Arrival

Okay, first things first. The shower in my room was hot enough with very little pressure. The size was good, but it really needed a grab rail, mainly because the floor was very slippery. I didn’t like it one bit. It amounted to a very quick and careful shower.

But, moving right along…Paul Dupuy was a bit of a collector. He was such a big collector that he had to buy a mansion just to house his collection. I visited the museum this morning having failed to find the Toulouse museum.

The bus to the château wasn’t due until 15:30, so I checked out of the hotel, left my bag with the very helpful guy at reception, had a petit dej next door then caught the metro.

There are only two metro lines in Toulouse, A & B. (Why do they always have to be so boringly unoriginal? Wouldn’t it be more fun to call them lines K and 7 instead?) I went on both today. The strangest thing was one station where you could enter or exit the train on both sides of the carriage.

Alighting at Palais de justice, I headed up the wonderful tree lined path where trams wait their turn in service.

The signs for the museum ran out, but I found one pointing towards Paul Dupuy’s place, so I went there.

I am so glad I did.

From early cinematography to horological marvels, he collected it all. There was also a special exhibition of booze posters, most of which drew the parallels between alcohol and bacchanalia. In a good way. Well, that’s how I remember it, anyway.

Away from the drinks, there were some fascinating early slides, one of which I was most enchanted by. For obvious reasons.

But who, you may ask, was Paul Dupuy? Well, he was born in Toulouse in 1867 and was passionate about the place. He was wealthy courtesy of his parents, who made it big in pickles. While his brother took over the running of the family business, Paul became a civil engineer. He never married so be bequeathed his entire collection and the building housing it, to France. The building was originally the hotel of Pierre Besson until Dupuy bought it in 1909.

All up, a lovely little museum full of fascination. And not expensive at all. A bargain at €5! Mind you, that may have been just for me because of my entertaining attempts at French with the lovely madame at the desk.

Then I had another pathetic attempt at pretending to be French. I had a lovely lunch at a small café and attempted to carry out the whole transaction in French but was dashed when the waitress insisted on speaking English. And her English was only slightly better than my French, I feel I should add.

Sitting outside, enjoying a rustique jambon et fromage baguette, watching people wander about, embracing friends, laughing together, was pretty close to heaven.

I even saw a hydrogen powered bus. I didn’t think we had the technology yet. It made me very happy.

Hydrogen powered vehicles aside, from the little of it I’ve seen, I really liked Toulouse. I’m looking forward to seeing more on my return next week.

At the bus station, I met Sandra and Matt, from Texas. They arrived last night and had enjoyed the morning in Toulouse as well. They seem like lovely people, if a little jet-lagged. Sandra cooks and Matt is along for the ride. That’ll be fun. Actually there are a few people attending the retreat who do not cook.

Anyway, the bus arrived and we joined our fellow ‘retreaters’. Of course there was a slight problem. Another guest was supposed to meet the bus there as well and hadn’t shown. Eventually, she was found in a car heading for the estate with a few others.

On arrival, we were greeted by our hostesses and, (I tried not to go all fanboy) Geraldine. We were then given an excellent tour of the property before settling into our rooms.

Then came apéritifs during which we all introduced ourselves – they particularly enjoyed my train journey – then dinner. Very French, very delicious. It was an excellent repast.

I was seated with the Texans, Dirk, the German and Anna who is from London though her mother is Australian. Actually, I am the only Australian. There are a lot of Americans.

Tomorrow we start in earnest.