Published by pedmar10
I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world.
My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting.
Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers
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The Canal du Midi is a dandy a must to visit anywhere along its course. I have followed it by car elsewhere, and stops in some towns but the most for us is of course Toulouse! You go along the Garonne river to the quays and wharfs renovated in the 18C such as quai Henri-Martin and quai de Tounis built in brick to hold on the flooding and allowing to walk the banks of the river to discovered the old bridges such as the Pont Neuf, the oldest in Toulouse with 220 meters long and the Pont Saint Pierre a metallic bridge done in 1987. It connects the place Saint-Pierre with the hospice of the Grave. The first Pont Saint-Pierre was built between 1849 and 1852. It was a wooden bridge, toll, where pedestrians and carriages passed. It rested on two stacks of stone and brick, and was reinforced by wire ropes.
What is good in this area,by the banks of the canal, is that you can bicycle in the shade of plane trees. A real luxury! One can also dream of a longer, more distant and slower ride along the many barges moored there, whether they are home to commercial activities or that families have made their home there. You can of course leave Toulouse, the channel passes over the locks; but where stop? In Ramonville, for a break at the Bikini, Castelnaudary to see if the cassoulet is really different? in Carcassonne? or Sète on the Mediterranean, 241 km from Toulouse.
The Canal du Midi is a navigation channel with a dividing line that connects Toulouse to the Mediterranean Sea since the 17C. First called “Royal Canal of Languedoc”, the French revolutionaries renamed it in 1789 “Canal du Midi”. From the 19C, the side channel to the Garonne, which doubles the Garonne of Bordeaux in Toulouse, extends the Canal du Midi to provide a waterway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea: the two channels are called Canal des Deux-Mers or canal of the two seas.
A brief bit of history I like tell us that a bit down the Garonne river you will see the Bazacle, where the first inhabitants of Toulouse were installed and today it is a dam to keep the water level of the Garonne in balance during the Summers It is at the level of the current port de l’Embouchure that the first stone of the lock of Garonne (disappeared) is posed in 1667. It marks the beginning of the construction of the Canal du Midi and the realization of the first section between Toulouse and Castelnaudary. The Canal then extends to Sète and the pond of Thau. It is finished and “put in water” in 1681. In the 18C, to avoid boats the dangerous passage of the pavement of the Bazacle mill, the Brienne canal is dug and joins the Canal du Midi at its mouth. Two twin bridges mark access to the waterways. This important linear element includes patrimonial elements, often unknown, distributed along the water. They illustrate many aspects of the Canal’s history: locks and lock houses, bridges and footbridges, historic ports and old buildings linked to Canal operations. To this set are added exceptional places to discover like the Ponts-Jumeaux bas-relief, the Saint-Pierre lock, the Canal Archives or the dry dock.
The official Canal du Midi : https://www.canal-du-midi.com/en
A travel guide on the Canal du Midi : https://www.plan-canal-du-midi.com/
There you go folks, a nice historical site of my belle France and a wonderful place to walk by it in the great city of pink and just a wonderful time always. It is worth the detour, me think on a visit while in Toulouse ! Again, hope you enjoy this post on the Canal du Midi in Toulouse, part II !!! as I
And remember , happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!! 
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
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