Monday, October 28, 2013

Southwest France - day two of WCC13

Sept. 17 - - This was a day I was eager for.  After four early presentations at the conference, we boarded the coach and headed off to view and learn about the water feeder system into the St. Ferreol Reservoir at Revel.  The Reservoir was created by a very long (780 m.) cut stone and concrete dam supported by a high (35 m.) earthen dam covered (and protected) by trees.  Those trees by law cannot be cut.
At the entrance to S. Ferreol's building.

A very good, clear guide led us up to the top of the dam.  As we stood by a sluice gate, she delivered a rather long history and detailed explanation of what Riquet built and why the original construction was inadequate.
Next to our guide is the sluice gate, behind her is the dam with its wide walkway, the great reservoir, and in the far distance the Montaigne Noir.
Riquet's accomplishment was so inadequate that Vauban later corrected the situation by making the dam several meters higher.  We saw the sluices, the flood spillway, and, in addition, noted three mountain crests that make up part of the Montaigne Noir.  I hope my photos of them in the mist are adequate.
From the sluice in the prior photo, water flowed down and out here. 
Also at that level were two plaques, one honoring Pierre Paul Riquet, the ingenious tax collector who persuaded the French King, Louis XIV (through his minister, Colbert) that the canal could be constructed.
Why was there a plaque honoring Thomas Jefferson?  How's your French?
A symbol of Franco-American friendship.  In addition to his political roles (Ambassador, President), he traveled through French territories and promoted French patrimony, including architecture, "terroir", culture, played a key role in the French constitution and in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens.  Erected on the 220th anniversary of the French Revolution.
Another sight to see was not created by Riquet but was mid-19th century - - a fountain that shot about 25-30 meters up.  Kind of like a manmade "Old Faithful".
The fountain was surrounded by too many leafy trees!
The site also contains an interesting shop and museum.  One could buy, among other things, a map book of the Canal du Midi similar to mine from 2009.  Of interest to me in the museum were some of the tools used in the 17th century:  a shovel, a basket woven of reeds or vines for carrying away soil (no wheelbarrows then), a rudiemntary and odd-looking early surveyor's tool.  This is all housed in the former residence of VNF personnel.
One wonders if Riquet lived here while the reservoir was being constructed.
Then back on the bus to drive to Castelnaudary for lunch.  As we drove into the large parking lot next to the meeting place, I noticed the store "Pays d'Oc" that sold us some cheese, milk, yogurt in 2009. Unfortunately there are no photos from the Castelnaudary stop.

At long last we set off to locate and explore the so-called summit at Naurouze. This was where it all came together; the various rigoles fed into St. Ferreol, and from thence down to Naurouze's octagonal basin (now an octagonal channel) and into the canal feeder.
This structure was built at the same time as the canal and allows surplus water to flow towards Fresquel, the basin of Naurouze. Gates serve to modulate the quantity of surplus water as well as for the emptying of the basin. Today siphons on the left bank of the epanchoir, automatically regulated the level of the basin to a determined height.
I could finally see the last element of feeder water flowing into the Canal du Midi, and could understand much better the entire system of collecting water from various mountain streams and directing them into the channel for delivery to the canal at its summit level at Naurouze.
Although this sketch from 1697 shows the basin, what now exists is an octagonal channel. Water flows now from a point between the upper Ocean Lock and the lower Mediterranean Lock.
Flowing out of the basin toward the Canal du Midi.
Kind of like a "continental divide" - the summit marked the high point in the canal from where water flowed either to the Atlantic or to the Mediterranean.
The channel on the left is incoming water; the channel on the right is the Canal du Midi, which continues in two directions, east to the Mediterranean and west to the Atlantic.


From this watershed, the water flows through those concrete slopes and flows either left to the Mediterranean Sea or right toward the Atlantic Ocean.
That boat is headed "up" the Canal du Midi toward the Ocean Lock and the city of Toulouse.
This day, combined with the pre-conference visits and the places we went on Sunday and Monday, completed my visit to and experience with the Canal du Midi.
The title translates to:  The Parting of the Waters.  I.e., The Watershed
Back in Toulouse, we had time to rest a bit and change clothes for the Mayor's reception in the city hall (i.e., Le Capitole).  The building is a very large 17th or 18th century structure.  The reception was up a grand flight of stairs, in the "Salle des Illustres" a long high-ceilinged room that reminded me of the very long Hall of Battles at Versailles chateau, with enormous paintings on every wall.
I believe that on the platform are two city councilwomen, the mayor and deputy mayor of Toulouse, a man with important connections to the Canal du Midi, and David Ballinger, who is President of IWI.  Our translator/guide, David Edwards-May, is standing to the left.
The most dramatic of the paintings memorialized the visit to Toulouse by Pope Urban V, where the local count, Raymond de St-Gilles was undertaking the first Crusade to "liberate" Jerusalem from the "Infidels". Many speeches in French by the local officials, all of which were translated by David Edwards-May. The local version of Champagne and hors d'oeuvres were abundant.
Canapes in the great hall, with glasses waiting to be filled.
This fellow used three different bottles for each glass - why?


