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Showing posts from October, 2017

LE BIBENT, TOULOUSE: RESTAURANT REVIEW

How much is too much? We enjoy our visits to Toulouse. The airport is well connected to local and international destinations making it a frequent port of entry for family and friends coming to visit us in the south of France. When folks have an early flight out, it makes sense to spend the previous night or two in town, sight-seeing and shopping in the center of the pedestrian-friendly Pink City - named for the distinctive color of the stone that has been used to construct many of its buildings. On a recent visit, we stayed in an Airbnb in the very center of town just a couple of blocks from the  spacious Place du Capitole overlooked by City Hall. So it made sense that, when we asked our host for a good place for dinner in the neighborhood, he recommended Le Bibent . A fine French brasserie, he said. He even offered to make the reservation. We accepted. After we unpacked, freshened up, and managed to input the insanely long WiFi key into our tablets/phones, we checked out Le B

CROIX DE JUILLET WALK AROUND QUARANTE REDUX: NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN

There's a new sheriff in town! His name is Bill. And he's from Texas! Walk Meister Roger has motored off into the sunset. But fear not. The walkers of Quarante have a new Meister. Bill has made certain that we don't skip a beat. How about doing the Croix de Juillet again? So off we went. The route was slightly different, a bit easier and a bit shorter, but still clocking in at close to five miles. I only took pictures that show the difference. You can see our full previous Croix de Juillet walk HERE . New Sub Meister? Start at the co-op as usual. But this time take the paved road all the way to the top. Walking trails are marked in blue. Autocross grounds. More red dirt. Co-op falls behind quickly when the way is paved. But along the vines as ever. Fancy that! A road sign to point the way. And there it is. And there we are. Still color in the vines. A bit hazy. A bit of rain, not too heavy, and the color

COUMIAC, CESSENON SUR ORB: 8.3KM WALK WITH PICS

How did exercise become so popular? It seems that more and more folks in Quarante have heard of our little walking group and want to participate. So when Walk Meister Roger announced the latest in the series, nine people signed up. Since a tenth would bike from Quarante to meet the group as the walk finished, joining us in Cessenon sur Orb for coffee (or beer for 7 of the 10 of us, as it turned out), we had to decide whether just two or maybe three cars were in order. Transportation arrangements settled, we left for Cessenon on a brisk October morning. The weather and the walking warmed us quickly, though, as one by one jackets and fleece and long-sleeved shirts were shed. Check out the BLUE sky. By the end, the beers (and the coffee) in the little bar/cafe in the center of Cessenon were most welcome. Between the beverages and the pain au chocolat picked up from the bakery across the street, we'd squandered any weight-loss benefits that the walk may have provided. But the sun a

AL CATALA, CERET: RESTAURANT REVIEW

Ceret is the cherry capital of France. When the first cherries of the season are harvested, a box is taken to Elysee Palace and presented to whoever is in charge of receiving such things now that there is no king and DeGaulle is dead. OK. That's out of the way. Ceret's town center stretches for a pleasant few blocks with shops and cafes and a couple of fine butchers/charcutiers. The Museum of Modern Art (Not NYC's MOMA but a MOMA nonetheless) has been featuring their Dali collection this season - extensive and quite interesting but over now. I'll post a few pics in the days ahead. So we easily passed a full day, including lunch. There were several choices, from snack bars to bar/restaurants to a salon de the and more. We walked a bit off the main drag to Al Catala. When in Catalan, eat Catalan. We were seated in a well-hidden but surprisingly spacious back courtyard with comfy seats and plenty of shade on a day that the sun finally peeked out. The service was ple