The mass was in French, except for a priest thaat gave a short homily in our honor in English. He was originally from India and had been in Albi for a number of years. Very nice guy that I had a chance to talk to after mass.
We went to a small hall where women brought trays of pizza and cips around. Thee was also a very sweet raspberry wine and peach wine. I thought that this wasn't much of a lunch, but told the students to enjoy and fill up because we had a long afternoon ahead of us. We then returned to the Cathedral where we looked at the relics. Some of them very incredible. I enjoyed the hand sown vestments handed down by different priests. There were also around 100 chalices of all sizes and designs. Many were very beautiful, and jewel laden, but my favorite was a plain one.
After looking for a while, a young friar came in and said lunch was ready. Huh? We just ate. The students looked at me and I just shrugged. We were taken to a dining room where there was a salas with what I found out to be liver pate on it. I'd never eaten and convinced myself it was something else. I wouldn't make a habit of eating it, but it wasn't half bad. We then were served a meat (a great peice of pork or beef with really tasty mushrooms), and some type of potato. Including the bread, wine and all, I was really getting stuffed. Every time our wine glass would empty a little it semed someone else would be putting more in! The meal was over, I thought, and then realized they were bringing out more food. This time it was a number of chesses and more bread! I ate a bit of that as well. Then the brought out a fig pastry of some sort to finish off the meal, as well as coffee for those that drank it. The students, particularl those that had chowed down due to my urging earlier, did us proud and ate well. I felt like I was ready to explode, but everything was really good, except maybe the pate'.
We then returned to the church, looked around a bit, and then went to the bell tower. It is 101 steps straight up, and for those that don't know, I'm a bit afraid of heights so when we came out on the roof of the Cathedral, I started hugging the wall. Great view, but very high. Many of the students had an opportunity to ring the bell, which is interesting because it plays the gongs as notes. I can't imagine what the town's people thought was going on at the cathedral with the weird notes these students were playing. Maybe theye thought the heathens had attacked the church and had taken over!
We then went to a mine museum. They showed a film about mines, but with the combinatio of wine and food as well as the climb up and down to the bell tower, I fell asleep. When I awoke I was a bit confused, and couldn't figure out why there was a film of coal running down a mining belt. It was kind of surreal.
We then went into the mine and had a great tour. The guide constantly mentioned the rats and how they actually would eat cats that were brought down to control them. I remember being in my grandfather's old independent mine, and I know how right he is. The mine showed all the different machines and tools used over the centuries to mine and was very interesting. Miners in France are government employees and are paid well. However, they have a very short life expectancy. No thanks, I'll stick to being a professor!
Here's Lori Woods and I in the mine.
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