Toulouse earns its nickname, La Ville Rose (The Pink City), from the distinctive terracotta bricks used in the construction of its historic buildings. Throughout the day, the natural sunlight causes these pale orange and reddish-pink bricks to shift, glowing in various rosy, blush, and magenta hues.
But we started our morning here:
I loved this mystery tree and the giant, fertile fig tree:
Our host, Lieve, generously drove us to the bus station, where we enjoyed the tiny main green space of the small hamlet while we waited for the 454.
We rode the bus through the bucolic scenery of the countryside back into Foix.
There, we quickly caught a train back to Toulouse. Sean and Jesse laughed until they were teary eyed about how much Sean doesn’t enjoy baguette. Travel hysteria might have set it for a moment.
We’ve been in that station twice, but this time we are here to stay in the city for two nights!
It is a very large station.
It took 15 minutes to get from there to our hotel, (one short metro ride to the “squirrel” station).
Easy peasy.
We are staying at Hotel Croix Baragnon, and it is even cuter than the photos on their website! Though the walk up to the third floor is…good exercise.
The view from the window is charming, and there is air conditioning!
We happily dropped off our gear and decided to go walk around, get the key of the land. We are surrounded by shops and eateries.
I love seeing things in a shop window that make me think of Vita.
At the beginning of the walk we ate some tasty cinnamon rolls, but now we were getting peckish, so we stopped at a Monoprix (so funny to us, think TJMaxx downstairs and grocery store upstairs) and got some snacks to bring back to the hotel and tide us over until dinner.
Eventually we got up and left to go find dinner. We made a reservation at one spot for tomorrow night, and decided upon a French steak restaurant (a little fancier than most places we frequent)—squid appetizer delicious. Dessert amazing. Main entree in the middle—meh. Honestly, Sean makes the best steak, and no place seems to stack up.
I love the pictures of the kids walking through the streets of Europe. They are so cool.
Then we stopped to rest bellies before 3 of the 4 of us went out to see Bastille Day Eve fireworks (River was pooped).
We did not realize how many people come out for this. It was a sea of well-behaved humanity and we held on to each other and let the tide carry us to the river where fireworks were going to be launched from barges on the water. There were even security check points and Bo and Jesse got patted down!
Then we floated back on the wave of Toulousians. It was such a fun, diverse crowd. But we oohed and ahhhhed more than the French folks, who mostly watched quietly until the applause at the very end. And it was long (28 minutes).
Can you spot where the professional footballers end and the regular people begin? Because I can’t.
Just got out of a cool shower (it was hotter than daytime amongst the crowd). Now beddy! In air conditioning!
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