We four women (me, Kerry, Pat, Barb) dined together in Pizza Pino nearby - of three cafes next to each other, it was the busiest.  And the reason it was the busiest:  good food, not expensive, casual atmosphere, and very prompt service. And it was a delight to get into my bed at a reasonable hour.

Southwest France - day three of WCC13

Sept. 18.  I was not a good delegate today.  I blew off nearly all of the presentations to catch up on this record, with some help from the guidebook that David Edwards-May and Tom Grasso prepared, the Conference program, and my own photos.  We were scheduled to board buses at 16:00 (i.e., 4:00 PM), but because of bad weather at Bonrepos, we were asked to delay.  Not a problem.  I doubt that any of the various sessions and/or presentations began or ended as scheduled.
I called this the back side of the chateau.
In any event we finally set off.  Bonrepos was the chateau belonging to Riquet and the site of his "hydraulic machine" - a kind of experiment to see if his scheme of feeder canals and reservoir would work.  The chateau is looking as if it had fallen on hard times - - and it had.  The village purchased it in 2005 or 2006 and has cleared the grounds and cleared the hydraulic machine.  That "test site" is downhill from the chateau.
Our guide was an Englishman, Dudley, who came to Toulouse four decades ago to work for Airbus. Now retired, he is a great font of knowledge about Riquet and his hydraulic machine.
Dudley, our guide, explaining the glaciere (ice house).
There we saw a drained basin defined by brick walls of about 400 feet long.  The basin was about the size of a neighborhood baseball field.
The railing just behind trees on the left identifies the spot where the basin drains into the much lower sluice.
Along the perimeter, above the brick walls, a pathway ran along the circumference.
My best view of the brick wall that defined the basin's perimeter..
We could see the lower drain where water ran out and down a sluice and out of sight.
That little dark triangle opened into the sluice.
Rather than return via the steps, we walked around the empty basin and began to walk up a slightly muddy, long, slippery slope. It got muddier and slipperyier.
One of us slipped on the mud; getting vertical again was tricky.
Several of us began sliding. I moved from the lower left side to the higher right side, hoping to find better footing. I struggled along with a friend; we kept each other company as we slowly and carefully made it to level ground. That's where the "slippery slope" sign was posted.  Humph.  Wrong place.
"Attention:  danger.  Slippery slope"
The chateau had been opened for us. It is owned by the village of Bonrepos since about 2005; the village has cleared vegetation from the hydraulic machine area and around the chateau. The village has also worked on the interior of the chateau. The building is stable, but could use some cosmetic work and incidental repairs.
This entrance is in good shape; the stucco needs repair; the lintel above the doorway is missing some bricks. But look through the door through the center hall to the opposite side of the chateau.
Its floorplan on the main floor was simple: a wide center hall flanked on each side by two large rooms. Some of the rooms were furnished sparsely; the parquet floors would be quite beautiful if they could be repaired, cleaned and painted.
I was impressed with the condition of the crown molding, the panelling, and those two pilasters.
Other rooms had dresssmaker dummies clad in 18th century clothing from simple to grand.
A lady's morning dress

And things for sale - - if I had realized that the proceeds from any sale went toward the refurbishing, I would have spent many of my euros.

The interior rooms were in pretty good shape.  Parts of the exterior clearly need assistance.
Not just the brick plinth needs repair; many of the shutters are broken and peeling.  But the moat wall appears to be sound - people are sitting on it.
Dinner was to be served in the adjacent brick Orangerie. The village has done an excellent restoration job on the Orangerie.
I found a pre-restoration photograph of the Orangerie.  
After all, it is rented for dinners, wedding receptions, conferences, and so on - a significant source of income for the restoration project.
The Orangerie is behind the two tents (the tents must have housed the caterer's kitchen/pantry.
This building had very large windows on the South side, fewer than I had expected.  We waited outside until the clock struck eight - and it was raining lightly.  Glad we were that it was not also muddy.
We were forced to wait outside the glass folding doors until exactly 20:00 hours (that's 8:00 PM in USA).
This was a lovely meal, with interesting appetizer using odd mushrooms, the main course was filet and potatoes, and the dessert was a kind of mousse.
Several kinds of wine, including the WCC 2013 variety.

