If you want to read about the museums of Toulouse it’s best to look away now.
The first Sunday of the month is prime time for museum enthusiasts in Toulouse as most of the major museums (if not all) are free. It follows, then, that my new au pair friends and I decided to spend this ‘free day’ visiting said museums.
Thanks to Facebook, i.e. the holy grail for loners abroad, I’ve conjured up a pretty large group of fellow au pairs to befriend and explore the city with. We’re a varied bunch, German, Danish, American, Spanish and British, and we bring confusion to restaurants and bars throughout the city, as waiters continuously attempt to guess our nationality. We also seem to have one thing in common, we all value sitting down, and eating.
First we visited the beautiful Musée des Augustins and took in some of its impressive Medieval sculpture, Romanesque architecture, and 18th century painting. However, soon our thoughts turned from the art of France, to its cuisine. A lesson I learnt particularly well today: never go to a museum on an empty stomach.
Musée des Augustins
Musée des Augustins
Musée des Augustins
Musée des Augustins
Once talk of lunch – personally the most anticipated meal of the day – was in the air, we bee-lined for the exit.
Sundays in Toulouse are tricky though, the city effectively shuts down, the phrase ‘ghost town’ isn’t far off, so finding a prime lunch spot is more of a challenge than the same task on a week day. Nonetheless, a creperie was found and some humongous salads ordered. And wine. And dessert.
Our day of touristic intentions had descended into a long and leisurely lunch on a terrace – how typically French of us.
At around 4pm we dragged our sorry asses onto the Metro in search of some, perhaps more engaging, natural history. Fast forward an hour and endless displays of shells, insects and stuffed birds, which ordinarily may or may not have taken my interest, had brought about an incredible thirst for refreshments. Once more we ditched the culture in exchange for a bar.
- Fact one: museums can really take it out of you – especially on swelteringly hot summer days when sangria is infinitely more appealing than dead hippos.
- Fact two: when making a new group of friends, bars and restaurants are clear winners in terms of sociability.
So, maybe one month I’ll go back and really absorb some culture, just no one offer me wine and conversation instead.
Some photos from the weekend:
Bric-a-brac market on Saturday
Salut Toulouse 