Culture Shock..

A Sunday morning walk in the Pink City..one would think that a Sunday morning anywhere  would be rather quiet... but - are you kidding? NOT!  Not here in Toulouse. We were worn out by mid-day! So much going on! 

The Marché de Victor Hugo- the biggest market in Toulouse is a block away so that's where we started...Wow..talk about action! The cafés outside the building were packed..everyone enjoying sitting the sun (which apparently had been absent here too for a long time) enjoying a coffee, a pastry of even a glass of wine ..it was almost noon...Inside, the serious business of picking out the best produce, cheese, fish, meat, paté, bread..or even chocolates  was in full swing..baskets were being filled while tourists like us were taking photos!  So much to see and smell..sensory overload! 

Then we were off to wander the streets and ended up at the Capitole where - quel surpris - there was a festival of some sort going on! Again..a feast of colour, sound and lots of action...Seems it was the Forom des Langues du Monde, part of which was a public display of stalls each representing a different country, its culture and language...along music and colourful costumes.. Again - who would expect such action on a Sunday morning! 

Methinks we may have been too long in the country? .. where every morning was quiet, with not a lot of action going on, with the only sound being birdsong? We had forgotten about the normal sights and sounds of life in a city!

So this first day has been a bit of a culture shock for us! But oh - the photo-ops! (see extras)