Saturday 11th October 2008 – Toulouse, France

After a late start we travelled in to take a look at the city. A bus took us to a Metro station and we took a train into the centre. The Metro was very impressive – the driver-less trains were very frequent and it was a smooth and fast journey.
It turned out to be quite an eventful day. We stumbled across a celebration of Breton and Occitanian music. People here are very proud of their Occitan heritage with the Occitan language, once spoken in parts of southern France, northern Spain and northern Italy, is undergoing a revival. Many bagpipes were in evidence often very obviously made from a goat skin complete with four legs, the chanter attached to the neck and a wooden plug in the rear end. When we stood close to the players, the smell of goat was very noticeable, however the music was great except when they played 'Yellow Submarine'. We also watched a parade of marching bands and it became apparent that the Breton music was actually being played by groups based in the Occitan area.
We walked around the square where there was a local food fayre with many stalls selling honey, duck products, pates and truffles. I was tempted by the latter but was put off by the €590 (£480) per kilo price tag! I was not tempted by the 'Dressage de Chien Truffier' (Training of the truffle dog??????) for €16 – much cheaper but what is it? Something that smells of truffles so that you can train your dog how to recognise the scent?
As we left the Capitol Square where the music was based, we came across a protest drive by a large number of motorcyclists driving their bikes slowly through the streets blasting their horns and revving their engines. We never did discover why they were protesting.
Our last stop was at the Cathedral of Saint Etienne where we admired the stone and marble alter and the lovely wooden carvings of the choir stalls.
Photos: The bagpipe players with their bagpipes clearly made from goatskins – you will have to imagine the smell; There were some real characters playing; One of the bands marching in the parade.