Around the house - May 22, 2024

 This  will be a short post as today we are laying low after several long trips in a row. After omelets for breakfast, Dan and Paulette packed their car to head for Montpelier to catch their afternoon train back to Brussels. We were sad to see them go. Dan is one of our oldest friends. He was an intern in Dave's department at IBM Poughkeepsie and Dave had just started working there in 1970. A couple of years later, Dan had graduated and taken a job with IBM in Brussels. We don't see each other often, but we have always been friends. We'll miss them.

Dave, Lynn, Paulette, & Dan at LeCazal. Look, no raincoats!

The rest of the day was taken up with grocery shopping, laundry, and household chores. However, for dinner, we cooked Dan's version of white asparagus with hard-boiled egg and butter. I got explicit directions from Dan before they left, never having made it before. I think it turned out pretty tasty.

Empanadas, salad, and white asparagus. Was delicious.

And that's it. No exciting travel, no hikes. Tomorrow we'll do better.

Albi Encore - May 21, 2024

 May 21, 2024

Since Judy is an artist, it is imperative that we visit the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum in Albi. This is a repeat for us, but as we thought, we saw lots of things we hadn't seen before. Here's our previous notes about Albi: https://retiredtraveller.blogspot.com/2024/05/albi-toulouse-lautrec-may-12-2024.html

This time, our GPS sent us into the city a different way and we parked under the Covered Market, just a block away from the Cathedral. Of course, we had to explore the market a bit.

Originally built in 1905, new entrance doors were added a few years ago.

You can see the architecture of the covered market. There is a floor beneath this that also has shops.

Entrance to the covered market. There's a parking garage under the building that was added in 2006.

As Dave noted, you can really only visit the cathedral and the museum in one day. Both of them demand your extended attention, even if you've seen them before. So, we started with the church. This time we started by paying the entrance fee to the original chancel and  followed the audio guide in order as our brochure described. We absorbed a lot more that way. 

The original chancel of the church when only the monks worshipped here and the townspeople sat behind the rood screen. A second chancel, in the west facade, added a second altar which allowed the townspeople to better participate in the worship. 

The chancel soars above the altar and everything is painted, each panel a work of art.

This 18th century organ has 5 keyboards and 3578 pipes. Unimaginable!

Entrance on the rood screen to the original chancel

the carving is magical everywhere you look. This is the ceiling of the entrance to the original chancel

chapel to Saint-Cécile

Saint-Cécile, for whom the cathedral is named

Next was lunch in our "usual" park across from the south entrance to the cathedral.

lunch in the park 

Then on to the museum. This time I spent time looking at favorite paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec and then spent more time on the history and architecture of the bishop's palace which houses the museum.

The bishop's palace is now the Toulouse-Lautred museum

Some rooms in the museum use original parts of the building.

This mirror reflects the room, restored to how it would have looked in medieval days. Dave is carefully disguised behind his phone.

We crossed the river for a different view of the cathedral and palace.

looking across the river at the cathedral and old city

A long drive home, but our reward was a lovely setting of aperos. Cheers!

To finish the day, we had a rainbow over our location. What a lucky day!

We think our host told us this had been a dovecote, but it doesn't look like others I've seen.

Our house is on the right. David and Lorna, our hosts, live in the house on the left.

I know it's hard to see, but there is a rainbow in the sky. I think it's a replacement for the mountains that we haven't seen in the past few days.

Narbonne - May 20, 2024

 It's supposed to rain around here today, so we're heading east about 2 hours drive toward the Mediterranean where the weather should be dry and partly sunny. Our destination is Narbonne, known as Colonia Narbo Martius to its Roman founders in 118 BC. 

This first settlement in Gaul sat at an important trade crossroads of Roman roads: the Via Domitia and the Via Aquitania. A bit of the Via Domitia remains uncovered in Narbonne's Place de la Ville.

