From Andorra, we hopped into a rideshare through BlaBla Car with two French girls to traverse into our next country. Greg had used BlaBla back in the “olden days” when rideshares were posted on hostal message boards and it took 10 minutes to write a text message. Today, of course, there is a easy-to-use app which matches drivers and riders for a very economical price. This truly is the golden age of travel. The bus would have cost $34/each, but we paid 9.85€ ($10.40) each to cruise three hours from Andorra to Toulouse, France eager to get our budget back on track.
We got to enjoy a comfortable experience and some great conversation with our driver, Claire, who spoke terrific English as well as Chinese! She works as a developer for urban food forests.
Not to mention, we got some damn fine views of the Pyrenees Mountains en route.
And the day couldn’t have been clearer.
2.08€ per liter=$8.28/gallon. Although gas is typically double in price compared to the US (with or without inflation), it’s rare to hear Europeans complain about gas prices. This is because most of them take public transportation or drive fuel efficient vehicles. Claire’s Peugeot took Super Ethanol 85 gas (which we’ve never even seen in the States) which cost .85€ or $3.39/gallon.
We were very happy to be in France!!! In fact, in 70 countries, this is Greg’s FIRST time setting foot in “the most touristed country on earth.”
When we arrived to our third floor loft, Mandy tossed open the shutters and started singing the opening melody from “Beauty and the Beast” to this view.
We hadn’t had our own place since Peru so a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom felt like a luxury. It cost $56/night which is about what we were paying in most of Spain for a quite crappy one room shared space. Fortunately, we also had Airbnb credits making in half price ($28/night.)
Our fully stocked kitchen. There was even food, including two salmon filets, French fries, couscous, spinach and some other odds and ends. Being able to cook in our “own” kitchen makes us so happy!
And also back in the land of cheap booze! Good wine starting at 2€ a bottle and surprisingly, a very large and quaffable bottle of corked French craft beer for around the same price! ($2.10)
We settled into Toulouse for five days and were absolutely surprised how much we loved the city. It was quiet, easy to navigate, stunning architecture, gorgeous canals, and the people were very friendly. French people get a bad rap for being rude. In Toulouse, we’ve found this to be far from true. In fact, it’s the opposite. People are making eye contact, saying Bonjour and multiple people even expressed well wishes…things like “Bon Courage”…in reference to Mandy’s foot. A very pleasant city. Above is a street scape with the basilica of Saint-Sernin in the background. It looked a bit like the Leaning Tower of Pisa with an ice cream cone on top.
Near our apartment was eerily quiet sometimes.
Did you know? In February 2016, France adopted a law on fighting food waste that meant supermarkets were forbidden to destroy unsold food products and were compelled to donate it instead. This also means food saving apps like Too Good to Go are particularly active here. Inflation. Schlinfation. Save money, help a local business and be kind to Mother Earth.
3€ ($3.12) for a giant box of fruit from the local market.
Our street. Felt a bit reminiscent of UK in some places.
Well, bonjour lovely chap!
We found two permanent carousels within the center. Greg had to have some fun with his photo app.
The main square of the city.
Mmm. Looks like the perfect place to grab a glass of red. 4€ from Bourdeaux. Yes please. Brushing the French from the dustbin in Mandy’s brain proved to be not so easy, especially after studying Spanish for so long. She kept dropping “si” for “oui” and “gracias” for “merci” in the first couple of days. ? She was very happy to be bringing Greg to a a country that captivated her heart so very long ago, however. ??
Flash mob of teeny boppers! So fun!
Pedestrian streets everywhere.
And beautiful mosaics
Ooo la la! Now that looks French. Three course menus range from 13-18€. Ouch. Maybe when we get a fresh July budget ?
The beautiful Square de Charles de Gaulle. In case you don’t know this famous French name from the Paris airport, CDG was a former president and army officer who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II.
Another famous name which we were more surprised to see. Never really found out why…
Unfortunately the whole time we were in Toulouse, our wifi didn’t work. (Love how it works in the middle of nowhere Ethiopia, but not France.) Thus, we were forced into dreadful Al fresco cafes and forced to eat things like banana cake and drink Rosé against our will.
The construction for the Basilica of Saint Siman began in 1080.
Mandy heading in to check things out. Yeah, we don’t think any church will impress us too much after Sagrada Familia!
The bridge over the River Garonne.
More picturesque streets. Especially inviting later in the day.
However, one of the most picturesque parts of Toulouse were the man made canals that encircle the city and accompanying canal boats.
Time to head out from the gorgeous train and bus station.
