Driving through the French countryside

We set out this morning in our little rented Fiat 500.  Harry's always wanted to drive one and he's just loving it. Such a darling and maneuverable car. It's perfect for these narrow roads but has the pep to handle the highways as well. We've christened her Blanche.











Our first destination was a tiny town in the bend of the Tarn River, it's a deep bend that makes the location of the town almost an island.

We drove through this tunnel and came into Ambialet, a hamlet of maybe 50 people. It feels like we've gone back a couple of hundred years here.  Especially early on when the mist was still shrouding the sun.

The first thing we saw was this newish Chateau-like building. It turns out to be the facade of a small hydro-electric station that creates electricity from a river.  Who said these things have to look so industrial?

We stopped at a sweet little cafe under the chestnut trees in a garden full of flowers for a cappuccino....  And then walked up a hill behind there to see some old houses, probably abandoned.

Everywhere we looked there was wisteria blooming.

I liked this little metal stove that someone seemed to have abandoned outside their house. Too bad it wouldn't fit into my suitcase!

We followed the road up to the top of the "presque-isle" where we found an 11th Century Medieval church and its graveyard (which seems to be more contemporary--from the 1800s).  Here are a few photos of this lovely spot.

The inside of the church was so lovely that I was moved to light a candle for people in my life that I've loved and lost: my son Kevin, my mother, my father, and my ex-husband. It seemed fitting to remember them in this special place.

I'll leave you with a view from the top down to the village on the river bend and another view of the blooming wisteria.  The scent was hypnotic.  So was our day.

Later we went to another village called Cordes sur Ciel, a Bastide village high up in the clouds. I'll save that for another post.

In praise of Albi

Today we visited Albi, a beautiful town along the winding River Tarn near where we are staying at our home exchange.  Albi has a long history going back to Roman times (like most places here in the south of France) but it also prospered during the 15th and 16th centuries from the pastel trade (like Toulouse). It's a vibrant, prosperous place and is drop-dead gorgeous. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.




Like in Toulouse the buildings are all built of brick but the clay here is a pink tone rather than the red we saw there.

Today when we visited there were very few tourists around but lots of people who looked as though they actually lived within the Medieval part of the town.

Even the cathedral is made of this rosy brick. And it's huge. 

The inside is equally amazing, being completely painted on every exposed surface.

Beside the cathedral is the Bishop's palace, now home to a museum featuring Toulouse-Lautrec, who was born in Albi. Details of that will come in a later post.  Here are some more photos of the buildings and the gardens around the cathedral.

Spring is much further ahead here than it was in Victoria. Flowers are everywhere.

It's a pretty magical spot.

A day in Toulouse

We arrived in Toulouse yesterday after a long but uneventful flight on KLM.  Here's Harry unlocking the door to our little apartment at #19 Rue des Salenques, in the heart of the old town adjacent to the university. It's a great area full of restaurants and cafes and bookstores. There are lots of young people and families around. And tons of bicycles. In fact I think there are more bikes than cars in this part of town.

This morning we set out to buy a sim card for the iPad so we can find our way around and check websites and emails without having to find wifi.  This is always our first order of business when we travel. Without it we tend to get very lost--as we did last night on our way back from the restaurant where we had dinner. 

Of course getting lost just means you see things you might otherwise have missed, like the Romanesque church of San Severin, a famous stop on the pilgrimage to San Compostela in Spain.                                                                          

The afternoon included a walk to  the Canal du Midi, where the city has created a park and walkway that seems almost like a beach (see below). From there you can see the Pont Neuf, so called because it was built in 1632 (!) replacing an older Medieval bridge.

Here's another look at the Pont Neuf showing the decorative openings that allow high water to rush through without taking the bridge with it. Seems it's a successful design as the bridge is still standing almost 400 years later.

Toulouse is a very vibrant and prosperous town. It has a long history going back to early Roman times but its high point was in the mid-15th century when the "pastel" dye industry from the woad plant that created a desirable blue dye enriched merchants and many elaborate mansions were built of red bricks. The old part of town is filled with these lovely places, many are now hotels or apartments or museums.

This is the colour created by the woad plant. I love this colour and have always called it "French blue."                                                                                                                                         

This afternoon we spent some time at the Musée des Augustines, a beautiful building that was originally a monastery and now houses some stunning Gothic and Renaissance art.  For me the highlight was the cloisters with its beautiful interior garden and Gothic arches.

Here are some other highlights from the museum....

These stone demons filled one entire side of the cloisters.

I loved the little angel playing the harp and the very red statue of a woman. It's made of red clay but is standing in the light from a beautiful rose window in the church itself.

Enough for today. It's been a full day indeed, but we've only scratched the surface of this beautiful and vibrant city. I would love to come back and spend quite a bit more time here.