Paris—April 30, 2016

Previous travels are archived at: http://rickstrips.blogspot.com

This is our last post for this trip; our month in France ends tomorrow morning. Today was cloudy and cold in Paris. We managed to dodge the rain as we poked around the Pompidou Center, Marais, Ile St. Louis (walking to it across Pont Marie), Left Bank, and Ile de la Cite. We probably walked five miles easily just taking in the street life. It's fun not having a particular destination, doing our best to get lost. We've walked many of these streets before, so in addition to the surprises that greet us, we'll round another corner and recognize a shop or street and know where we are. It's fun joining the locals in the Saturday morning bustle before settling on a cafe for lunch.

Rue Montorgueil is a lively mix of people and architecture.

Check out all the folks doing their Saturday
morning grocery shopping.

Not everything is lively.

Les Halles, a modern, monstrous mall, is across the street from

Rue Montorgueil where locals were grocery shopping.

Passage du Grand Cerf, a pricey and
pretty shopping arcade.

One of our lunch companions.

Another lunch companion.

Le Pick Clops, the restaurant where we ate lunch. The name
doesn't make any sense to us; perhaps it's a play on words.
Had a diner-esque vibe; food was good, and our waiter was a
nonchalant and friendly cool dude.

Outside the neighborhood restaurant. It was obvious waiters
knew folks arriving for lunch. 

Take a close look where some folks take their lunch. They're on the Seine seated at tables with linen.

Left Bank kiosks.

Making a living along Pont Notre Dame.

And because we weren't quite done with our neighborhood, here are a few more pictures.

On the way to Asniers, a nice walk under the bridges if you like.

Asniers

Our Air B-n-B building.

We're the one at the top with the
white chimney.

The wisteria wasn't in bloom when we left Paris April 4th.

Bonne Nuit et Au Revoir Carcassonne

Taken from the Old Bridge (circa 1300) that crosses the River Aude and looks up to La Cite.









Captured Portal of Jacobins (1778, practically brand new in this town) at night. The entrance helped control traffic and protect the already fortified Bastide (i.e. new town). Our apartment was inside this gate and one block to the left on Rue Voltaire.

Last Day in Carcassonne

Marie rose early and walked three blocks to our new favorite boulangerie for the best croissants we've EVER eaten, a fantastique way to start any day. Afterward we cleaned the apartment walked down to Place Carnot to see the Thursday Market, smaller than Saturday's, and then over to Mono Prix to purchase snacks for the train trip back to Paris in the morning.

For our final meal here, we headed to La Cite and ate at Le St. Jean and had yet another amazing meal with the best unobstructed view of the castle. Thursday's in April are quiet in La Cite, but in a few short weeks, this place will be inundated with tourists from everywhere. We're getting out while the getting's good.

Our new favorite boulangerie. We never would have discovered
this one if our old favorite hadn't gone on vacation.

A traditional boulanger.

Please note that she's smiling. By day 3 we were sharing stories
and she was delighted we wanted pictures.

Petit dejeuner doesn't get any better than this.

Check out the layers! And yes, it's danged buttery!

For .80 Euros, you get a croissant as big as your head.

Lunch at Le St. Jean.

Chicken caesar salad, a specialty of the house.

Dessert to die for! The chocolate cake was dense, chocolatey,
and arrived with a jar of whipped cream AND a small pot
of sweet cream just in case you needed it.

And a cafe finishes off le repas.

Our waiter didn't speak any English and he was delighted
that Marie understood him and could speak French.

Little warriors work off their lunch.

One more time around La Cite.

Besieged by French Voitures.

Workers demonstration taken from our backyard. Getting ready

for May Day. Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!

The world over workers have lost ground.

Rue Voltaire, our street, a final long look.

"And the sign said...." Sign, sign everywhere a sign just take a
look it's a blownin' my mind.

Sunday Drive on a Wednesday—April 27, 2016

Today we headed north to Albi, a medieval city with the largest brick cathedral, St. Cecile (1287-1487), in the world. Why brick? No quarries nearby.

Mainly, we were simply looking forward to getting out into the countryside, and having a car allowed us to cover a lot of territory and experience some vistas unavailable on the train. The pass we drove today that overlooks Mazamet, for example, reminded us of the North Cascades Highway drive we took last fall.

Mazamet from turn off on D118. This was the drive that
reminded us of the North Cascades Loop we took in October.

The road winds its way up the mountain and
along a ridge at a 7% grade in some places.

Albi is a big city, but even so, St. Cecile's dominates. The Toulouse-Lautrec Museum next door used to be the bishop's palace. Note how imposing it is.

Although we didn't take in the museum, we did have a fabulous lunch again, and that's important to us, because it's our main meal of the day.

And you'll see we did manage to walk old town, enjoy some of the scenery, and be blown away by the cathedral.

Nave. Pulpit to the left and organ above current altar. The
structure is massive—255 feet high, 114 feet wide, and
372 feet long. And it's as imposing outside as it is inside.

Pulpit

Mosaic ceiling in nave.

Current altar forward. Original altar is through
arch and set way back, of course. Last Judgment
painting on the rounded walls on either side of
the arch date back to 1474.

Main organ above the current altar. 

Nave looking back to choir screen.

Choir screen.

Main entrance.

And who doesn't like a gargoyle?

This is Ivan the owner of Le Papillon, and if you're ever in
Albi, we suggest having the plat du jour for lunch. DEE-lish!

Even the coffee cup and saucer were stylish.

Garden at the entrance to the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum.

St. Cecile's dominates old town.

Not kidding, the iStore is up the street from St. Cecile's.

Marie and her new best friend.

Those are not bowling balls behind
Marie. Nice pedestrian friendly touch.

Both Old and New Bridges from Bishop's garden.

Aude River spillway.

Pont View (Old Bridge) was built in 1040 and has been in
continuous use ever since.

Some guy looking for trouble.

Bishop's palace. Imposing isn't it? Ya, it makes
a statement on purpose. Today it's the Toulouse
Lautrec Museum. I love the irony of what this
structure was and how it's used now. Dead clergy
everywhere must be rolling in their graves.

Bishop's Palace garden.

Passage way to the back of
Bishop's Palace to a view of
garden. Two siblings racing and
chasing around the narrow way
between the Palace and Cathedral.

Bishop's Palace/Toulouse-Lautrec Museum. Yes, all of this
structure and more you can't see, are part of it.

Bishop's garden is adjacent to Aude River,
walled to keep the riffraff out, and surrounded
by four turrets in each corner to guard the
hedges I guess. Note the other church across
the river in the background.

Wisteria growing in garden that is part of the original rampart
to the walled city.