Week 2: Two Days in Toulouse

The TGV from Paris to Toulouse leaves from the Montparnasse train station, a modern, sleek concrete structure. This was our second visit to this train station and so we knew the layout quite well. Instead of taking the metro, we took a direct bus. Much easier to negotiate with the bags.

At the station, we purchased some sandwiches and water before settling into our large, and very comfortable seats. I love the TGV! It is comfortable and someone else is doing the driving. We alternated between reading, creating email [there was a plug at each seat for laptops], and napping. Around 1:00 we pulled out our picnic and enjoyed lunch.

Arrivals in new towns is always a little disorienting. The Toulouse station was packed with people, and was shrouded in bright orange scaffolding so none of the directional signs were visible. After some confusion, we headed out of the station, abandoning the idea of finding the bus mentioned in our tour book, and started to walk. Have I mentioned rain? It was pouring as we tried to locate our hotel. Imagine us with four bags, two on wheels, two on our backs, trying to negotiate sidewalks with rain pouring down. It was a little pathetic.

We loved Toulouse. The city is a nice combination of open plazas, old mansions, geeks, and students. I suspect that we would like it even more with sun, an experience we have yet to have. At the center of the city is Les Halles, a daily covered market. In the morning, we cruised through and the food being sold at each vendor was amazing! All around Les Halles there are equally fine food shops ranging from wine to cheese, prepared salad to intact fish. Someday I would like to return to Toulouse and have a kitchen to fix our own food with these stellar ingrediants.

We had one really fine meal at a restaurant, which was also located in the square around Les halles. I chose the Cassoulet, the local specialty. Totally delicious, but why are the portion sizes for Cassoulet so huge? We ordered the Wine of the Month, a local vintage, and it couldn't have been better.

We spent most of our time in Toulouse outside, following the Michelin walk. The museums we visited were all located in 18th century mansions. The buildings themselves were actually more interesting than the art they store. People with money sure do know how to live!

The walk began at this lovely St-Sernin, the most famous and magnificent of the great Romaneque pilgrimage churches in the south of France. [Yea, that is a Michelin guide quote. I don't talk that way.]

This mansion, Hotel d'Assezat, was built in 1555-57 and is an amazing example of Renaissance architecture. The house is now a museum, and though the collection was nice to view, the reason we bought tickets was to see the inside. Another example of the weathly living well.

Toulouse, well worth the visit!