An emotional visit to Albi, a place that used to be home

Albi, looking UNESCO-picture-perfect

Albi was my first French home, and for years I carried around a heavy, lump-in-the-throat nostalgia about it.

We lived there for two years in the early 90s; our first daughter was born there; I easily imagined staying there indefinitely.

But professional changes led us to spend a few years in Touraine, and then return to the Midi-Pyrénées area: not to Albi (sniff -- no, sniffed), but to Aveyron -- as you all know.

Rodez is now less than an hour's drive from Albi, but when we arrived, the road was sinuous and slow, and we immediately figured out that with two small children, we weren't going to get back to Albi that often.

I was shocked, though, as I planned a day trip there last weekend with one of our exchange students, to find that I had not been back for exactly (to the day!) 7 years -- not counting, of course, driving past the town on the way to Toulouse.

Tourists come from far and near...and why wouldn't they?

A lot has happened there, even since 2008. The Episcopal City of Albi, including its cathedral, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010, giving it the same worldwide cultural standing as Chartres Cathedral or the Pont du Gard. 

Albi was a tourist attraction even when I lived there, but the swarms of visitors in early May, and the rather alarming number of tourist-trappy-looking restaurants sprung up around the cathedral, attest to a significant boost in the town's popularity.

The St. Salvy/Salvi Cloisters, May 2, 2008

My favorite place in Albi, and one where I could always find a moment of cool calm when I lived there, is The St Salvy Cloisters. 

I'm glad I got this photo 7 years ago, because this time around, the cloisters were overtaken by a boisterous and vociferous group of young (but adult) Spanish tourists using the secluded site to take multiple photos in a variety of oh-so-amusing poses. 

Their raucous photo shoot took over half an hour, so I gave up on any hope of cloister "zénitude," as the French would put it -- athough I did think that was what cloisters were for, even now. Call me old-fashioned.  

Blooms have replaced the dirt in the previous photo, so at least I can reflect from the comfort of my own computer

The day marked a turning point for me. 

Yes, Albi, you are drop-dead gorgeous, certainly, at least at first glance,  the most beautiful medium-sized city in the region. I will definitely be back before 7 more years go by -- although perhaps in February.

And yes, you deserve your UNESCO status, and I might add in passing that the powers that be did a fantastic job fixing you up. You wear your honor well.

But, finally, after many years of "what-ifs," you no longer feel anything like what used to be home.

Looking up 1: taken on the day I met a blogging friend who became a real friend

A quick warning to anyone planning on following my NaBloPoMo foray this month: it's going to be all about photos.

The theme is "looking up." I realize that since I started blogging in December 2005 and, at the same time, taking a number of digital photos, I have become much more aware of things above me, and have taken many photos of them that have never worked their way into this blog. This is my chance to use them.

For some posts, such as today's, I'm going to try to entice you with a little clue that will make you wonder where, when and with whom...or else I will tell the story behind the photo.

It's going to be fun.

Albi, always and forever

The same experience can represent such different things for different people.

During my day in Albi with Loulou, she and I took part in exactly the same activities. We barely left each other's sides, chatting away as you can imagine two expat bloggers, from the same state to boot, would do.

Yet Loulou was experiencing a day of discovery: she had heard a lot about Albi but had never been there.

I, on the other hand, was feeling the sharp pull of nostalgia as I wandered through the beautiful city that had been my first French home.

My first French house...my first French job...my first French friends...my first French (and American!) child:

(A few hours before going into induced labor at the now-defunct Clinique Escudié)

Despite the withering heat that wilted me in late spring and summer, I loved Albi and assumed we would make our lives there. But professional changes for my husband led us to leave all too quickly. I lived in Albi for only two years -- but every time I go back it feels like home.

When we moved to Aveyron after a three-year stint in the Touraine region, one of our thoughts was how wonderful it would be to live "so close" to Albi. And upon arriving in the Rodez area, we contacted old Albigeois friends and spent some Saturdays and Sundays in La Ville Rouge.

But Albi was an hour and a half away from where were living, and is still well over an hour's drive despite road improvements. So we get there once in a while, usually to show visitors around, and we have no more regular contact with anyone in the town.

And Albi has changed, generally for the better. The beautiful covered market, which used to be lovely on the outside, but cold and primitive inside, has gotten a nice facelift...

...and especially a fabulous interior redesign:


There are also any number of new, attractive restaurants crying out to be tested, from this Parisian-style bistro in the basement of the covered market...

...to the Restaurant Stéphane Laurens where Loulou and I enjoyed a delicious and reasonably-priced lunch in a classy setting:

But of course many parts of Albi never change a bit -- and had better not do!

The St. Salvy cloisters, accessible by three tiny passageways in the center of town:

The maze of pedestrian streets where I used to get lost even when I lived there:

And the way I still feel I belong there, despite my adjustment to and love for the airy, varied Aveyron department.

