After a light breakfast in the hotel, we drove into the "new" city of Carcassonne. The ancient "cite" on the hill above the Aude Rver is a UNESCO world heritage site, but my days of walking on cobblestone lanes in medieval walled cities are over!
We drove along the Canal du Midi, another UNESCO world heritage designee. It is 300-years old and spans approximately 145 miles. It is extremely popular for barges, both tours and individually operated. It is very picturesque, lined with plane trees in many places, and meandering beneath arched bridges.
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Canal du Midi in Carcassonne
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We drove on back roads, passing through many beautiful vineyards, and made our way to Montolieu, known as the Village du Livres (Books). There are 15 book stores, and supposedly an English one which we did not see. The town has numerous artists and crafts people including calligraphers. It was an interesting spot, but despite Ron's best efforts (and two or three trips through) we were unable to find parking. Leaving there was on another scary, narrow road.
Our next destination was Castelnaudary on the Canal. Parking was again a major problem. We had to park in a lot and walk 350-meters (more than three football fields) to the strip of restaurants along the Canal.
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| Mary resting in front of the Marie (Town Hall) in Castelnaudary |
This is a major area for barges, both rentals and individually operated. It seemed like a lot of Brits living aboard nice barges.
It is known as the capital of the dish "cassoulet". We stopped at a little restaurant along the canal. To be adventurous, Ron ordered the famous cassoulet made with white haricot beans, duck fat, pork fat, and ham hocks. Nothings sounds worse to me! But, we were in the heartland of "cassoulet" and someone had to try it! But, once was enough! I had a vegetarian noodle dish with zucchini and what was described as a "gorgonzola sauce". That is my favorite, but for the second time I've ordered Gorgonzola in Europe, no flavor of gorgonzola at all. Ron tasted it and agreed!
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| Famous Cassoulet |
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| Pasta with supposed gorgonzola sauce |
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| Permanent Bargers |
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| Bridge over Canal du Midi |
Hmmmm - maybe we should consider a barging life! Looked pretty inviting. We would just have to be docked, and hire someone to help us old folks if we wished to move to a new location.
Ron went to get the car and came back to pick me up.
The little time I was able to be on-line on the phone I read about Toulouse, and decided it looked like a nice place to stop. We drove into the inner city, as had read about the Crowne Plaza, which sounded great. It is situated directly on the main square, Place Capitole, and a big event was taking place. Their were many police armed with machine guns. I thought there might be a concert (a good place to avoid), but it was some kind of soccer promotion - with artificial grass set out for a large "football" (soccer) field being used by young kids.
The event didn't go on too long, and the square returned to peacefulness by nightfall.
The Crowne Plaza was a great choice - very comfortable, and a "club lounge" we could visit with drinks and snacks. There we met an American woman from Cincinnati who was visiting Airbus, and an Australian guy and a Papua New Guineau fellow who were there to take delivery of an prop-jet aircraft for PNG Airline. They said to "ferry" it back to New Guineau would take four days.
Toulouse is the center of aeronautics in France, the headquarters for Airbus and others. More than 35,000 people work in the aircraft industry here. There are many museums and tours relating to aircraft and space.
From our window to the right is the magnificent town hall, Le Capitole, which also houses the Opera. The rest of the square is lined with restaurants, all with sidewalk cafes and umbrellas. I could sit in the window looking out at the Square forever! It is so beautiful, and bustling with activity.
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| Le Capitole (Town Hall and Opera House) |
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| Restaurants in arcades with sidewalk cafes |
We went for a brief walk, and returned to our hotel. It was nice to have a comfy bed and flat-screen TV to watch the French Open.
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