The Lay(wo)men Who Govern Us

Contrary to his son, Red Baron has little knowledge of financial matters. So I was shocked when I opened the Badische Zeitung today and read an article: Finanzkonzept mit Fragezeichen (Financial concept, question marked).

A salt mine at 500-meter depth as a "permanent" repository below Morsleben (©dpa)

Although the "permanent" disposal of highly radioactive waste is not yet solved in Germany, I had so far at least assumed that its financing was assured by the provision of money nuclear power plant operators (PPO) must set aside according to our Atomic Law. However, these provisions - so far 38 billion euros - are on shaky grounds. I learned that provisions (Rückstellungen) must not be confused with reserve allocations (Rücklagen). Provisions are costs the PPOs are placing into their balance sheets. These costs generally involve no cash but money on paper, and, e.g., they may be covered by power plants that still have to earn their money. 

The biggest PPO, the RWE, alone must provide 10 billion euros for nuclear dismantling and disposal, although the company's stock market value is only slightly higher. Since there are hints that the present provisions will not be sufficient to finance the "permanent" disposal of radioactive waste from nuclear power reactors, it will again be taxpayer's money to fill the financial gap and future generations to pay for it.

Who made that law about the disposal of radioactive waste? Did the PPOs bamboozle the lay(wo)men of our government whose experts apparently did not know the difference between provisions and reserve allocations? 

Now, our Federal Government hastily tries to iron out the blunder. In the future, the PPOs shall pay their radioactive waste money cash into a fund, a solution successfully practiced in Switzerland since the beginning of their nuclear age.

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Ville Rose and Ville Rouge

Toulouse

Driving north, we arrived at Toulouse, the capital of the former province Languedoc and, nowadays, headquarters of Airbus Industries. At an elevation of 130 meters above the Mediterranean sea level, the Canal du Midi passes through the city.

The Canal du Midi from Sete to Toulouse and the Robine de Narbonne (©Wikipedia/dringend)

Toulouse's Capitol was built in 1750 on the site of previous official buildings that date back to 1160, not regarding previous Roman constructions.

Toulouse's Capitol version 18th century

The building shows the typical pink color of the local terracotta bricks, so Toulouse is also called Ville Rose (Pink City). One of the highlights of Toulouse is the Romanesque abbey church of Saint Cernin, or in Latin, Sanctus Saturninus.

The impressive steeple of Saint Cernin

A closer look at the choir of the basilica

Saint Cernin's Romanesque nave gives the impression
of a somewhat Gothic interior

Saint Cernin's ordeal (©Wikipedia/Polylerus)

In 250, the pope sent Bishop Saturninus to bring the gospel to Gaul.

One day in passing Toulouse's Capitol, the Roman authorities ordered him to worship Caesar by sacrificing a bull. When Saturninus refused, they attached him to the beast killing him by dragging his body over the steps of the Capitol.

Toulouse's curiosity is the Gothic cathedral Saint Etienne a patchwork construction both from the out- and the inside.

The main entrance to Saint Etienne

An altar for many holy popes

Toulouse's Jacobine Priory (©Wikipedia/Pom)

The breathtaking interior

The impressive church building of the former Jacobine Priory houses the relics of the Dominican Thomas Aquinas. As a Doctor of the Church, Thomas is regarded as the greatest theologian and philosopher of the Catholic Church.

Thomas Aquinas' illuminated shrine below the altar

Jacobine's cloister is an oasis of tranquility.

Here repose Toulouse's rich people at the end of the 17th century, the craftsmen:

The shoemaker and his beloved	The chandelier maker, RIP

Leaving the Jacobine priory
Red Baron admired a guy playing some sort of viola la gamba ...

... for this couple embraced in love?

Albi

While Toulouse is called the Ville Rose, Albi is known for its red brick buildings as Ville Rouge. It is situated on the river Tarn.

Old bridge over the river Tarn

One of the highlights of Albi is its Gothic cathedral, Sainte Cecile.

All cathedrals in the world are building sites forever. 

High Altar: The gospel is knocking at the door

Sainte Cecile's altar

Albi's other highlight is a museum dedicated to the painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

No, this is neither the entrance to the museum
nor are these the girls of Moulin Rouge

This is how we all know Toulouse-Lautrec's artwork ...

... but here is Napoleon ...

