It’s a very long overdue post, as I’ve drafted it a year ago. It was a very challenging summer last year and I never managed to complete the initial thoughts and impressions after my trip to Toulouse. I re-took the writing as so many happenings remind me of that time of the year and I somehow manage to reconnect with the experience I made.
First of all, it was early in July and Europe was already experiencing an extreme heatwave, similarly as this year. I was dreading how hot will it be in South of France, with no access to the seaside, and I was pleasantly surprised. Toulouse is incredibly green which lowers the perceived temperature by good couple of degrees. Despite reaching 38-40 degrees Celcius, the city was perfectly walkable and discoverable by foot.
It’s been years since I went to France for the last time, and the last gem I visited was Bordeaux. Surely, the highlights of staying in France is the haute cuisine and not even, the markets, daily stuff you consume (such as: croissants!) is just of such a great quality.
Toulouse is also a very diverse city, inhabited by students, creatives and digital nomads, namely for more pleasant climate and affordability which can be noticed by a vibrant street life, people hanging out in the parks, dancing tango or playing games.
In July happens plenty of summer open air festivals by the river bank where multiple performers played jazz, soul and classical music till late, and you could enjoy the sounds of it overlooking the sunset, and even spotting birds like night herons wading in the river.
The heatwave itself was bearable, taking into consideration the shade, the options to explore different experiences, and even get away relatively easy to the seaside easily with SNCF. Another great experience of Toulouse is to visit the Airbus museum and even without doing so, spotting the magnificent piece of design as is Beluga or Beluga XXL approaching take off or landing. The meta story of it is that it often carries the industrial pieces needed to build the new planes.
With all that, I remind myself of my last year experiences, that heatwaves have also so many psychological effects on you. I think about it right now, going through yet another wave this year, often locking myself for days inside to avoid sunstroke (and I am lucky to have shelter and A/C). While summer has been one of my favourite seasons for its energy, happenings and being outside, heatwaves take such a toll on our lives, that staying in is one of the best possible ideas. And as we’re not as far away from the pandemic experiences, this calls too close home, pun intended.
LUSOFONETICA 