Un Semestre en France: Toulouse

I spent my Saturday visiting Toulouse with some people from the group.

Obligatory Wikipedia description:

"Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, EADS, ATR and the Aerospace Valley, considered as a global cluster.

Toulouse was the capital of the former province of Languedoc (provinces were abolished during the French Revolution), the former Visigothic Kingdom and was the capital of the historical region of Occitania (Southern France). It is now the capital of the Midi-Pyrénées region, the largest region in metropolitan France. It is also the capital of the Haute-Garonne department.

A city with a typical architecture of Southern France, Toulouse has two historic sites added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Canal Du Midi (shared with other cities), since 1996, and the Basilica of St. Sernin under the description: World Heritage Sites of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France, since 1998."

I had heard a lot of great things about Toulouse, so I think I may have gone in with my expectations a little too high, because I found myself slightly disappointed. At the same time I was really, really, really tired all day, so that didn't help the experience.

It was fine, though, churches, museums, all that jazz. It didn't blow my socks off but I didn't regret going; I had spent six hours straight the day before reading for a couple classes, which is a lot more tiring in French than it is in English, so I needed a day out.

There were some pretty interesting things about Toulouse though: tons and tons of Subways (I think I saw six, and each one was more tempting than the last), and, surprisingly, lots of Japanese food. Sushi. I so miss sushi. I should have gotten some. Kerry: when I get back we are sushi-ing all. the. time.

One of the UNESCO world heritage sites listed above

Inside the church

And the flea market all around the church

Umm.... sure

We had separated into two groups and then we met up for a picnic lunch in the park along the rive

Okay, so everyone is going to roll their eyes but... when you walk into this museum, there is a garden in the center. And. There. Was. A. Fig. Tree.

I may or may not have eaten like five. Or six.

It was a whole veggie garden, actually. My friend and I started going after the grapes when some lady across the garden yelled "ca ne se mange pas!!" and gave up the stinkiest of stink eyes. Oops. Sorry...but not really.

The museum was pretty cool actually, I must be getting old because I don't mind going into museums anymore. And we don't have to pay for them here, which makes is better.