The last day of Carcassonne was fairly uneventful. After seeing around the castle, which by night is very impressive from a distance, there wasn't a lot left to do. After seeing that the train station had lockers the previous evening, we checked out of our hotel at 10 the next morning and caught the shuttle into the new town. It was at this point, however, that we realised that the train station lockers weren't actually available for use. They themselves were locked away from the general public, so we were stuck with our big ol' bags for the rest of the day. Deciding that we'd seen as much of the city as was necessary, we found a nice little patch of grass by the canal (and apparently the canal runs from coast to coast along southern France. Quite a feat really), and set up camp for the next 5 hours.
This was a pleasant enough day, although we bought a bottle of wine which we were subsequently unable to open. I went to a few different shops trying to find a corkscrew, but the only ones available were relatively expensive souvineir styles, which I didn't really want to carry around with me. They also looked like they would break after a few uses. So Ian decided that warm beer (they don't refridgerate their beer in many stores, it's all on the shelf) would be ok, but after a few sips of a room temperature Leffe , I think he quickly changed his mind.
Eventually the train arrived and we made our way to Toulouse. A former work mate, Christian, was very gracious in offering us his abode for a few days. This is great, as finding accomodation in Toulouse is very difficult. We had a nice home cooked meal (having some real vegetables for the first time in a long time), and they showed us around the city of Toulouse. We stopped off in a Belgian beer cafe, with at least 15 different taps along the bar. This was great, but smoky, and we finished the night off with a walk along the other side of the city.
The next day we slept in a bit and did our own exploring of the town. There's not much to speak of really, it's a fairly simple city without a lot of different touristy sites, but a lot of different shops. There's an interesting period happening in France at the moment, which is that all of the shops are having sales. Apparently the pricing is very tightly regulated, and shops are only allowed to sell below the recommended retail prices twice a year. We happen to be here during one of those periods.
Lisa bought a new handbag, and I decided to get a pair of Birkenstock rip off's, as Ian and Lisa were having a lot of success with their genuine articles. I quickly regretted this decision, as every step felt like they were going to kick off into the distance, and I determined that karma is telling me that I simply was not designed to own open footwear. I haven't ditched them yet, but I hold low promise for their future in my already bulging backpack.
We met up with another former Permian workmate, Seth, who had been telling me for quite some time about a local Toulouse specialty, that is a cheese fondue. We went to a tea house to have tea and cake. There was extreme confusion with regards to Ian's cake, which ended up being that the cake he ordered was too small and required him to choose another. After this we had a couple of Heinekens waiting for Christian to finish work, and then got a group together of the 5 of us (Ian, Lisa, Christian, Heather (Chris's girlfriend), and myself) and Seth with 3 of his friends from the area.
Finding the cheese restaurant, we ordered the fondue and also what is known as a Raclette. It is basically half a wheel of cheese with a heating element above it. Upon waiting a couple of minutes for the top of cheese to melt, you scrape this melted layer off of the wheel and over a bunch of potatoes. The fondue is fairly basic, essentially consisting of a pot of melted cheese into which you dunk pieces of bread. I became quite adept and the dunking and twirling, pulling out very large globs of bread and cheese from the pot. I was named honorary 'Cheese Twizzler' for the evening. White wine was served with the meal and one of Seth's friends, the Norwegian Frederick from Fredericksta, urged us to drink as much of this as possible, as apparently it dissolves the cheese in your stomach.
The amount of cheese eaten by all was nothing short of extreme, but the whole meal was very satisfying. I believe it will take several days of fasting before even a portion of the energy ingested from that incredible amount of stored fat will be burnt.
Following the restaurant, Seth ushered us into a very dark little venue full of Shisha's. He apparently knew the place well, and after chatting with the lady running the place, took us downstairs to a darker room, even more reminiscent of an Arabic or Indian opium den. Strange lights and curtains were strewn around the place with couches and cusions adorning the walls. One very large Shisha was in the middle of our group, and a flavoured tobacco cone was inserted. Upon this is placed a hot coal, a new mouthpiece was inserted into the handle thing and the puff-puff-pass ritual began. The smoke is surprisingly fine and I was hardly able to tell I was inhaling any smoke at all, until you exhale and a very nice apply flavoured smoke escapes from your lungs. The Shisha is essentially a massive water pipe, so the smoke is very well filtered. The whole thing lasted for a good half an hour to an hour, and was supplemented with tea. The tea was incredibly sweet and fruity, which was very nice and complimented the Shisha well.
After we had exhausted the tobacco in the thing, we left the venue. Seths part of the group dispersed at this point, needing to get to public transpot before it shut down. The rest of us found another Belgian beer bar, and had a round of drinks. This was done outside, as the place was far too full and smokey. The bartender was very pleased to serve some Australians and informed us that his ex-girlfriend was from East Doncaster. I was informed of this fact later on, and didn't have the opportunity to let him know that was essentially where I lived. I'd like to think I'd have gotten a free drink or something, but Ian took a more cynical bent and seemed to think I'd have been lucky to get a reaction at all. One of the patrons tried to start a conversation with me, but finding I didn't speak French, it quickly dissapated. She was looking over in my direction for the rest of the time we were there, however, and it was definitely the most infuriating experience I've had with the language gap so far. Bugger being able to order a meal in the local dialect, I can point out things that sound tasty in whatever language you care to present me. However if a pretty French chick starts talking to you in a bar, they don't exactly provide you with a menu of responses to progress the encounter. We left the bar soon after, and finished up with another beer at Christians place before calling it a night.
Today Christian and Heather took us around Toulouse to see some of the few daylight sights to be seen, and after having a tomato, cheese and herb pancake for lunch, we've retired back to the house whilst the girls check out some of the shopping sales. I look forward to checking out the electronic music festival that is happening in one of the parks in a few hours, and sometime during that we're moving to the main square in Toulouse where an orchestra and acrobatic show is being performed in honor of the new metro line that has opened up this weekend. It has been free metro for all this weekend, with a lot of fanfare and general hoo-hah. I've never seen a town so excited about a new piece of public transport.
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