My tidy filet with two types of potatoes - it was all good.
During dinner, there were a few speeches.  One caused great hilarity among the French-speakers.  Isabel Hardy, deputy mayor of Toulouse, said that we were there thanks to Pierre Paul Ricard (not Riquet). The hilarity was explained in the translation - - Mr. Ricard was the creator of "Pastis" and not of the canal.
A nice view of my table and the interior of the building.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Southwest France - day one of WCC13

Sept. 16:  Last night Barb and Pat had made their way to the IWI Annual General Meeting at the conference center.  So this morning the mother hens collected their chicks and led us through the complexities of the Metro system and into the Espaces Vanel conference center,
From the 6th floor terrace of the conference center we looked down on the large white statue of Pierre Paul Riquet.
 up to the 6th floor check-in at the conference, where we received a tote full of informational brochures, a gift of local wine, and the conference Id. badge.
Here are Susan, Chris, Bill, and Dan, complete with badges and one wineglass.
Of course, there was a long session of speeches by various officials of the city of Toulouse, of  the Association of communes of the Canal of Two Seas, the Inland Waterways International, French National Waterways, The Region Midi-Pyrenees, and, of course, the Minister of crafts, trade and tourism.  Following these officials, the first session began with a power-point talk by an official of French National Waterways on the plane tree replanting project.  I've written earlier about what we'd seen on our several visits to the Canal, where trees have been removed, or marked for removal. (http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3253909292900505499#editor/target=post;postID=2980389158855619024;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=3;src=postname. A shame that the beautiful, cool, green shady vault will be no more.  The replanting is moving apace, but trees take a while to grow tall and stately.  I think I won't see the like again in my lifetime.

One of our members delivered a paper on Thomas Jefferson's visit to the Canal du Midi during his term as the United States Minister to the Court of King Louis XVI.
Mr. Jefferson ventured to the South of France and report to Pres. Washington on agriculture and commerce, and particularly the Canal du Midi.  The carriage wheels were removed and the carriage was set on a canal boat for his journey of nine days.
Papers were presented in sessions of four or five power points, and each session was broken by coffee breaks or lunch.
The buffet dessert table held these tasty morsels.

Today's ended around 3:30.  We walked from the conference center to a landing stage on the Canal for a boat trip to Saint Sauveur where several waterways companies were exhibiting (e.g., a floating sewage pumpout station, publishers Euromapping and e-canal Ltd, marine boilers, and dredging specialists). Also, many number of canal barges were moored for the rally.
From the center of a bridge, I could see the various boat-rally vessels.
We reboarded the boat and cruised up the canal to Port Sud at Ramonville-St-Agne, for a visit to the large new marina, some aperitifs, and a speech by the local mayor about plans for the marina and its new dry dock.
Was this part of the Ramonville drydock?

Beneath the tent were canapes, aperatifs, and speeches.

Back through the rain to the boat, and continuing on a short distance to Le Mas des Canelles for a very nice but long three-course dinner. Le Mas has a newly finished landing and access path, so despite the rain, we didn't have muddy shoes. 

A large 19th century converted farmhouse.
Half of us in this room, the other group of delegates were in a second room.
Ramonville and Le Mas are both in the countryside outside the suburbs.  It was pleasant to cruise however slowly past trees and shrubs and moored boats.
Scenery is much more immediate when viewed from a slow-moving boat.

The paddlers moved aside to make room for our passage.

Following dinner, we boarded motor coaches for a ride back to Toulouse that was appreciably shorter than the boat cruise. 

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Southwest France - end of tour, start of conference

Sept 15:  After a comfortable nights sleep, I managed suitcase outside the room quite early, with a grand breakfast in a grand dining room - variety of fresh fruit, choice of eggs, pastries, bread, good coffee, and so on.
Part of the breakfast buffet at Hotel de La Cite.
However, friends Kerry and Laura raced into the breakfast room almost at the last minute - the alarm, of course, had betrayed them.  They managed to grab a few items and we all flew down the cobblestones past closed-up shops, trash trucks, through Narbonne gates, and met the coach at the appointed time.
I would love to read a cogent explanation of that large carved head.
This was the day of the great bike ride along a feeder canal from the Alzeau in the mountains.
Perhaps we should have taken the other road?
It required driving up the Montaigne Noire quite a distance. The road got narrower and narrower. Finally, Andre said he couldn't continue.  So the bikers exited the motor coach and walked the last kilometer to meet the bikes.  The bus riders included Susan, Peter, and me.  I'd traded with Fidel my place on a bike for a place on the bus. So I had a new adventure, riding a large coach that reversed quite a long way down a one-lane tiny road, the bus following David who was running ahead.
Hanging on to his hat and catching his breath, David makes sure the bus stays on the pavement, I think
We came to a place where Andre could turn us around, very carefully. After to-ing and fro-ing several time, an observer in a small van inquired "Vous etes perdu, non?" No, not lost; just trying to reverse off the little road.
Two kibitzers decided to be helpful and get us turned around.  We were grateful.
This observer and one other helped with words and gestures and Andre got it right. Another adventure. 

