Travelog for: Muki

Muki will start his big journey soon! But before that we are looking for some hosts.
He is very excited and would like to visit as many countries as possible.
The weather is very HOT today, so Muki just relaxing in the cool room and he's dreaming about beautiful places.

... 4 days now since I've been waiting in Mistigree's mailbox... I began to be bored when hopefully today I had a visit in the mailbox : another enveloppe with a ToyVoyager inside has arrived !! It was Luffy !! As he's more agile than me, he did succeed in going out of his enveloppe and helped me to open mine !! Then we tried to escape out of the mailbox, but we were too fat and we stayed stuck in the slit for a while !!

Mistigree finally arrived today and when she opened the mailbox, she was quite surprised to see we were already free !!

As I don't speak French, I was a little worried to make myself understand by Mistigree, but when we arrived in front of her door's flat, after having climbed 3 floors, I saw a noticeboard that was indicating it was Toy Voyager spoken here !! I was so relieved to hear it !!


As soon as I entered the flat, I was encircled by a crowd of curious toys, who wanted to welcome me ! Everybody was talking at the same time  and
I did not know which way to turn !!


Later I learnt that no one of the toys here but Alpina had already traveled (some will, and others won't). Alpina is a stylish cat who comes from Germany, but I won't see her a lot as she's on her departure in a few days... She's got beautiful blue eyes and I'm already sad that she has to left soon...

As it is 10 days now since I've been wearing my yellow tshirt, it was a bit dirty and I decided to wash it. It was so sunny that he got dried in 10 minutes only !


I had a look at Mistigree's CD's, hoping to find a TATU's one, but unfortunately, there wasn't any. According to what I've seen, I guess I will be bound to listen to Placebo, Depeche Mode, the Cure and others rock bands, not so good as TATU...


As we were a bit tired, Luffy and I decided to go to sleep rapidly. Mistigree lent me a Fleur de Lys blanket... She told me it was a foretest of what our day will be tomorrow... We're going to visit Carcassonne, a big fortified town !! I'm so impatient !

As Mistigree told me the day before, we had our first trip outside today !! We went to visit "La cité de Carcassonne" which is 100 kms from here, half way from Toulouse and Narbonne (near the Mediterranean sea).


Just before leaving the motorway to enter in Carcassonne, we stopped to a place where we can have a view on the Cité.


If you look with care, you will be able to notice vineyards around the Cité. Mistigree told me there were some famous vine in this area, called "Vin des Corbières" or "Vin du Minervois".

There were many many tourists in the Cité and I began to get scared of this crowd, so Mistigree put me in his pocket all day long, with just my head outside. That way, I could visit the Cité even though, without being trampled down by anyone !!


At the entrance of the Cité, just before the drawbridge, I saw a statue of a woman. She's called "Dame Carcas" and is part of the following legend :
"By the mid-8th century "Pepin the Short", first Carolingian king of the Franks and father of Charlemagne, had been very busy taking back almost every part of the South of France from the Saracens, except for Carcassonne, because of it's impenatrable fortress. After a very long siege, the Franks hoped that the battered inhabitants of Carcassonne would soon starve and surrender. But Dame Carcas, the Sarrasin's widow, came up with a clever plan. She had a pig fed and fattened with the last sacks of grain the inhabitants could find. When the pig was fat enough, it was thrown over the ramparts. When the Franks saw this heathy animal explode they assumed there was plenty of meat and grain available still and deduced that the siege would not end soon. So, they abandonned their fight and left. Dame Carcas had the bells rung all day long to announce the victory. According to the legend, Dame "Carcas sonne" les cloches (rings the bells), and this is where the name of the City comes from"


We could have go round the Cité in a little train, or in a barouche towed by 2 horses as you can see there, but Mistigree prefered to walk, therefore we were free to stop when we wanted to !


Here is a map of the Cité. In the case I fall out of Mistigree's pocket, we agreed to find each other again here, but I wanted to avoid that because I didn't want to get lost in all the little lanes of the Cité, so I held on tight !!


