March 8, 2026 - Angoulême to Toulouse

Today was mostly a travel day. Agnès and Dominique drove us to the train station and waited until our train departed for Bordeaux where we had to make a transfer before continuing to Toulouse. We learned that there is a board next to the tracks that will tell you where to wait so that you will be near your cabin when the train stops. On both our trains, there was someone sitting in our seats when we arrived at our assigned seats. On the first trip, the lady moved to her seat when we arrived but on the second train, the couple asked if we minded letting them stay in our seats and taking theirs since she was not feeling well and it was closer to the bathroom. It was no big deal to change seats since both seats were facing the same direction. We did not find that there was a lot to see along the route except for couple of Nuclear reactor cooling towers.

Our first impressions of Toulouse are not great. We arrived in the rain and since it was a 20-minute walk from the train station to the apartment we decided to take a taxi. The taxi driver was not happy to have a fair of only 10 euros. He grumbled a bit and was not very pleasant. The husband of our host arrived a few minutes after us. He gave us the keys and a very brief information of the apartment, not even bothering to show us where the bathroom and bedroom was. He seemed a hurry to leave and did not even ask if we had any questions. Basically he said this is where you drop off your keys when you leave, strip the bed, this is where the remote for the heat is, books for the appliances are in this drawer, bye.

The apartment is adequate and has everything thing we need to be comfortable including lots of basic food item such as oils, vinegar, flour, sugar, parchment paper, and cling wrap. The cleaning lady though, did not do a through cleaning as there are crumbs behind the toaster, and a few things could be dusted better.

We took a walk to try and find something to eat and find bread for breakfast. Being Sunday evening almost everything is closed. We will have to remember this if we travel to France in the future not to arrive on a Sunday. We found a Monoprix grocery store. They had security both at the entrance and at the exit doors. It does not give you a warm and fuzzy feeling. After returning with our limited supplies since parts of the store was closed off, we ventured further but there was not much to see because they have big doors that they slide down when not open. The few taverns or brasseries that were open were noisy with people cheering at something and the police were leaving the area as we arrived, so we did not linger. We did see where the market Victor Hugo is for Tuesday when it opens as well as where the cheese store that was recommended to us and a couple of places that Agnès and Dominique had suggested that we stop. Everything is not far.

Tomorrow in the sun, we hope that Toulouse will look more welcoming.