Day Trip to Albi

Monday, Apr. 24, 2017--Toulouse-Albi-Toulouse

I manged to do it, but a day trip to Albi is not something I would recommend anyone try if they do not have a car.  My guidebooks had recommended it telling that there were 18 trains a day that take an hour and that there were buses every 3 hours.  Well that's not true anymore.  There are no scheduled buses anymore.  And the trains do not go to Albi; one has to take a train to a nearby town and switch to a bus for the last 20 minutes or so of getting there.  And the other problem with trying to take a day trip to Albi is that the museums, churches, etc., close from noon to 14:00.  It's hard to get there before it is almost time for things to close!

I took the 9:15 train/bus and arrived in Albi at 10:45.  I rushed to the center of town, took a quick look at the Cathedral Ste-Cecile which looks a lot like a fortress on the outside but has a lot of ornate aspects to its inner decorations.  And it has one of the most fantastic looking organs I have ever seen--from 1734 with 3500 pipes and placed above a fresco of the Last Judgment. 

From there, I went next door to the Palais de la Berbie, the former home of the archbishops before the Pope's Palace was built in Avignon.  It now houses the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum--the largest collection of art (more than 1000 pieces) by this native of Albi.  The man at the ticket counter said it takes 1 hour 15 minutes to see the museum, and it was already 11:00.  But he added that the ticket is good for all day.  What stress that puts on a person, though, especially since the last two daytime bus/train combinations leave Albe at 15:00 and 15:50!!  Anyway, I bought a ticket.  I mostly ignored the palace so I could enjoy and concentrate on the art.  It was a good selection of his works and was displaced nicely.  It began with his earliest works which were not realistic and not as abstract or flamboyant as his later works.  They were grouped so you could see his skill at painting animals of various kinds, trees of various kinds, faces of various kinds, etc.  The exhibits covered the entire history of his works from the local paintings he made of a boy from Albi to his paintings of portraits of wealthy people, to his paintings of prostitutes and women who performed on stages, to his posters to advertise products and entertainment venues.  Fortunately, there were laminated posters in each gallery to read about aspects of selected paintings.  I took my time to read those to try to learn more, and I finished with the last gallery of his works at 11:55 when they were asking people to leave the museum.  That meant, however, that I skipped the 2-3 galleries the museum includes of paintings by other artists.  (Click here to see lots of photos of artworks by Toulouse-Lautrec that includes many that are not in this museum.)

During the 2-hour break, I wandered the streets of Albi seeing the many old buildings.  It is like old Toulouse, except is is a smaller town and has a far higher percentage of half-timbered buildings still standing.  The guidebook had suggested a hike along the river there, so I walked 20 minutes out along a path following a tributary and then turned back taking 20 minutes to return.

Just as everything was reopening at 14:00, I saw the Cloitre St-Salvi, a cloister attached to a church which didn't open at 14:00 as their sign said they would.  It was a nice courtyard with nice beds of multiple types of blooming flowers.  Then I returned by the Palais du Berbie to see its outdoor formal gardens which I had glanced through a window.

It was hot and I was tired.  I decided I would rather take the 15:00 bus/train back to the city than take a chance on the 15:50 which might be crowded as the last one before sometime in the evening.  Still, I wasn't back at my apartment until just before 17:00.  That was a long outing to see so little.
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I finished reading my current book Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson today.  I checked it out on my Kindle only because it won the National Book Award a couple of years ago, and I usually find that award winners are well written.  I didn't even know it wasn't a novel when I started reading it.  As I started the second story and could figure out how it related to the first, I realized it was a collection of stories instead of a novel.  It story was good.  They cover an amazing range of settings and topics.  All seem to revolve around difficulties in life.  I think it is a well written book, and I appreciated each story.  I gave it 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

Note:  The Kindle is so good for my long trips, and checking the books out through the library is so easy no matter where I am and totally free as a member of the San Antonio Public Library.  I used to buy and pack 12-15 books in my luggage for a trip.  It made the luggage so heavy and cost so much.  Now I just check out a new book every time I finish a title and all I carry is my Kindle Paperwhite.  Before leaving San Antonio, I did a search of books that have won prizes or been shortlisted for prizes during the past few years to see which ones were available for checkout, so having that list with me keeps me from having to waste time searching while traveling.  I just go to the next title down on my list and check it out if it is still available.  If not, I keep going down the list until I find one available.  I can always go back up the list at a later time, since those that were available before can still become available again when all copies are no longer already checked out.  (Most people read popular books anyway rather than prize winning and nominated books, so it's not so hard for me to find a book on my list available.)