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| The Garonne river at Toulouse |
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| Augustine Monastery Galley |
Toulouse, a University city in the
Midi-Pyrenees, is not among the most attractive of cities in Europe
and yet it is still a place to see. Many travellers do not include Toulouse in
their travel plans as some think it has little new to offer travellers. The
galleries, although they carry an above average collection of works, do not
house any particularly famous pieces. Though beautiful and impressive it lacks
anything that is internationally renown, either historically are
architecturally, that would draw travellers from overseas. The main reason
which Rob read, and ultimately choose Toulouse as a travel destination, was its
location along the UNESCO world heritage site 'Canal du Midi’.
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| At the Gallery |
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| Triple play |
Across the street from Toulouse’s main train station
Toulouse-Matabiau, Rob and Beth rented bicycles at Le Velo Sentimental shop.
They were offered the option of renting bikes at the rate of 10€ apiece per
day, or taking up a membership at the shop for 15€ after which bikes would cost
5€ per week. For four days use, the recommended membership proved to be the
sweeter deal. This became more apparent when the rode away for four days with 2
new bikes for only 25€ total! Sweet! The
canal’s southward route was easily accessed from the Velo shop, and on a cool
sunny Friday at noon, it was the starting point from which Rob and Beth headed
out on their ride.
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| Le Capitale |
The canal is a structural feat of human development and
stretches for 240 km south from the Atlantic Ocean passing through Toulouse
heading all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. Along its banks mature linden
trees border an asphalt path the runs along the canal as it follows a silhouetted
path of its mother river, the Garonne.
As in Toulouse, the canal sometimes feeds into the Garonne before
setting back out on a course of its own. At its greatest width Rob could throw
a stone across it, yet the bottom was never visible due to the eutrophic
algae-rich water. At times they cycled past parked riverboats, many of which
were converted industrial boats and are used as vacation get-a-ways or, in some
cases, as permanent residences.
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| Canal du Midi |
At the canal’s start, Rob and Beth cycled out of the city
core passing by apartment buildings that lined the canal and intermittent
makeshift huts housing homeless neighbours on its banks. As they cycled for 15
km in one direction, they passed riverboat marinas, suburbs with sports and
industrial parks, and eventually passed into French rural farmland. Along the
way they were amazed by some of the canal’s engineering. A few times they
realized the path they were cycling on was actually lower than the water in the
canal while at other times they glanced below to see that the trail and the
canal passed over a busy highway on a trough bridge. As they rode in the
countryside they could anticipate the route of the canal by looking to the
towering linden trees which formed a domino line along the canal’s meandering course.
Le Mirage
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| Beth tires all the ride |
After about an hour of cycling Beth called out to Rob,
“Please stop at the next bench.
I’d like to stretch my muscles and walk around a bit.”
Within a few short minutes they pulled off to the side of
the path, sat on the bench that was located just before a slight rise in the
path, and stretched out their sore back muscles. As they chatted, Beth asked as she looked around at farmland
which seemed to stretch on forever, “What is the plan for lunch? I’m getting hungry.”
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| Canal-side Cafe |
“The next time we see a town, we’ll pull off the trail and
find someplace.” Rob replied somewhat hopefully.
They set off again and rode up to the top of the little hill
and looked in surprise at a quaint café set along the canal which seemingly
appeared out of nowhere. Within a
minute they were comfortably settled at a table, sitting in the sun, pondering
over the menu.
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| Help yourself |
“I feel like we have just entered a mirage. This place is beautiful.”
“Move slowly for fear that it might disappear…”
Help yourself
After ordering their lunch Rob and Beth asked the server for
a half bottle of wine.
“Do you know how the wine list works?” he inquired.
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| Crossing a Canal Bridge |
“Yes. I saw
that wines were colour-coded for price… For a half bottle yellow is 6.50€,
green 7.00€, etc…”
“True. Now
follow me to choose the wine.”
Inside the café he waved his hands toward a wine fridge,
“The white wines are in there and the red one here.” he said pointing to a
shelf full of bottles. “Here are a
couple of glasses. Help yourself
to taste the wines.”
“Really?” they asked incredulously.
“Yes. And when you select one take a full bottle outside and
try to drink half.”
Lamb Shanks
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| The Main Courses |
Rob and Beth devoured the escargot they ordered as an
appetizer. The white wine was a
perfect accompaniment and was refreshing as they sat in the warm sun.
