T stands for a Tale of Toulouse!

Hello everyone! I've been having some crafting time and some sorting time...nothing too taxing though!
We are at last having some Summer weather! 
I apologise for not getting to visit everyone last week!

Toulouse!!! 
It's a long tale to tell, you may need to grab a drink!!

Our visit to Toulouse started with a train journey from Avignon.We had spotted a cafe in Arles at the station so planned on buying some lunch there - we were due to have a 30 minute stop so thought we might have time for a coffee too! Unfortunately it wasn't open on Sundays...so no coffee and a prospect of no lunch.

The station at Arles has some lovely art work - it was hot so I wet my 'magic' scarf and put it on my head....thanks for that flattering photo dear!!!

I had some nuts and biscuits in my bag and we both had full water bottles but we looked forward to buying some lunch from the buffet carriage...which we soon found was shut! Fortunately there was a trolley that finally got to us at around 2.00pm and we had a welcome, but quite stodgy sandwich.You can also see that I pushed aside my little journal.

The coastal route and on up to Toulouse provided some lovely scenery though! Sorry about the poor quality - the train windows weren't very clean

By the time we arrived in Toulouse we had finished our water but we knew that our apartment was only a 7 minute walk away! We had been told to ring the concierge when we arrived at the station and he would meet us. We rang the number...several times...and got a recorded message! We decided to walk to the apartment - no one there...and it was hot!(Did I tell you it was hot?) The gate was shut and, as it was on the sunny side of the road we crossed over to wait in the shade...of course I continued to ring...nothing! Hubby crossed back over the road and enquired at the cafe next door! The chef said he had seen the owner earlier in the day so he assumed all was well at that point and asked we would like to come and sit down, which we did, and had a cold drink! At last the chef said that the owner had arrived...by this time over 2 hours had passed....and it wasn't the owner, but another apartment owner who had his wife and two people to use his apartment. 
I decided to ring the booking agent but went into a queue ...meanwhile hubby had gone outside to see the other owner who knew our owner and had rung him and passed his phone to hubby! 
At last I got through only to find that hubby was already sorting something out! 
So that should be that...but...he was quite a distance away and could be there in 40 minutes! When he arrived he was very apologetic and told us he had no idea what had happened to his usually reliable concierge and told us to wait until he and his girlfriend had checked the apartment.....
Five minutes later he was back and said there was no way we could use the apartment and would we mind staying in a hotel for one night until he could get the apartment clean! Fortunately the hotel was a short walk away and in a chain we often use! He helped with our luggage and paid the bill.
He was such charming young man and we felt sorry for him that he had been let down.

By the time we got in the hotel three and a half hours had passed! We had a freshen up and at last set off to get ourselves a meal!
Toulouse is a big city and lots of restaurants were open.

It's now time to join Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Stands For Tuesday.

We both had salads, mine with goats cheese tartines and I think hubby had a Caesar salad. Hubby had a beer while I stuck to water.

The next morning we had a phone call to ask us to collect the keys from the concierge at our apartment at midday....great we thought, except that he was there to clean the apartment and we would not be able to actually move in until 2.30!
So we went for a meal...
Oh! So that's it you're thinking...when we arrived at the apartment we went across to the supermarket and bought basics and some salad for our evening meal. 
I picked up a folding chair and it fell apart...and the socket for the coffee machine kettle could only be accessed by moving the dining table....not a problem, no really, not a problem!!

It was quite a warm night but we managed, then found an electric fan so we could at least have a cool breakfast (hubby had been about 100 yards down the road to the Boulangerie)....NOPE!!! The fan didn't work so we called the concierge who came straight away...couldn't fix it ...rang the owner and we gathered that he was being told to fix it in exactly the same way he had tried to fix it himself...all to no avail and the owner said he would be there at Midday with a new one..which he was..so we were able to go and get a meal

Now, you can see by now that about all we had done was eat, and our cameras show this
Over Sunday and Monday we only have the train photos and these of the view from the hotel room!

 Toulouse is being updated and I hope we can go back and see this area one day

We also have one of the building that housed the Tourist Information centre

Oh! The concierge...he had had a family crisis, didn't ask what, and hadn't got his phone with him! 

Did we we give this place a bad review...no...it was no-ones fault and it is in a lovely area - improvements to the road were made before they started on the Station area and has all the facilities needed...I did however point out the shortcomings to the owner and I am currently updating his booklet as it had quite few things missing or poorly explained! We have spoken on the phone a couple of times.
Yes, we would stay here again! It was close enough to all areas we wanted to visit.

More of the fabulous places we visited another time!!

Thanks for looking, Chris