In the sunny southwest of France, close to the Pyrénées mountain range, lies the pink city of Toulouse.  Easily accessible by train or plane from Paris, Toulouse has been called the ville rose for its rose colored brick buildings in the historical center.  Being the fourth largest city in France after Paris, Lyon and Marseille, Toulouse is not only known for its universities, but also as homebase of the European aerospace industry.

The historical center of this quaint and lovely city is easy to explore on foot, although it’s more fun to explore by bicycle.  There are numerous bike rental stations conveniently scattered throughout the city so that pick up and drop off can be done at any of these stations. By swiping a credit card, one can rent these bikes for 1-2 Euros a day. On a recent trip to Toulouse, my friends and I took this bicycle tour of Toulouse, and it was one of the most fun activities that I had done in a long time.  The weather was sunny and the wind was low, and we set off on these two-wheelers through this charming pink city.

We weaved in and out through the narrow cobblestone streets lined with beautiful old buildings.  The first sight that we saw was the majestic Basilique St. Serrin, just down the street from my friend Olivier’s apartment.  It’s the largest Romanesque basilica in the western world, and the signature octagonal bell tower popped against the dramatic cloudy sky.

The Cathedrale St. Etienne has a unique exterior that looks like a mishmash of different architectural styles, since it was constructed by joining two incomplete churches.  Once inside, you can also appreciate the 2 different styles of Gothic architecture that are also structurally askew.

We bought delicious Indian chicken curry and tandoori chicken wraps to go, put them in our cute little baskets on the front of the bicycles, and headed to the serene Jardin des Plantes for a picnic.  On that Sunday afternoon the park was alive with smiling joggers, university students lost in their textbooks, lovers cuddling on their blanket and families enjoying their quality time playing games.  I love the feeling of grass and moist soil on my bare feet- it’s a good feeling to take off my shoes from time to time and really feel the earth under every part of the soles of my feet.  With the sun filtering through the green trees and caressing my face with its gentle warmth, the lullaby of laughing children in the distant background and a content belly full of good food, I drifted off into a quick postprandial snooze…

…but not for long, as we had a lot more pedaling to do.  The 150 mile long Canal du Midi is the oldest canal in Europe still in use, and has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site.  It felt exhilarating to pedal along this picturesque canal that was beautifully lined with lush green trees and where people still live on crazy looking old boathouses. 

The Place du Capitol, the epicenter of Toulouse, is a place of public gathering.  One can sit at any of the numerous outdoor cafes to people watch against the background of the majestic town hall and opera house.  When we went there, there was a demonstration going on in one corner of the plaza, while street vendors tried to entice people with paintings and trinkets on the other end.

After we returned our rental bikes to one of the rental stations, we walked over to the Garonne river to watch the beautiful sunset.  As the sun disappeared behind the pristine bridges of Pont Saint- Pierre and Pont des Catalans, the expansive sky captivated us with an awe inspiring panorama of lights, patterns and colors.  We talked about lost loves and new loves, as we  sat on the banks of the Garonne and stared at the sky until it turned dark.

Naturally, this  full day adventure made us hungry.  What shall it be tonight?  Which Toulousian specialty shall we indulge in?  Perhaps the most typical dish that represents Toulouse is cassoulet, a rich slow-cooked bean stew with white haricot beans, duck confit and pork sausage.  This heartiness of this stew was almost intimidating, and I couldn’t finish it off.  We enjoyed our meal with a bottle of Cahors red wine, and finished the meal with a glass of Armagnac to round out our Toulousian culinary experience.  Armagnac, which is a French brandy similar to Cognac, is made exclusively in this area.

Toulouse, beautiful charming ville rose of southwest France- come discover this treasure on bicycle and enjoy the delicious flavors of the region.

Random trivia:  Legend has it that France’s King Henry IV (1553 – 1610) had Armagnac and garlic placed on his lips by his grandfather on the day he was born. He is said to “have drawn wisdom and strength for his whole life” from that experience.

“Météo: il fait froid en France!” It’s snowing in the Languedoc and a cold front is blasting through several other départements too.

At the moment the two of us are sitting back in Dublin, which is experiencing its own little cold snap, but it’s not half as bad (yet).

The local authorities in those départements have activated le plan grand froid – emergency measures for helping the homeless in these  sub-zero temperatures.
Normally the two of us are green with envy when we compare the weather forecasts, i.e. the series of “gadgets” on our Google Desktops that tell you at a glance that:

• Box #1 (Ireland) is about to get rain, rain and more rain, and freezing stuff

• Box #2 (south of France) is destined to have sun, sun, one really tiny wispy bit of fluffy cloud, more sun etc etc

That’s the norm, the general rule. Most of the time the weather in the Languedoc is approximately 10.6 times better than in Ireland.

The Canal du Midi covered in snow, 1956

In fact, there are times in December or January when you can eat out on the terrace, feeling the hot sun on the back of your neck while the texts from Dublin are telling you that it’s all rain, frost, wind and more rain. Heh-heh.

