A Weekend in Toulouse

We had a full, full weekend with Rob and Lorette who treated us royally. Rob is Ian's cousin whom he had seen only once since 1967. Lorette is a Toulousianne living in England for the past many decades. They are in the process of retiring and relocating to Toulouse where Lorette has a lovely house on Rue du Muguet (Lily of the Valley Street).

In the heart of the city, we looked at the Basilica of St. Sernin (short for Saturnin, a saint I've never heard of) the first bishop of Toulouse, c. 250. It was wonderful to see the elegance after the excess of Espana.

We walked around the downtown area. Although the schools were on Spring break young people were in the majority. Lovely narrow streets and small shops.

Our next stop was 'le couvent de Jacobins', a 13th/14th century Dominican monastery. What we saw was the long nave with striking pillars and the cloister.  Rob and Lorette attended the wedding of a neighbour last year which was held in 'le couvent' -  a memorable and rare experience

We had a meal in town (thus began my duck overindulgence!) and then watched a festival parade. "What is the festival in honour of?" I asked. "Nothing. Just for fun."

On Saturday, they took us to Albi to see the cathedral, another UNESCO world heritage site: the Cathedral of Saint Cecilia.  The architecture is awe inspiring. It was originally built as a fortress and the windows are about 30 feet from the ground. Lorette told us the thickness of the brick walls which I've now forgotten - 5 or 10 meters?

The weather was bitterly cold, pouring with rain and very windy so we headed home.

Sundial

Our last day was spent in La Cite de Carcassonne - another amazing place. There is pages of stuff online about it. It features in Labyrinth by Kate Moss, a book I thought was stupid. I'm going to try to find another novel about the same period and that  persecuted sect, the Cathars.

La Cite is a double walled city with a palace, a cathedral and nowadays many restaurants and shops. When we were in the cathedral five burly Russian men stood in front of the altar and began singing. They had wonderful voices and the acoustics in the church made them all the better. I bought their CD of religious and folkloric music. It turns out that our car, a new Peugeot with all the touch screen bells & whistles, doesn't have a CD player! I knew CD's were 'old' but I didn't know they are extinct!