Toulouse to Montpellier

Monday, June 6 ~~ Pleasant in Toulouse, Sunnier and warmer as we moved West East towards the Mediterranean. (what can I say, I've been conditioned all my life - go West to the beach!)

Today we took the train from Toulouse to Montpellier!  We were both a little nerve-wracked about the process, but it turned out to be pretty painless after all :-).

Since the Gare (train station) was very close to our hotel, we walked over a few times - first for information, then for more information, then for tickets and boarding.  We had looked into getting a Europass before our trip, but it didn't make sense for the amount and length of trips we were considering.  And also, we were not absolutely sure we would take the train.  Then we found out that ticket prices increase as the travel day approaches, and we thought about whether we should reconsider our lack-of-planning plan. Ultimately, we decided that being able to change our travel at the last minute was worth it.  But we did spend some time looking at passes and tour packages, considered the bus (found out it doesn't do what we want for the longer distances), and found that fares also vary depending on the time of day and type of train (an express with reservations is more than a multi-stop 2nd class train).

So, our travel day arrived!  We had an easy morning, but didn't dawdle much - breakfast, packing, walk to the train station.  We arrived about and hour and a half before the train we wanted, bought our tickets, and waited.  About 20 minutes before the scheduled departure time, the information board listed the track number for our train - we pulled our stuff together, got to our train, and found some seats.  Makes sense of course, but no one can tell you how easy it is until you've actually done it.  Or is that just me?  It's just me.

On the train, we shared a table with a very nice woman who lived in Montpellier, and was returning from a visit with her son in Toulouse.  We started off a bit shy of each other, but she soon found out that we spoke enough French to actually converse (YAY!!!), and we were all chatty by the time we got to Montpellier.  She advised us to go to Carcassonne in the morning, because it gets very crowded later in the day.  (We definitely have to remember that!)  We all agreed that Narbonne was much warmer and sunnier than Toulouse (but she said that Narbonne has the Mistral, a very strong wind).  We ate our lunch of bread, pate, raw veggies and fruit (pears!) - when I commented that it was difficult to have silverware on a trip, she said (something to the effect of) "well, you're voyaging! you don't have to worry about that!"  And after all, it's not as though we made a big mess.  And the pate (forestier and foie gras from the market) was *amazing!*

When we got off the train, Madame even pointed us in the right direction for our hotel.  We fumbled around a little bit, but then pulled out our maps (such tourists!), and walked straight to it!

Toulouse - Musee des Augustins

Sunday, June 5 ~~ Partial Sun, pleasant. 

Today, I was simply tired!  Yesterday's TREK got to me, so we mostly relaxed.  However, we did make it out to the Sunday morning market, where I saw my "pear guy" again - we kidded about the last time** then we got *more* super-juicy pears and told him that this was our last day in Toulouse :-(.  We finished our shopping, had lunch upstairs at the Victor Hugo market again (but different restaurant this time), and then walked to Wilson Place.

That was about all I could do!  So, with my bag full of groceries, I walked back to the hotel for a rest.  Rick took advantage of the first-Sunday-is-free at the museums, and walked to Musee des Augustins.  On his way, he found the Monument aux Morts and the Halle Aux Grains.

Rick had wonderful reports of the exhibits - the only thing that saved me from fatal jealousy was the fact that *the* statue I wanted to see, the virgin of Toulouse, was gone - on her own travels around various museums of the world.

** our first day in Toulouse, we found the street market and my pear guy.  He had some regular-looking pineapples, and also some that were much darker - his sign on those was difficult to read, and my best guess was pineapples "fumé" - so, trying out my French (!!!), I asked if they were really smoked pineapples?  How bizarre!  Well, no, they were "sucre," or "sweet" (don't even ask me how those words looked alike, but they did!).  We had quite a laugh then, mimicking smoking a pineapple...
Oh yes, I also had fun ordering 2 pears - I used the USA fingers first (index and middle), then switched to the French fingers (thumb and index).  Then I just *had* to explain the Costa Rican "2" fingers (the ring and pinky fingers).  Then *he* told me the word for "two" in arabic.  I'm darned if I can remember it tho...

Toulouse - Basilica St. Sernin and Taur

June 4 ~~ Overcast, partial sun, a little rain late afternoon

Today, we made it to the second floor of the Victor Hugo market for lunch!  We had to do a little bit of shopping first, of course :-).   The market closes at 1pm, and we rolled in a bit before then and got some fruit and *cheese!*  After lunch, we went on the Basilica St. Sernin, which wasn't open in the afternoon until 2. 

On our way back, we ran across another church, L'Eglise Notre Dame du Taur (Our Lady of the Bull).  You can see the Bull on the lower left in the wall painting.

From there, we walked to the Place du Capitole - there was a wedding party there, so we didn't go inside any of the buildings.  But!  I *did* see the door to the Alliance Française!  Unfortunately, it was closed :-(.

We went back to the hotel via Wilson Place, and relaxed inside through all the rain :-)