Albi

We enjoyed our last breakfast at Domaine Caraman and a nice chat over an atlas with Marion and William.  They were curious about where the ranch is located and our lives in general. 

We left by 10 a.m. and got on the peage for the first time of this trip.  We drove to Toulouse and visited the Cathedral St. Sernin, built of red brick and with an octagonal tower.  It's visible for miles.  Toulouse is one of the top four most populous cities in France and has over 100,000 students, so it was busy!  There is a lot of industrial activity, with Airbus manufacturing in Toulouse.

We got back on the peage and drove to Albi!  It is a pristine red brick city with Cathedral St. Cecile towering over the Tarn Valley.  St. Cecile was built in 1256 and was intended to knock people over with every square inch inside the cathedral covered in paint or sculpture.  It is amazing!  Adjacent to Cathedral St. Cecile is the Palais de la Berbie, currently used as the Lautrec Museum.  It is a massive complex sitting adjacent to the Tarn River, with an elaborate manicured garden.  We loved Albi!

Next up was Castres, with their small but beautiful manicured public gardens, designed by the same landscape architect that designed the gardens of Versailles.  Castres had a nice cathedral, a pretty town square, and an over the top theatre.  Castres was for many centuries a center of cloth production.

Our final stop of the day was at our bed and breakfast for the next three nights, Villa de Mazamet.  It is online at www.villademazamet.com and is quite beautiful.  It was built as a private home in 1934, with the current owners purchasing it a few years ago, then spending three years restoring it.  It has beautiful herringbone oak floors, beautiful doors and moldings, and the linens and towels are luxurious.  Another good find and rated as one of the top B and B's in France.