Destination: Toulouse

Toulouse is a city which celebrates sport and has a dedication to football, rugby and handball. On match evenings, the city centre comes alive, especially when the Stade Toulousain (rugby) or the Toulouse Football Club (TFC pronounced “TéFéSé”) are playing away. The fans congregate in bars to support their favorite teams, drinking toasts to their health in front of the big screens. We shout, we chant (especially when we win), we cry (mainly if we lose) and we party! When we play at home, the fans fill the town before heading to the Ernest Wallon Stadium (rugby) or the Municipal Stadium (football), which has been renovated for Euro 2016 (Toulouse will host four matches, including a quarter final). Groups of friends in fancy dress or their team’s shirts, with faces painted, carrying flags, whistles and foghorns appear at every turn: it’s pretty hard to miss them: you can hear them a mile off!

I love walking through the city when it is like this: it literally shines, and the fans good humour passes on to each person who crosses their path. We shout: come on you Blues! Come on the Red & Blacks! Come on you Purples! Toulouse is the world capital of the violet, so naturally our football team wears a shirt the colour of this emblematic flower; a flower found in gardens, on plates and in glasses (the famous Toulousian Kir) throughout the area.

Fans are not discreet: they are happy, yelling their enthusiasm and sharing their joy. Terraces, squares and pubs are jam-packed. Place du Capitole is decorated with flags in honor of Euro 2016. Just behind the town hall, the Fan Embassy will welcome spectators before and after the matches, it’s the perfect place to rest and get your face painted.

In the bars, we clink our glasses with strangers, friends for an evening, friends for the night, friends for life, we congratulate each other, console each other, talk about what will happen next time, in the next season, at the next cup, we rehash the match. I love watching fans on the pavements or in the squares re-enacting the penalties, tries, or free kicks, or gesturing wildly as their criticise the referee for not seeing, not whistling, not understanding.

Rugby fans meet up at Byron Kelleher’s Haka Corner which is famous for its “third half” but there are many bars and pubs in the city where you can enjoy an evening of rugby or football, with big screen action and an electric, friendly atmosphere. The Toulouse Tourist Office has produced a brochure for Euro 2016 listing all of the pubs in the city where you can follow the matches.

On these evenings I don’t have a favourite pub, I prefer to wander from one to another, soaking up the exciting atmosphere which makes the city even more beautiful, experiencing my city dancing unchained.

On the first Friday, Saturday and Sunday of every month, La Brocante des Allées flea market sets up shop in Allée Forain-Francois Verdier, a pretty tree-lined walk in the heart of Toulouse. It’s very easy to access by metro and is a popular meeting place with the people of Toulouse, especially when the weather is fine. It’s hard not to find what you’re looking for or to come away with something you hadn’t planned on buying! Today, I found a crystal decanter and three highly colourful rum glasses, but I almost let myself be tempted by a little Charles X inlaid pedestal table with delicately webbed feet – I might give in to temptation next time, if it’s still there.

Some stallholders are highly specialised, verging on the obsessive, others take a more generic approach and randomly pile up objects from here, there and everywhere. As I wander through the rows of stalls, I love imagining where these things came from and inventing the stories they have to tell. Take this advertising ashtray, for example, that did fifteen years service on the counter of a bar in the Gers, whose owner got rid of it when he sold his business. It sits beside an English tea service in Chinese porcelain that must have belonged to a princess and that sparks my daughter’s imagination. Or, take this piece of primitive African art, a statue with woven hair, brought back to France by an explorer who spent years travelling up a winding, crocodile-infested river, looking for a lost city. Here, there’s a monogrammed silver coffeepot sitting on a formica table accompanied by a couscous dish filled with prepaid phone cards – how many discussions, arguments and declarations of love must they have heard?

Every stallholder has their own style, their own personality or favourite period of time. Here, there’s some Art Nouveau, over there some Art Deco, further on an industrial, sanded steel cupboard that I can visualise in my hallway, filled with jackets and shoes. Moving on, there’s some rattan furniture, a few Louis XV chairs and Louis Philippe linen cupboards, right next to some seventies-style orange shelves.

