Hello again!

Welcome to day 2 of my (partially) solo trip to France. It was another scorcher outside (high of 104 today), so I got an early start and headed straight for breakfast.

First some pics of me wandering around (possibly getting a bit lost).

First pic of the day, before my hair gets poofy from the heat and humidity.

I decided to start with a historic patisserie in the historic center as they have some baked goods that are specialties of Toulouse. It’s called Patisserie Contè, and despite my wandering it was actually very close to where I was staying. Nice.

It needs to be said that I don’t actually speak French. I’ve got a few words and phrases I’ve picked up on our visits to France (and if I’m honest with myself it’s at least 80% food words), and my accent is so bad it’s really hard for people to understand me.

But Toulouse is a friendly city, and people have really been going the extra mile to make it work with me.

The ladies at the cafe did not speak any English, but I was successful in ordering an espresso (didn’t even try to ask for decaf because I’m in France) and a chocolate croissant, which is called a chocolatine here rather than pain au chocolate. Honestly, I like the simplicity. I was also successful at asking for my items “for here” although she repeated the phrase “for here or to go” in French multiple times and had to use hand gestures before I understood what she was asking. People, I actually know that phrase, I just needed her to say it 3 times slower. Ha!

After eating my breakfast I was also able to order a small Fénéta cake (it’s a Toulouse speciality with apricot jam, lemon shavings, and some kind of almond paste on a crust) and a violet macaron (violet stuff is big in Toulouse) to go.

While wandering around I also dropped by a little storefront booth called Mr. Madeleine and picked up some madeleines of various flavors for later.

Ok, I absolutely did munch on some of them as I was walking around.

Here are some early morning pics of the lovely pink city.

After dropping my wares back at my hotel, I wandered out to the Place de Capitole to visit the grand square and the capitol building. The building itself is really big, and is the signature color of Toulouse: pink.

Toulouse is nicknamed “the pink city” or “the rose city” due to the color of the bricks they used on many of the buildings.

There was a market going on at the square, so I looked around there before heading into the capitole building where you can visit the Salle des Illustres, which is a series of rooms with gorgeous painted murals from the 19th century. The murals showed both important events and pastoral scenes, and I was able to find some fluffy sheep.

There were also some nice statues and views to the square below. It’s completely free so definitely worth a look. There was a security guard who was checking bags. I did attempt to use my French but he could obviously tell I had a terrible accent and asked if I was from Spain. I told him I was American and we joked about American politics. He said “But Trump is crazy, right?” I told him I was aware of that and am looking forward to our next elections.

As I went throughout the day a lot of people assumed I was Spanish, so when my French was nonexistent they would sometimes just switch to Spanish which is maybe even worse for me (despite the best efforts of my high school Spanish teachers).

One vender at a market I went to said she didn’t often see American tourists in Toulouse. She said that the last Americans she interacted with was a family who were living abroad for the summer and came by her stall last summer.

I came across one other American today, a lady a couple of decades older than me who was “just looking for something to cool me the f*** off” at a pharmacy. The poor attendant didn’t understand what she wanted and was trying to explain to her what Avene eau de thermale spray was. The lady kept asking if it was “for cooling down.” I told the lady it was more like a moisturizer you spray on to calm irritated skin, and that despite having the word thermale in the title would probably not keep her cool, and would certainly be more expensive than just filling a spray bottle with water. Although I do love the idea of that poor woman spraying herself with Avene all day. It probably would feel pretty good.

After visiting the inside of the capitole, I found one of the smaller cafes in the square advertised Glace coffee (Glace is iced thank the heavens above).

I probably would have been just fine ordering an iced latte, but I saw they had matcha and decided to get fancy. It was a mistake. It was the weakest matcha latte I’ve ever had, and they added no sweetener to it. It was iced milk with a slight tinge of grass.

But it was cold and had an excellent view of the square.

After my little refreshment break I hit the streets again, and headed to the Victor Hugo market to grab some fresh produce. The market is indoors and is cute, with lots of produce, cheese, butchers, seafood, and wine.

I had read that melons were in season, so I asked them if they could slice a melon for me. They understood what I was asking (thank goodness) and got to work slicing it up. He then asked me if I would be taking it home or eating it immediately. I love the idea of this man contemplating that I might eat an entire melon on my own right then and there. Do I get a prize if I finish? He packed it up for me, and I deposited my melon, a peach, and some cherries back at my hotel.

Next I decided to do some shopping. There are a couple of French brands that I’ve been stalking, and was able to find some things I was pretty excited about. Honestly just wandering the quaint lanes was a lot of fun, and the air conditioning in many of the shops was a much needed respite.

After shopping it was time for some lunch, so I dropped by a cafe that had good reviews on the interweb. They stated they had air conditioning inside, so inside I went. I would say the appropriate phrase would be that they have “light air conditioning”. Was it more comfortable than the growing heat outside? Absolutely. Was it objectively “comfortable” in any other setting? Ha!