... and here is the arrogant Prussian lieutenant entering
Paris following France's defeat in the War of 1870/71

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Cathar Land

The problem with digital photography is that you take too many shots when traveling. Although I use to clean out as many photos as possible on the evening of an exciting day, there remain enough pictures that I take home. Then I sit in front of my computer and spend hours selecting the best shots and "photoshopping" them.

What follows is a continuation of the report about my trip to the cathedrals south in Cathar land, visiting Fontfroide Abbey, Narbonne, and Carcassonne.



L'Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide

Our group visited this former Cistercian monastery located in a secluded valley 15 kilometers southwest of Narbonne. With Pope Innocent III, the Abbey fought the heretical Cathars, who were particularly strong in the region. Like many monasteries, the Abbey was dissolved during the French Revolution.

Church and cloister

A well-kept cloister garden

Effective lighting inside the church

Peter Kalchthaler explains a reliquary altar.

A medieval pieta

Narbonne

The Romans established Narbonne in 118 BC, as Colonia Narbo Martius. It later became the chief city of the Roman province Gallia Narbonensis. Narbonne was located at the crucial crossroads of the Via Domitia, the first Roman road in Gaul, built at the time of the colony's foundation and connecting Italy to Spain and the Via Aquitania connecting the Mediterranean via Toulouse and Bordeaux with the Atlantic.

An uncovered stretch of the original Via Domitia in front of the bishop's palace

Later the two "seas" were linked by the Garonne river/canal and the Canal du Midi, to which Narbonne is connected by the Canal de la Robine.

Shady promenade along the Canal de la Robine

We arrived in Narbonne in time for lunch. With a full dinner in the evening, Red Baron generally looks for small things to eat. Strolling along the Canal de la Robine, I found a place serving Pastis and later had a Sable Occitan.

Classical set-up: Pastis 51, water, and ice cubes

Cookies formed like Occitan crosses.

While eating my cookie, I contemplated Narbonne's war memorial for the wars of 1914 - 1918, 1939 -1945, and T.O.E? 

For me, as a physicist, the abbreviation means Theory of Everything but a closer look in Wikipedia revealed that it stands for Théâtres d'opérations extérieures, somehow mantling the wars France fought in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia (1952 - 1962) and in Indochina (1945 - 1952) until the US-Forces took over.

A war memorial showing the Gallic cock

Gallic cock from behind, eventually announcing PAX (peace)

Narbonne's former episcopal palace

Narbonne's former episcopal palace is now used as a city hall. The connected Cathedral Saint-Just-et-Saint-Pasteur, one of the tallest in France, was never finished. The rear of the ambitious building is frozen in time. The continuation of the 41-meter-high nave would have required demolishing the city wall dating from the 5th century. Historians evoke several reasons why the wall was not torn down. The most important causes were the waves of plague between 1348 and 1355, so it was better to retain the city wall.

Impressive construction abandoned

Carcassonne

The Romans strategically fortified Carcassonne around 100 BC, and the lower parts of the northern ramparts date from that time. Carcassonne became famous during the crusades against the Albigensians, for the city was a stronghold of Occitan Cathars. In August 1209, the crusading army of the Papal Legate, Abbot Arnaud Amalric, forced its citizens to surrender, avoiding their holocaust as in the case of Béziers but not their slaughter.

Today with its reconstructed fortifications, Carcassonne is a Disney-like tourist attraction.

Dame Carcas greets the visitor at the Narbonne gate.

The lower layers of Carcassonne's mighty fortifications
date back to Roman times

Basilica of Saint Nazaire and Saint Celse

Inside we listened to impressive Russian singers
selling their album following their brief performance

Saint Roch again

Entrance to the fortress proper, nowadays a museum of medieval art.

Beheaded Pontius Pilate presenting Jesus as
Schmerzensmann (Man of Sorrows): Ecce Homo

Jesus has risen from the dead.

Walking through Carcassonne over lunchtime, the following sign caught my attention: Degustation of cheese and dry sausage. This looked original and was just enough to keep my stomach quiet. I decided to down the offered specialties with a local dry white wine.

While the patron was preparing the selection of cheese and saucisson, a couple from our group passed by and joined me for the treat, ordering red wine.

Atelier du Maître, where the patron prepares the plates

The cheese came in various colors. My plate is in front. The food was simply delicious.

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