Toulouse

Our day trip for Toulouse was planned ahead of time, but we started out with some tripdation that morning as a "social action" (meaning a strike) had been declared by the railroad workers. It was to begin at 8p.m. that night and end at 8a.m.two days later. We would be on the train returning to Beziers at 8p.m. so would the train go or not. We wouldn't know until later in the day. We arrived at the train station, big and busy, and bought a map of the city. We saw lots of buses out front so we went out and asked the driver if they went to the old city. He was very nice, telling us where to get off so we could start our visit to the old section. A great tourist information office was right there and we found out where the contemporary museum was located. We walked through the city hall, beautiful brick building with ornate courtyards, and out into a plaza where a market was in full action. Food, books, new and old stuff stalls. We walked through the pedestrian only old town, enjoying being somewhere totally new and unknown. We found a little corner restaurant, local people eating there, and had lunch. Then we began our long trek to the museum across the river.