Blogs from Midi-Pyrénées, France, Europe - page 13

What to do on a rest day? Sleep in (after having first woken early out of habit), of course, followed by a trip to the grocery store to forage for comestibles. As City Hall was nearby I stopped in to enquire about the availability of wifi, and was directed to the Tourist Information Office and the library, both of which were closed for the traditional noon-2:00PM lunch break by the time I arrived (although a library employee I bumped into at the entrance told me they didn't have wifi in any case). When I subsequently returned to the now-open tourist office, I discovered they didn't offer wifi either, but they did have a rickety old Windows XP machine available for public use so I finally got to at least check e-mail (I am always anxious to ... read more

Depending on how picky you are, today was either a 3 or 4 col day. But I am getting ahead of myself again. Morning saw something new: the absence of rain in the forecast; the clouds, however, lingered low, and our host suggested they wouldn't burn off for another few hours. Breakfast at our hotel was served somewhat late (by our standards, at least) so I eventually got on the road at about 9:15, and quickly discovered that yesterday's cyclecomputer woes had not sorted themselves out overnight. In fact I now could tell only the time of day - speed and distance information were no longer available. The absence of the latter was particularly annoying since it makes following directions that much harder when you don't know when to start looking for the next turn. Although ... read more

This morning Nicole served another HUGE breakfast. This morning we had strawberries and yoghurt/crème fraîche again which was yummy, but it's still like having dessert for breakfast! Then Nicole presented us with Nutella mousse in martini glasses garnished with cake which she told us is a specialty of hers. OMG we'd already eaten one dessert for breakfast, but felt obliged to eat the Nutella mousse as well. I guess there are worse things that can happen when you are travelling than being served two desserts for breakfast?! We said our farewells to the delightful Nicole and Robert who plied us with gifts as we were paying our bill. Water for our journey, a tin of their home-made pâté (the one we were eating on Friday night) for Bernie and a tea-light candle holder for me. Thank ... read more

Sunday 10th May. I had learned during the week that there is a Mass in English on Sunday at the church of Notre Dame du Taur. This church is said to be at the exact spot where the Romans stopped dragging the martyr St Saturnin (now St Sernin) to death through the streets of Toulouse behind a bull, though his remains lie in the nearby Cathedral (previously mentioned). This was in the 4thCentury. There were about 40 people at the Mass. I had been told not to miss Carcassonne, which has a huge fortified old city on a hill, near the modern city. Its less than an hour by train from Toulouse, so I headed to the railway station after Mass. The train I had intended to travel on was an intercity train, non-stop to Carcassonne, ... read more

Sunday 3rdMay. Today my host family took all of us students residing with them for a day trip to Madiran, a small village about two and a half hours from here, where Nelly (our host) and her two sisters own a house (formerly a school) which their grandparents owned, and which they are renovating. The drive, though long, was interesting, as one had views across to the amazing snowcapped Pyrénées, and we also passed through a number of very old villages (villages and towns all around this area were originally Roman), boasting medieval churches, donjons and other buildings. We also stopped at a Sunday market in one village, and at another village having a massive street sale. After our picnic lunch at the house, Nelly’s sister Annie took us on a walking tour of Madiran village, ... read more