You can find everything in Les Allées!

Organised by the Union of Antique and Second-hand dealers of the Haute-Garonne and South-West France, the Brocante des Allées is the biggest regular flea market in the region, with nearly 150 professional stallholders, antique and second-hand dealers.

Numismatists, philatelists and lovers of vinyl records have their noses stuck in crates overflowing with wonders, while opposite, a collector of eighteenth century prints is trying to haggle over a framed portrait of a beautiful girl lying languidly under some cypress trees.

We come to hunt, to root around or just for a stroll, but the collectors who know what they want, hurriedly overtake the casual browsers aimlessly wandering amongst the stalls.

We dig, we rummage and scrabble about in search of a stopper for a decanter or the missing glass we need to make up the set of Napoleon III liqueur glasses that Aunt Suzette left us. We explore the secondhand booksellers’ stalls, looking for a book we haven’t read and that we may be glued to later on, sitting in the sun on a café terrace. We come across a graphic novel that we loved years ago, and leave with it, proud, excited and a bit nostalgic. This guy has a big smile…has he found the gift he was looking for…and what about this young married couple? Will they fall for this porcelain service, and carry it off? I want to advise them to treat themselves, it’s important. There are bargains everywhere, here…”Why don’t we go back and look at that little pedestal table, darling? What do you think?”

In complete confidence

An expert appointed by the National Chamber of Experts in Objets d’Art and Collectors’ Pieces, patrols the stalls. He advises stallholders and potential future customers (free of charge), before they buy. He confirms the period, the provenance or value of an object and we can buy our heart’s desire without a care.

A little sausage for the road

You can also find sausages in Les Allées, and so much the better. There are two nice bars where you can sit down for a while, have a drink and a bite to eat. You can lunch on sausages (I never leave the premises without my saucisse de Toulouse!), or the daily special served on a checked tablecloth, before you head off in search of Treasure.

It’s easy to reach Albi by road (travelling through the Gaillac vineyards is a wonderful experience and therefore a must) or by train: the vines start to become fewer when the 40-metre-high Saint Cecilia bell tower appears, towering majestically into the sky. The heart of the city boasts the Cathedral of Saint Cecilia, the Tourist Office, and the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum all in the same area. Go into the Museum courtyard and walk around it clockwise to reach the sublime formal gardens from which the views over Albi and the Tarn (the river which flows through the city and sometimes flares up angrily) are worth the detour.

A gothic cathedral

The Cathedral of Saint Cecilia is the largest brick cathedral in the world. Construction began in 1282 (and lasted two centuries). It was meant, in Cathar Country, to testify to the bishop’s power and be a symbol of the Catholic Church’s victory over heresy, yet had to have a modest appearance. As a result, its magnificent interior contrasts with the almost military austerity of the exterior.

I never tire of admiring its (original) painted ceilings, its pedagogical frescos (the people had to be promised heaven by making them fear hell) and its finely carved rood screen.

A medieval city centre

Coming out of the cathedral, we take the little underground passage which leads to the old rampart walk in Albi’s most ancient district. We admire the brick facades: Really, Albi deserves the nickname for Toulouse: the “Pink City”!

In the first century, the Romans noticed that the Tarn was full of clay. They installed workshops on its banks where bricks were made by hand.

The tradition remains to this day.

In order to reduce the risk of fire, the kilns were moved out of the city in the Middle Ages (they were located at the current Place du Vigan) and the bricks were transported in a human chain from one person to the next before they were baked. This explains the finger marks engraved in some of them (do go nearer and have a closer look). Are some bricks black? They were baked for too long! Are others split? They weren’t baked for long enough! Going down again, we admire the half-timbering and corbelling of the facades, which are astonishingly well preserved. The city centre is teeming with wonderful guestrooms in extremely old houses which have been tastefully restored. The Tourist Office will be happy to give you their addresses (walking through Albi at night is very romantic).