Narbonne weather

For the past few weeks now, Narbonne and Montpellier have been dry, sunny and around 17 or 18C in the early afternoon.

Meanwhile the Google weather gadgets would be telling us in their smarmy we-know-everything way that if you were thinking of eating outside in Ireland at the moment, simply subtract at least eight or nine degrees,  add four big dark cloud icons and just forget it.

Yesterday, though, all that changed and the snows arrived in various parts of France.

In the middle of summer it’s almost impossible to imagine these cold snaps. The stones are cracking,  little geckos scurry about like Fianna Fail backbenchers,  you can hardly move for the heat,  it’s a roasting 40C in Toulouse, and the texts from Ireland say it has been pouring down non-stop, for over 10 weeks in a row now. Heh-heh again.

Most of the winter, too, it can be far milder in the Languedoc. Then, out of nowhere, the snows come.

La vague de froid est bien là. Après un automne doux, la France et notre région ont basculé brutalement dans l’hiver. Ainsi, le temps ce lundi sera encore un peu plus froid que la veille et le ciel toujours gris sur la plupart des régions. Il neigera en plaine dans l’intérieur sur le Languedoc-Roussillon, jusque dans le Midi-Pyrénées et sur le sud du Massif-central.

The cold wave is here. After a mild autumn, France and our region have swung sharply into winter. Thus, Monday’s weather will be a little cooler and it will snow in the plains in the interior of Languedoc-Roussillon, in the Midi-Pyrenees and the southern Massif Central.
- Yesterday morning’s Midi-Libre

Lads playing a game of cards (presumably la belote bridgée) on the ice at Toulouse, winter 1956

This latest cold spell is set to continue for the rest of the week, and while snow at this time of the year may be all very well and good in a sort of Charlie Dickensy Christmas Carolly  pantomimey kind of way and The Kids do love a good snow fight, please spare a thought for the homeless out there in the freezing conditions wherever you live.

Snow trends

But if you look at the historical trends, why would we be surprised about the latest snow? The  figures say that it’s a good deal more likely to snow in the Languedoc than on the east coast of Ireland.

Sometimes in a vide-grenier or flea market in Agde or Béziers you come across these musty old bunches of postcards or photos from half a century ago or more.

Stacks of cards in brown envelopes in shoeboxes, showing cold snaps – The Year When Our Canal du Midi Froze Over, the times when people skated on it or We Set Up A Table On It To Play Cards.

At the time, in weather terms, these images were about exceptional times. The headline pictures. That’s half the reason  why they ended up on a postcard or a magazine cover in the first place.

But in the age of global warming, it’s like we live in exceptional times all the time. It’s when this exceptional  “postcard weather” becomes increasingly unexceptional, if you know what I mean.

Related posts:

• Languedoc weather links
• Droughts in the Hérault

Ireland had a really tough budget yesterday, but if you really want a picture of how far we have sunk, look at the plight of just one Irish company.

Emerald Star announced on Wednesday night that it is cutting its staff in Ireland from 50 jobs to 30 due to falling sales. The bleak news sums up an economy in total freefall, with no lights at ends of any tunnels.

Statue of the poet Paddy Kavanagh on the bank of the Grand Canal in Dublin

The cruiser company has been in existence for over 40 years and it’s going to lose 40% of its workforce by January.

Emerald Star is – was – one of the largest operators of boating holidays in Ireland, including the Shannon-Erne waterway.

It operates from three bases: Carrick-on Shannon in Leitrim, Portumna in Galway and Belturbet in Cavan.

Dozens, perhaps hundreds more jobs in these local economies will be lost as a result, as cruisers are taken out of service.

Portumna, for example, will be left with just 24 cruisers, down from last year’s fleet of 80. The bulk of these boats will be moved abroad, many of them to France.

“Another black day in Carrick-on-Shannon: some staff in Emerald Star have been given 28-day notice.

“Many of these skilled boat repairers have been with the company since it was owned by Guinness.

“On behalf of the association’s members our sympathies are with them and their families tonight.”

- Statement on Wednesday by the President of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland, Paul Garland

The Irish canals and rivers will lose more and more tourists; thanks to yesterday’s Budget there will be ever fewer State employees to look after our rundown waterways, and this already neglected resource will continue to go downhill.

All this is also taking place against the backdrop of the terrible floods in Ireland over the past month, and some canals are currently blocked “until further notice”, such as the Grand Canal between 15th lock and Sallins.

Canal du Midi

I know I’ve been going on about this before, but compare the secutbacks  in Ireland with the very different approach taken by little villages and companies in the Languedoc to bring them out of the 1980s recession.

New ports were built along the Canal du Midi, local business thrived, and the population decline was reversed.

