Day 22 -- Lyon to Toulouse

Thursday, 28 September 2023

I got up early(ish) and took the Metro to the train station to catch a train to Toulouse via Montpellier. (Yeah, Vermont spells it differently.) Once in Toulouse I started walking toward the hotel and got a late lunch at O'Tacos along the way. I had a French taco.

I got checked into the hotel and the walked to the Rugby Village where I got the flags of Japan and Samoa painted on my face.

Then it was time to walk to the stadium for the Japan v. Samoa match. And then the Metro back to the hotel.

Architecture: The Basilica of Saint Sernin

A detail of the tops of the fence at the basilica

A new pedestrian bridge under construction. It'll cross the Garonne near the stadium

I'm not sure why, but this Japan supporter is what I think Liam would look like if he were older and Japanese.

I should say a few things about this hotel. I liked the hotel I stayed at my previous time in Toulouse, but it didn't have any vacancies by the time I got around to checking. So I stayed at The Social Hub. There are about 20 of them throughout Europe. They started out being called The Student Hotel, but they rebranded recently to make it clear that it isn't only for students. They have student housing, short-term hotel stays, and extended stays. They are turning the hotel experience into more than just a place to sleep for the night. A bar, a restaurant, a gym, free laundry, a rooftop pool, shelves of books, co-working spaces, a theater room, ping pong in the lobby, and foosball are just a few of the things I noticed. I didn't stay long enough to take advantage of much of it (plus, I'm not very social), but it's a neat idea. 

About all I used was the free laundry. It uses an app to activate the machines, but it couldn't find me in the bookings. I went to the lobby and talked to the overnight host (yeah, I'm starting my laundry at midnight) and she said they've been having trouble with the system, so she activated a washer for my under her admin account. And then I had to go back to her 38 minutes later for her to activate the dryer. Finished around 2:00 a.m. and had to get up at 6:00 to catch a train. But free laundry in a machine still beats paid laundry in a machine, which in turn beats free laundry in a bathtub and then waiting for it to dry.

A wall of hooks in the laundry room where you can hang lost socks

...doug