If I were teaching a class on Toulouse I would start with, "Raise your hand if you know anything about Toulouse, France. Anyone? You in the back? Oh, you just need to use the bathroom, ok." And to be fair, you would have to count me among those completely ignorant of the charms of this city. According to Wikipedia, Toulouse is the fourth largest city in France, lies on the river Garonne, and is the center of the European Aerospace industry. Good to know. For me, Toulouse will always be known for rugby, crepes, and one very dashing escape.
When I arrived in Toulouse the skies were dreary and I had a thought I hadn't had in well over a month: I may need my jacket. The hostel I stayed in, owned and ran by a father and son, was fantastic- you even have your own kitchen in the room! Upon checking in they gave me a map, circled all the things I needed to do, and then the father proceeded to pour me a beer and make me finish it before I could get the keys to the room. Off to a good start.
I decided to take a stroll up to the grocery store and acquire some food and wine to try and eat cheap for a few days. On the way, I passed through a park which had a really cool Japanese garden. In the garden was one very commonly French thing and one big surprise. The commonly French thing was couples of various ages, sizes, and style sitting on park benches making out. The term "French kissing" was developed for a reason. The surprise was that all around these couples were high schoolers dressed in various costumes having some sort of cos-play battle. Right on.
After procuring some items at the store, I swung back by the hostel where I was informed there was a really big rugby match going on and that I could view it from the Capitole Square. Well, I thought, I might as well check this out. Holy moly. By "really big" what he should have said was Toulouse is playing Toulon in the championship game of the French Rugby League. The square was absolutely shoulder to shoulder with people. Totally out of random luck, I happened to wear the one black and red shirt I own ("Next Stop Shanghai" ha) and as the Toulouse team colors are red and black, I fit right in.
The best part were the chants and songs being sung prior to the match getting going. At half-time I strolled up the block and took a snapshot of the streets with the city's famous Basilica St. Sernin looming in the background.
Back in the square, the crowd was reaching a fevered pitch in the closing seconds of the match. When the final whistle blew, Toulouse had won- they were the rugby champions! The square erupted. TOU-LOU-SE! TOU-LOU-SE! Fireworks went off and "We Are the Champions" began playing with the crowd singing along. It was an incredible environment. Some guys even set up an impromptu crowd surfing line.
The raucous crowd then began to disperse and head to the pubs for beers and in anticipation of the Germany v. Portugal futbol match for the Euro League. Needless to say it was a long fun evening of sports revelry, and would have probably been even more crazy had I spoke French and been able to chat with more random groups of people. In any event, it was a blast.
The next morning I decided to just roam around the city. It was a bit drizzly and dreary but I pressed on. As I walked I noticed the vast number of cafes and restaurants of all different types and origins. I was stunned by the diversity of offerings in Toulouse. Most of the city is done in a light-reddish brown brick which was ok but wasn't particularly that fond of. Perhaps it reminded me of NC State? One of the cooler parts of the city was strolling along the Garonne and crossing the bridges into the other side of the city.
Back in the main part of the city I stopped by the Cathedral which is a bit different than most of the cathedrals I've run across so far in my travels. It really only has one tower and a weird asymmetrical front. The sides actually reminded me a bit of First Pres back home.
But far more important than the scenery- all day I had been in search of a crepe. For some reason I just could not locate a creperie. Finally, I came across one in the relatively expensive area in the Plaza St. Georges. But I was cold and wet and really hungry so I sprung for an overpriced crepe and cafe au lait. The crepe I got was emmenthal cheese, sauteed onions, ham, and creme fraiche. It was pretty good but not sure if it was worth the 8 euro. The coffee was outstanding.
Quite full and a bit drier I headed back to the hostel where I met George, a Brit who was cycling his way from London to Barcelona. Given the weather he was rightfully soaked to the bone, and the only humane thing I could think to do to ease his suffering was offer him a beer. A bit later we were joined by Sarah, a new friend from Minneapolis by way of Wisconsin. She actually knew all of the places in Madison that I frequented while there for work- Great Dane, place with the German boots of beer, and the mac n' cheese pizza joint. Gotta love Madison.
We were also joined by a very loud and obnoxious German guy who forced his way into the room and our conversations and was generally just exceptionally irritating. Thankfully very few Germans I've met are anywhere near like this. Anyway, I was actually fine with his ludicrous behavior until he started helping himself to my wine. And even then, I didn't really mind as it was for everyone. But, when he was pouring without paying attention and spilled it all over the table- that was it. He had to go. I was originally going to watch a Euro game with him but after that spillage nonsense, I decided to feign exhaustion so he would leave and then watch from the comfort of the room with a replenished wine store.
George and Sarah elected to take a stroll around the city and when they returned we finished our way through the wine chatting until the wee hours. The next morning George was off for his next stop and so Sarah and I decided to take a stroll down the canal. It was supposedly one of the more scenic things to do in Toulouse and I must say it didn't disappoint. First there a ton of really cool house-boats parked along the way including one that was an Asian spa. Whoa.
The canal runs south basically all the way out of the city and into other towns. Toward the end it starts getting really beautiful with maple trees lining either side of the canal. Also, the sun finally appeared!
On the way back, we stopped into a creperie which turned out to be much cheaper and better than the first one. This time the crepe was filled with emmenthal and chevre cheese, ham, and creme fraiche (mercifully no onions), and was accompanied by Normandy cider which was really good. Basically it's a hard cider (about 6%) that has a sweet clean taste and an earthy (almost like a roquefort cheese) aftertaste. Perfect for a hearty savory crepe.
Also on the way back I was able to snap a good shot of the Basilica, the largest Romanesque church in Europe. Pretty impressive. Apparently there is a great pipe organ but it wasn't open whenever I went by.
After our walk we went back to the hostel only to discover that Bastien whom I was supposed to be couch surfing with (basically just crashing on a stranger's couch) in Bordeaux had his roof collapse over the weekend and couldn't host me. This was 2 hours before I needed to catch my train to Bordeaux. No sweat, I can sleep on a park bench. But lucky for me, his friend Pierre had no couch-surfers and could accommodate me. Upon seeing that Sarah looked forlorn for all of her friends to be departing, I suggested she accompany me to Bordeaux. I sent Pierre a text (the phone already coming in very handy) and sure enough he had room for her as well.
So now it was decision time. We had spent the couple hours before I needed to depart for my train having "Toulouse tea," i.e. champagne, chocolate, and a comice pear- perfect since as soon as we got back it started pouring rain again. So, as you might imagine, it was going to be a bit of a tipsy escape from Toulouse. The escape was further compounded by the fact that by the time I got the green light from Pierre, it was about 15 minutes before I needed to leave and Sarah had nothing packed and had already paid for another night in the hostel.
But by George if she didn't muster up the gumption, throw her stuff in a bag, drop off her key, and storm out of the hostel with me. Down at the train station we had to quickly procure her a ticket and then made our way to the platform just before the train arrived.
As we had a bottle of champagne left over, we shared it with some friends we made on the train. As we pulled into Bordeaux it would be safe to say we were all feeling a bit bubbly. Nothing like coming in hot.
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