Toulouse

We were off to an early start with John performing his last chauffeur duty. Left at Nimes Gare with time to spare was spent watching the board for our platform number to appear. There have to be more interesting things to do at stations!

Our train to Narbonne on time, we had an fast and interesting ride close to the coast as we neared our destination.

The coast as we neared Narbonne

Through the door at Narbonne Gare and out onto the wide paved area outside, we joined a large group of people, all supposedly going to Toulouse. Wrong. The majority were headed for Carcassone and we were the minority. It being a Sunday, and Monday a holiday, the railway was closed for works and we were to bus it to Toulouse, a journey of 3 hours. After a considerable waiting time, the first bus arrived - for Carcassone. Then the second and third and fourth - all for Carcasonne. The sun was beating down and we now have sunburn on faces, arms, legs, feet! The SNCF assistants were becoming increasingly uneasy as a variey of tourists verbally attacked them over the lack of buses. One woman distraught and in tears because her family with 4 children were due to fly out of Carcasonne for Ireland, resorted to taking a taxi. We were bought bottled water and a dinner pack to keep us quiet. Eventually, when there was just the Toulouse group left, a Carcasonne bus driver was talked into taking us. We sat behind the driver who yawned most of the way. Just a little unnerving!
At last Toulouse and a taxi to our luxurious hotel. Again, thank you Joelle. It was just heaven!

Sheer Luxury
Grand Hotel De l'Opera

We wandered around the Capitole and found a restaurant for our evening meal. Bless the French for eating late. They were there in the hundreds and we enjoyed the relaxing time after a long day.

The stained glass window in one of the many gothic churches - Cathedrale Sainte-Etienne






Another public holiday! After a good continental breakfast, we returned to our room to contemplate venturing out in the rain. A bit of photo downloading and emailing and the sky seemed to clear, so we were off exploring the city. Having been shown the best areas to visit by the Desk, we fast tracked to the best first, and left the wandering aimlessly for later in th day. We visited many beautiful gothic style churches, museums, had lunch in The Flowers Cafe - delicious with a vin rouge, but ate too much and had to walk for the rest of the day as punishment. In the afternoon we fitted in a cruise on the Garonne that took us into a canal where we had a little excitment as the boat was lifted by the rushing water to the next level. Then lots more walking before we allowed ourselves an icecream for dinner!

Climbing the canal on our cruise of the Garonne

The delightful Flowers Cafe where we lunched until full!

Day two saw us up early for breakfast and our meeting with the charming Jean-Francois, the Hotel Director. With a few more hints on what to see and do, we set out to walk the canals. We wandered along the long avenue of trees to the Midi Canal, then back along its bank to the city where we had lunch in another cafe on the square. The afternoon was spent wandering around shops while David downloaded photos and slept, and I managed to find Galleries Lafayette - what a surprise! Really enjoyed being lost in the old city, wandering aimlessly looking in shop windows and wishing I could take it all home, at a lower price than labelled!

A walk along the banks of the Midi Canal

Visit to the Musee St-Raymond and its fabulous Roman

Pont Neuf at night after sunset

Our last morning after packing, we wandered around the old city, had a coffee and hot chocolate, and took a taxi to Toulouse Matabiau for some more exciting Departure Board watching. then a long journey through Bordeau to Tours.