Carcassonne Chapter: Gaillac Chinese Lantern Festival

Gaillac Festival of Lanterns

Gaillac is a small town between Toulouse and Albi, a little northwest of Carcassonne, in the Tarn. Their main claim to fame is wine--they have a renowned white, or so I am told. But they also are home, for two months to the Feeries de Chine--the Chinese Lantern Festival.

Debbie and Martin arrive in Gaillac

The town is decorated a la Chinoise

But their Christmas decorations are still up, adding to the festive air

I tried to get to this festival last year, but couldn't get my act together to get a hotel and train tickets booked in a timely fashion. Last year was the first, and even then it sounded interesting to me. This year, I was determined that I was not going to miss it. There was also more publicity about it this year, and it seemed like they were expecting crowds, so timing the visit was important to me. I absolutely did not want to visit it during school holidays...please God, spare me from the hordes of children and teenagers. Well behaved as they may be, they still present issues of crowds and jostling for a view. Then I had to work around some doctor appointments and some other activities.

The Entrance--notice the overhead lights in red and blue

One of the buildings

Another building with dragons and the moon

I had mentioned it to my friends Debbie and Martin, to see if they had any interest in going. It would involve a hotel stay and train tickets, and then working their schedules into the equation. Finally, the spoiler was finding a hotel with two rooms available. That sounds simple; it was not.

Eventually I was able to get us rooms and booked the train tickets. We were on our way to Gaillac.

Some of the "tableaux"--scenes of people working

Colorful boat ont he waves

Horse, wagon and driver

Woodworker (I think) at his bench

Lady of the house and her worker


What could they be talking about?

What's for dinner?

Important on the Silk Road

It is an easy train trip from Carcassonne--there's a change in Toulouse to a commuter train that runs to Albi. Even with all the "milk run" stops, we were in Gaillac in time to slide under the deadline for lunch service. After getting warmed up and filled up, we set off in search of our hotel, which was a little bit out of the main town, but certainly not far. After checking in, I had a little nap and we met up again to walk to the park where the huge light display was shining over the city.

Flower Garden

Stylized flowers maybe 3 - 4 feet high

Reflected in a building window

More colors

Closer inspection--silk, wire and lights....amazing

I don't know exactly what I expected--a lot of Chinese lanterns in different colors and sizes, perhaps. But what I found was mind-blowing. Actually I had read about it in one of the Sunday paper supplements, but even though I had read that there were over 1000 silk-covered sculptures, I had not imagined what that would look like.

Imperial Palace

The jewel

Imperial musicians

And the dancer twirled

As it turned out, our timing was perfect. There was absolutely no line to get in as we were all required to pass through security--one line for women, one for men. There was never any

feeling of being jostled or hurried along. I even managed to get some nems--kind of like egg rolls and didn't have to wait in line. Around 7:30ish there was some minor crowding in front of some of the more spectacular displays like the Imperial Palace. Bu the whole display covers acres and we felt no sense of being crowded. There were some children, but not many. (School night). I|t wasn't raining, or snowing, which it was expected to do the next day.

The Elephant and the Dog

Porcelain tied in long strips

I so want one of these cups and saucers

There were 4 of these big guys

Jeweled dog And the red "falling star lights in upper right

Up close

I am not going to take time to describe everything I saw. I will let the photos speak for themselves. Highlights for me were the Imperial Palace, and the elephants made of porcelain cups and saucers fashioned using the rope techniques that were used 1000 years ago to shop the precious and fragile porcelain. I am not a visual processor, so all of this was overwhelming for me. I found myself falling into my usual pattern of minutiae--a habit I cannot seem to break. It was hard for me to capture the scale of the exhibits--the Imperial Palace had to be 8 stories high. In some of the photos you will be able to see the occasional silhouette of people; that should serve to show you how big these exhibits were.

The Dragons

What a face

Colors in his head

Face-off

Detail on the dragon body

It was magical--the weather, while not raining at the moments we were in the park, wasn't fabulous. It was muddy and a bit raw, but we had dressed for the occasion. It could have been 30 or it could have been 80, I was transported.

Homage to Their Hosts

Wine domaine--wine being "poured" into the glass

Red and black rugby

Rgby and the Cog--the symbol of Gaillac

A nod to Gaillac's wine industry

Dancing waters

Next year, I am going back for two nights. I know there were lots of things that I missed. I was pretty pleased with the way my photos turned out, as night time photos are a special challenge for me. I never did get a really good photo of the hundreds of red lanterns hanging overhead. I so wanted to bring home a red lantern, or actually several small red lanterns to hang in a column from my window.

A Few Odds and Ends