I was very impressed by all those huge towers and by the ramparts and its crenels all long, but at the end, I was a bit tired... A tower...a rampart.... another tower... and a rampat again... with or without crenels... and a tower again....!!!


At a moment, Mistigree leant out of the ramparts so that I can have a view on the town of Carcassonne which is outside the Cité. It was beautiful but it gave me vertigo !


We also visited the "Basilique Saint-Nazaire" that has many gargoyles on its roof. Mistigree told me that the church "Notre Dame de Paris" also have numerous gargoyles. I wish I could go to Paris one day and see them!!


Inside the Basilic, there was this big bell, I felt so tiny on it !!


I also recognized Joan of Arc who's part of the French history (remember, the hundred years war !)


In the shops of the Cité (because where there are tourists, there are shops !!), you can find some tapestry reproductions. I especially like the one with the lion.


Look at this knight !! Don't you think he's got a strange belly ?


I was delighted with my day in Carcassonne and on the way back to Toulouse, I couldn't stop to imagine how they were leaving here before, how they were dressed, what they were eating... If they had known that one day, me, Muki from Hungary, would have followed their footsteps !!

Unfortunately, this view is not the one from Mistigree's balcony, but a view from a restaurant's terrace in the town centre.
You will easily understand why Toulouse is known as "la ville rose" (the pink town)... look at the roofs and the walls of bricks !!


There seem to be nice churches here, we'll see some of them later, that's what Mistigree told me.


For the moment, we went to visit Place du Capitole. It is the main place of Toulouse. Look at the sign, it is written in French and in Occitan (which is a kind of old local French).


On one side, there are many archways with nice café under them. On the other side, this big monument is the townhall, that is called "Le Capitole".



Here is the courtyard... from the outside and from the window (Thus, I could better look at the architecture !!)


We can not visit all the rooms in the Capitole (I guess some of them are offices), but the ones we can visit are just beautiful. They contain many paintings and statues. A woman surprised to see Mistigree taking a picture of me told her that she had a nice little dog !!! So Mistigree explained her that I was a ToyVoyager !! The woman was amused (and I was proud cause she said I was nice !!)


Here you can see Marianne. She's the symbol of the French Republic and represents Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood.


And here, just behind me, the French flag together with the Occitan one (this one represents the region).


Just behind the townhall, is "Le Donjon du Capitole". This building contains the tourist office, but we didn't enter because I had a local guide with me as Mistigree !!

Today, I saw a strange sign with a dog on it, so I went to see what it was exactly... Mistigree helped me to translate the text. It says : "Médor, 80 kgs of faeces on the pavement in a year"....(Médor is an usual name for a dog). Mistigree explained me it was to incite people to make their dogs use the gutters !! But I didn't feel concerned about this, because, as Kings and Queens and Top Models, ToyVoyagers don't wee-wee or poo-poo !!

Today Mistigree took me to "Toulouse Plage" ("Toulouse Beach" if you prefer)... In fact Toulouse has no sea at all, but as many others towns in France, each summer they organise a place with sand, water games... for those who can not afford holidays, or who want to rest quietly at the sun...


Here is the entrance and the main path (you can see one beach cabin and the sand on the floor !)


The "beach" was just near the Garonne (the river that crosses Toulouse) but it was forbidden to bathe (hum yeah, I must say it must it is not a little river !!... and I guess it is not very clean too !!)


So I just stayed on the sand ! I played a lot, read a comic strip and then spent the rest of the day sunbathing !

Mistigree is going to spend some days at her parent's house, 150 kms from Toulouse, so we took the train today !

Today we went to Pau, a little town, near Mistigree's parents' village.
Here again, I found something to incite people to be more responsible for their dogs... It is a bag dispenser for... er.. you guess what !!!


I visited a park called "parc Beaumont"... Oh it is not Park Retiro !!! It is very small and sober, but quite nice even so !


I heard a frog diving into the water when I approached the nenuphars but I couldn't see her !!


This waterfall was very tempting, but as we were going to visit a castle later, I did not dive, I needed to be presentable !


Look at this bandstand !! Unfortunately there were no orchestra playing !!


