Sun-Ling and John have been traveling the earth since 2008 while blogging, eating vegetarian and vegan, and riding public transportation. We love uphill day hikes, 20th-century architecture, Roman ruins, all bodies of water, local markets, shopping for groceries, aqueducts, miradors, trip planning, blablacar, and more.
Although there were a few memorable moments on our flights from RDU to ATL to Shanghai PVG, this leg of our trip is thankfilly marked down as "uneventful". Very good Delta flight crew. Movies watched from ATL to PVG: RBG, Crazy Rich Asians, Three Identical Strangers, The Most Unknown, The Great Buddha+.
We are in Shanghai for Sun-Ling's family reunion; the main event is her Grandmother's 100th Birthday celebration. We spent our first night at Grandmother's apartment (see pic below). Looking forward to the big shindig in few days. Stay tuned.
The view from Terminal E during our layover at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.
The end of November 2018 finds us furiously planning a trip to Asia. On Dec 26 we fly to Shanghai for a family reunion. All of Sun-Ling's immediate family will be there. Should be loads of fun.
Before returning to the USA on May 8, we plan to visit Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. Will post a tentative itinerary - comments please - soon.
Just a short post to end the trip by saying we are back home in Raleigh. The pic below is the view out the window as we took off from Lisbon on our way to JFK. At the time we did not know that one of our checked-in bags was NOT on the plane. After Languishing in Lisbon for 4 days, it was found and reunited with us. Yay! Thanks very much for reading and commenting and emailing! See you on our next trip! -john and sun-ling
Home of Airbus, Toulouse, is also a university town. Unlike everywhere else we visited in France on this trip, Toulouse is at its best self. In fact, they must be doing really well, because they have a thing going on with Occitanie, not unlike the Basques or Catalans.
At the end of our travels, a little worn out, we took it easy and took our time walking around the historical center. On our wedding anniversary, May 18, International Museum Day, there was nothing going on. Instead, the first Saturday evening after May 18, it is EU's Museum Night. All the public museums were having open houses and special events, some until 1am. The event was very popular. It was really good to see people of all ages going about town late at night and standing in line.
Our 5th floor apartment in Toulouse overlooked the National Theater which naturally was built with local brick.
The Garonne River runs through Toulouse. Here you see the New Bridge (16th century) and the spires of Église Notre-Dame la Dalbade.
Looking across the Garonne to the old hydroelectric plant, still in use and also a museum.
Place du Capitole is the main square and heart of the city. Our apartment was a 5 minute walk to the east.
The Town Hall has some beautiful murals by local artist Henri Martin.
The hallways of our apartment were strangely dark. Hmmmm.
The left transept of Cathedral of Saint-Etienne was enlarged to be a huge ornate choir giving the building interior an unbalanced look.
Toulouse has loads of green space. This is one of the wide boulevards leading to the Grand Rond (below) and Jaridin des Plantes.
We celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary tucking into the buffet at Le Faim Harricot Vert (The Hungry Bean) Vegetarian Restaurant.
Like Montpellier, Toulouse had tons of bicycle delivery. Here some Uber Eats guys have a chat.
There are at least two Art Deco Post Offices in Toulouse. Brick of course.
Fav Art Deco facade.
Art Deco Library - La Bibliothèque d'Étude et du Patrimoine.
The Basilica of Saint-Sernin. Said to be the largest Romanesque church in Europe.
The spires of Notre-Dame du Taur show Toulousian brick work at its finest. We later attended an organ concert there.
The interior of the deconsecrated Church of the Jacobins was beautiful with its line of slender central pillars.
Evening street scenes.
The church Notre-Dame de la Daurade, built on the site of a pagan temple, was very atmospheric with its Black Madonna.
Random cyclists on bridges.
Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques, once the largest hospital in Toulouse.
The evening of May 19th was free museum night; most of the public museums were open and free from 7pm to 1pm with special programs. We first headed to the very impressive Musée des Augustins (formerly a convent).
The story of Salome and John the Baptist.
Here's some video of the Romanesque column capitals.
Then to the City Museum where there was a group singing in the Occitan dialect.
Then through the darkening but busy streets to Musée Saint-Raymond, the Archaeology Museum.
On our final full day we walked along the Garonne River to the old power plant. Then followed the Canal de Brienne to the Port de l'Embouchure, where the Canal du Midi starts towards the Mediterranean Sea and the Canal to Garonne heads towards the Atlantic Ocean. Cool! Here you can see the fish ladder at the power plant (The Bazacle).
The brick power plant.
After 1.25 kms of shady greenness on the Canal de Brienne foot path, we arrived at the Port de l'Embouchure, the basin where the Canal du Midi and Canal de Garrone start.
This is the start of the Canal du Midi at its western end.
We walked the CdM for a few kilometers, generating the spark of an idea to return and bike the canal path ourselves, before heading to the city center.
On our final night we headed out to the Garonne riverbank to watch the sunset and the lights come on.
