12:10-13:50 take train to Toulouse. Grab a chicken burger at Quick restaurant. Wait for train to Paris. The TGV I catch from Toulouse to CDG2 aeroport actually goes through Narbonne and then goes up the east coast as opposed to the train we took at the beginning which took a more westerly route. So I didn’t need to take a train to Toulouse. I wish I knew that before. Also between Carcasonne and Narbonne there was a fire so the train was delayed by 1 hour. I did not have an assigned seat on the TGV (probably due to the long journey) so I had to move seats a few times at different stops. Arrive at airport around 23:25. Look for info on how to find shuttle but none seen. I was told they stop running around 23:30, so I’m trying to hurry. I go into the Sheraton hotel, which is attached to the airport, and as the concierge for directions. Out the entrance and up the stairs. I just need to wait a couple of minutes and the shuttle comes by. Quick check-in and then to bed.

Post from: Chris' Travel Blog

Post from: Chris' Travel Blog

We head to Cucugnan Chateau de Queribus. Eat lunch here. Dad doesn’t want to walk up the hill to the castle so I borrow his jacket to survive the windy conditions. Tour ruins where the winds gusts must be 100km/h or more at the top, I could easily get blown over if I’m not careful and going through the entrance was a struggle as the wind was so strong. Then Duilhac Peyrepertuse Chateau de Peyrepertuse. Villerouge-Termenes. Then back to Narbonne. We used 197 out of the 200 free kms.

Check into the hotel. Then grab a sandwich dinner and eat in the hotel room. Have an Entre Deux Mers white wine which is quite good.

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In the train we meet a French couple who had just completed cycling the Canal du Midi from Toulouse to the end, in total it was 279 kms and took 24 hrs of cycling over 4.5 days. We had a difficult time with the bikes on the train as there was no area for them, so we were forced to cram them in the end of one car with 2 other bikes. We return the bikes. Grab some sandwiches for dinner. A quick beer in the square. Then head back to the hotel for dinner.

Post from: Chris' Travel Blog

Post from: Chris' Travel Blog

Take metro and bus to Cité de l’Espace and arrive at 9:45. See MIR space station replica, visit exhibits and see planetarium show on stars and the egyptians. Run to catch the 13:30 bus. Grab lunch at Capitole area boulangerie and eat in the square. I help a lady with a chain that fell off her bike. We also notice the ladies and their huge purses. Then we go and try to find the Musée Des Augustins which is located on rue de Metz but we walk right by it thinking it’s close to place des beaux arts which is close the the canal du midi. We eventually find it and see the sculptures and paintings from the 14th to 20th century. Stop at a Nicholas wine store and get a Sauternes wine. Stop at a café for a Kronenbourg and a water. Drop off bags at hotel and figure out plan for the next few days (2 days in Carcasonne, 2 days in Narbonne, then I travel back and dad keeps going south). Go by train station to buy tickets, but the line is too long so go and get dinner first. End up on the same street we got dinner last night and go into Brasserie. We break a good rule of thumb, which is if there is no one else eating in a restaurant there may be a reason. I order the paella, dad gets lamb. Both meals arrive quickly because they are just reheated in the microwave. They weren’t bad, but not great. Go back to train station to buy tickets, the line is a bit shorter now. Head back to hotel and watch Liverpool beat Arseneault 4 to 2.

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Canal Du Midi

Another early morning. Get up at 6:45. Head over to train station to find the time the trains run in order to decide whether to bike to Castelnaudary and return by train or the other way around. The train to Castelnaudary leaves at 8:00 and the bike rental opens at 8:00 so the won’t work. So we will bike there and catch the 17:01 train that returns to Toulouse.

Go to rent bike near the tourist office for 2 euros each and start cycling along the canal. In total it should be about 60 km which is paved for the first 45 km and gravel for the remaining 15 km. We make it find through Castanet-Tolosam, Montgiscard, Montesquieu-Lauragais, Gardouch, and Renneville. Just past Port-Lauragais the canal must have split to a stream, which we followed. We didn’t see any sign that indicated where the canal continued, but we must of missed it. Although it was much narrower we thought we were going the right way since the road was now gravel which we expected and we appeared to be in the right spot on the map. In the end when we can to a road, we decided to take the road the last 10 km into Castelnaudary. Arrive in town around 13:00, we had stopped for lunch around 11:30 at Port-Lauragais because dad had only eaten the last little bit of a baguette that we had bought previously for breakfast. We cycle through Castelnaudary stopping at a patisserie for a meringue, but since it is really just sugar it’s a bit too sweet for my taste. We find the part of the canal that we missed and cycle back a bit towards Toulouse while we wait for the train. Then catch the 17:01 train back to Toulouse. We find the train car that takes bicycles without any issue and arrive in Toulouse 40 minutes later.