Paulette standing on the Via Domitia

Paulette and Judy taking a break outside the Bishop's Palace on Place de l'Hotel de Ville

The exposed part of the Via Domitia is inside the rectangle about 5 feet below the current plaza.

Narbonne's post Roman history reflects the struggles to control this crossroads territory among the Visigoths, Arabs, Carolingians and Capetians. This struggle also explains why the 14th century construction of Narbonne's cathedral was never completed as it would have required breaking through the city walls, deemed too dangerous to do at the time. Thus the third tallest cathedral in France, Saint-Juste et Saint-Pasteur, has only its apse, choir, and side chapels. 

View of choir and bell tower of cathedral. Notice there is no nave or crossing.

The choir shows its height. The cathedral was meant to rival those of the north of France.

the cloister planted in roses

I can't resist a good gargoyle. There are many to choose from in this cloister.

another little library! I'm seeing these more and more places now. How delightful! There is apparently a French association for these libraries called "Livres comme l'air"  (free books - a take off on the French phrase, "libre comme l'air" meaning free and clear) There is a national organization called Livres comme l'air, but I couldn't see how they were connected to this little library.

The Archbishop's Palace is a reminder of the power and wealth of the medieval church. Although Viollet le Duc's 1845 restoration may not be completely authentic, it still dominates the Place de l'Hotel de Ville.

the Archbishop's Palace....

is now also l'Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and includes the office of the Mairie (Mayor's office)

details above the door invoke the archbishop's status

a fountain built into the facade of the Archbishop's Palace - those are fish standing on their heads and spitting water

Climbing the tower of the Donjon Gilles Aycelin, however, provides expansive views over the town below.

looking out over the Canal de la Robine

We didn't take time to explore the museums of this complex of buildings that now hold administrative offices of Narbonne, but they would be worth exploring. More information about these can be found at this blog post by (of all people) Retired_Travelers: https://ourtapestry.blog/2018/06/09/narbonne-france/

this modern statue in the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace is both beautiful and thought-provoking.

One interesting item which seems to have been recently restored is a 15th century Flemish tapestry of the creation. The image of 3 kings in royal robes recurs in each scene of the tapestry and represents the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, making the tapestry read like the Genesis version of the creation of earth and humans. 

tapestry section showing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (notice that all 3 have the same face)

Under Rome, Narbonne was a seaside port and important trading center. It is now 9 miles inland due to changes in the Aude River channel and silting in of the port. But it has an important connection to the Canal du Midi via the Canal de la Robine, which harnesses a branch of the Aude Rivere. This was our view from the quayside park where we ate our picnic lunch.

Canal de Robine along the park is lined with white roses

Paulette along the Canal du Robine

The Merchant's bridge used to have 7 arches - that's how wide the Aude River was here before it changed course in medieval days. Six of the arches now form basements or foundations for buildings that now stand on them.

Back into the main square for an ice cream dessert at a store front with no name. Luckily it was on the ice cream cup! 

No name on this store

but it's La Glace Maison Marguerite (ice cream made on the premises)

With some time to spare, we completed our journey to the Mediterranean by heading to Narbonne Plage (Beach), 18 km (about 11 miles) from Narbonne, through beautiful but rocky terrain. 

the Mediterranean is visible in the background

our road to the Mediterranean

A rocky promontory on the way to the sea

We made our way north a bit to Saint-Pierre-la-Mer where there was a kite festival going on. We stopped long enough to enjoy the kites and put our feet in the sand....

This bear balloon intrigued me. How does it fill with air?

Saint-Pierre-de-la-Mer

Kite festival

....then headed inland to search out the Gouffre de l' Oeil Doux (Sweet Eye Chasm), supposedly an inland lake that somehow fills with salt water. This required a hike and stairs to get to a good view, so I waited while the others checked out the site. The source of how salt water gets to this lake has never been discovered, so it remains a mystery.

Beginning of the half-mile path to the lookout over the lake

the reward at the end of the trail

An hour and a half drive, mostly on 4-lane highways brought us back to our comfort spot of Le Cazal.