I left Bordeaux and made it to Toulouse!


I was very excited to check out Toulouse and see if I liked it more than Bordeaux!

The first day after dropping off my stuff at a couch surfer's house (a girl this time!) I went out in the dark and walked around town. The first thing I noticed was that the town was very festive! It was more decorated than the other towns I had previously visited; every little plaza had something going on and lots of lights.



My favorite was a Christmas tree ride, people could go inside some of the ornaments and go up and down... looked like a lot of fun! Even the ticket booth was festive, check out that snowman!!!

Up they go!

Right behind the Christmas tree ride there was a Santa Town called "The seasons of Christmas." The main attraction was an igloo filled with white Christmas decorations like snowmen, polar bears, elves, etc.


 Right outside there were some gigantic snow globes with Santa's four seasons! Each one showed a scene of Santa during that season... super cute!

"Le printemps du père Noel"- The spring of Santa Claus

"L'ete du Pere Noel"- Santa Claus' Summer Time!

Then I arrived to the "Capitole de Toulouse" where they had a huge Christmas market:

Hot wine and churros!

Sausages anyone?

From le Capitole I walked down to the River and checked out the beautiful Pont Neuf.

I think that was an elf on the shelf!

Isn't this beautiful?

The following day I woke up without being able to move!  I had been having mild back pain since London but that morning it was so painful I literally could not get up by myself because of the pain. I had to wait until Lisa woke up to help me stand up and then moving so so slowly I was able to go to the pharmacy down stairs and get some pain killers (and some pain au chocolate fresh out of the oven from the boulangerie around the corner!)

I went back and rested for a couple of hours and when most of the pain went away I went back out to look at the city and get a hot water bottle for my back.


 My first stop was at the Basilica of Saint Servin, one of the most iconic places of Toulouse!







Toulouse is France's "Ville Rose" (Pink City) because of the pink stone used to construct most of its buildings. I went out at sunset time so the lighting was perfect, there was a rainbow, it really felt truly magical walking around town with the sun hitting the bricks and making it look so pink and beautiful.



I kept walking until I got to Pont Saint-Pierre. The sun was in the perfect position and the river and bridge looked so wonderful! I really felt like Toulouse was very overlooked by tourists and people are really missing out of this amazing city.




Although my time in Toulouse was short it was well worth it! Definitely better than Bordeaux!