And this is the Casino !! It is also a concert room and long long years ago, Mistigree went to see the Communards here !! (do you remember ?? Jimmy Sommerville !)

Then we went to visit the castle of French King Henri IV.
Look, he had a quite nice mini skirt, don't you think ?!


This man is Gaston Phébus. He was a count and is represented with a dog here because (-according to Mistigree, but she's not sure, she's not historian !!-) he was hunting a lot (he even wrote a famous book about hunting) and on old tapestries with hunting scenes on them, he's very often represented riding a horse and accompanied by dogs.


This is the castle. It is quite different from the one I saw in Carcassonne !!! This one is from the Renaissance style.


There is a little garden too, with medicinal plants.


Once back home, Mistigree showed me a book about history and I saw what "château de Versailles" near Paris looked like !! It seems so big and has got beautiful gardens (that's what Mistigree told me because she saw it many years ago)

I took the train again today ! But as I'm too small, I had to stand on tiptoe to be able to see the landscape !



So here I am in Lourdes, our terminus !


Lourdes is situated at the foot of the mountains Pyrénées and the river you can see here is called "Le Gave de Pau".


In 1858, a young sheperdess, Bernadette Soubirous, whose statue with her sheeps you can see here, said she had apparitions of Virgin Mary. Since then Lourdes has become a big pilgrimage city.


Mistigree told me she was totally atheist and thus she did not  believe in God at all, but she wanted me to visit this city even if she's not fond of it -she said-

We are welcomed in the Lourdes sanctuary by an angel. It seems it is St Michel as it is written, and hopefully there was a map of the different areas of the sanctuary as it is quite big.


First I went to see the "Basilique St Pie X" which is an underground basilica.


Its entrance is very strange ! It looks like the entrance of an underground parking !


The inside is strange too. There are only concrete walls and it is so dark !


I prefered to go and see the other basilica that you can see here, just behind the calvary.


Oh ?! Who's that woman dressed in white looking at the basilica ?


It is Virgin Mary of course !! Many people were leaving flowers at the foot of her statue.


Here I am in front of the basilica !


It is called "Basilique du Rosaire" and it has a big golden cross on its esplanade.


The inside of the basilica is full of Virgin Mary paintings as you can see !!!


Many walls are full of messages that catholic people left to her (Virgin Mary) to thank her fot having cured one of their beloved.


At the moment we were in the basilica, a mass was celebrated !! You can see 2 priests over there !! (hum... I think I'm the first ToyVoyager ever who attended a mass !!)


Then, I followed this sign...


And I arrived in front of the grotto where Bernadette Soubirous saw (-she said-) Virgin Mary.


Here, you can buy candles (and also medals with the effigy of previous Pope Jean-Paul II...... there are many merchandising items in Lourdes, and that's what Mistigree don't like very much too !!)


This man is adding more candles as there are many people who come and buy one or more !


Then you can light your candle here. A candle represents a prayer. As there are too much people (and thus too much candles and not enough place for them to burn here), someone regurarly comes, picks up the candles and lights them back in a big room just near where they finishe to burn (Mistigree has never seen that room, she doesn't know if anyone can see it besides)


Then I went to the place where we can drink sacred water... Well... Mistigree is quite septic about that... It is said that this water (that comes from a spring of the grotto where Virgin Mary appeared) could cure illness and make miracles...
Anyway, I drank some of this water and prayed to meet with the group TATU one day !!!!


People can bring water at home if they want. Therefore in all the shops around you can buy plastic cans or even Virgin Mary shaped bottles !!


After the sanctuary, we went to see the castle of Lourdes (it is less famous than the sanctuary of course, but I enjoyed it !)


In the courtyard of the castle there where some miniature houses and I found 2 coming from Spain !!! Maybe it is a sign and means I'm going to visit Park Retiro one day ?


We came back home with the TGV (high speed train), it runs so fast !!!!!

Dear Szandra,
I didn't forget it was your birthday today, but I'm so busy here with Luffy and Rama that I did not have time to cook a birthday cake for you !! Instead of a cake, we ate some ice cream, thinking of you !! Please blow out the candles through the screen and make a wish Szandra !!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!
Your Muki