Friday night (12th):
Good concert in the church. Spectacular Cellist, only 14 years old. Piano pieces played well and sound reverberated around the church well, but some from a modern composer and not overly smooth to listen to. Went to a restaurant beside the church for pizza and wine and great band playing mostly 70s & 80s stuff, nice & loud. We had a table closest to the band. Leader was very good at including the audience. Late night.
Saturday 13th:
Went into Nerac, a nearby town, to a market, to buy some fresh fruit & vegies and to look around. Just happened to have a river and boats to investigate. Had a lazy afternoon reading and relaxing.
Had dinner at a restaurant in the village square, about 1 min walk from the house, and spent the rest of the night listening to great jazz under a cloister type of arcade outside the restaurant. The audience managed to keep the band on for an extra 15 mins or so. Left when the band packed up around 12:15am. Owner may have had a little tipple or was a big extrovert, because she spent quite a lot of time dancing and clowning around in front of the band. We had the front table again.
Sunday 14th:
Went to an antique/flea market at Fources, not far away. It seems to be customary to enter past a temporary bar and pick up a glass (plastic cup) of wine and nibbles.
On to La Romieu to have a look at the Collegiate (defined as a church having or having had a chapter of Canons) of Saint Pierre. Built between 1312 and 1318. Impressive cloisters and a great bell tower. It is one of the very few churches where you can get into the ceiling space of the church and see what is on the other side of the huge curved arched ceilings and see the other side of the vaulted ceiling keystones.
Dinner, big brass band (yes, more music) and fireworks, nice that they put this celebration on for our wedding anniversary. Co-incidentally, they also celebrated Bastille day.
Monday 15th:
Went back to Nerac (told you that there was a river there) to ride on a traditionally styled boat up the river and through a lock. Most locks in France are automatic, put a key in and it all happens, unlike the locks in UK where all is manual.
Lunch in Agen and a look around a big town with modern and old parts. Found a long large stone aqueduct to walk over. Only a small motor boat came along. Very hot, 32 degrees.
On to a very pretty town called Auvillar, with a beautiful market square. Good coffee. Nice looking suspension bridge in the valley below.
Back home via another attractive village, Lectoure, with a night market. J&J bought a large framed mirror for the house. We were in our Clio with not much room, so the mirror was right across the floor in the back taking up leg space.
Tuesday 16th:
On the road to see The Bridge. Actually it is a viaduct.
On the way we stopped in Albi to visit the Henri Toulouse-Lautrec museum and see the huge brick cathedral. Bit mind boggling, such a big, old building built of brick. Another really impressive cathedral with very ornate fittings, frescos and painted ceilings. The H T-L museum was originally a palace from the 1300s and had a well manicured formal garden.
Eventually got to the Millau Viaduct around 5pm. What a structure! Looks great in photos, but even better in real life. Drove across it and stopped at the visitor’s centre to have a closer look. Long steep path up to a great vantage point, looking over the whole viaduct. On to Rodez for the night. Big day. John drove.
Wednesday 17th:
Spent the morning looking around Rodez. Big paving upgrade works and new museum being built. Followed a map with a couple of suggested walks thorough the old part of town. Old cathedral has some modern stained glass windows, some donated by WW2 prisoners of war.
Left Rodez and headed home via Cordes-sur-Ciel, a very attractive but touristy hilltop village. Drove right into the centre of the village (we’re still not sure whether we were supposed to or not, there were no other cars), but ended up driving part way down the hill to find parking.
Next stop was Cologne with its old market square and old buildings surrounding it. Was originally a fortified town. Another attractive village.
Back home about 8pm. Another long day. Nice to be passengers and look at the scenery. No concert tonight.
Thursday morning 18th:
Reading, blogging, jobs around the house (can hear a drill in the next room as prints get hung on the wall). Next job to plane the bottom of a door, climb into the attic to see how to prevent pigeons sitting on the window ledge and doing what they need to do. They can go somewhere else.
Concert in a church in nearby village tonight and hopefully another band outside the same restaurant we went to last Friday.