While the Languedoc hasn’t been immune to the recession by any means, companies at the centre of the canal business such as Rive de France do seem to be weathering the storm and see themselves with a real future (now they’re marketing themselves as “green” holidays).

The long-term trend has been an imaginative rejuvenation of the Canal du Midi, but for the Irish waterways it’s yet “another black day”.

Related posts:

• Canal du Midi takes its winter break
• Dublin and Languedoc canals

The Canal du Midi is ever so peaceful at this time of the year. The tourists in their boats are long gone home – families of ducks are the only traffic now. There are leaves in the still waters, which are almost clear compared with high summer, when the boats churn everything up into a muddy soup.

The canal basically closes down to traffic from the beginning of November until just before Easter, and they sometimes even drain off entire sections for maintenance work. This year the boats which normally tie up at Carcassonne have had to find alternative winter moorings because of the repair work.

During this period you can’t sail down the canal except  by prior arrangement with the Voies Navigables de France (VNF) – the inland waterways authority – but I guess it only gives permission in exceptional circumstances.

Boat owners have sometimes found themselves overwintering in one of the town or village ports, stranded, unable even to do any local cruising. But for the rest of us, walking, jogging or cycling along its banks, it’s sheer heaven.

November 2009: winter sunset on the Canal du Midi in "our back garden", with not a boat in sight

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Voir aussi

Une petite sélection de livres sur le Canal du Midi : histoire, photographie ou tourisme, chacun y trouvera son compte !

Bob is sending us news of the Lady:

Today I ran up the engines on Lady Mary. They started well with the pre heat I also checked to make sure that there was water coming out of the exhausts. All is well.

I checked through the boat for signs of water ingress, but all that is Ok as well. We have had a huge amount of rain recently. The weather has been cold and wet and lots of wind off the Pyrenees. One day we had a little ice on the deck but it soon went and although bitterly cold no more of that yet. Seems that February is going to be the hardest month for cold.

The mouse droppings took half an hour to clear, and possibly I haven’t got them all yet, but there will more I suppose. I found out where there is one nest in the bunk base in the rear, but I must have disturbed them as the nest was empty, but plenty of sign that it was recently inhabited. Now this might not be good news as it means that the micelets are big enough to leg it when they hear noises.

Obviously it would be wrong of me to have the responsibility of looking after your boat and ignore the problem. So I have borrowed a cat from a lady nearby and put that on board.

I was a stranger to the cat and visa versa, so I had to ask the old lady to come and get the cat out of the boat.

Due to my lack of French, she had thought the cat was mine anyway and was returning it to me, so she had no success with the cat either.

Obviously we couldn’t leave the cat on board indefinitely in case, having eaten all the mice, she then also died of hunger. But we couldn’t get the cat out. By this time there was also cat shit everywhere.

A friend along the wall has a small Tibetan terrier called Harry, he is a bit bigger than the cat and afraid of nothing.!

Clive said harry would do it, so we put Harry in as well and left the door open, and stood back.

There was a lot of noise but nothing emerged. A movement caught ,my eye and I noticed that one of the curtains had come off the window in the stern cabin. Suddenly there was movement across the doorway as two shapes in nhot pursuit were seen travelling from aft to bow inside the boat It was so quick that none us could see who was in front Harry or the cat. One of the forward curtains showed how a cat can climb. It is doubtful if that curtain is repairable.

Finally the cat emerged through the door at 100 mph and was last seen going in the direction of Toulouse. Harry strolled out with a big grin on his face only stopping to cock his leg against the inside of the door. Not had as much fun as that in ages, was the sort of expression on his face.

I will go back in in a few weeks time to see if there are any more mouse droppings, if there aren’t then the cat idea was a good one. If there are then we might have to buy some traps. They had a model on sale in the Monday market I noticed. It is a variation of the traditional type, but when you bait the trap, the mouse has to put its head through a hole to get at the cheese/chocolate, whatever, and it would disturb the mechanism such that a small blade is released and cuts the mouse’s head off, just like a Guolotine (is that spelt right?) Obviously it is a French idea. I believe these are more humane as it seems wrong that the older model which just broke the back didn’t necessarily result in instant rigour mortis

So just leave it all to me. I have control.

The community here is now complete. The majority of live aboards are English, but we also have Belgian, Swiss, French and I think German.. One of the Belgians is keen to have a getogether so that we can all meet and greet. He has suggested this to Odile and she has asked her boss. He came back with what a good idea we will pay for the food and drink and they can have it in the Capitanerie and I will come as well. This was a better result than we anticipated but it has s till to happen. Some of the community are away in England attending to dead Mothers etc and another because she is missing the kids! No doubt when we recover them someone else will have pissed off.

