Saturday May 18, 2019

The Capitole

Today, we board a train from Albi to Toulouse. It is a little less than an hour ride and we are in Toulouse and at the Hotel by 1100. The hotel is near the train station which will make for an easy departure in two days. Our room is not ready but we are able to leave our packs and get a map of the city. We start out walking to the Victor Hugo Market. There is nothing particularly exciting in there for us so we look for a cheese store that I had read about that is nearby. We find Fromagerie Xavier and try several samples of cheeses from the area and elsewhere. We like one called Tomme de Savoie and decide to buy a slice. Than we ask if they have a nice local cheese which starts the cheese inquisition. Do we want goat, sheep, cow? Sheep. Do we want soft, medium, or hard? Soft. Do we want strong, medium, mild? Medium. I have the perfect cheese, this one or that one? That one. Cheese problem solved, we decide to look for a restaurant on our list that has lunch specials.

Foie Gras

We arrive at Restaurant Lemay a little before noon and the door is open. A girl comes out and says they open at noon, so I ask if we will be able to get a table. She checks and says yes in a few minutes. We wait and then are let in at noon with several other diners. It is a small place and a little off the main drags which is what we like. The menu of the day has a few choices for entree, plat, and dessert at a very good price.

Egg and Smoked Salmon

We get adventurous for the entrees ordering a home made duck foie gras and a dish described as smoked salmon with eggs in cream sauce. It is as described but not as we thought. Just because it is different does not mean it is not good. In fact, they both are good, the foie gras much sweeter than you would think for duck liver and the eggs creamy and tasty especially with the good French bread.

Dining in Lemay

For our plats, we have steak with potatoes and fish in a white dill sauce with rice. They both come with mashed squash with spices that tastes incredible. For dessert, I had two scoops of homemade ice cream which was very good. I did not share and cannot remember what Carol had (it was pineapple cake). Too bad they are closed tomorrow or we would have gone back. Our midday hunger satisfied, we turn towards exploring the town. We walk back through the main square with the Capitole (city hall) I it. We notice an awful lot of police cars, vans, cops in riot gear, automatic weapons in hand which is a little disconcerting to us. Probably a drill, I say as there does not seem to be an urgency about them.

St. Sernin Altar Painting

Carol is not so sure. We end up by the Basilique Saint Sernin. The basilica built mostly from brick with some stone dates from the 11th century and is a stop off along the pilgrimage way of Saint James. The altar has an unusual painted bull scene and a black Madonna. The crypt here is the resting place of Saint Sernin, a bishop and martyr of the third century. I later learn that Saint Sernin’s body was dragged along by a bull which explains the painted scene.

St Thomas Aquinas Tomb

We wander around some more looking for the church of the Jacobins. It is a Dominican Church which in that style has a lack of art. There is however an altar with the tomb and relics of St Thomas the Aquinas in the middle of the Church. It starts to rain so we decide that we have seen enough for today and work our way back to the hotel. Carols plantar is acting up a bit so later, I go to find some bread and wine for our cheese which becomes our evening meal. We did not know what to expect in Toulouse but so far we like it.

Expenses
Train from Albi to Toulouse 10E
Hotel D’Orsay 62.08E
Fromaggerie Xavier Cheese 11.10E
Lunch at Le May 28E
Bottle of Wine 3.90E Cash
Bread 1E
Walked 6 Miles