Thursday – May 13th – Toulouse to Albi
In the morning, I feel less nauseous but my whole body feels like it’s full of ground glass. Fun! Still, I want to see some of Toulouse, even though it’s still grey and cold out, not to mention a French holiday. Undeterred, we wander first to a cafe, and then to the Saint-Sernin Basilica. This structure is the largest Romanesque church in Europe, and it’s quite impressive! It’s built in a cross shape, but has many rounded walls that look like overlapping cylinders. It also has a huge tower which was added on to over multiple periods in history and thus features 12th century Romanesque architecture, 14th century gothic architecture, and a 15th century spire. It also, apparently, has one of the most beautiful pipe organs in the world inside of it … but unfortunately it’s closed, so we can’t see that. D’oh!
Once we’ve circled the Basilica, we head down the Rue du Taur (Road of the Bull), which leads directly from Saint-Sernin to the Capitol Plaza. This is a huge central square that’s mostly empty at the moment, but does have a small outdoor market in one corner. At the far end is the Capitol Building, which is a gigantic structure made out of the pink brink that Toulouse is famous for. We were hoping to get inside but it, like almost everything else, appears to be closed. The moral of this story is: Charlotte and I are going to need to get back to Toulouse at some point!
We start making our way back to our hotel, stopping by a park to check out some more scenery, when the sky finally decides to stop spitting down the occasional rain drops, and really let go. It goes from dry to pouring in rapid fashion, and Charlotte and I find ourselves huddled underneath an awning at the very cafe where we’d previously had breakfast. Eventually the rain dies down a bit, and we head for the hotel. Along the way we find a gigantic indoor market, and there are few things in the world that excite Charlotte more than indoor markets, so we stroll through that, checking out the stalls. Most of them are getting ready to leave but there’s still plenty of fish, cheese, veggies and other good stuff on display! Eventually we make it back to the hotel, hop in the car, and head for our final destination: Albi.
We find our way to the town without much difficulty. It’s only about a 40 minute drive northeast of Toulouse, almost all of it on a major highway. Unfortunately it’s still cold and rainy out, which is never the best thing for Charlotte’s mood. We decide that lunch and coffee should help her feel better, and stop off at a cafe. She calls her sister to let her know we’re in town, and we’re shortly surprised by Jerome, Charlotte’s soon-to-be Brother-in-Law, who swings by the cafe to say a quick hello before heading out again. Charlotte gets a croque madame, and I get some kind of chicken sandwich on a baguette, and we eat, and head off to find our hotel.
The sandwich was the first food I’ve had in about 24 hours and even though I only ate half of it, by the time I got to the hotel I am feeling pretty awful. The hotel itself doesn’t make us feel any better — it’s about as budget as budget can get, featuring a room that’s barely big enough to hold the full-sized bed, and which smells overwhelmingly of men’s cologne. On opening the bathroom door, we’re greeted by a tiny, cramped bathroom pod which also reeks … this time of mildew. Awesome. There’s no one on duty at the desk downstairs (we checked in at a kiosk) and their help line doesn’t open until 5 PM, so Charlotte and I wait around in the room hoping we can get switched. I kind of semi-pass-out on the bed, and eventually wake up feeling better. Five o’clock rolls around and Charlotte calls the help line … which is broken. Unsure what else to do, and unwilling to spend the night in a room that smells like wet mold and cologne, we get online and book a new hotel elsewhere in Albi. Then we pack up and head out.
Naturally as soon as we get downstairs, a hotel attendant shows up at the front desk. Charlotte and I explain that the room smelled awful and that we waited to try and switch rooms but weren’t able to, and had to book a new room elsewhere. The attendant, or manager, or whoever she is basically goes “no refunds!” and her demeanor makes it clear that she’s not going to argue with us. Charlotte and I decide to take it up with customer service, and head out to our new hotel. It proves to be not much larger, but it’s better-located, nicer-looking AND doesn’t smell terrible. Win!
We relax there for a bit longer, and then talk to Eglantine again, who says she’ll come over and pick us up so we can hang out with Charlotte’s family at her place. This sounds good to us, and for the next couple of hours, we hang out at Eglantine and Jerome’s apartment. It’s a nice place, quite spacious, which is good because we’re fitting not only Eglantine, Jerome, their son Alexandre, their dog, Charlotte and I, but also Charlotte’s parents, her sister Nolwenn, brother-in-law Fred, niece Valentine, nephew Gabriel, and two of Eglantine’s friends! Much French is spoken, very little of which I understand, but that’s ok. I amuse myself by watching Valentine run around with Charlotte’s pocket camera, taking pictures of people’s feet and laughing hysterically.
Eventually the crowd disperses, and we head back to our hotel, ready to get some sleep. Tomorrow: the Civil Ceremony!