The good news was that they did have a classic French drink on the menu I had been wanting to get. It’s called a diabolo, and it’s made up of lemonade, sparkling water, and menthe (mint) syrup. This cafe had a special Toulouse version that used violet syrup rather than the mint. It was delicious and perfect for the heat. I had also asked for still tap water, and my waitress asked if I wanted ice which I’m pretty sure meant she correctly pegged me as American. No one else at the cafe had ice in their water.

I also got a jambon (ham) sandwich with butter and tomatoes.

After lunch it was really starting to get hot, so I went back to my lovely air conditioned hotel room to recover. There were a few churches I wanted to visit in town, but they often have a dress code and my short, sleeveless dress wasn’t going to cut it. And since I didn’t have my luggage, it was the only change of clothes I had packed in my carry on.

While resting at the hotel something amazing happened: my luggage showed up!

Oh wonderful, beautiful suitcase!

With the arrival of my luggage came a light tee shirt and linen pants. I am now cathedral appropriate!

And so much hotter.

Ya’ll, doing my shopping earlier in the day and my church viewing later in the day was a problem. Many of the shops had AC, but those churches do not.

The churches were lovely, but I didn’t really end up spending a ton of time in them. I did enjoy the cloisteres de jacobin. The outside court area was lovely, and they claim to have relics (aka the skull) of St Thomas Aquinas given to them by the pope in the 1300’s. So yeah, it’s old. Did you know the Dominican order of monks was founded in Toulouse? Cuz it was, and this church is the their mothership… motherchurch.

My understanding from the placards around the church and cloisters is that the Dominican order are the studious monks. They value merging religion with study and reason, always seeking truth. One exhibit (which was not in English) seemed to signify that they sang as well.

Unfortunately the outside of the church is being renovated right now so it was covered in scaffolding and very hard to see.

The other two churches I visited were the Chapelle des Carmelites which had a beautifully painted interior. It was billed as the Sistine chapel of France. I don’t know about all of that, but it was beautiful and I was one of only a few people inside, possibly because it was so hot in there, but also because the Sistine chapel is always so crowded with tourists chatting away and attendants getting louder and louder in their shushing of tourists. Or maybe that was just my experience?

The last church I visited was the Basalique Saint-Sernin. It was a beautiful cathedral with some nice artwork, and they created a handy app that guides you through some of the important stuff. I love to just spend a few minutes sitting in Cathedrals, so I did my best with this one. Even though it was hot.

As far as European cathedrals go, it wasn’t one of the most impressive. But if you love cathedrals or just want a quiet place to pray or contemplate life, it is nice.

After churching I considered doing a river cruise, but I was told the boats did not have AC so quickly walked away for that. By this point it was over 100 degrees.

I decided instead that it was time for some refreshment. I went ice cream hunting, and found a little coffee shop that advertised ice cream made in house. The poor server didn’t speak English, so I tried to tell him en Français that I wanted ice cream to eat in the shop. He got the “for here” part, but I went wrong somewhere in the ordering. I thought I told him I would like glace (ice cream), but he brought me out some kind of drink. I think it may have been fresh pressed lemonade, but really have no idea. Maybe he thought I was referring to ice instead of ice cream? But still, what did you put with the ice?

I started over with a new server, and was able to get a bowl of some truly delightful house made ice cream. It was lime with mint, and it was perfectly refreshing after sweltering in those churches.

After ice cream, I took another AC break at my hotel. On the way back I definitely ducked in shops that I knew I wasn’t going to buy anything from just to have a little AC moment. It was also fun to watch the people (myself included) scurrying in a single file line like little ants from shaded area to shaded area. The area at Place De Capitole between the building and the café’s were like no man’s land with no shade that you just get through as quickly as you can.

After resting I had planned out a very special dinner for myself at a nice restaurant called Hortus that was going to do a tasting menu with wine pairing. I’ve never done this type of slow moving dinner solo, but I put on an appropriate dress and headed next door, because that’s where the restaurant was.

The food was surprisingly inventive and over all fantastic (the oysters in ice cream was refreshing but pushed my taste buds beyond their comfort level) and my waiter made a valiant effort at trying to explain the dishes in English. He told me at the beginning his English was very good and he was excited to practice, but by the end his confidence was really faltering. To be fair I think the intricate foods and cooking techniques the chef was using are probably not everyday lingo. I really appreciated that he was so earnest and trying so hard (and I’m in a country not speaking their language so I’ve got lots of grace for someone who’s willing try and help me out), so I just went with it. No idea what half of it was, but absolutely loved it. Except the oysters and ice cream. He was very confident and correct on that one.

From beginning to end the meal took over 3 hrs. I got there at 7:45pm and left around 11:20pm. I had a book downloaded on my phone which I was able to finish.

Towards the end of the meal I realized that I had brought my little fancy purse, and hadn’t moved my credit card into it from the backpack I’d been carrying. A brief moment of absolute panic occurred before I remembered that we have technology now and most places in France can do ApplePay. Which is why I’m not sitting in a French prison right now.

One thing I’ve been loving about Toulouse is that the food has been wonderful, and it is all so inexpensive compared to Seattle. That meal was probably a third of what it would have cost me back home.

By that point it was past my bedtime, so I walked next door to my hotel room and went to bed.

Goodnight.