Today we awoke to glorious sunshine and we think we have this for a few days. We are now into the Winter Contract period, and have started using our allocation of 30 showers which have to last until the end of March. The water and electricity is now working over the other side and the boats there are supping at the well of water and electricity. This didn’t go smoothly and we are s till trying to understand how it all works. There is an allocation of 2000kw of electricity in the contract, this also has to last until end of March. However as we aren’t sure of daily usage we cannot work out if that is enough. Also it is allocated on a daily/weekly/monthly amount. I must be on daily, because on the first day of the new contract which was a Friday I ran out of electricity, Odile was off until Monday, so being enterprising I nicked yours for the weekend. Sod the mice!! let them get cold!

I am still fighting for a better signal from the WIFI. It now turns out that there is no signal coming from the pillars on the wall. There never ever was going to be. How that story got about no one knows. Even though the guy from Marseilles who came down with an assistant, and they are the experts (!!!) walked up and down proving that the boxes did have a live signal by measuring it on his laptop. As he progressed along the wall he recorded the readings. I still complained and he said the problem was mine as I live in a Farraday cage. So the following day I purchased a plastic kitchen tupperwar box with lid and bolted the lid of this container to the outside of the plexiglass window. I drilled a hole through the lid and the window and let the wire for the ariel through into the boat. Putting the rest of the container onto the captive lid I had a waterproof outside ariel straight into my computer. Brilliant piece of work around. The signal was no better. So another expert was sent for, this time the man from Castelnaudary who arranged the buying and placement of the boxes on the wall. He it was who said there is no signal from the boxes, who dreamt that idea up?? The experts from Marseilles were talking a crock of shit! They were measuring the signal from the transmitter on the wall of the Capitainerie.

Odile now says there is another transmitter in the office, paid for and never erected, but that has been paid for as well. She is going to ask her boss if that can now be put up at this end of the marina..

We understand that new Mayor of Carcassone has overturned the decision to drain the port and canal this year. The old Mayor is now in clink re examing his political future as a result of too much corruption. The new incumbent is a red hot socialist who is also defined as an anti English politician. Not sure what that will mean to us if anything we have our own Mayor. However the VNF were determined to drain something other than the next bottle of wine and so they have pulled the plug on a stretch both above and below us. In this part of the world we are the only ones sitting in water.

Life is good we have lots to laught at, and do. My communication with home seems to be getting less as I slip further and further off the front page. The price to pay.

Please tell me the news from the Colonies, do we have a picture of the new frock?

Lots of love and affection to you all.

p.s. There are no mice

The remarkable Canal du Midi links the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, its lower sections passing through historic centres such as Carcassonne and Narbonne.

From the Mediterranean..
We start in the historic town of Pezenas, famous for local dishes, such as petits pates, olives and honey, as well as fine regional wines. Riding along a network of quiet country roads we make our way south to the coast at Marseillan for a visit to the famous Noilly Prat cave where the renowned vermouth can be sampled. Next we head west through several small villages to reach the Canal du Midi at Vias, then along the canal to pass the nine locks of Fonseranes before arriving in Narbonne, one-time capital of the Visigoths.

Along the Canal du Midi..
A free day allows an opportunity to explore the town’s narrow streets and squares at leisure or to make an optional ride along the Canal de la Robine or perhaps to the lagoon at Bages and Peyriac where an abundance of wildlife can be found including, on occasion, flamingos. Next we take an attractive, mainly level route along the Canal de la Robine to rejoin the Canal du Midi and make our way to the market town of Lesignan Corbieres.

To Beautiful Carcassonne
This is wonderful rural France at its best! Towpaths lined with wild flowers make for easy access to less visited corners of the area, revealing the true nature of the region. Traditional villages pass by one after another as we wend our way gently to beautiful Carcassonne, replete with its battlements and witches-hat towers. En route you can pause to swim in the lake at Jouarres or make a detour to visit the old Cathar village of Minerve. A last, free day brings with it an opportunity to explore Carcassonne town or for rides along the canal to Bram and Villepinte or, for those who enjoy a challenge, a hilly option to visit the dramatically sited remains of the Cathar Chateau de Lastours.

Source: Nature & Kind Travel Collection

Yesterday I dug out an old recipe involving Cointreau. To be honest, though, that particular liqueur rarely leaves the drinks cupboard. The one bottle that’s always on the go in our kitchen is Noilly Prat.

Noilly Prat and fish is one of those perfect food combinations. Use it whenever a recipe calls for a dry vermouth.

This classic drink from Marseillan is great in fish stocks, many fish stews, certain steamed shellfish dishes and classic fish sauces.

As seafood chef par excellence Rick Stein explains in his “French Odyssey” (BBC Books):

“I’ve done lots of experiments with white wines for fish sauces and I’ve come to the conclusion that Noilly Prat is the best. In fact, it makes very little difference to the finished sauce how good a white wine is (though this is not the case with red wine). However, the Provencal herbs and spices used to flavour Noilly Prat seem to add flavour to the reduction.”

Here’s my slightly simplified version of one of Rick’s recipes from the same book and TV series, in which he pottered down the Canal du Midi with a film crew. It’s for four John Dory fillets, though many other white fish will do.

