Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Ville d'etudiants

   Toulouse... A student city. And my first stop in France! It seems like it is a great town to be young in! It is also extremely beautiful and seems to be filled with a lot of history... but who am I kidding. I am in Europe. Of course its filled with history! Everywhere here is filled with centuries more history then anywhere in Canada is.

  Toulouse is set along the edge of the Garonne River. I had a great time relaxing along the rivers edge, eating crepes and baguette sandwiches. I mostly just wandered for the three days I was there. I also had a chance to meet up with one of the gals I met at the hostel in Lisbon. She is studying in Toulouse at the moment and her University was only a block from my hostel. We went out for dinner one night and had a nice wander through the city, which seems to be just as filled with students in the streets at night as it does during the day.

   Since Toulouse was my first stop after leaving Spain I had to switch from Spanish to French. It took me several days but I am finally getting used to saying "Merci" and "S'il vous plait", not "Gracias" and "Por favor". Also, I have found that French is ridiculously hard for me to pronounce. I definitely am mangling the French language. Its quite unfortunate.

   The hostel I stayed in was wonderful! It definitely felt like home. The beds were insanely comfortable for hostel beds and the whole house was quiet. It was more of a guest house then a hostel because the owners lived on site and shared the common spaces. On my last day in Toulouse as I was leaving to board the train, I met a nice Canadian lad from Calgary. It was nice to hear a familiar accent. One thing I miss about home is being able to read signs and understand everything going on around me. However, Its only another week or so before I am in the UK so I will get my fair share of English while I am there.


 On the canal boat ride I went on.

 I could spend all day here.

 In one of the museums in Toulouse.

 It wouldn't be a trip to France with out seeing some of the iconic paintings by Toulouse- Lautrec! (the photo of the painting didn't turn out!)

This is the view from where I ate lunch on my last day. How French!

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