Good concert in the church. Spectacular Cellist, only 14 years old. Piano pieces played well and sound reverberated around the church well, but some from a modern composer and not overly smooth to listen to. Went to a restaurant beside the church for pizza and wine and great band playing mostly 70s & 80s stuff, nice & loud. We had a table closest to the band. Leader was very good at including the audience. Late night.
Saturday 13th:
Went into Nerac, a nearby town, to a market, to buy some fresh fruit & vegies and to look around. Just happened to have a river and boats to investigate. Had a lazy afternoon reading and relaxing.
Had dinner at a restaurant in the village square, about 1 min walk from the house, and spent the rest of the night listening to great jazz under a cloister type of arcade outside the restaurant. The audience managed to keep the band on for an extra 15 mins or so. Left when the band packed up around 12:15am. Owner may have had a little tipple or was a big extrovert, because she spent quite a lot of time dancing and clowning around in front of the band. We had the front table again.
Sunday 14th:
Went to an antique/flea market at Fources, not far away. It seems to be customary to enter past a temporary bar and pick up a glass (plastic cup) of wine and nibbles.
On to La Romieu to have a look at the Collegiate (defined as a church having or having had a chapter of Canons) of Saint Pierre. Built between 1312 and 1318. Impressive cloisters and a great bell tower. It is one of the very few churches where you can get into the ceiling space of the church and see what is on the other side of the huge curved arched ceilings and see the other side of the vaulted ceiling keystones.Dinner, big brass band (yes, more music) and fireworks, nice that they put this celebration on for our wedding anniversary. Co-incidentally, they also celebrated Bastille day.
Monday 15th:
Went back to Nerac (told you that there was a river there) to ride on a traditionally styled boat up the river and through a lock. Most locks in France are automatic, put a key in and it all happens, unlike the locks in UK where all is manual.
Lunch in Agen and a look around a big town with modern and old parts. Found a long large stone aqueduct to walk over. Only a small motor boat came along. Very hot, 32 degrees.
On to a very pretty town called Auvillar, with a beautiful market square. Good coffee. Nice looking suspension bridge in the valley below.
Back home via another attractive village, Lectoure, with a night market. J&J bought a large framed mirror for the house. We were in our Clio with not much room, so the mirror was right across the floor in the back taking up leg space.
Tuesday 16th:
On the road to see The Bridge. Actually it is a viaduct.
On the way we stopped in Albi to visit the Henri Toulouse-Lautrec museum and see the huge brick cathedral. Bit mind boggling, such a big, old building built of brick. Another really impressive cathedral with very ornate fittings, frescos and painted ceilings. The H T-L museum was originally a palace from the 1300s and had a well manicured formal garden.
Eventually got to the Millau Viaduct around 5pm. What a structure! Looks great in photos, but even better in real life. Drove across it and stopped at the visitor’s centre to have a closer look. Long steep path up to a great vantage point, looking over the whole viaduct. On to Rodez for the night. Big day. John drove.
Wednesday 17th:
Spent the morning looking around Rodez. Big paving upgrade works and new museum being built. Followed a map with a couple of suggested walks thorough the old part of town. Old cathedral has some modern stained glass windows, some donated by WW2 prisoners of war.
Left Rodez and headed home via Cordes-sur-Ciel, a very attractive but touristy hilltop village. Drove right into the centre of the village (we’re still not sure whether we were supposed to or not, there were no other cars), but ended up driving part way down the hill to find parking.
Next stop was Cologne with its old market square and old buildings surrounding it. Was originally a fortified town. Another attractive village.
Back home about 8pm. Another long day. Nice to be passengers and look at the scenery. No concert tonight.
Thursday morning 18th:
Reading, blogging, jobs around the house (can hear a drill in the next room as prints get hung on the wall). Next job to plane the bottom of a door, climb into the attic to see how to prevent pigeons sitting on the window ledge and doing what they need to do. They can go somewhere else.
Concert in a church in nearby village tonight and hopefully another band outside the same restaurant we went to last Friday.
What a fantastic week of travelling through pretty towns - just loved the stories, photos and history (as usual!)
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