If you’re in a fish market in the Languedoc you don’t ask for John Dory of course, but for Saint Pierre, and in Italy it’s Pesce San Pietro.

The fish is supposed to have the thumbmark of St Peter, bang in the middle of its side. As for who “John Dory” was, maybe it’s  just a variation on the French words jaune (yellow) and dorée (gilded).

Anyway, as Rick Stein says, “This dish really requires the flavour of the herbs and spices in the Noilly Prat to come through in the finished sauce. I’ve been cooking this sauce for 25 years and it’s very simple and can be used for practically any fish.”

Fillets of John Dory with cucumber and Noilly Prat

John Dory - or Saint Pierre in French

Most of us mere mortals will just get fillets of John Dory. But if you happen to come back from the fish market or a fishing trip with a whole one, you’ll get two large triangular fillets out of each fish (these can be cut in two).

That might not seem much value from such a monster of the sea, but save the head and the carcass, as these make excellent fish stock.

1. Put 600ml of fish stock and 150ml of Noilly Prat in a saucepan. Boil rapidly until it has reduced by about three quarters.
2. Add 40ml of double cream and continue simmering away for two minutes. Remove it from the heat.
3. Meanwhile peel a medium size cucumber. Cut it in half lengthways. Scoop out the seeds from the middle (use a teaspoon or, better still, a melon baller). Cut each half across into centimetre-thick slices.
4. Heat up your grill to the highest setting.
5. Melt 20g of butter – let’s not go overboard on this – in a large heavy-duty frying pan. Brush the fish fillets with a little of the butter, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper on both sides. Place the fillets skin side up on a baking tray and leave to one side.
6. Continue heating the butter until it starts foaming, add the cucumber, and cook on a high heat for two minutes, shaking the pan occasionally until the cucumber is lightly coloured. Take it off the heat.
7. Grill the fillets for about three to five minutes depending on the size of the fish, until the skin is a light golden brown and the fish is just cooked through.
8. Bring the sauce back to the boil, whisk in 20g of chilled butter (cut into pieces).
9. To plate it up, put each fillet in the centre of a warm plate, spoon over the cucumber, garnish with finely shredded basil, spoon the sauce over it all and serve.

French names for white fish

Other French names you might need in your local market for white fish in include:

• le colin = hake, coley
• la dorade = sea bream
• le loup de mer = sea bass
• le merlan = whiting
• la morue = cod
• le cabillaud = cod as well (I think)
• la raie = ray

“The two basic things you must have in your kitchen are balsamic vinegar and Noilly Prat”
- celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay in an interview in Now magazine (December 2001).

Related posts:

• Noilly Prat’s magical mystery tour
• Octopus pie from Sète – tielle sètoise
• Talking pollocks

Toulousse, Andorra and Peyrepertuse

St Sernin basilica, Toulouse

Beautiful tree in the courtyard

Dave examining the ruins with the help of a completely incomprehensible auidio guide

Windswept Pee-wee

The entrance to the Niaux caves - as close as we got to the bison and horsies

Pyrenees Mountain pass into Andorra

Annie and Pete despair in duty free nightmare that is Pas de la Casa, Andorra

]]> http://irishherault.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/la-meute-rieuse/ Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:38:28 +0000 irishherault http://irishherault.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/la-meute-rieuse/

Rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a tale of two cities.

On the one hand, U2 fly off on their latest tour. They’re on a mega tour. So mega that it’s called something really short and sweet like:

“Oh No Not This Again And Our Lead Singer’s Head Might Explode But At Least It’s Great Gas And We’re Generating Lots Of Greenhouse Gases And Using More Fuel Than Flying Off To Mars For Two Weeks And Thank God We Pay Tax To Our Government In Er Holland Not Dublin And We Have  A Big Huge Bit Of Decking That’s Half The Size Of Croke Park And Then We’ll Fly Off Back To Our Mansion In The Med And My Missus Is Suing Stella McCartney About A Chemical Concoction Because She Used ‘Nip’ or ‘Nude’ or ‘Naked’ In Its Title The Bitch And Perfumes Are Really Great For The Planet Right?”

…or something along those lines.

On the other hand, our own local Fab Four supergroup, from just a couple of villages down the way in Capestang near Béziers, are entertaining their fans at a bit more timeless 3.2 miles an hour. They’re not on a huge bit of decking in the middle of a big city but in the middle of a field of vines, on the tiny deck of a péniche. Yes, a boat.

OK, Ludivine in our corner shop may indeed call it a bateau but let’s not get carried away here. It’s a canal barge.

This supergroup is called La Meute Rieuse (which means something like the laughing dogs, the pack of cheerful hounds etc).

And this little supergroup did their latest world tour down a brief stretch of the Canal du Midi on the back of a barge, without amplification. Really unplugged.

La Meute Rieuse et La Mal Coiffée

La Meute Rieuse have various connections to an even bigger local group, La Mal Coiffée (salut les copains! see earlier blog and latest tour).

