• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Much Ado About Paris

In case you want to know what it's like to escape to Paris these days

  • Home
  • Paris Blog
  • About this Paris Blog
  • Archive
  • Privacy Policy

The Canal du Midi!

May 18, 2013 by Brenda Prowse 7 Comments

 Approaching lock on Canal du Midi trip
Approaching one of the sixty some locks on our Canal du Midi trip

Last week we had the pleasure of joining friends from Poulsbo, Karl and Kelly Hadley, Jim and Sharon Moore and the former Rotary exchange student Flora Midiou and her boyfriend Julien Plubel on a wonderful barge trip on the Canal du Midi in Southern France. Now I better understand the song from Camelot, “It’s May, the lusty month of May!”

Pastel violet masses of wisteria climbed the walls of many of the “ecluse” or lock buildings lining the canal. Bright orange poppies, yellow and periwinkle grinning iris faces, balloon clusters of creamy Queen Anne’s Lace bloomed along the grassy banks. Giant chestnut trees bursting with white chocolate frosted strawberry ice cream cone flowers dominated the walkways of the ancient villages. Pink with lemon tinged roses and cherry red peonies filled garden beds. Carefully ordered vegetable gardens sprouted onioins, cabbages, spinach, radishes.

Since 1996 the Canal du Midi has been classified in the list of World Heritage sites. The canal connects the Garonne river (at the Atlantic side ) to the Mediterranean Sea. Originally built between 1666 to 1681 to facilitate the wheat business, it is the oldest European Canal still in operation.

We began our tour in the village of Argens-Minervois after taking an approximately 4 hour train ride from Paris to Narbonne, spending the night there and the next morning taking another but very short train ride to the village of Lézignan-Corbières then taxiing to Argens. Our trip on the boat lasted a week. Captains Karl and Hugh navigated the waters and the rest of us learned to handle the ropes in the locks, drink much wine, sample the excellent local cheeses, ride bicycles along the canal. In the evenings we walked into the villages, ate delicious local dishes-a favorite of the group was a crepery, La Blé Noir in Carcassone, the walled city. Hugh and I were fortunate to be guided by Jim and Sharon Moore on a night walk through this 5th century village and through the magnificent castle atop. The Castle which reminds me of The magical Disneyland Palace was restored in the mid 1800 ‘s. It is filled with shops and restaurants, even hotels.

We left our boat behind in the town of Negra and took a taxi to Toulouse. In Toulouse our French guides Flora and Julien led us through the city.

We loved spending time with our friends and enjoying the Canal and the countryside of southern France. We did happily discover that after a week on the barge, our 450 sq. ft. Paris apartment seems very much larger!!! We like the shower too!

Here’s a link to a slideshow showing selected scenes from the trip:

 

Filed Under: History, Sight Seeing Tagged With: Canal du Midi

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jan Harrison says

    May 18, 2013 at 2:56 pm

    What a delight. Thank you for continuing to share your adventures.

    Reply
  2. Ardis Morrow says

    May 18, 2013 at 3:42 pm

    This is joyous. Each photo deserves a comment, you should hear us as we exclaim over each one but I’m sure you have done enough
    of that yourselves. I loved the tour. My Flora has matured, she no longer looks the young student but is just a member of the group.
    I am so happy to be along for the ride. Anxious to hear first hand when some of you return to U.S. You are wonderful tour guides, thansks
    so very much for the dialogue and photos.
    Ardis

    Reply
    • Flora says

      May 23, 2013 at 3:28 pm

      Ardis, thank you for your nice post on me ! You are so sweet…Hugs from France

      Reply
  3. Liz Murray says

    May 18, 2013 at 11:57 pm

    I feel I was with you–‘slide’ show was fantastic. What a terrific idea and to do it with good friends. all the better!
    Tomorrow a bunch of the old crew is taking Ardis to Bloedel to celebrate her birthday–a bit late. I hope it warms up–it’s cold today!
    Liz

    Reply
  4. Frank Wilson says

    May 19, 2013 at 1:47 am

    Thank you for including us in your adventures.
    Frank
    Ps great photography….many of these you could frame!

    Reply
  5. Flora says

    May 23, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    Dear Hugh and Brenda,

    both Julien and I had such a great time with you guys. It was nice to see you again after all these years and share some adventures on the Canal and in Toulouse. We hope to see you soon in Paris.

    Flora and Julien

    Reply
    • Hugh Nelson says

      May 27, 2013 at 10:13 pm

      Flora and Julien – haven’t forgotten about you. Brenda and I were so happy to be included in the group. We will get in touch soon to figure out when it would be convenient to get together with you again.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Latest Posts

  • Auvers-sur-Oise and the End of the Road for Vincent Van Gogh
  • Some thoughts from France on Covid Vaccination Progress
  • Technical Difficulties in Paris in 2020
  • Halloween and Terror in Paris – 2020
  • Bloomsday in Paris
  • Bartholdi and his Statue of Liberty
  • “The Third Man” needed help from Peoria
  • Need help with sleep – read Balzac
  • Love in the Time of Coronavirus
  • A Tale of Two Cities – Part 1

Footer

Hugh Nelson and Brenda Prowse

Hugh Nelson and Brenda Prowse on Pont Alexandre III
Hugh Nelson and Brenda Prowse on Pont Alexandre III

Copyright © 2023 · Genesis Sample on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in