The server brought their main plates placing the salmon in
front of Beth and the lamb in front of Rob.
“Bon appetite.
Enjoy the salmon and the lamb shanks.”
“Lamb shanks…” they muttered and were both soon lost in a memory…
In 1997 the Alan Manor restaurant, a three-storey
brownstone heritage home in old Sandwich town, was run by a Turkish family. The
atmosphere of the Manor in the 1990’s was as elegant as the finely prepared
dishes that it served. In those days the restaurant catered to an upscale
clientele and would often draw customers from across the boarder. The son-in-law Alin, a British man of
Indian descent, was a host extraordinaire with a manner that made people feel
welcome. In addition to his warm personality customers appreciated his
extensive knowledge of wine and food.
One evening Rob and Beth brought Rob’s parents to the
Manor for dinner. Bob, a Ford Motor Company blue collar worker who was
boisterous and jovial, would inadvertently draw attention to himself during
public situations such as eating in a fine dining restaurant. On that day Bob,
Rob’s father, ordered the special of that night – lamb shanks. As the evening
wore on, all the people sitting near them understood how much Bob enjoyed the
restaurant and its food because of his animated manner. Rob later quietly thanked the host Alin
for his fine service who graciously waived off Rob’s apology for having such a
loud table.
A couple of months later, Rob phoned the Alan Manor to
make the reservations for his father’s birthday dinner and remarked how much
his father enjoyed the lamb. Alin,
remembering Rob and his father, assured Rob that he was looking forward to
seeing him again.
After arriving at the restaurant, Alin led the four to a
table and handed them each a menu. Bob, who looked morose since lamb shanks
were not on the menu, was interrupted by Alin who took away his menu and
informed him that, “I’ve taken care of you already.”
When dinner was served, to his utmost pleasure, Bob was
once again served lamb shanks. When he finished serving the plates, Alin
excused himself to take orders from the American couple sitting at an adjacent
table who were glancing at the heaping plate of lamb shanks that Bob was now
devouring with gusto. They overheard the woman say “I don’t see lamb on the
menu but that looks very good.
I’ll have the lamb shanks as well.”
“I’m sorry madam, that is not an option. That man is a special customer and we
only prepared the one serving for him.”…
“Is everything OK?” their Toulouse server inquired with
concern, bringing both Beth and Rob, who both sat with reddened eyes back to
the present.
“Oh yes.
Everything is fine.” they said wiping away the tears that trickled down
their cheeks. As the server walked
away they regarded each other only then realizing that they both had been lost
in the same memory and started to laugh awkwardly as they looked around at
other customers.
“It was so good that Alin made him feel special and
appreciated his joie de vive.” they agreed
and continued to reminisce as they finished their meals.
Awkward
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| Boat Camping? |
As they cycled along the Midi Du Canal the path periodically led under overpasses to avoid
traffic. Within the city limits under most of these overpasses homeless people
had set up sleeping quarters that ranged from a telltale pile of bedding to
full mattresses and tents. Because
of the level of sophistication of some of the shelters, Beth and Rob assumed
that they were home to the crowd that seemed to embrace the Bohemian lifestyle
that populated Toulouse, rather than the more destitute homeless. Fortunately most of the shelters were
located on the side the canal opposite of the trail which was logical as
frequent foot traffic would not be possible otherwise.
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| Bohemian Lifestyle or Homeless? |
On one occasion when passing under an overpass they quickly
realized that a young man was stretched out in a sleeping bag almost completely
obstructing the path.
He was lying
down conversing with a women sitting comfortably beside him.
The couple took no notice of either Rob
or Beth as they were forced to stop and awkwardly walk their bikes through the
narrow gap left between the foot of his sleeping bag and the edge of the
canal.
As they struggled up the hill in order to emerge from this
underpass they discovered yet another obstacle. A man and his two mastiffs were blocking the narrow path and
the gate beyond him. As he threw pieces
of raw meat at his dogs, first Rob then Beth attempted to pass by. Rob was more
assertive than Beth as he nudged one of the feeding dogs out of the way as he
rode past. Beth, left on her own
to negotiate the tangle of legs, jaws, and flying meat, was a bit more cautious
as she was worried any act of assertion by her would be considered by the
unleashed dogs as a threat to their food.
As she looked up to see Rob cycling away in the distance she lamented
society’s general loss of chivalry.
