Toulouse

On Wednesday morning, I woke up really early to catch the 6:14am train to Toulouse to see Peter, who is currently touring Europe with Siskiyou.

I was so tired that I slept for most of the train ride between Lyon and Toulouse. The train rolled through the French countryside, and what I did see of it was beautiful: rolling hills dotted with stone farmhouses. I wish I could have mustered the energy to pull out my camera and snap a few photographs, but the scenery alone would be enough cause to make the trip again.


Gare Toulouse Matabiau



I arrived in Toulouse at about 11:15am at Gare Toulouse Matabiau, which is right on the bank of the Midi canal. My hotel was just on the opposite bank on the cleverly-named boulevard de Bonrepos.

As Toulouse is called la ville rose, I somewhat expected to see bright pink buildings. Toulouse gets its name, however, from its rose-red brick buildings, which differs from the predominantly beige stone buildings I've seen in Paris, Lyon, and Saint Etienne.

Earlier that week, I had done a lesson on Remembrance Day only to be told by my classes that its French equivalent, Armistice Day, was not that big of a deal (more on this later).

I passed this war memorial, Monument aux Morts, during my walk around Toulouse. It seemed that there were preparations underway for ceremony the next day as bleachers had been set up across from the monument and nice flowers had been planted around it.

I continued down Allées Jules Guesde, through a city park where I saw a peacock (but he did not show me his tail), and across the Garonne river.

View of Pont de Halage de Tounis 

 View of Pont Neuf crossing the Garonne river
One interesting thing I noticed in Toulouse was that the street signs were in both French and Occitan.

After crossing the Garonne, I headed back to my hotel for a quick nap before meeting up with Peter.