Travel day today from Bordeaux to Toulouse. We chose to do this one by train, an easy train ride of just over 2.5 hours. Another pretty train station in Toulouse, and right away we can see why this is called the La Ville Rose, so much pink/red bricks. So different from anywhere we have been so far. We are a little early to check in to our AIRBNB so we go straight to the tourist information to pick up maps and get some ideas of what we want to do while we are here. This is the 4th largest city in France, but the main tourist area doesn't seem all that big, we shall see.
Stop at a little place close to our apartment for a panini which was really good, Andre finished it off with a meal deal crepe, we are good to go now for a while. We actually stopped at a Mexican place before this but gave up on trying to order using the machines and walked out. Yes, I guess we are old.
Apartment building was easy to find, actual apartment was not quite so easy. It is a very old building and the floor numbers are confusing all over Europe compared to home, we are on the second floor at home, which is the first floor here. My key didn't fit in the door in the floor below us, but a man was inside and came out and told us to go up one floor. Our instructions said key is for the door with the white door, the 3 apartments on this floor all have white doors, second apartment is successful. Smallest apartment we have been in yet, worst part is the bedroom is up a flight of rickety stairs, but we are only here 6 nights so we will survive. Andre goes down the stairs backwards like he is on a boat the stairs are so small. The apartment is in a great location, so that will make the stairs worthwhile.
Off we go exploring to pick up something for supper and a couple of groceries. We are literally 2 minutes away from the Carmes Market so we will pick up most things tomorrow. There is an Italian shop 1 minute away from us with homemade pasta, so ravioli it is for supper and cannoli for dessert later. Drop groceries off and go for a nice walk along the water. It is so cold here today, definitely need our winter jackets, I think it is about the same temperature as home. We thought by the end of our trip we may be in t-shirts and shorts, not the case. We didn't do too much exploring, we have a walking tour booked for tomorrow afternoon so we will see a lot then. We did visit the Basilica as the doors were open, wow this was beautiful. The paintings depicting Mary's life on the alter were spectacular, I would like to go back again when it is a bit brighter out to see them again. We also walked a little along the Pont Neuf over the Garonne river, which is actually the oldest bridge in town from the 1600. Didn't make it the entire way across, it was really windy so decided to explore some streets on our side of the river instead. There is so much pollen in the air, I have no allergies but I was sneezing and my eyes were itchy, maybe from all the wind blowing it around.
Back home for our pasta dinner and a load of laundry done. Landry, urgh, I still don't know what exactly we did but we kind of flooded the kitchen floor, it is really clean now. Laundry probably took about 2 hours, but it is done. One more load and that should be it for us trying to figure out French washing machines. Nice thing is it has super spin once you get the water to drain so it won't take long to dry at all.
Steps 15,500 or 10KM
A cafe outside Bordeaux train station
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