Julie's Aboard

After mom and Jim left Joan and I had a busy week cleaning, boat repair and a side trip to Lastours to hike into the remains of four hilltop castles. Then it was off by train to Toulouse to meet Joan's sister Julie and bring her back to spend the rest of the trip with us.

After a good night's sleep plus croissants and strong French coffee for breakfast it was off to explore the walled cité of Carcassonne. Julie and Joan posing in front of the keep.

We spent quite a few hours walking the walls of the cité, checking out the basilica and of course checking out the shops - and maybe even sitting down to rest our cobble street weary feet with a glass of wine, while people watching.

Next it was time to provision "Juniper" to get her ready for our journey down the canal du Midi to the Mediterranean Sea then heading up the Rhone a Sete Canal. The best place to do that is an open market. Chance would have it that the day we were leaving was market day in Carcassonne. Joan picking up fresh veggies for the great salads we have almost daily.

"juniper" on the canal. It was a beautiful morning and the first wine cave of the trip was only a mile or so down the canal, so Joan and Julie took off for a morning walk and Michael brought the boat down to the winery, with the girls standing by to help tie the boat up before hiking to a small family estate winery.

The tasting. Both Joan and the wonderful owner of the cave were armed with their English/French and French English dictionaries as Julie and watched and helped participate in much of the pantomime and of course shared in the laughter as we all worked to communicate.

A label you'll never see in the states, or even the next region of France but a nice hearty Rose that we all enjoyed

Looking back as the upper gate of our lock overflows. On this segment of the trip we will be doing 257 kilometers and 41 locks - 40 going down to the Mediterranean and one going up toward the Rhone (our very last lock)

Carcassone

The last couple of days with mom and Jim were spent in Carcassonne - We toured both the old Cité (Began in the Roman era) and the new city (1200's). We took the bus up to the walled old city or la Cité to save our legs for the uneven walking on old cobblestone roads and alleys.

Mom and Michael walking the tilt.

Mom did a great job of walking about 1/2 way around the tilt (area between the inner and outer walls of the old city), as well as exploring a few hours worth of the streets and alleys within the walls.

Basilica Saint Nazaire within the walls of la Cité. A beautiful mixture of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The barrel vaulted Romanesque section built in the 11th century while the more modern Gothic section was built in the 1200s

Many have called mom Saint Jean - although we didn't find this statue in Carcassonne here's a statue of a younger mom, clearly labeled as Saint Jean. This is from a church in La Redorte taken when Joan and I were on our way to Narbonne.

While mom was taking a break Jim, Joan and I went out to see the churches and hunt for gargoyles in the new city. This is one from the cathedral which is undergoing restoration.

After a last night farewell dinner of Cassoulet (a traditional southern France meal) at the family run Chez Fred, and a good night's sleep it was time to put mom and Jim onto the train to Toulouse for their flight home.

The only port that mom occasionally used the gangplank - usually she just climbed over the side, Guess she didn't want a wet backside from sitting on the deck for her return trip.

Mom and Jim giving us the traditional Collins farewell in thanks for a great week of cruising on the Canal du Midi.