Steps today: 13 298 / 8.76 km
Off again to a new home base: Toulouse.
Leaving Bayonne bright and early at 7AM, it was a 3.5-hour ride so we treated ourselves to a first class seat. In France, I find the upgrades are generally very reasonably priced so it's not the first time I travel first class on their trains.
Along the route, we were treated with gorgeous views of the Pyrenes Mountains. Impossible to capture from a moving train with all the jostling, over-zoom and reflections in the windows... too bad.
We arrived at the hotel around 10:45 and thankfully the room was ready. Always such a bonus!
After unpacking, off we went to explore "La Ville Rose". Toulouse is nicknamed the Pink City because of it's unique architecture featuring pink terra cotta bricks. Seriously, maybe I am colour blind but it really didn't stand out to me. Yeah, there are pink bricks, but brown ones too... and all shades in between.
Here's a good example. If anything, it reminded me of Siena.
First on the agenda was lunch and we just happened to pass by a "Bouillon". They are normally HUGE, and serve French food at a surprisingly affordable prices. Most people know the Bouillon Chartier in Paris but there are lots of them all over and they remain very a popular pick for a meal since the prices are low and the tables turn over quickly. Just like the Entrecôte restaurants, line-ups that move fast are part of the process so we joined the queue. Honestly, this one moved a little slower than my other experiences, but once you start waiting and are getting closer and closer to the front of the line, giving up and going elsewhere feels dumb.
After this, was wandered the city taking in lots of lovely sights and visited the Saint-Sernin Basilica.
The weather was windy so it was holding us back a bit because we were feeling a little chilly. We definitely prefer it over being too hot, but a smidge more warmth would have been nice! By 3PM we decided we'd stop for a drink somewhere indoors and headed to the "Place du Capitole" square which is lined with lots of cafés. We picked one, put on our invisibility cloaks, and sat down. After warming up and being ignored for quite some time, we left. The terrasses outside were covered and well protected from the wind, so it turned out to be a very nice place to sit!
After this, we explored the waterfront a bit...
And a little after 5, we started looking for supper. All I wanted was salad. We found a nice place that was empty when we arrived but filled up fast so it's a good thing we started searching early.
Our table-mate was so cute and very well behaved!
It was an early night for us tonight, I think we were back in the room by 7:30ish.
The sky was overcast which was fine but the wind was too cold. As soon as it died down a bit we felt good, but then it would start blowing and we had to put our hoods up again. We were getting fed up and decided to call it a day.
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