Toulouse and Albi.
On Sunday afternoon, our first day on Toulouse, we walked first to the railway station which took longer than we expected as we had got used to the scale of small towns and villages. There we picked up time tables so we could plan a trip to Albi. We then walked back to the main square, the Place de Capitole and the tourist information office, where we picked up the Little Train for an orientation tour of the old part of Toulouse. As usual this was very worthwhile. The views from the banks of the Garonne were the highlight for Denis with a number of graceful stone and brick arched bridges designed to withstand the tremendous floods to which the river is prone. Ann cooked an excellent Cassoulet on board.
The next day, Monday, Judy and Ann visited a hair dressing salon in the morning while the guys did laundry. In the afternoon we located an Internet Café, checked out the shops and explored the town. Toulouse is an interesting town with many ancient buildings, streets of elegant apartments with cast iron balconies and modern infrastructure including a new Metro system. The streets were crowded with lively students and the significant north African population in the city centre seemed to us to be well integrated.
Tuesday we all took the train to Albi, about 1 hour northeast of Toulouse. The weather was fine and warm and we found Albi to be a very beautiful and interesting town. We visited the amazing Cathedral St Cecile, so austere and forbidding on the outside, with sheer brick walls and tower. But on the inside it is decorated with painted ceilings from the renaissance, a huge organ and walls covered with strange geometric frescos. A mediaeval mural either side of the altar depicts the 7 deadly sins on 3 levels, the angels above, humanity in the middle and the sinners getting their just deserts in hell in graphic detail at the bottom. A huge Choir occupying half the floor space consists of intricately gothic carved stone and dozens of polychrome statues of saints, including Judith.
Other visits of interest included a whole museum dedicated to Toulouse Lautrec, who was born nearby, with hundreds of his works well-displayed in a section of the Palace de la Berbie, the fortified building where the bishops of Albi lived. There was also a museum dedicated to the explorer La Perouse, born in Albi, who arrived in Botany Bay just after the First Fleet. His ships were wrecked soon after near present day Vanuatu with the loss of all hands. This museum was on the other side of the river Tarn, which gave us a chance to walk across over two of the bridges giving wonderful views of the old mills.
On Wednesday we did some more sight seeing and shopping, used the Internet Café and cashed some Amex traveler’s cheques which the bank was very unwilling to do in spite of having a sign on the front door stating that they would. Judy had to apply her commercial experience, and her best powers of persuasion, in French.
In the afternoon we had a drink with the New Zealand owners of the Xavierre, a very nice barge moored nearby for some six months, who had just arrived to spend their fourth summer cruising in France. In the evening we dined at “Le Petit Montard”, serving specialties from the Savoy region. This required a little brazier on the table on which we BBQd various meats on top and grilled raclette cheese and potatoes underneath. One of our most memorable meals for our last night in Toulouse.
