It was an obvious change of scenery from Lourdes as we walked the busy streets of this big city. Apparently Toulouse is the 4th largest city in France! We wandered around and found a couple of pretty plazas and parks. This one even had a carousel!
As we walked we came upon this large building called the Capitole and had a huge square behind it.
It was filled with people, scooters, cars, cafes and shops.
We decided it was a great place to stop for coffee and we had the most amazing cappuccino!
As you can see, it's mostly whip cream! It was a great place to enjoy our coffee and people-watch. This city felt much more French than Lourdes. Obviously Lourdes is French, but it's more Catholic than anything. I felt like we got to experience more authentic French culture here.
We stopped for dinner and had "ice balls" (or ice cream!) for dessert. So yummy!
One more day in Toulouse before heading to Roma!
Tuesday, March 30th
Today we slept in a bit and enjoyed a lovely French breakfast in the hotel. (Sidenote: I remember that the background music playing was in English - it sounded like Queen Latifah singing jazz. I noticed it right away since we hadn't heard much English!)
The weather was unpredictable this day. Sometimes it was pouring rain and other times it was bright and sunny. Unfortunately we did end up getting pretty wet a few times. We spent most of the day visiting churches.
Our first stop was St. Sernin.
This church was built between 1080 and 1120 and contains the body of Saint Saturnin or Sernin, the first bishop of Toulouse in 250AD. It is the largest Romanesque church in the world still standing.
We wandered around the upper church and the crypt church.
We knew this church had some relics, but we didn't realize just how many! We stopped and prayed before all of them.
Relic of St. Therese
Relic of St. Jude
Relic of St. Louise de Marillac and St. Germaine de Pibrac (you can see the two small reliquaries on the altar)
Relic of the true cross and the crown of thorns
When we left St. Sernin it was pouring! So we stopped for a cup of coffee. (Another sidenote: Europeans drink the TINIEST cups of coffee! Even when we ordered "Cafe Americano" it seemed much smaller than we were used to. I wonder what Europeans think about Starbucks serving Venti-sized drinks!)
Next we visited Eglise de Jacobins.
It was difficult to get a picture of the front of this church because it was literally in the middle of a bunch of other buildings. It was still raining pretty hard at this point, so we were glad to step inside. It was a huge church, very spacious and wide-open. It was pretty simple, especially compared to the other churches we had seen - just a few side chapels with some large paintings.
We were mostly excited to visit this church because we knew St. Thomas Aquinas was buried underneath the altar.
We stopped to pray and I couldn't help but feel bad for St. Thomas. It was all very simple and unassuming. I actually had to ask someone to make sure the tomb under the altar was his because it wasn't well-marked! In a way it was appropriate knowing how humble St. Thomas was. Apparently there was a high school near by because a group of students were just hanging out in the back of the church talking and listening to their headphones.
Next we visited Notre Dame de la Daurade. This church was also difficult to photograph outside because it was so huge and yet stuck between other buildings. I think we were the only people inside when we visited this church. While it was huge and ornate, it was not as well kept-up or restored as some of the other churches. It is mostly famous for a statue of the Black Madonna. (It's hard to see the statue very clearly because it's so dark and she is "wearing" a dark-colored army fatigues. I think they rotate the clothes on her and this was a tribute to the troops. The statue is above the white kneeling statues and below the blue ribbon of stars.) Many people had left flowers and written notes with their intentions.
The sign explaining the story behind this statue was only written in French. Our tour book said that people have prayed to the Blessed Mother here for many, many years. Apparently some miracle was attributed to her. All over the church were little plaques saying "Merci Notre Dame."
Anothing church had this painting hanging which shows people processing through the street with the statue of the black Madonna.
We decided to stop for a little lunch. Thankfully the rain had stopped, but it was super windy and still pretty chilly. I think this picture is funny because it looks so bright and sunny, but I was freezing!
Next we visited St. Etienne (St. Stephen)
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This church is mostly known for being a mix-match of different builders and architechtural styles. Apparently it was built over a long period of time - 11th-17th centuries. We walked around and enjoyed another beautiful, ornate church.
At this point it was raining again, so we went back to the Capitole plaza and enjoyed another delicious cappuccino. We strolled around and eventually went back to our hotel to relax.
We went out again for dinner and came back to pack. We were glad to go to bed early since we had an early flight the next morning for Roma!!