Now my eldest daughter, the one who was about to get out from under that awful pink T-shirt I was wearing in the photo above, is thinking of going to college in Albi.

Now that would give me a real reason to go back often.

Will life come full circle that way? I don't want to unduly influence her, but I know I'm game.

Albi, always and forever...

Train Tripping

I think in another life, one where I couldn't have turned into a blogging geek, I might have become a train geek. A really fun part of my day trip to Albi a week ago was simply taking the train there from Rodez.

The Rodez-Albi-Toulouse line is part of the ter regional network, and some of its trains are pretty spiffy:

But somehow I generally don't get put on those models. I took to the rails last week in this:

Suffice to say I'm glad I didn't spring for the above first class compartment.

I imagine trains like this one have a few technical problems, and before leaving Rodez, I got a glimpse of what must be a sort of train ambulance -- SECO-RAIL!

Actually, my second-class car was pleasant enough, although I suspect the SNCF will be rethinking their color scheme when they get around to replacing this set of older regional trains:

The mustard-yellow seats do get a little hard on the eyes, which is why I like to catch bits of the smaller gares along the way:

This weekend I'm off for another little trip: to the Ariège department to see friends. It will be a family car trip though, so don't worry -- I won't bore you with more railway shots.

Bon weekend de Pentecôte!

(No Longer a) Mystery Meeting

I am sure this mystery will quickly be solved.


But who knows where.....







and whom?

















PS written the next morning: A few faithful readers figured this out quickly, so don't bother guessing!

Yes, I was lucky enough to spend Friday sightseeing, chatting and sharing great food with the delightful Loulou of Chez Loulou.

Function of Time was supposed to be a part of this gathering, and we're sad she was called back to the States by her job. But as the French would say, ce n'est que chose remise...

Loulou has already posted two photos from our outing -- I have so many I don't know where to begin -- and I haven't even finished with blogging about Paris.

Anyway, over the next few weeks, expect some more posts about places other than Aveyron. I have breathed in quite a bit of fresh air lately.

In the meantime, I've been scooped on the details. "Read all about it!"

Albi Afterthought

I think it's time to face up to the facts: my previous post, an Albi guessing game, was just a little too difficult to get much of a response. Does that mean I'm going to give you the answers?

No -- because one of these days some Albigeois or Albigeoise might stumble upon my site and have fun identifying the pictures.

I could write more about Albi, but I promised myself to limit La France Profonde's trip to the Tarn to the month of April. One month of blogging for a two nights' stay! And so many memories...

Thank you again to our hosts for this special weekend, Nathalie and David Bolton of La Peyrecout gîte. They are also the publishers of French-Entrée Tarn & Aveyron, a complete portal site for anyone interested in a move or trip to the Tarn or Aveyron area.

Oh yes, as for the above photo -- Albi's beautiful covered market where I used to do twice-weekly shopping is undergoing a serious facelift. There are a lot of changes going on in Aveyron too, especially in Rodez. I hope to share some of them with you in May.

Albi Treasure Hunt

La France Profonde is continuing its trip through the Tarn department, where I started my life in France. My goal was to finish "the Tarn series" by the end of April, but with an upcoming three-day trip to Tours - where I also used to live -- this project might spill over into May!

Albi is a popular tourist destination, and plenty of visitors pile in throughout the summer to see its imposing cathedral and the recently remodeled Toulouse-Lautrec museum. Maybe you have even visited these sites.

But do you really know Albi? Let's go on a little treasure hunt: four photos, four questions.

1. What hidden treasure of Albi's downtown area can be accessed from here?



2. What Albi landmark can be seen at the end of this street?


3. Where was this photo taken from?


4. Name two albigeois specialties that were sold in this long-famous and now-defunct Albi bakery:

Feel free to comment whether or not you know the answers! All of these photos also represent places that were favorites of mine when I lived in Albi...

Where It All Began

I just got back from a three-day trip through my earliest expat memories.

My husband and I got married in July 1990 at the Mairie in the tiny village of Cestayrols , population 459, located in the Tarn department. A few months later we moved from Lincarque, the even tinier hamlet where we had been renting a gîte, to Albi, where we lived from 1990-1992. My first daughter was born there, in the now defunct Clinique Escudié.

I adored Albi and when we left it for professional reasons in 1992, I thought my heart would break. Place nostalgia overwhelmed me every time I thought about the town's red brick houses, its covered market and its warm atmosphere.

After a three-year stint near Tours, we moved back to the Southwest -- to Aveyron -- and swore we would get back to Albi and the Tarn often.

But of course we don't. There have been the occasional trips to show American visitors la ville rouge, and a few stops on our way to Toulouse. But for the most part, we rarely return to the area we loved so much.

Until this spring break. Our stay in the Tarn was short, but brought back a multitude of memories -- and a lot of blogging material.

I hope you'll be reading La France Profonde in April -- because we'll be taking a trip to the Tarn.