And we’re pack with partie deux of the Winter Holiday update!
After our super fun (and cold) day in Biarritz, we boarded our bus to Toulouse.
While the entire drive was gorgeous (we were only a few miles away from the Pyrenées and we had clear skies), our driver decided to make us both feel sick with jerky driving. It didn’t help that we hadn’t eaten enough and we were winding through small villages.
Naturally, as we pulled into Toulouse, it started pouring rain and we had to walk for 15 minutes with luggage as we found a local bus to our AirBnB.
Once we had finally checked into our place, the sun made an appearance and we decided we needed to explore town now in case it rained again (which it did).
As it was a Sunday, there wasn’t a whole lot open, but we managed to to walk around La Ville en Rose, which we found didn’t quite live up to its nickname. Toulouse gets this nickname from all the red brick that was used and when the sun is setting, it’s supposed to illuminate the buildings in a pinkish, orange-ish hue.
Even when the sun came out, Lauren and I didn’t see it.
But we were determined to figure out why Toulouse was a hotspot, so we continued exploring, when Lauren remembered the Musée des Augustins. It was highly recommended with its large fine arts collection and, surprisingly, open on a Sunday!
It wasn’t until were in front of the door that we found out it was closed until Fall 2020 due to extensive renovation.
We were starting to feel a bit let down with Toulouse, so we stopped for coffee to regroup when Lauren said, “why don’t we see if we can take a day trip somewhere?”
Both of us started looking up cities that were a cheap and short train ride away, when we discovered Albi — a small town on the Tarn river which housed a UNESCO World Heritage site.
After settling on our trip for the next day, we grabbed pizzas to eat in our AirBnB and headed “home”.
— A L B I —
The next morning we were up and off to Albi (nearly missing our train because the local bus didn’t pick us up?).
We pulled into the station and headed out to explore the very windy city. Both Lauren and my nose was running and our hair was whipping every which way.
Albi was also pretty quiet as it was a Monday morning, but we managed to find some cute stores to pop into before we eventually found the monstrosity otherwise known as the Albi Cathedral.
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The Albi Cathedral was originally built as a fortress in the 13th century and is rumored to be the largest brick structure in the world.
From the outside, it looks absurd.
The only part on the outside that remotely looked like a classic medieval church was the archway surrounding the stairs entering the church. Other than that, you would have had no idea. Sure, there was a spire or sorts and you could see some form of stained glass, but it was so up high, it was difficult to tell.
But entering the cathedral was an entirely new experience and it suddenly made sense why it was deemed a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We bought an audio guide and spent a solid hour or two circling the cathedral and learning about the naves and frescoes and rood screen (when I heard the word, I definitely thought it was the r-u-d-e screen and was wondering what it could have possibly done to offend).
Eventually, we fully explored the cathedral and headed out to see the rest of the quaint town of Albi.
The sun was shining, so we had to make the most of it. We wandered down to the old bridge that gave us a postcard perfect shot of the town and then headed in for lunch as the rain started pouring again.
After lunch, we headed off to the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec to escape rain once again. This was an especially cool museum as it used to be the Bishop’s Palace, therefore leading us to a garden with parapets!
We wandered around town later, while the sun was out, grabbed a coffee, and then made the trek back to the train station.
— T O U L O U S E —
Toulouse Day 2 was the rainiest of the bunch. There wasn’t a moment of clear skies so we could wander outside.
Instead, we started our day with a lengthy brunch at Cérise Café and then headed off to the Muséum de Toulouse which is a natural history museum that specifically covers the Aquitaine region.
Even though I’m not the most science minded person, I love natural history museums, as they’re typically geared towards kids. Give me those interactive maps and skulls I can actually touch and games to build the most sustainable ecosystem and I’ll be one happy camper.
Lauren and I took our time in the museum and really only shared it with about a dozen primaire school groups. Eventually, we decided we should start making the trek to our next stop and dove back into the rain.
We came across a cathedral and thought, eh porquoi pas, let’s go in. It’s pouring and we’re cold.
It was one of the weirder cathedrals.
