It was a gorgeous morning; we were up and anxious to be at the Toulouse Lautrec Museum when it opened at 10:00am so we could get on our way to Carcassonne by noon. We saw John's van in front of the hotel and had the desk clerk call his room so we could load up the bags. John gave us a ride to the museum - we were early and hungry. We questioned people carrying food and found the covered city market for a great spread.The Toulouse Lautrec Museum is being renovated, and it is important to find all the exhibits that are open. The museum gives you a list at the entry, but we almost missed the famous posters.
Lautrec was originally an adept portraitist and painted many of his famous contemporaries. We were rounding the room reading the famous names first and then looking at the paintings. We happened on the card for the portrait of Mademoiselle Rochefort de Woogt by Fernand Cormon in with the Lautrec portraits - "Who is this?" Janet asked. "Emily." I said. There was the pre-incarnation (much less attractive, mind you) of the daughter of one of our friends. Too funny!
We met John at the parking lot and headed for Carcassonne. We noticed that the roads were lined with sycamore trees or plane trees to the French. The trees are attributed to Napoleon who had them planted so his soldiers could march in shade. Many of the trees are now being cut down to reduce the number of car/tree traffic deaths when people run off the road.We stop in Lautrec a short way south of Albi for lunch. The town is known for its Pink Garlic.
The restaurants were closed for Sunday, but we found a shop open, bought picnic food and snapped a picture of the famous Pink Garlic Soup. Our picnic table had a great view of the valley around Lautrec.
The scenery to Carcassonne was beautiful - tree lined highways, hills and valleys, vineyards and fields of wild poppies.
Carcassonne is Europe's largest fortified city, occupied since the 6th century B.C. by Gauls and then Romans. In the 1100s the city was refuge for Cathars - all killed in the Albigensian Crusade(1209-1229). The city became French and Simon de Montfort built the massive walls.Today it is a much visited tourist site. During the day, untagged motor vehicles are not permitted within the walls. Our hotel is the Best Western inside the walls. John drove to a special gated parking area and we called for a baggage shuttle car to take our things in.
Janet and I check in and go exploring. Almost immediately we found a cute shop which had tapestries and table linens. The lady who owns the store, shows us a table cloth she made which is perfect for Janet. Her cat is named Bill Clinton, and she was fun to talk to, even though we could barely speak each other's language.With our table cloth in tow, we climb onto the ramparts, loving the view. Walking the ramparts at night is supposed to be even more fun, but Janet and I are basically chicken when it comes to high places so we skipped this activity.
We visit the Basilica St Nazaire. It is fascinating. Originally it was built in Romanesque style. Plans to convert it to Gothic had to be curtailed when funds ran out, so the nave remains Romanesque with beautiful barrel vaulting. The rest is Gothic.
The architect masterfully joined the Romanesque and the Gothic portions of the church as a "deliberate harmonisation of contrasts" to quote the church literature.
The organ from 1522 is one of the oldest in existence.
There are stunning Gothic rose windows in the transept: the North lit by the rising sun is in roses and violets reflecting the dawn-the encasement is a turning wheel of time; the South window in vibrant reds is lit by the setting sun-the encasing stone unable to turn-Heaven and Eternal Light have arrived.
At the Restaurant Auberge de Dame Carcas in Carcassonne that evening, we had the famous cassoulet and a great Corbiere wine: Ch. Les Palais 2006. This wine would be the subject of our search for the perfect wine from the Land of the Cathars - tomorrow.Love from the stuffed
Janet and Rozanne
in Carcassonne
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