A restful cloister

Albi’s city centre contains a great many little secret passages, inconspicuous courtyards and alleyways. I love going down them at random during my walks so that I get lost and find myself elsewhere. For example, just next to Saint Cecilia and hiding at the end of a passageway which opens up between two shops, the Cloister of Saint Salvi is a true wonder of calm and serenity: ideal for taking a break, opening up a book or simply allowing yourself to daydream. It belongs to the oldest church in Albi, which is Roman in style and joined up to the houses surrounding it.

A restaurant where you can discover Gaillac wines

A short distance away from the pedestrian streets, La Table du Sommelier is my favourite place in Albi. I have always eaten well there, whether at the bar or on the terrace (with panoramic views over the medieval city centre) and enjoy pairing each dish with the wine to best accompany it. This is a brilliant way to learn more about these vineyards with guidance from expert sommeliers who love their region. It is both a gastronomic and a cultural event!

I remember, when I was little, seeing the reproduction of a poster of La Goulue, by Toulouse-Lautrec. La Goulue was a famous French cancan dancer who entertained the audiences at the Moulin Rouge, where Toulouse-Lautrec spent a lot of time. Lautrec was the painter of women, of their intimate moments and their daily lives, and the painter of cabarets and Parisian nightlife.

I didn’t live in Toulouse, at the time, and didn’t think I’d ever end up there one day, but I idolised this mysterious city because of the pilots of the Aéropostale, like Mermoz, Guillaumet and Saint-Exupéry. Their exploits fascinated me, and I devoured their adventures, dreaming of joining them one day. Toulouse was a mythical city to me, as I’ve already said, and I was moved by the Claude Nougaro song dedicated to his “ville rose”.

And so there was a painter called Toulouse? He must have been good then!

A museum in honour of the native son

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi. His health was poor, his life was short, but his output was huge. After his death, his parents wanted to ensure the legacy of his work. They offered to make a donation, but the Parisian museums refused (the Musée d’Orsay did not then exist, it wasn’t to open its doors until 1986).

The City of Albi had just taken over the Palais de la Berbie that had been abandoned by the bishopric. It was empty, and ideal for conversion to a museum! It would be inaugurated in 1922 and restored in 2012.

The building is beautiful with vaulted cellars, bright rooms, painted ceilings and a grand staircase: the display case is certainly worthy of the wonders it displays.

A painter of the intimate

Toulouse-Lautrec sketched, snapping up everything he saw and drawing on whatever came to hand. One feels an urgency in his work, the desire to capture the moment, the gesture, the truth of a pose, as in “Bouboule, le bulldog de Madame Palmyre” (1897), where we are almost surprised not to hear the dog bark.

Toulouse-Lautrec had a misshapen body, caused by a degenerative disease that required numerous periods in hospital and significantly complicated his emotional life. For this reason, he began regularly frequenting brothels and prostitutes and eventually became their friend. The portraits he made of them are modest, respectful, of great sensitivity. He manages to reproduce the putting on of a stocking, the tweaking of a dress, the frills of a petticoat, and he succeeds in capturing them on the spot. Unlike any other artist, his drawings are real-life Polaroids.

A fascinating painting

His painting fascinates me, I find it as much fun as the music of the cancan and, as I walk around this museum, as I often do (it’s one of my favourite stopping off places when I want to show Toulouse and the surrounding area to my friends), I can’t stop myself from hearing a fanfare being played or the orchestra at one of those cabarets where Toulouse-Lautrec spent so much of his time. His drawings are joyous, but sometimes desperate too: Toulouse-Lautrec knew loneliness, he depicted it beautifully, as in “Les Buveurs” (1889), he also drew portraits of a watchman, a coachman or a lad, and of Rafaël, aka Chocolat the famous clown, who seems entirely alone, in spite of the laughter he triggers (“Chocolat dansant”, 1896, published in the humorous journal “Le Rire”).