That took quite a bit of time and left no time to visit the Cammazes feeder.  We drove to the hamlet of another feeder canal, Lampy-Vieux, where the Lampy feeder canal was in a concreted channel.
This is the feeder ("rigole") that came down from the Alzeau.

The sluice, which having thought about it, does make some sense.
There was a junction here, with a small control sluice.  I could not make much sense of it.  However, it was quiet, with cool, huge evergreen trees nearby,
I bet this was a six-person tree - six people holding hands could just about encircle one of these.
and the road crossed near a ravine where I saw a fisherman headed.
The combined feeders are flowing in the little channel.  
Word of the bikers came down to us that one of them had crashed her bike on a steep slope and was injured.  Turned out it was my friend, who had smashed her hand and her knee.  David rode back to tell her to return to a road crossing where we'd pick her up.  He then returned to us, holding her bike in his left hand and steering his own with his right.  Nice trick.
David returning with the injured woman's bicycle.
By the time the coach got to the crossing, she was in control and being brave, although in pain.  Fortunately, no broken bones or sprains.

For me this was a quiet respite from riding the coach, being with lots of others, and viewing yet another waterway structure - sure, that's why I was there, but sometimes one wants a bit of a break.

We headed toward Toulouse, stopping at a large new basin/motorway service area at Port Lauragais. This was our lunch spot, chosen because it's very close to the Naurouze summit level, where we would visit another day.

Although I ordered a duck leg with vegetables, potato, and beans,
A pretty good lunch, especially the vegetables.
some of us dined on cassoulet, served in a quite large casserole dish - this was better, more moist than what we'd had in Carcassonne.
Bill, serving himself and Chris.
There was a lovely looking shop next to the dining room, but of course was closed for lunch and we had no time for such frivolity.

On toward Toulouse again, specifically Port de l'Embouchure where we boarded a touring boat.  This place marked the junction of the Canals de Garonne, du Midi, and de Brienne. The joining of the Garonne and Midi is commemorated with a large white marble sculpture at the Ponts Jumeaux ("twin bridges").
In this, Languedoc (the central figure) orders the Canal du Midi (right side) to join with the Garonne River (left).
We had two excellent Toulouse city guides who narrated the waterways and sights we passed.  We began on the Canal de Brienne, a short waterway connecting the other canals with the Garonne River at St. Pierre Lock.  Near by is a weir now called the Bazacle weir, on the site of a Roman ford.
If I could find the right notes, I'd describe these bridges. Perhaps an edit later on will clear this up.
We left the boat downstream at the S-Michel Lock and began an interesting walking tour of Toulouse, passing an "hotel particuliere" (i.e., private mansion) built in Renaissance time, now called Hotel d'Assegat. My favorite on this walk was the Jacobins Church, named for the Order of Preachers (or Jacobins), founded by St. Dominic.
The church was what I call early Gothic - there are buttresses, but not the elaborate structures seen in the North.
It's a stark gothic structure, remarkable on the interior for the Palm Vaulting in the ceiling, and for the relics of St. Thomas Acquinas. 
We also visited the Place du Capitole (where we would meet for the Mayor's reception a few evenings later), and the St-Etienne cathedral, which was built in a mix of styles over 4 or 5 centuries.
St-Etienne is considered ugly to some; I think its jumble of styles is intriguing. If ever I'm back in Toulouse, I must visit the interior.
We continued walking toward Port Saint Sauveur where the City of  Toulouse had a "fete" on the Canal du Midi. On the way an ambulance came zooming up - as if to smash me to bits.  One of my friends commented that she'd not known I could move so fast.

At the end of the day, in the twilight hours, we were dropped off with luggage on a wide boulevard a few blocks from our two hotels on Rue Rivals.  During the four-day conference I roomed with Kerry at the Hotel Capitole; many of our colleagues were here as well.  Neither Kerry nor I was very eager that night to hike the many blocks to the site of the Annual General Meeting of Inland Waterways International, so we skipped and had a quiet dinner nearby.  But, with few pedestrians or cars, and with shop lights off, the locale looked different.  We wandered a bit until we found the right street.  Set clocks for a suitable hour, and off to sleep.