March 9, 2026 - First full day in Toulouse

What a difference daylight and sun makes. This morning when we headed out, we turned left instead of right and there we were in a nice square with a small sculpture, sculpted by a Toulousian by the name of Labatut. People were sitting out having coffee and there was a nice playground nearby. After browsing and looking at the menus in the square we headed towards the tourist bureau where we were given maps, pamphlets and all sorts of information on the public transport system. There is a package that you can buy which gives you train tickets to other cities at 10 euros a day. You must buy them for a minimum of 2 days and they must be consecutive. I remember reading in André and Wendy’s blog that they had done that but had forgotten. We will investigate that.

Many fountains in Toulouse

Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Toulouse

Since we were right next to the Capitol which happens to be the city hall we decided to visit. It is free and is also a museum. It is open to the public everyday unless there is a wedding or council meetings. The outside of the building is beautiful, but the inside is full of paintings and sculptures. There are paintings on the ceilings as well as on the walls. In front of the Capitol is a large square with many restaurants. There is also an arcade there with 29 paintings on the ceiling of the arcade.

Claude Nougaro

Donjon du Capitol

La Capitol

A selfie the easy way.

Selfie time again.

La violette de Toulouse

For lunch we found a restaurant that served cassoulet, so we stopped there. It is a very heavy meal and despite walking all afternoon we were not hungry at suppertime and still feel full. Our caching took us to the Saint-Sernin Basilica, so we entered and visited the main floor as well as the basement which had small chapels.

Basilique Saint-Sernin

We came back to the apartment and did a load of laundry before heading out to meet some geocachers at an event. They gave us some tips on where to eat when we go to Albi and Carcassonne. Some of the caches that we will be doing there were placed by one of the cachers at the event. Since we don’t have a car, they offered to give us a ride when they go do some night caching on Friday night for pi day, but I think we will decline.  

We have a much better impression of Toulouse than we had last night. The people that we met tonight were very friendly and the city seems to have a vibrant life.