We immediately noticed the cathedral was off center. The back half was wide and empty and we noticed plenty of scaffolding and restoration work happening, but the front half seemed to be an entirely separate building that was fused together.
The two didn’t actually line up as the front half seemed like it was pushed to the left a little bit, leaving no direct line from the back door to the altar.
As we wandered around the sanctuary, the church seemed even more off, but there were no pamphlets to tell us what was going on.
Then, out of what seemed like nowhere, a lady who worked at the church saw us and asked if we wanted a brief tour of the church — of course, we agreed. She explained that the church actually was two separate churches built in two separate centuries that were eventually combined. The reason they were off kilter was to preserve the baptismal chapel that was right beside the former church.
And just as quickly as she appeared, she was gone. She asked if we had questions, we didn’t, and then it was almost as if she vanished and had only appeared when she saw two confused American girls.
As it was still pouring rain, we popped into a café to actually warm up and write some postcards before heading through town to the most popular monument in Toulouse — the Basilica of Saint-Sernin.
The basilica was probably the pinkest building we saw in Toulouse and I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. The altar piece and the frescoes above it were stunning, but they were completely gated off to the public. I tried incredibly hard to shove my camera in the gaps of the iron, but with the low lighting and the awkward angle, I couldn’t get a clear shot. Quelle dommage.
We wandered down into the crypt and while I typically think crypts to be rather cool in churches (especially eastern Orthodox crypts. Heart eyes all round), I found this one to give me the heebie-jeebies and I couldn’t explain it.
Eventually, it was time to head back so we could pack up before our train the next day.
— C A R C A S S O N N E —
Both Lauren and I were extremely excited to go to Carcassonne as the entire walled city is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We made the trek to our AirBnB and after we had settled in, drank some tea, and got the keys, we headed out into the rain (quelle surprise) to explore Carcassonne proper.
The actual town of Carcassonne was not that exciting, unfortunately. The few places that were in the guide, were either small or closed or being used for a funeral.
We ended up turning in early and watching comedy specials on Netflix and ordering kebab, which I’m pretty sure is the epitome of vacation anyway.
But we were very well rested for our day in the Cité Médiéval de Carcassonne!
The Cité de Carcassonne is a fortress/château/city that has over 2,500 years of history, so as much as I’d love to break down all the different aspects of the walled city, I think I’ll leave you to Google it.
As to be expected, the weather was not in our favor as it was on and off rain and wind. Lauren and I decided to wear our dresses that we packed — originally to be worn for my birthday dinner, but we didn’t have time to change between all the other events — which proved to be interesting with all the wind.
We got in to the museum part of the château for free as we are French residents and added on an audio guide to learn about the history.
I don’t think either of us were aware of fortress parts.
We consistently forgot what the different areas were and if this was the barbacane or murder holes or whatever, but we had fun pretending we were princesses on the ramparts (which also led me to singing the American national anthem).
We circled the entire cité on the walls, before heading into the “town” to explore. As was tradition of this trip, not a lot was open as it’s off season. We had hardly come across another person in the hour we were walking the walls.
The cathedral in the inner walls was quaint and empty, but we sat inside for awhile, avoiding the rain and planning our next stop (which was coffee).
After coffee and lunch, we ducked into a few gift stores to see if there was anything that caught our fancy (mainly postcards), before we saw everything we could and headed back to the AirBnB to pack up.
Later in the evening, we grabbed dinner in Carcassonne proper at a lovely restaurant and then it was time for bed, because the next day we had an eight hour journey home!
— P O N T A R L I E R —
The next day was filled with eight hours of travel back to Besançon where I said goodbye to Lauren and hello to Rose, who picked me up from the train station. We grabbed coffee and dinner with Rose’s sister, Isaline, before picking up their brother, Siméon, and heading back home to Pontarlier.
I can’t tell you how good it felt to do a load of laundry and light my favorite candle.
But we did it! I finally finished the winter break blog posts and will shortly move on to the actual current events (yay Rona).
Anyway, I’m off to make some coffee and start the next post.
Until my motivation to write is back up again,
— Kate
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