Dinner is Lebanese tonight, we both get assiette de chawarma for 7 euros.

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1) Basilique St-Sernin, which is a huge church in the shape of a cross if seen from above. We also see the bikes available for use at many different stations. Toulouse has various bike stations around town that can be used in order to get around town.

2) Place du Capitole, and the tourist info centre where we luckily find out that the Cite de L’Espace is closed on Monday’s as we were planning on going there. We also find info on renting bikes from the nearby bike rental shop (1 euro for 1/2 day, 2 euros/day).

Capitole de Toulouse

3) Across Pont Neuf to eat a snack in the green area. I got a tarte citron au meringue in order to test the capabilities of the patisserie. They pass with flying colours. Also see a water tower which now is an art gallery, but it is closed today.

4) Along the Gironde river to Dome de la Grave.

5) Back across the river to Eglise Notre Dame de la Dalbade.

6) See Couvent des Jacobins

Couvent Des Jacobins

Dinner at a local pizza place on rue Taur. We order 2 salades vertes, 2 beers, and share a roquefort pizza.

Later we watch Marseilles vs Lyon on Canal+. Marseilles wins 3-1.

Toulouse is the most multicultural city I’ve seen so far this trip. In almost every city I’ve seen a Chinese restaurant. Here there is Chinese, Japanese, Lebanese, and more. The people are also more diverse, but that is relatively speaking.

We also notice that the street signs are written in two languages. The first being French and the second being Languedoc.

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Wake up at 7:15, it’s still difficult to get up in the morning even though I got 8 hours of sleep. Go to baker shop to get breakfast and lunch then catch the 8:17 train to Bordeaux. Wait two hours, then catch the 10:38 train to Langon. The train was standing room only. Arrive in Langon 20 minutes later. Carry our luggage to the centre of town and find the tourist info centre. We phone various different hotels and end up at the 3 star hotel Claude Darroze for 75 euros/night. Find local internet café and check e-mail. Then go back to train station to get schedule to Toulouse and book the 10:30 train for the next morning. Go by Europcar and see about renting a car for the afternoon. This time the price is lower at 59 euros but the problem is that it’s currently 14:00 and they close at 17:30 and they don’t have an after hours key drop and they are closed the next day. Clearly this won’t work, so we do the only other option remaining to us and walk the 12 kms to Sauternes. We arrive in a small but pretty town. I go to the Maison du Sauternes which sells local wines and makes money by receiving 1% of the wine from each vineyard and mixing it all together to make their own wine. We taste the mix and it is quite good, but I end up buying a bottle of Cru Claviere which is more aged and has more body to it. It is always a bit embarrassing to be buying just 1 bottle of wine when they ask how many cases you would like, but since I only have my 2 pannier bags as luggage, it’s not like I can carry too much. We go back to Langon by a different route passing by some humongous chateaus including Chateau LaFaurie-Peyraguey. In total we did around 24 kms of walking. Go back to the hotel to shower and have dinner at 20:00, I have lasagna with salmon and dad has pork brochette.

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Arrive at car rental at 8:00 and retrieve camera that I had left in the car the previous day. Then off to the boulangerie to pick up a ham and cheese sandwich and a croissant. Then to the bike shop Velo et Oxygen to pick up the rental bicycles. We arrive in St-Emilion 40 minutes later. 1 euro to go up the bell tower for a wonderful view of the town and country side, we are lucky to have such a sunny day. We also take a guided tour of the catacombs and the monolithic church at 11:30 for 6.50 euros. Talk with a young couple from Australia who are on an around the world trip. So far they had done Vancouver, Banff, Alaska, Montreal, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Europe, and are planning to do South Africa, and then home. We forget that the tourist office closes at lunch and we had left our panniers in the tourist office while on the tour. So we have a relaxing lunch at an outdoor café. Leave St-Emilion around 14:00 and cycle to St-Sulpice de Faleyrens, the monolith, Pomerol and then back to Libourne at 17:00. In the evening we go see a soccer game at the local stadium. Libourne versus Lyon, the home tean wins 2-0 although Lyon had an excellent opportunity in the 1st minute of play. We got the cheap seats in the south end of the field behind the goal which were standing room only for 2 euros.

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