Travelog for: Taro

Today, I have visited Toulouse, the "Pink Town" .. I let you see the reason why it is called this way : look at the colour of the walls

This is Place du Capitole (the main place where seats the townhall called Le Capitole)

The name Capitole referred not only to the Roman Capitol but also to the capitulum which was the chapter of the governing magistrates in 1190
Its façade is 135 metres long and built in Neoclassical style (dates from 1750). The eight columns represent the original eight capitouls.
Today the Capitole houses the city hall, as well as an opera company and symphony orchestra.

The Salle des Illustres contains 19th century artworks.

By the window, you can see the Donjon or Tour des Archives (XVI century)


And now, Toulouse viewed from the sky (well ... almost!)
You can see in the middle the bell tower of the Donjon  (typical of the style of northern France, built in 1873)

There are many churches as you can see
and this red rose colour

Then I went to the Saint Sernin Basilica

It was built during the Romanesque Period between AD 1080 and 1120. It is located on the site of a previous, 4th century basilica which contained the body of Saint Saturnin or Sernin.

Saint Sernin was the first bishop of Toulouse in AD 250 and martyred by pagan priests, who tied him by his feet to a bull which dragged him about the town until the rope broke !!!!

Hello friends!

Here I am back from my atlantic escapade in Vieux Boucau (a small seaside resort in the department called Les Landes.

It's near Capbreton or Hossegor, known for their surf competitions)


Here I am in front of the sea


I really enjoyed this place because of the large natural spaces in the ocean dunes 


I haven't seen a real aurora yet, but I stayed on the top of the dune to see the sunset

it was so nice !!!


Then Mood had a surprise for me: a firework to end that very first day on the Atlantic ocean

The traditional 15th august french firework (for the Assomption day)

The next day, I went to visit the village..  You can see behind me a typical "landaise" house made with wood and bricks in "feuille de fougère" 


Mood told me about local history, and in fact Vieux-Boucau means "old estuary" in the dialect of the region - and Port d'Albret, which is part of the small city, should have been one of the the most important harbours of France, because in the Middle Ages it was on the estuary of the river Adour. But the river was diverted in Bayonne in 1578, and treasures of the city disappeared with the river.

Behind me you is the big salt lagoon. Salt water is filled every day by a system of floodgates when tides go up and go down.


Local attractions are nautic sports of course, but also novillada as you can see on this poster


and Pétanque. It's a form of boules where the goal is to throw metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (jack).

Here I am playing with Pussy Galore (my new friend coming from England)

And now Yumi, I have to recognize that during my stay with Mood, I pobably have put on weight ... because I have tasted many local food :

1/ Farmhouse loaf and garlic sausage (pain de campagne et saucisson)


2/ French fries (frites)


3/ Duck confit with his french fried potatoes (confit de canard et pommes de terres sautées)

This is a specialty of Gascony, made with duck legs. The classic recipe is to fry or grill the legs in a bit of the fat till they are well-browned and crisp, and use more of the fat to roast some potatoes and garlic as an accompinament. Not really dietetic, but very tasty!!!

4/ Ratatouille (a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish)

The word Ratatouille comes from "touiller," which means to toss food.It was, originally, a poor farmers dish, prepared in the summer with fresh summer vegetables. It contains eggplants, zucchini (courgettes), tomatores, green and red peppers, onion, and garlic. delicious!!!!!

Well, my receipts note book is becoming too short! I hope my travel box will not have shrunk during my french holidays!!!!

Unfortunately, the weather changed and we even had a storm


It became really cold so we couldn't have a bath (there was the red flag which means forbidden swim). So we went away... But before leaving, I wanted to see the beach for my last time here.

So here I am now in the Hautes Pyrénées and it's still cold !!!!!!!!!!!!!! It even snowed in the Pic du Midi where Mood wanted to take me..
We are waiting for a lull, but it seems my journey will end here without seing the Pyrenees mountains ... because, my journey goes on in Malaysia!
Yet Aliah invited me for the Teddy Bear party that should take place on the 9th September, so I began to pack up my bags...

Well, at last, a sunny spell today! We went to visit the surroundings, and began with Lourdes: a tiny village of the Pyrénées who became one of the most visited of France ever since the Virgin Mary appeared to a young shepherdess Bernadette Soubirou in 1858... and then it became a big pilgrimage place for catholics people ... here is a picture of Bernadette's statue

Have you seen the two small sheeps in front of her (in the middle) I thought they were toyvoyagers, but alas, they didn't answer me ....On the left, you can see the castle (XI century)

And a picture of the big esplanade, with the church in the backgrounds (pope Jean-Paul II came here in 2004)


the dome above me:



and the XI century castle:



There are a lot of commercial shops, I don't really like this town ... so Mood took me to see other nicest mountains villages

So here I am in a beautiful small mountain village called Aucun in the Val d'Azun (a small valley based in the National Pyrenean Parc)


Have you seen behind me : the typical barns


Then we went to Arrens, another village. Here I am in front of the church


and in front of the Maison du Parc National with my new friend the brown bear

Yet, brown bears always lived in the Pyrénées, but they almost disappeared because of human activities.. only 6 bears remains ... That's why the french government decided to try to reintroduce slovenian bears in the Pyrénées ... But, it became a set of problems because of the shepherds who are afraid for their flocks ... Living together is quite difficult (see the graffiti on this board : Non aux ours!)


There was an exhibition about Pyrenean fauna :

such as isards, vautours, gypaètes ... (have you seen this big one above my head???)
and about pastoralism

Then we went to the Lac d'Estaing


in the national parc where fauna is protected (look at this bear footsteps) (unfortunatelly, we haven't met any)


as well as flora (like this thistle)


or this Edelweiss


I didn't pick it up to you Yumi because it's strictly forbidden but, here is the picture!!

We're at National Monument which was built to pay tribute to valiant Malaysian soldiers who gave their lives defending the country during Communist Insurgensy in the 1950s. It is one of the largest freestanding sculptures in the world.

We're at one of the sculptures at the ASEAN Sculpture Garden.

We're at Tun Abdul Razak Memorial, Malaysia's second Prime Minister. The memorial used to be his residence & now it exhibits documents, mementos, souvenirs & his personal belongings.

We're at Rumah Penghulu Abu Seman, a fine example of a traditional Malay house. We love the beautiful carvings of the house as well as its beautiful grounds.

I'm at the Teddy Bear party with many other bears from ToyVoyagers and around the neighbourhood.  It's great to meet with new friends.