Day 15: Toulouse to St Emillion

Tuesday - May 26, 2009

Today is our only rainy day, and even that doesn't last.

On our way to Saint-Emillion, we drive to Toulouse: "la ville rose" - the pink city, with its beautiful brickwork buildings dating from the late 12th century. Toulouse is also a vibrant modern city, home of the French Aerospace industry, and the University.


The Saint Sernin Basilica is the largest Romanesque church in France. The organ is widely considered to be the most beautiful French pipe organ. This picture is from Wikipedia since my pictures were blurred due to the lighting.(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StSerninCCorgan.jpg)

Saint Exupery and other early flyers always stayed at the Hotel Grand Balcon in the heart of town when they were in Toulouse. There is a wall of photographs in the hotel to their honor.

I have always loved Saint Exupery: The Little Prince, Night Flight, Wind Sand and Stars. John mentioned that St Ex was alleged to have been working for the Germans as a spy at one point - Charles deGaulle had alluded to this. I can't believe it. His supporters vehemently deny it, citing his steadfast loyalty to France during WWII. Vichy government positions and loyalty matters are confusing to understand....

We stop in a Monoprix for great picnic food (a lifesaving store with a grocery department). We find a park.

John pulls a blanket from the car for our bench and mops his own with the canoe trip dry towel.

After lunch, I venture into the park restroom. It is the most primitive yet. Janet refuses, but I am desperate and file it under "Try new things while on vacation." Now mind you, France is a land of contrasts and it was so with bathrooms. Last Wednesday in Montignac, while John was buying our tickets for Lascaux II, Janet and I ventured around the visitors center and noticed a rather impressive washroom. It said that it was totally automatic and self-cleaning. We went in to try it out. You can only go in when the indicator light on the door is green. Janet decided to come in too. The instructions indicate that as soon as you leave, within 10 seconds, the entire bathroom is hosed down automatically and sanitized. Since I finished first, I threatened to leave and see if Janet AND the bathroom would be sanitized. Note: The door locks during the sanitation process. The pictures below illustrate the range of our low-loo and hi-loo experiences on this trip.



Here is our view for the rest of the trip to Saint-Emillion - the rear end of a logging truck. It was a two lane road the whole way.

Every time we would go downhill and passing was allowed and safe, the truck sped up above the speed limit.

Every time we went uphill, the truck slowed down.

John should get a medal for his self-control; it didn't bother him at all - I was nuts. I explained about the US and "road rage" - it was a good thing for the trucker he was in France or someone would have ended his career long ago.

We arrive in Saint-Emillion and check in to our great hotel, Logis des Ramparts in the heart of the city. We walk to the visitors center, just in time for an English tour of the Saint Emillion underground. We see the cave where the monk Emillion lived and served his church, a chapel, a crypt, and the "Monolithic Church" - an underground Gothic church carved within a single rock. This is the picture of the outside of the church - you can not imagine the carved vaulted sanctuary below.

For one euro, we get the key to the bell tower of the Monolithic Church and walk up the tiny circular staircase for great views of Saint-Emillion from the top (133 meters up).














Since the town is carved into the hillside, natural springs are everywhere. They gurgle in mini-gardens throughout the town. Janet and I explore before dinner. One word of caution - the walking streets are steep cobbled paths - often with hand rails to help, but one still needs to get from handrail to handrail. Sturdy walking shoes and careful negotiating are required.

We are tired. I am hungry for crepes for dinner after the great ones we had on our trip to France last fall. We find an outdoor creperie which opens early for dinner. This is my savory crepe called a galette. For dessert, I order one loaded with banana, ice cream, chocolate sauce, walnuts and sliced almonds. Yum! (I didn't gain any weight on this trip, by the way - lots of walking.)

Good night and sweet dreams
(no logging trucks)
Rozanne and Janet