friday 23 August

Carcassonne

We picked  up Mel from the airport at 9.30pm Wednesday, she looked really good, and it was lovely to see her again.  We arrived home and sat outside in the warm evening air chatting and drinking wine.

Thursday we had a quiet start, then after lunch we caught the bus onto Toulouse to introduce Mel to the city centre.  We caught the Metro for two stops to Capitole and went to the information centre to check out Carcassonne, and then walked up to the station to buy our tickets for the journey on Friday.  We walked alongside the canal back to bus stop and hopped on bus straight away, but we were so tired that we missed our stop at home and had to get off the next one, but it only took 6 mins to walk back, we were so hot, I chose to sit down and have a cuppa but David and Mel took the kids for a swim to cool off.

Friday, James took us to the station and as we were a little early we had a coffee at 'Pauls' in the station and sat on high stools making out like we were very French. 

The train to Carcassonne was a regional train and stopped at all the stations on the way.  Because it was a bit slower we could see the countryside a bit better than our last train trip from Nice.  It was fun having Mel along, she is no mean photographer, with no mean camera, but there's no way you can set up a field of sunflowers for a perfect picture!  Fortunately we passed field after field of sunflowers, so I am sure there must be at least one shot that wasn't a blur?  It was also good to see some French farmhouses and vineyards.

It only took an hour and a quarter to get there.  And as we walked out of the station we headed over the canal, and stopped to watch a boat going through the lock,

 

we found a little 'information' centre, which was in what looked like an ice cream shack (top far left), and joined the obligatory queue!  They do in fact have a much bigger Information Centre inside the city.  So we got our map and there are two parts to Carcassonne, the lower city as we see from the station which we walk through to get to the Chateau and Ramparts (the most historical and upper part of the city).  

We walked up through the city looking for a place to have a coffee, but it was getting too close to lunch time and tables were set for lunch, so David and Mel stopped at a Patisserie and bought a couple of delicious looking cakes, Mel coped really well with her gooey custard square as she walked up the street!  The city looked very festive and the shops were a mix of good clothing stores and souvenir shops, but no stopping, we were there to see the medieval city, so on we went in the relentless midday sun!

Wikipedia tells us:    "Although both the Romans and Visigoths were here, Carcassonne really flourished under the well-to-do Trencavel family of the late 12th century. In 1355 the lower town was burnt to the ground by the Black Prince, one of the key figures in the Hundred Years’ War of the Middle Ages, miffed at his failure to capture the citadel. Carcassonne’s key role in cross border trade with Spain, however, dried up with the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, when Roussillon was restored to France.

As trade dwindled, the city walls, no longer needed for protection, fell into disrepair and it wasn’t until the architect Viollet-le-Duc began restoration in the 1800s that things started to improve. It was this project which helped save Carcassonne and ensure that the city of today is so outstandingly beautiful."

And it is an outstanding piece of 'live' history, it's like walking into a medieval town only it's for real with shops and restaurants, a few service vehicles and loads of tourists.  We followed the mainstream of people, stopping to look at a shop or two and a restaurant or two, we had promised ourselves a 'long lunch' and found a restaurant in the square which was just the job.  We had a lovely lunch and watched the people stroll by.

In the upper city there is the Chateau which dates back to the 12th century, so after lunch we walked up, paid our dues, and then joined a group with an English speaking guide.  

It was so interesting hearing about the various episodes in history which made such an impact on the way the chateau was built and added to over the years.  She spent quite a bit of time talking about the Inquisition and we visited the Tower of Justice,

 

she led us along the parapet walk and the views over Carcassonne were spectacular.  

We walked a little further on and we could hear something theatrical going on, we were in luck, we could see through the gaps in the parapet a performance of jousting.  Just as you imagine it, with a long run, two horses one at either end and Knights in shining armour on their backs.  

There was the audience along the side opposite us all cheering on their favourite Knight and then they charged, lances held high, and bingo they clashed, one of the lances broke in half, the horse staggered and fell and the rider was thrown.  

Miraculously no one was hurt, the horse got up and was tended by an assistant, and the Knights continued to battle it out with swords. How exciting!  David reckoned the horse was trained to stumble and fall, but it looked pretty real to me.  How could he be such a skeptic?

So from there we walked some more and came to the amphitheatre which was not originally part of the chateau but has been developed since.  

We also visited the Basilica St Nazaire which is still being restored, so impressive, so old, and so beautiful.

So, in a nutshell, that was Carcassonne, you just had to be there.

I just had to take a photo of this elderly couple, they were having a very animated discussion and she was swinging her stick around!  Fortunately she didn't see me taking this, otherwise her stick may have been swung in my direction!

We caught the intercity train home, and it's only saving grace is that we got back to Toulouse in half the time, the same train we got back from Nice, air conditioning not working, dirty windows, etc, etc.  

James picked us up at the station and  it was rush hour in the city.  sometimes in NZ we have students offering to wash windscreens, in France they have jugglers doing their stuff, they know the light sequence and finish their act just in time to go around the front cars with their hat!  

We are still in awe at the remarkable things we saw and did today.  Just contemplating the expense of restoring so much, and maintaining it to a suitable condition is huge, what a joy it has been to walk on those roads, stand on those ramparts, walk through the Tower of Justice, so thanks to the city fathers who had the foresight to tick the boxes and not question the cost.  Maybe a lesson to our Christchurch city fathers?