Show A li vista along the midi canal by the tha national Bo So cloty claty washington D C Q CROSS southern franco france where A ACROSS floo floods ds recently devastated a largo large area lie the lateral end and midi canals connecting the A atlantic t and tho the mediterranean A unique sightseeing trip through this ahls delightful country can bo be made along these waterways in a canoe the start Is made at bordeaux with its almost six miles of will alfage it Is among the few big ports porta which have troubled to beautify their water fronts its brond broad quay paralleling thoroughfare with hero here a tree shaded promenade there a public park and yonder a towering pair of columns dedicated to commerce and navigation illustrates for the benefit of many it another hother slummy water front how sea freighting may bring beauty out of business F from rom bordeaux tor for 25 miles the garonne baronne river forms the waterway the lateral canal starts at castets and parallels the river to toulouse though navigation barnt usually much to do with hills and dales that landsmann lands mans please aptly describes a canal trip the mile waterway which stretches from near bordeaux to the mediterranean that la is the conjoined routes of the lateral and the canals Is regulated by locks these give a foot drop on either sidd of castelnaudary Castelnau dary y tile the highest intermediate termed ter lato point thus tho the canoe voyager goes uphill to then lown down dale ale to the averna averaging 10 feet ot of ascent or descent each time he be passes a lock beautiful country the lateral canal leads through a smiling countryside of gently rippling hills bills and of close cultivation with tobacco plantations and vineyards alternating regiments of staked vines align themselves across tile the fields at tho the queerest of angles a planting system aimed at securing the alie maximum exposure of sunlight here and there some picturesque village its fifteenth century houses dominated by a 0 ruined mined donjon mirrors itself in the garonne baronne Ga ronne the canal and its river feeder parallel each other for miles and it Is but a stroll whenever one wants a glimpse of of the latter their courses intersect at agen one suddenly finds himself cruising between two seemingly s endless walls of ma manry and the scenery begins to drop out of bight first the trees then men the dim hillsides hill sides sink disquietingly away into nether space it Is the canal cor car crying aqueduct which floats barge truffle traffic high in air across the wide valley of the garonne baronne Ga ronne prehistoric neighborhood from froia agen an interesting pilgrimage can be made mada to les lea grottoes where can be seen the habitations of pleistocene man it was in the early sixties that les zeyzles grottoes yielded finds of flint and horn implements human skeletons and bones of extinct animals subsequently these formed a basis for calculating the chronology of the stone age between the rude representations of animals eni mals scratched by primitive man on his caves walls walla and the art which caused Mols sacs cloister columns to bloom with floer ilka beauty lies iles all the mystery of the timeless miracle of mental evolution long lone before one enters tile the canal du dis midi at toulouse ono one realizes how low well named Is frances midi tills this Is the french word for midday in summer cummer and autumn it Is a country of withering heat beat shuttered houses housea white roads and dust covered foliage under a brilliant cloudless sky eky toulouse alas for tile the betraying charm of its ita sprawls commonplace and disconsolate looking as it depleted by centuries 0 of sunstroke of the medieval city that wits was the sent seat of a powerful and the scene of religious wars ware little remains but st gt Bern Ser lna romanesque title pile named for or st Saturn inns who avas dragged behind the bull he had refused to sacrifice on Jupt altar to recall tou louses architectural past old custom retained with one other exception what the visitor would expect of that high sounding bounding name is discoverable only in histories stories bi this exception Is the curious spectacle of forty citizen patrons receiving nine gold and silver lowers flowers from ln la Dau radea rades high altar then defiling through toulouse to award these artl ficek amarantes amaranths hs marigolds and other blossoms in a poetry contest and finally hymning a eulogy on the festivals reputed founder damn clemenco isaure such la Is the lie may day fete of the an dent clent academic ties des buus beux while floral festivals of varying kinds are held nt at nice calious Cali ors lyons cette and in normandy Nou nandy Catl onlo and prussia it Is only the Tou loustan event which represents nn an jui unbroken broken tradition of six elx centuries span at toulouse travelers by canal leave the lateral canal and enter the much older canal du midi constructed in acco tills this ile canal nal of to 6 seass ca s represents tho the earliest cur liest step edep toward tho the present to the ithone line ile hc yond that 20 mile route extend tile the northern cagial connections whereby barges can travel inland from bordeaux nori eaux to various french channel iannel cl ports tho the roost most recently completed complete canal unit link in southern franco france lins hils opened a Blar es to calais line this Is miles long or considerably shorter than the sea route the canal du midi la Is not only nn an important commerce carrier cair ler it Is among the most beautiful of french water waterways immediately beyond toulouse it t traverses ray erses ns us cries erles of 0 woodland vistas a ceaseless intel interplay play of lights shadows and reflections that cange with each turn of this endlessly twisting stream the midi canals picturesque character Is due to the magnificent trees which line its banks for moro more than 0 o miles hero here are venerable oali oak glades there alleys of 0 plane trees and yonder spear pear straight pines or somber bomber walls wall of ej cypress press often indeed ranks or of these diffie different rent species parallel each in a multiplied depth delith of sylvan shelter the lovely loveli curves and green wealth of foliage are alike due to its planners method of mitigating for the benefit of barge lc le tile the sweeping winds of the region nothing less than the elsh Ilif sh ability alil lity could convey a ji leture of the madts midis anglers squatting in endless succession along the canal bank tile tho a approach of boats scarcely stirs them from their piscine dreams auls beyond toulouse one has left gascony behind and la Is well we into languedoc gascony languedoc provence names nomas how redolent of history nud and romance I 1 from many remote blood strains and from constant trans pyrenean eions lias fins sprung up tile midi type dark skinned glowing eyed often bar acen like ruy market day scenes tempts one ashore for foe that mat busiest of sights eights a market town on market lay day one of its leafy squares Is reserved for vegetable sellers a second for poultry and game and a third for horse dealing down one street come cart fuIs fit huge hampers con kalning mixed families of ducks and rabbits down another come peasants bicycling into town with geese sitting se sedately daty arow in trays attached to the tha handlebars trade is brisk and by noon tile tho world anil and lite ills wife ore walking homeward with squirming rabbits and cackling chickens under their arms As for the horse farre in rose rosa Don Bonheu bours rs native countryside abe beware are just such auch animated sights as her famous canvases portray Carena carcassonne assonne sonne on the midi canal la Is two towns in one the cite ls Is corn coin plemely dissociated from Carcas sones ville basse or lower town the former Is a steep hill its crest encircled with mighty ii malls alls hardly less than a mile around thronged thron ged with tall towers showing candle snuffer tops the epitome of bagh perched drawbridge guard ef ed medievalism profiled against fleecy clouds adrift in the blue for 18 15 centuries it has bas stood thus the cite of carcassonne assonne beyond the fact act that the robinn empire gave self government to Car carcamo caso as it was then called and classed it its as a noble or elected city tittle little of Carcas history emerges until tile the fifth century it was then that the fortified this strat strategic egle point which commands half a dozen enn passes by erecting the cite on the ruins of roman ramparts utilizing their knowledge of roman eions for 1500 years these fortifications have been accumulating the cobwebs of history hors hera hast east met west and north met south in the succession of 0 foreign conquerors who came and went now besieging the cite and now modifying it into what was biag acclaimed by viollet vyollet le due its chief restorer as the most picturesque and most nearly perfect example of a medieval fortress |