Date of visit: May 6, 2013 (1 night)
It takes about an hour from Carcassonne by car. However, it is a big city, so there was a bit of traffic jam just before we arrived. We checked into the hotel around 4pm. So it took about 2 hours.
In fact, I visited this city 15 years ago.
Yes, the World Cup in France. Nowadays, Japan participates in every tournament as if it were a matter of course, but its first appearance was in France in 1998. Ticket frauds were rampant, but I was lucky as ever to get a few tickets to watch the game. I will never forget the excitement I felt when I got one of the few tickets and watched the game.
By the way, this photo was taken 15 years ago, but I took it with a digital camera at the site. There was no one who had a digital camera in those days. Everyone was using ordinary film cameras. My father happened to get one for his work, and I thought it was interesting, so I took it with me.
Although only a few, there are still digital photos from the dawn of digital cameras at that time.
So, after 15 years of waiting, I finally arrived in Toulouse.
I was able to park in the parking lot in front of the hotel as per my prior research using Google Map Street View.
Once at the hotel, we first went sightseeing in the city. In fact, when I visited 15 years ago, I could only go to the stadium, so it was my first time to walk the streets of Toulouse.
But before that. In fact, I had gotten information that one of my favorite orchestras, the Orchestre de la Capitole de Toulouse, was having a concert the next night, so I went to their home base, the Halle aux Grains, to get a ticket.
Does it look small and rather dull? But you can feel the history. But unfortunately, the ticket office was not open. I heard that it will be open tomorrow, so let’s come back.
So we went out to see the city.
15年ぶりのトゥールーズ！ pic.twitter.com/gp2n2i5hqO
— KOMATA.Y (@yuukoma) May 6, 2013
This is the famous Capitol Square, very lively.
The Cathedral of Saint-Sernin is one of the main historical monuments of the pilgrimage route of Santiago de Compostela in France, which is also a World Heritage Site.
Isn’t the street corner quite lovely?
By the way, it was here in Toulouse that I extended my prepaid SIM to 2G. For some reason I couldn’t recharge it on the web anymore, so I went directly to the SFR store to increase the capacity.
こちらのお店でリチャージしてもらったです。 (@ Espace Sfr) http://t.co/Oe9kIS5Kz8
— KOMATA.Y (@yuukoma) May 6, 2013
After sightseeing, I went back to the hotel to change my clothes and then took the subway to the restaurant that my friend booked for me.
But the trouble stopped the subway completely.
これから友人に会いに行こうとしたら地下鉄止まってしまった。
— KOMATA.Y (@yuukoma) May 6, 2013
We took a taxi to the site.
いまここもちゃんと更新されてるね！ pic.twitter.com/AsyiAd2aB5
— KOMATA.Y (@yuukoma) May 6, 2013
Dinner with friends. Mr. and Mrs. T here are my European road trip friends whom I met in the most beautiful “Conques” in France three years ago in 2010.
ご参考：Conques（コンク）- フランスで最も美しい村巡り2010 No.2-
Since we were also driving in the Midi-Pyrenees during this Golden Week and this was the last day of their stay, we wanted to force ourselves to come to Toulouse.
Maybe it was because we were talking so much that we didn’t have any pictures of the restaurant…. I guess that’s how much fun we had.
No, it was about this much. It’s too appropriate. I’m sorry.
It’s amazing that he could talk for 5 hours.
This may be the first time I’ve had such an enjoyable meal while traveling.
But I drank too much and talked too much, and it was around midnight when I noticed. I asked the shop owner to call a taxi for me and went back to the hotel.
とっても長い、そしてとっても楽しい１日でした。（続く）
