Toulouse (France)

It's a long time since I spent six months there as a student but from what I recall Toulouse is definitely worth a visit, if you're passing through or even on a weekend break in it's own right. The architecture is truely beautiful - it isn't named the 'ville rose' for nothing, many of the buildings are indeed a dusky pink colour.

It's a big student town, full of bars and a sprinkling of night clubs but in general it's a tranquil place. The river banks are full of sunbathers in summer, as there aren't any beaches near by. Great transport system - if it's not on strike too and lots and lots of shops in a compact city centre. The climate is very mild in winter and steaming hot in summer - the whole place shuts down in August apparently as residents take to the coast as there is little respite from the heat in this town.

France is famous food and they claim to have the greatest cuisine in the world. I for one disagree with this, having always felt that eating horse meat, snails and other wriggly things to be quite disgusting but each to their own. There are plenty of bistros in Toulouse where you can ask for a tres, tres, tres bien cuit steak - unless you like it looking like it's just been cut of a live cow, or else quite unusually for small/ medium sized cities in France, there is a decent selection of other international cuisine. I remember several decent restaurants - La Trattoria - a cute family fun Italian restaurant near the river, La Bodega - a Spanish bar/ restaurant with lots of dancing late at night and plenty of Chinese and other Asian places. There was also the student favourite 'all night restaurant' - can't remember the real name but it was on a road leading off 'La Capitole' (the main square), where we went for many a 'pomme saladaise' (basically potato salad but being French they garnish it with a bit of parsley and hey presto you have a posh French dish! The local speciality I thought was disgusting but then I didn't like many of the ingredients - it is of course cassoulet - a cumbersome mixture of Toulouse sausages with chickpeas and some other gunk.

Most of the bars I went to are probably different now, but there are lots of good ones centred round the streets of 'La Capitole'. I especially remember 'Le cafe des Artistes' - very popular with Erasmus students, relatively cheap and with a good view of the river if you sit outside. I've been told that's still doing well...

Things to see include: the old monastry, lots of churches, museums etc but most of all Toulouse like so many places in France and Southern Europe is less about the 'seeing' and more about the 'watching', sitting outside cafes and enjoying the ambience while you watch the world go by.

If you go for longer than a few days, there's plenty to see in the surrounding area, Carcassonne - the beautiful medieaval fortress town is just an hour away as are Beziers and Montpellier - both on the sea, the Pyrannese aren't too far away either, but be warned that Southern French transport operators do like to go on strike alot and if eg the trains drivers decide to strike, bus drivers, taxi drivers and airport staff will probably all decide to go on strike in 'sympathy and support' as well!

The locals aren't too friendly though or too keen on the British, especially British students - the French as a rule don't like the Brits but the Toulousains specialise in it, beating the Parisians into second place for sheer rudeness! Have since been told by French people that Toulouse is famed even in France for its rude, unfriendly and downright arrogant residents. So there you go... Other than that expect a very pleasant time, though expect also to get through a few euros as it's an expensive place to eat and drink.