Delights of Albi

We had a late start this morning as we had decided to take ourselves on a self-guided tour of the old city. On the way over we stopped at a Patisserie that Nastia had recommended. Cedric Millet creates delicious patisserie and Ian and I sampled a couple of his creations with a coffee. Mine was fig and rosemary and Ian’s was apricot and anise. Cedric likes to include different herbs and spices in his creations, and afterwards he asks you to guess which herb or spice he has used. We didn’t guess correctly.

We then wandered over the old bridge and made our way to the old town to just explore the narrow streets and alleys. We discovered the place where Toulouse-Lautrec was born, which is now a restaurant and also the house where the French explorer Laperouse lived. There is a suburb in Sydney named after Laperouse. His ships arrived off Botany Bay in January 1788, shortly after the First Fleet, and stayed there for six weeks. This was their last known sighting on land as the ship was wrecked somewhere in the Solomon Islands and all hands lost after they departed.

After wandering around for a couple of hours admiring the old buildings, we went to the lovely hidden Place du Cloître Saint-Salvy for lunch . Then it was back to the hotel for some relaxing, before we headed out for dinner. If it seems like we are eating and drinking a lot, I can confirm we are. We are trying to walk as much as we can to balance things out!Lue lisää