À bientôt et bienvenue in Toulouse!

Tuesday, May 7th, 2019

We were up early this morning to make sure our “Peugeot Airbus/ Navette” made it on time for its scheduled run to Toulouse-Blagnac Airport . 

A little tongue and cheek! 

Our rental car this trip is a Peugeot 2008 and Toulouse is the home of Airbus headquarters along with the production location of many Airbus models.

The Navette is a very efficient shuttle service that goes from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport to Toulouse Matabiau station every 20 minutes with several stops on the way. 

Nowadays there is also tram service that runs into the city of Toulouse from the airport. 

When we first started travelling to Europe together back in 2003, Monsieur Honey and I did so without rental cars. 

We did most of our travelling by bus and train. 

One of my most memorable experiences was travelling with a Eurail Pass on our first adventure; we spent four days in Paris, took a train from Gare d’Austerlitz to Cahors (in the Lot Valley) where our French Connection friends met us. 

We spent a few days with them in Belaye, then ventured off on the train. 

We saw so much/many different areas of France ... 

Arles, Avignon, Carcassonne, Collioure, Orange  and many other places and we finished our travels on the train into Belgium for a week. We TGV’ed our way from Brussels to Paris CDG for our return flight home.

Just a little trip down memory lane ... these days we travel by rental car. 

The sky was lit up in glorious hues and shades of orange, pink and red as the sun was rising. 

Our friend Laury’s visit was ending; she was meeting up with another friend at the Airport for an overnight visit before returning to her home in Cadrieu. 

Daughter, Jennifer’s flight from Canada was scheduled to land at 10:30AM. 

We said au revoir / à bientôt to Laury and bienvenue to Jennifer.  

We headed back to Montlaur with a stop in Trebes for lunch on the Quai along the Canal du Midi.

A nice easy start for Jennifer’s French week! 

 

Wine Country

While daughter, Jennifer was visiting with us we arranged a wine tasting at one of the five local village wine producers. 

Domaine Fourtanier is located at 9 Rue de Pontil just around the corner (as in walking distance) from our temporary “home away from home”.

We arrived at the appointed time (19h) and were greeted very warmly by friendly Frédéric (Frédo) Puget who owns & operates the business with his sister Bénédicte.  

We had an informative tour of the facilty prior to the tastings.

Fredo’s presentation was peppered with humour which made for an entertaining evening.

He explained how various wines were made and provided a detailed family history of the winery. 

The Fourtanier Family have been winemakers for 5 generations, since the late 19th century originating with his great-grandfather.

Some statistics from their website 

• 5th generation cave
• 11 hectares of vines - Grape variety: merlot, cabernet-sauvignon, grenache, cinsault, syrah, alicante
• 2 hectares of fields
• Annual production: 8 to 10,000 bottles, the rest in a cooperative cellar

Photo of Fredo and his great-grandmother (Madame Fourtanier) 

On to the tasting, we tried three different varieties - Syrah, two Cabernet Sauvignons, one unoaked (naked) and the other aged in oak barrels.

 

The oaked Cabernet Sauvignon was a 2014. Delicious! 

Merci beaucoup Frédo for a very informative, interesting and entertaining experience! 

Wishing you continued success! 

If you find yourself in the Aude, try Domaine Fourtanier’s wines. 

Email:  domainefourtainer@wanadoo.fr

Télé: 04.68.24.01.40

Legends and Cars of Carcassonne

Monday, May 6th, 2019

The winds had blown the clouds away and we woke to bluer than blue skies. Perfect for our planned outing to the medieval Cité of Carcassonne.

Carcassonne is a French fortified city in the Aude Department, Occitan Region.

As we left our village this morning, we had to yield way to this vintage automobile. 

We followed him all the way into Carcassonne. We headed to the parking lot and as we strolled into the Cité entrance there was the same Peugeot. More on that later. 

The Dame (La Dama Carcas) was waiting to greet us at the Narbonne Gate.

Laury suggested we take the tourist train ride around the property. 

And away we went ... we travelled between the inner and outer walls providing long views over the lower town, plus up close views of the castle. 

For those of you that want some history ... here is an excerpt from Wikipedia 

“Inhabited since the Neolithic period, Carcassonne is located in the Aude plain between historic trade routes, linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean sea and the Massif Central to the Pyrénées. Its strategic importance was quickly recognized by the Romans, who occupied its hilltop until the demise of the Western Roman Empire. In the fifth century, it was taken over by the Visigoths, who founded the city. Its strategic location led successive rulers to expand its fortifications until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. Its citadel known as the Cité de Carcassonne, is a medieval fortress dating back to the Gallo-Roman period, and was restored by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in 1853. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997.^[1] Consequently, Carcassonne relies heavily on tourism but also counts manufacturing and wine-making as some of its other key economic sectors.”

There is also a legend about Dame Carcas ... do you see the pig flying out the window in this postcard? 

Some info found on the internet ... FinestFrance.com 

According to the legend the Emperor Charlemagne sieged the city in the hands of the Saracens.

The Saracen King Ballak was killed and his wife Dame Carcas led the knights.

The siege lasted 5 years. Food was scarce. There was only a pork (pig) and a sack of wheat.

Dame Carcas had the idea of ​​stuffing the pork with wheat and throwing it out of the city. 
Charlemagne believed that the city still had provisions because they could sacrifice a pork fed with wheat. So he raised the siege.

Dame Carcas victorious rang all the bells of the city. One of Charlemagne's soldiers then told him 'Carcas sonne' ('Carcas rings').

That's how Carcassonne was baptized according to the legend.

We wandered thru the narrow cobble stoned lanes lined with the requisite tourist souvenir shoppes, selling everything from swords, knights in shining armour gear, anything and everything in “Violette”.

The weather cooperated and we found a sunny table in Place Marcou for some lunch. 

I think if Laury had seen these first, she would have opted for this carriage ride tour.

As we were leaving, we found that our vintage Peugeot friend was here for a car show.

 What more could Monsieur Honey ask for?