Two Let Loose in Toulouse

We arrived at Toulouse somewhere around 4pm, about 23 hours after leaving Perth. (there's nothing amusing about long haul travel). With the help from a couple of young French guys we manage to buy tickets for the bus, transfer to a tram, then take the Metro to Capitole, then a final few hundred metres walk and we're at our AirBnB on Rue Du Taur. We are staying in a small rustic old apartment on a busy street close to the town square (Place Du Capitole). The flat was originally a part of an 18th century family mansion. It's quite small, but with very high ceilings and an exposed brick facade. The fireplace, the bottom of which now houses a television, is

about 1/4 of the size of the entire flat. The bed is in the loft, accessed by a ladder type staircase, but as we're beyond risk taking, we've settled for sleeping on the comfortable sofa-bed on the ground floor.

After checking in, we showered, changed and took the 10 metre walk to Chez Bobonne, a delightful little wine bar just across the road. We enjoyed a plate of snails, a charcuterie board, a couple of beers and some French wine. After a very French start to Toulouse, we explore the surrounding area, making note of bars and restaurants we need to go back to. Its a great start to our holiday and we retire early as the effects of the long-haul travel hit us fairly early in the evening.

We managed to get 8 to 9 hours sleep and wake Wednesday morning feeling as if we've cheated jet-lag. Toulouse is a very beautiful regional city in southern France, closer to Barcelona than Paris. It has stunning historic architecture and narrow cobbled streets. Its an easy city to explore by foot and there are more bicycles than cars. Toulouse has no public hire eScooters, but does have public hire bicycles which are picked up and returned to docking stations. Is a great system as there are plenty of stations, with no bikes left lying around where they shouldn't be.

We're up at 7.30am and head to the Hugo Victor markets, just down the road from us. Its still dark and the streets are deserted. Its a far cry from the bustling city of last night. Toulouse is a late night city, the sun sets late and rises late. The markets are advertised as opening at 7am which means that's the time the sellers arrive to start setting up, so it doesn't really open

till somewhat later. we do manage to find a coupe of early stalls though and get a chocolate croissant from one stall, a box of blueberries from another and take them to a bar to have with our coffees. These markets were rated the best in France by TripAdvisor.
After our market breakfast we explore more of Toulouse on foot. We make our way to the Garonne River where beautiful buildings reflect themselves across the river in morning light. Along the river walk there is a series of 3D artworks painted on the sidewalks, things we've seen online, but never actually experienced (they look hyper realistic from one direction and nothing from the other). Each one has directions of where to stand to

take the photo and where to stand to be immersed in it, so we play around with those for a while and get a great shot of Robyn in a boat on the Canal du Midi.

We walk along the river and find the beginning of the Canal du Midi, its a much smaller waterway than I was expecting but beautiful none the less. We'll meet this canal again in about 2 weeks time 150km to the southeast of here, after we walk a section of Le Puy Camino, then head to Homps to pick up our boat. From the beginning of the Canal du Midi we make our way back to the Victor Hugo markets as they have restaurants on the second floor that were made famous by Rick Stein. We find one that has sausage and duck cassoulet on the menu and enjoy that with some beer and French red wine. We seem to be the only tourists in the restaurant today and enjoy watching the locals come and go. The French are so.........French!

At night we take a stroll back toward the river and find one the restaurants we noted the evening before. We order escargots again (when in France right?) and this time while trying to manage the slippery suckers with my escargot tongs, I recreate a scene reminiscent of a Mr Bean episode, and knock over full glass of red wine. A little embarrassing.

Our next day is much a repeat of the first. We clock up around 18,000 steps, we're match fit for the Le Puy. Our love of Toulouse grows with each hour and experience. Its back to the markets for breakfast and get our coffee from the same barista. He seems chuffed we've come back.

After the markets we take a walk to the Jardin Japonais a tranquil and unexpected garden inside of Comans-Cafferelli park. Its located in the middle of the city and designed by a past mayor after a trip to Kyoto. The next thing we tick off is Foie Gras, enjoyed with some sparkling wine back at the Victor Hugo markets.
There is a light rain for most of the day so we stay close to the flat for the afternoon and have our last evening at Chez Bobonne, just across the road.

On our final morning in Toulouse we have a train to catch, as luck would have it Victor Hugo markets are on the way to our train station. We complete all our exit tasks for the AirBnB and are on our way to the markets, suitcases in tow. We buy a single nectarine from one of the

external fruit stalls, the guy won't take any money for it and wishes us a bon journee. We head straight to our usual coffee stall (Chez Catherine) , Robyn buys some freshly baked bread, and we have our breakfast at the counter, much like the locals do.

We arrive at the station with plenty of time to spare and spend some time taking in an installation in front of the staton celebratining the liberation of Nazi occupation in 1944. There are amazing photos of the French removing Nazi symbols and street names from buildings that we recognise. Some of the images are from celebratory rallies taken from where we stand out front of the station.

Our time in Toulouse was a gret reminder of the amazing food culture of the French. Our daily step count is going to be important in maintaining a reasonable waist line.
Next stop Cahors....