An optimism posted for all to see

Toulouse-Lautrec is famous for his posters, of the Moulin Rouge, of course, of La Goulue, but he also created advertisements for Simpson bicycle chains, the Salon des Cents and the Revue Blanche, for the concerts of Caudieux and Aristide Bruant, for Ripolin and the Folies Bergères. He knew he would not live to a ripe old age, but he was ravenous to live the life he had to the full. He painted it in a thousand colours, embellished by a thousand encounters.

In the superbly appointed rooms of the museum, his optimism is contagious, and as wander through them I silently hum Offenbach’s Infernal Galop to myself…

Practical information

Musée Toulouse-Lautrec
www.museetoulouselautrec.net

Palais de la Berbie – Place Sainte – Cécile BP 100 – 81003 Albi cedex

Tel: +33 (0)5 63 49 58 97

Fax: +33 (0)5 63 49 48 88

Email: servicedespublics@museetoulouselautrec.com

Open daily (except Tuesdays, off-season)

Closed on 1 January, 1 May, 1 November and 25 December.

 

The people of Toulouse take their food seriously, and they are especially fond of the restaurants in the Marché Victor Hugo, where you can join them at Le Louchebem to sample the restaurant’s signature dish, La Gilbe, a platter of four different cuts of beef, for €50. You can whet your appetite first with a stroll round

this huge emporium, which is packed with stalls selling pâté, seafood, cheese, charcuterie and, of course, meat. The chevaline section is a reminder that the French eat horsemeat with gusto. There are also lots of regional specialities, such as Toulouse sausage, cassoulet and confit de canard.

Hélene Vié’s unique boutique and fascinating mini-museum, La Maison de la Violette, is housed in a vintage barge moored on the Canal du Midi. Her charming establishment is all about celebrating the city’s emblem, the Toulouse violet, which gives the city’s football team its nickname – Les Violets. It is said that Napoleon’s

soldiers first brought the flower to the city, and it now lends its delicate scent, flavour and colour to sweets, cordials, liqueurs, cakes and teas, all of which you can sample and buy here. A box of crystallised violets is an easy-to-carry memento of your visit to Toulouse, and a bottle of violet liqueur makes an original gift.

The Centre de l’Affiche is in the heart of the former industrial district, St-Cyprien, on the opposite bank of the River Garonne from the well-trodden sightseeing trails in Toulouse’s old quarter. In this part of town, old warehouses and factories have been reclaimed as trendy housing and as edgy arts and performance venues. The Centre de l’Affiche is dedicated to poster, postcard,

packaging and label art, and its huge collection offers a fascinating glimpse of how commercial graphic design and branding has evolved over the past two centuries. Pride of place goes to Toulouse Lautrec’s iconic poster of Aristide Bruant, the Belle Époque cabaret legend.

Wednesday night is ‘happy hour night’ at Le Saint des Seins – buy one beer, get another for free at this central venue for Toulouse’s students and other music lovers. The atmosphere is informal, the door policy is relaxed and the music – both live and from resident DJs who spin hip-hop, garage and indie tunes – is eclectic and

edgy. If you’re looking for a great night out and a friendly vibe, this is definitely the place to be – and you’ll feel like an insider, because it doesn’t show up on the usual tourist radar. There are regular karaoke nights for those who love to perform in public.

The Place du Capitole is Toulouse’s grandest square and its social hub. This is the perfect place to mingle with locals and sip Toulouse’s signature kir royale à la violette, made with champagne and violet liqueur. Stylish arcades shelter café tables from summer sun and autumn showers, and Toulouse’s mellow climate means you can enjoy sitting in the open air almost all year

round, while you admire the grand façade of the 18th century Capitole, which dominates the square. On Saturday mornings, the square hosts the open-air market where the produce stalls are a feast for the senses. And the more generous stall holders may even offer you some free samples of sausage, cheese and wine to enjoy.