Millau, Laguiole, Ste. Eulalie d'Olt

Today was a touring day and we had a lot (pun intended) planned. The first priority was to eat breakfast in the castle, which had too many nice things to mention, so here is a photo


The second priority was to buy some cheap pants that would allow me to actually climb, which we found near Millau. I had read about the new Millau viaduct and heard from our friend Franck that it was stunning, so when I saw where we were staying, I knew we had to have a look. Along the way there was some beautiful light. We pulled over and I frantically got my cameras out. I haven't had my film developed yet, but a few of the digital shots turned out okay

We continued on


to the autoroute entry, and drove across the bridge




paid the 4 euros, and drove across. It's a beautiful and impressive bridge, and one of those things that you really need to see in person to appreciate: the scale of it is just amazing. The piers are more than 300 meters tall, which make it about as tall as most of the climbs I did this summer. It's funny that the same obsession with public works projects that tear up every street in france every summer can also produce something so fantastic.

We continued on past countless pretty villages, where we got stuck in front of sheep again




and we eventually arrived in Laguiole


We weren't in Laguiole by accident; I had read about a laguiole corkscrew in Peter Mayle's condescending but occasionally entertaining Encore Provence. His description made me wonder just how good a bottle opener could be. So I started reading about them, googled them and eventually wandered down to the scary knife store near the Jardin de Ville. The tire bouchon that the lady handed me when I asked for a Laguiole (Lah yole) was shoddily made and actually pretty ugly. Then I started reading more and found out that there are a lot of cheap imitation Laguioles, and many of them (perhaps even most) aren't even made in Laguiole and are machine made. There are a few exceptions, notably the Chateau Laguiole brand and the forge de laguiole brand. When I found a store in Grenoble which sold the Forge corkscrew, I was a little put off by the price, but it was beautifully made, so I decided that it would be a good thing to covet. However, since we were planning on going to the Tarn anyway, and the Tarn isn't so far from Laguiole I held off. In any case, Chloe used her magical route finding skills to take us right to the Forge-de-Laguiole forge and shop in the outskirts of town


and we wandered around the shop for a long time looking at all the different corkscrews and knives that were available. The handles are made from plastic, precieux woods like olive and rosewood and horn.




I hadn't really planned on buying a knife but was won over by the amazing craftsmanship and the fact that many of their knives are hand forged, assembled and finished. So in the end we got an olive wood handled sommelier corkscrew, a rosewood handles knife for me and a pistachio handled knife for chloe. And we applied to get the TVA back. Since it was monday and in between the weekend and another holiday, there weren't very many places open for lunch, so we ended up at a cafeteria like place for crepes and cocas.
From Laguiole, we continued to Ste. Eulalie d'Olt, another of the plus beaux villages de france and we wandered around the streets for a little while to admire the architecture






And the beautiful rock ducks


From here, we had a bit of a long drive back towards the Tarn on winding and headache inducing roads. Finally we made it to Ste. Enimie and had a look around since we didn't have a chance to do so on Saturday.




We continued on past La Malene and the castle to try to scope out climbing sectors for tomorrow, but darkness caught up to us and we weren't able to find very much of anything.

After another luxurious castle bath, we went to dinner. I didn't take any photos of this one, but I had the ravioli with scallops this time, and the perfectly done steak, followed by more cheese and the same dessert as yesterday. It was yet another perfect meal.