Travel letter
A summer greeting from Toulouse
We came back to Toulouse on the 26th of March 2010, after four wonderful months in Denmark.We celebrated Christmas and New Year in Madeira, the last week together with our good friends Mona and Frits. A beautiful island, despite of rain in 10 of the 14 days. But we had a good time and saw a lot of the island.
All the houses in our “andelsboligforening” need new roofs, so our two attics should be emptied. It took some time to review all the boxes and throw out a lot. We rented another room for the rest of things. A slightly larger apartment may eventually be the right solution.
We left Copenhagen late March, just before the “roof work” began.
Like last year, Mike; “Bon Adventure” had birthday. Many of us who stayed last winter in Carcassonne participated in the “birthday party”; it was nice to see everybody before we all spilt up in many new places.
Together with our English boat-friends and our Dutch boat-friend we went to visit the assembly hall for the Airbus 380, wow. Impressive. The so-called Japanese version can take 853 passengers.
From Denmark we had two new boxes for the stern deck. Furthermore, we brought a new hot water boiler. We thought we could replace it by ourselves; but luckily Chris from LIZA took over. He did a fantastic job for us. Thank you Chris.On the third day we could enjoy the outcome, but also with a wounded captain. Rudy would check something outside of the boat and went from the bridge out on the narrow pontoon - he thought.
The narrow pontoon is conneted to the bridge with a metal triangle with a hole in the middle. He thought that he set off on pontoon, but one leg went straight through the metal triangle and his other knee was bented over its capacity. Color and swelling was indescribable. From dark purple to black and thigh looked like the one of "a big fat negro woman". The captain is much better now, but still wearing a knee bandage and take the stairs carefully.
Our Dutch boat-friend Bertis - DALEX, went ill in April. Was in the hospital for four days where we inherited his lovely dog of a "livewire" - Snoopy named after our boat. Rudy fetched Bertus at the hospital; he was on the boat for three days. Then back to the hospital and we took care of Snoopy, until his youngest son and wife came and took over. Bertis died in early May. It is so sad to see his boat without his happy face and the little "livewire."
Our plan was to go to Baïse and Lot rivers. Weather in April was brilliant until the end of the month. Then the temperature dropped and it rained heavily for days. As I said it was freezing cold, on with warm jackets again, hat and gloves - not to mention the electric heaters were running day and night.
Our friends Anette and Jørgen came and stayed on board NUSER-II for 5 days in the beginning of May. But because of bad weather, we decided not to boat. So instead we drove to Carcassonne and had some sightseeing in Toulouse. They were lucky they saw the sun most of their stay.
Then, days with rain again it closed the Lot River to mid-May because of too much water in the Garonne and Lot rivers.
So we changed our plans and "dropped" to go to Baïse and Lot rivers. Instead we have been on a five-day trip by car. A few days in Bordeaux, France's fifth largest city. Nice town with old buildings like the Palais de la Bourse (Stock Exchange), Grand Theatre and especially the new waterfront, where there are exclusive shops in old warehouses. Many playgrounds for children in green areas, "roller skate" area, a large area of water where you can cool your feet. The weather was beautiful so there were many children and young people there.
Then we drove along the Dordogne River. We passed through La Roque-Gageac, a small village partly built into the rocks and down to the Dordogne River. Indescribably beautiful. Then we came to Rocamadour, located on a rocky outcrop. It has been one of the famous centers of pilgrimage routes. Medieval houses, chapels, towers and fortifications seem as though they have grown out of rock. There are many stairs up to the chapels etc.
The final destination was Bouziès, a small village, approx. 25 km. east of Cahors. The hotel was directly on the Lot River and we took a boat trip with a tour boat. Absolutely beautiful area. Locks are manually operated. Lot is divided into two pieces navigable river. In this upper part of Lot there are white slopes that rise steeply up. The lower part of the Lot is also beautiful but very different; here the river is wide with green areas on the sides and many small charming villages.
Along the entire route we saw many small Châteaux scattered around the countryside. Today, many of them have become wineries.
Saturday 5th of June to the 9th of June we take a trip to Madrid with EasyJet (Cheap tickets). We are looking forward to revisit the city, Prado Museum, the huge flea market and the wide boulevards, etc. We were there with Snoopy-I (Our VW-camper) in 1970.
In between we enjoy Toulouse. Strolling along the Garonne, the wonderful markets, parks, gardens. Near the harbor there is an excellent natural history museum where there are peacocks in the garden. Wonderful to see when they pose.
Our "Kids" - Helén and Uffe – will be together with us from 20th of June to 27th of June, it will be really nice. After a few days in Toulouse, we go towards the Mediterranean.
On 9th of August we will have Snoopy-II up in Agde (Allemand) to be checked and have some antifouling etc. Agde is the last town on the Canal du Midi.
Before that Mona and Frits are coming to Narbonne and boat with for 10 days.
It's just nice with the "kids" and friends on board.
We wish you a wonderful summer 2010Jytte og Rudy
the 31st of May 2010