Day 13, Toulouse

Today we have a really long drive ahead of us. We quickly walked through the Bayonne Saturday market in the morning and then set off towards Toulouse. Almost 5 hours of driving and all on the countryside. And that means leisurely driving through roundabouts and over bumps at about 50 km/h in France. Luckily, Kevin is also a leisurely driver and quickly got used to the bumpy ride of the French. Our car lost its desire for a moment, but after a short break, we were able to continue. Our route took us past small villages, larger cities, the Pyrenees, and black pigs. We arrived at the hotel in Toulouse around 15:00. Even though the hotel has its own parking lot, it took us a solid 2 hours to get to the parking lot due to the maze of construction sites and closed roads. We immediately headed into the crowds and quickly found out what's going on here: the Yellow Vests 'mouvement des gilets jaunes' are demonstrating. It's a state of emergency here. Roadblocks, loud slogans, police officers in full gear, and we're in the middle of it. On Saturdays at noon, shops in this metropolis are closed, doors are locked, and shutters are pulled down. Because of ONE demonstration? We had to take a detour to the old town. There was no talking to the police officers. Nevertheless, we found a way to the Garonne and the promenade streets and realized: Toulouse is simply huge, very beautiful, and exciting, but maybe too big for us. For dinner, we chose Le J'Go and luckily we were able to get a table. It was typical brasserie and super delicious. For the meal, we had: poached egg with spinach, mille feuille of boudin and potato, for the main course, chop of black pig and lamb rack, and for dessert, tarte tatin and canelés a la profiterol. Truly fantastic.