Today was a free day for everyone to visit local attractions of their choice. David and I took a wandering route to Albi, a rather major metropolitan area, to the Toulouse-Latrec museum. We drove via Cornusson, passing by the Abbaye de Beaulieu was founded there in 1144 by the Clairvaux monks. 
The signs shifted to both French and Occitan as we drove. The story of Latrec is a sad one, he died muttering his devotion to his mother. You have to wonder about lives like that a little. Despite his art, did he ever know happiness?
Albi’s Cathedral of St. Ceclia is massive compared to anything else nearby. We enjoyed a lovely lunch there. A special huzzah for the baguette slices with melted cheese and honey on top as well as to being in a place where I am not constantly mis-ordering my coffee despite how dead simple it is not to (Italy, Spain). David had sumptuous orange hot chocolate. We got a little lost trying to navigate back into the Lot. Along the way, several towns got renamed for entertainment value since they were so hard to pronounce.
* Rieupeyroux began as “Rope-a-Dope” from David, but all I could hold onto was “Soap on a rope.”
* Cajarc lodged itself in memory as a down home Oakland favorite, “Carjack.”
* La Capelle Balaguier, “La Capelle Boulangerie.”
Albi’s Cathedral of St. Ceclia is massive compared to anything else nearby. We enjoyed a lovely lunch there. A special huzzah for the baguette slices with melted cheese and honey on top as well as to being in a place where I am not constantly mis-ordering my coffee despite how dead simple it is not to (Italy, Spain). David had sumptuous orange hot chocolate. We got a little lost trying to navigate back into the Lot. Along the way, several towns got renamed for entertainment value since they were so hard to pronounce.* Rieupeyroux began as “Rope-a-Dope” from David, but all I could hold onto was “Soap on a rope.”
* Cajarc lodged itself in memory as a down home Oakland favorite, “Carjack.”
* La Capelle Balaguier, “La Capelle Boulangerie.”
* St. Antoine de Ficalba, “St. Anthony of the Ficus”
* Foulayronne, “Foolaround”
* Foulayronne, “Foolaround”
* Condom, noteworthy for obvious reasons- but the Condoms were actually a bunch of bishops.
* Special observation- in most towns we drove through, there was a mysterious building in each one with the lettering “Mairie” on it. I’ll just leave my ignorance here where you can all enjoy it rather than researching or attempting to translate it.
* Ussat Le Bains, "You Sat in the Bathtub."
* My absolute favorite: Parc de Millevaches en Limousin, “Park of a million cows in limousines.”
Some feisty yet friendly horses along the road on our way back.
We had dinner in St. Circ-Lapopie. 
* Special observation- in most towns we drove through, there was a mysterious building in each one with the lettering “Mairie” on it. I’ll just leave my ignorance here where you can all enjoy it rather than researching or attempting to translate it.
* Ussat Le Bains, "You Sat in the Bathtub."
* My absolute favorite: Parc de Millevaches en Limousin, “Park of a million cows in limousines.”
Some feisty yet friendly horses along the road on our way back.
We had dinner in St. Circ-Lapopie. 
No comments:
Post a Comment