But their music is more jazzy and cabaret. Another difference is that it’s  in French, not Occitan, and with a much richer instrumental backing than the Coiffées’ a cappella type stuff.

And it has guys in the group.

La Meute Rieuse have a fairly orthodox mix of acoustic instruments (accordion, Spanish guitar, double bass, clarinet and a few strange drums that you’ve never heard of – oh look, there’s a pandeiro, isn’t that one of those Brazilian tambourines?).

But it can be a very beguiling mix. They combine traditional and quirky, sometimes in unexpected key changes and textures and double-tracking voices, with a few samples bunged in for good measure.

Check out their official website for more MP3s from their debut long-playing triumph. Meanwhile here are some bits of video on the web of them in action…

A new intriguing book on the shelves: Impossible Engineering: Technology and Territoriality on the Canal du Midi, by Chandra Mukerji (Princeton, 2009).

This dovetails nicely with one of our new TJ Encyclopedia articles, which features (among other useful pieces of information), an itinerary of Jefferson’s travels through southern France and Italy – during which, yes, he visited the Canal du Midi.  He rather liked it:

I have passed through the Canal from it’s entrance into the mediterranean at Cette to this place, and shall be immediately at Toulouse, in the whole 200 American miles, by water; having employed in examining all it’s details nine days, one of which was spent in making a tour of 40 miles on horseback, among the Montagnes noires, to see the manner in which water has been collected to supply the canal; the other eight on the canal itself. I dismounted my carriage from it’s wheels, placed it on the deck of a light bark, and was thus towed on the canal instead of the post road. That I might be perfectly master of all the delays necessary, I hired a bark to myself by the day, and have made from 20. to 35 miles a day, according to circumstances, always sleeping ashore. Of all the methods of travelling I have ever tried this is the pleasantest. I walk the greater part of the way along the banks of the canal, level, and lined with a double row of trees which furnish shade. When fatigued I take seat in my carriage where, as much at ease as if in my study, I read, write, or observe. My carriage being of glass all round, admits a full view of all the varying scenes thro’ which I am shifted, olives, figs, mulberries, vines, corn and pasture, villages and farms. I have had some days of superb weather, enjoying two parts of the Indian’s wish, cloudless skies and limpid waters: I have had another luxury which he could not wish, since we have driven him from the country of Mockingbirds, a double row of nightingales along the banks of the canal, in full song.

Mukerji’s book looks like it deals more with the actual construction of the canal in the seventeenth century, but she has an angle which is of particular interest to me. From the book flap:

The Canal du Midi is typically characterized as the achievement of Pierre-Paul Riquet, a tax farmer and entrepreneur for the canal. Yet Chandra Mukerji argues that it was a product of collective intelligence, depending on peasant women and artisans–unrecognized heirs to Roman traditions of engineering–who came to labor on the waterway in collaboration with military and academic supervisors. Ironically, while Louis XIV and his treasury minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert used propaganda to present France as a new Rome, the Canal du Midi was being constructed with unrecognized classical methods.

Did Jefferson recognize the classical pedigree of the Canal du Midi?  I’m not sure, but he was positively sloppy with adulation for the Pont du Gard and the Maison Carrée, so that aspect of the canal would surely have provoked a similar outburst of flowery language.

I found these awesome pillows by Skout in an email from One Kings Lane (the home design version of Gilt Groupe) and fell in love. They’re all made from reclaimed, recycled materials like burlap sacks and feed bags—but they are so chic! I’m so sad they didn’t have any of the pillows made from vintage army blankets for sale—and Rob will be heartbroken when I show them to him. [See the web site.] Here’s the one I really wanted, but don’t have an appropriate room for (yet):

Wouldn’t that be so perfect in a light, bright sunroom by the ocean?

That’s actually the one I got for Rob and myself. Our room reminds us of a little French cottage, so I thought it appropriate.

This one is awesome, and makes me think of Jean de Florette:

UPDATE: Here is our new pillow in action:

Jean de Florette (and Manon of the Spring) is easily the best movie in the whole world. I could watch it every day and never get tired of it:

Which reminds me of my trip down the Canal du Midi in Southern France. Most beautiful scenery every day.

[Ecluse au "seuil de Narouze" photo via Flickr, courtesy Christophe Ramos.]

Couldn’t you just hole up in one of those buildings and be an eclusier, wearing baggy trousers and suspenders, drinking your bières, watching boats come and go all day while the wind rustles through the wheat? Clearly I am going to get no work done today.

[More scenes from the Canal du Midi---these are mine.]

Holding the boat lines inside a lock.

One of the hundreds of beautiful views through the trees.

An ecluse. I'm stealing that paint color for a furniture makeover this weekend.

Taking notes inside a Kerouac book on the bow of the boat.

If you ever get the opportunity to take a trip like this—no hotels, no taxis, fresh-brewed coffee in your own little kitchen on a boat, with breakfast you rode your bike into a village to buy—you should. You experience the country like you never could were you living out of a suitcase in a hotel.

I draw inspiration from that trip almost daily: the misty mornings sitting on the front of the boat with my legs dangling off the side, in a sweater and thermal underwear, drinking coffee as dusty fields and rows of vineyards rolled by on either side.

It reminds me to take a simpler approach to things—cooking, writing, getting dressed, planning an evening with Rob. The result is almost always…beautiful.

[Photo courtesy The Sartorialist.]

Julia biking towards La Cité

We spent three nights last week parked up on the quay in ville basse at the foot of the beautiful UNESCO world heritage listed fortifications of La Cité in Carcassonne. The fairytale castle is massive in scale – I think there are about 50 different towers throughout the whole site and it’s a fortress within a fortress, the outer battlements protecting a second ring of ramparts within the gates. The Romans started building on the hill in about 100 BC and every inhabitant since has added an architectural layer, from the Medieval Cathars to Viollet-le-Duc in the 1850s – so to a purist like Dave it’s a bit of a hodge-podge, but those of us who grew up with Disney’s Fantasia loved it.

The town of Carcassonne itself is kind of a funny mix – some beautiful old buildings and parks, moules et frites by the canal for 5 euro, a great fruit and veg market, but it also has kind of a desperate feel, especially at night – lots of homeless people sleeping in their cars along the canalbank, wandering dogs and general drunkeness (not just us).

Annie and Siobhan and the remains of moules frites

Art nouveau in Ville Basse, Carcassonne

Carousel outside the drawbridge to La Cité

Distant view of the Pyrénées

Getting free wi-fi in the rural South of France is proving much trickier than we expected! Still, we’ve made it to Castelnaudary now so hopefully there will be a few more blog updates coming your way…

This is just a quick note to let our faithful readers know that the mystery of the web-footed canal hog-otter has been solved (and no, I’m sorry, none of you win the deux baguette despite a couple of very good guesses). The creature is a South American Coypu:  http://www.lost-in-france.com/wildlife-in-france/195-coypu. It turns out we weren’t imagining the Fanta-coloured fangs either:

The Coypu can be up to a metre long including its tail (about 40 cm) and weighs up to 7 kg. its hind feet are webbed and its incisor teeth are coloured orange.

The locals that we asked about them called them Ragondin – a word that not too surprisingly doesn’t appear in the Collins School French Dictionary. So, now you know – the canal is full of baffling surprises…

Voir aussi

Une petite sélection de livres sur le Canal du Midi : histoire, photographie ou tourisme, chacun y trouvera son compte !

On Sunday the 27th the Lady Mary was bombarded by a handsome rogue and three bonny lasses. They ate everything in the galley and left the skipper nothing but Desperado (a beer and tequila premix in a can… blergh). We now have the co-ordinates for the blog so adjust your seat-backs, dear readers, and prepare for the resumption of normal blogging services (free wi-fi permitting).

Tiniest bridge in the land

Capestang is a beautiful little village surrounding by vineyards. As well as excellent baguettes et pain au chocolat, we discovered a local cave selling vin rogue et vin rose from a hose – for 1 euro a litre we filled up all our empty plastic vessels. Take that liver!

After a quick safety briefing from Cap’n Dave – details of which are already but a faint memory – we disembarked from the Capestang dock and headed under the teensy Capestang Bridge, smallest bridge in the entire French canal system. We had to take down all extraneous vertical projections – the windscreens, sun awning and Pete’s top hat – and luckily we just managed to squeeze under.

Since Capestang, we’ve overnighted in three lovely little villes: Argeliers, Le Somail and Homps. The weather has been gorgeous and autumnal, but hot enough to swim in a river that we spotted from the canal.

C’est tout, pour maintenant…

Au revoir

XOX

Plane trees along the canal

Siobhan with her dear penfriend Andre and his wife Marine - they kindly brought us incredibly delicious sticky Brittany cakes and salty caramels

Post-bridge - resurrecting all protrusions

Julia and Pete playing a dusty game of petanque amongst the vines - Argeliers village in the background

Annie doing some hard labour on the boat

Boules, pink wine and jandals

Canalside championship match continues

2000 year old Roman Amphora unearthed from beneath the vineyards near Le Somail

Cooling down in the river

The mysterious orange-fanged swimming beaver weasel - what is this animal?? Two baguettes to the person who guesses correctly...

Escargot in the hedgerow

A boat of much envy

Arriving in Le Somail

Happy Capitaine - "I'm the skipper, and I says full steam ahead"

Nice old maison at Le Somail - once glanced at by Sean Connery

Rosie gone all Romanesque on the Rocks

Moustachioed Pedro attracts les filles

Le Somail

Frenchie Fruit Doors - always ferme

The French city of Toulouse lies between the wine regions of the south-west and those of the Languedoc-Roussillon and travellers to these wine regions may well start or end their journey in the city. Below, American Tom Fiorina, who lives close to the city and writes The Vine Route blog, shares a wine discovery that sounds well worth a visit.

Cale à Vins in Toulouse © Tom Fiorina

The Canal du Midi, the UNESCO World Heritage Site that was built in the 17th century to connect the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, is an engineering marvel. This masterpiece of structural and hydraulic engineering contains over 91 locks, several aqueduct bridges and dams, and the first canal passage ever built through a tunnel. The canal revolutionized the transport of goods across south-western France until it was made irrelevant by the railroads that replaced it in the late 19th century. Today, it is the most popular pleasure waterway in Europe.

One of the canal’s most scenic sections passes through the city of Toulouse. The plane-tree-lined canal passes directly through the city, allowing the private or rented boats that ply the waterway in the summer to dock close to the city’s museums and other tourist attractions.

As a Toulouse-area resident, I have not floated through the city on one of these long, low boats. I have, however, walked the shady former towpaths that line each side of the canal, creating attractive hiking and cycling routes. It was on one of those walks that I happened upon La Cale à Vins, a classic French péniche, the flat-bottomed river barges used to transport goods. I found out, when I spoke with the boat’s owner, André Fuster, that cale is French for a ship’s hold. La Cale à Vins is a play on words for the French name for a wine shop, une cave à vins.

Since the boat was built in 1920 it has been used successively to transport grain, as a floating library by the city of Toulouse, and by the international medical and humanitarian aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières. It went through the hands of several private owners in the early part of this decade, and following a two-year renovation it emerged as the Oenothilus, a floating wine bar/restaurant/wine shop. The Oenothilus, which specialized in the wines of Southwestern France, made a name for itself as a nice place to drink a glass of wine. From online reviews that I discovered on the Internet, I learned that the food and service seemed to not be up to the quality of the wine, and that the drop in business must have led to the sale, in February of this year, to Fuster.

He has revamped the wine menu so that it includes wine from all over France, along with a few from other countries. Fuster became an oenologist in 1998. He told me that his wine ‘epiphany’ was in 1990 when he tasted a premier cru from Puligny-Montrachet. This wine, he said, made him understand the difference between ‘wine’ and ‘plonk’. His six years working for one of the world’s leading providers of commercial yeasts and bacteria, when he travelled throughout France to visit vineyards, gave him his primary source for his 200-plus list of wines offered at the Cale à Vins. Fuster says that he knows each wine producer personally, and that, unlike most restaurants where you select the wine after having selected a dish, he would like his patrons to first select a wine. Using his first-hand knowledge of the wines that he sells, he can then suggest a dish from the menu.

Forty people can be seated in the inside dining area and on the fore and aft open decks, while a maximum of 120 people can be on-board at one time. Lunch is served Tuesday through Friday and dinner Tuesday through Saturday. The food consists of fresh local specialties – charcuterie from Corsica and Spain, foie gras from local producers, a variety of fresh fish, and cheese from the Pyrenees. The winter menu will include more hot dishes. Lunch will cost you, depending on your wine selection, between €15 and €20, while dinner is not much more expensive. The boat can be reserved for private parties as well.

Fuster, who speaks French and English, plans on having a different winemaker present his or her wine each Tuesday evening. His partner, in both business and in life, Nadine Moreau, is helping to organize these wine tasting sessions, which will begin in October.

The wine menu is the size of a textbook, with information about both the wine and the winemaker. From among the more than 200 wines on offer at the Cale à Vins, you’re sure to find, a wine that will please you. And once you have, the expert advice offered by Fuster will pair your wine choice with an equally enjoyable food dish.

The Cale à Vins is moored near the Toulouse city centre at Boulevard Griffoul-Douval, near the Passerelle des Soupirs foot bridge and the Port Saint-Sauveur. The telephone number is +33 (0)5 62 16 39 47 and additional information is available on their website.

Visiter Toulouse

Quatrième ville de France avec ses 473 000 habitants et son agglomération 871 800 habitants, la Ville Rose est lovée dans un coude de la Garonne et traversée également par le canal du Midi. Elle est surnommée ainsi, «ville rose», en raison de la couleur de ses bâtiments faits de briques en terre cuite. Après 16h, à partir du printemps, la ville prends des tons orangés fantastiques. Par temps clair, on aperçoit la chaîne de montagne pyrénéenne toute proche. Son climat tempéré est doux en automne et au printemps, et très chaud et sec en été. Toulouse est, de l’avis général, l’une des villes de France où les gens aiment le plus prendre du bon temps et flâner. Ses habitants sont réputés d’une gentillesse à toute épreuve et ce, même s’ils rajoutent le mot “con” à chaque fin de phrase (ne vous en offusquez pas, c’est incontournable !)…

LIRE LA SUITE : VISITER TOULOUSE