Toulouse - Wednesday 15th August 2007.

15th August is, as everybody knows, a jour de fête - which means that everywhere is closed (except cafes and restaurants, thankfully) and car hire offices will not open a minute before 3 o'clock. This means spending some time in the blazing heat, stopping every so often for cold drinks (boissons frais) pressions are out, because we have to drive. Past Place Wilson is Place du Capitole with an arcade of shops and cafes, the ceiling of which is decorated with scenes from Toulouse's history.

The arcade with its painted ceiling.

One of the ceiling panels.

Basilique Saint-Sernin and Notre Dame du Taur from Place du Capitole

We have lunch at FNAC's cafe les Americains before collecting the hire car. Note the young man enjoying the pleasure of cold water on naked flesh from the industrial sized fan which seem to be part and parcel of most cafe fittings now.

After collecting our car we set off to Foix which is one of the tiniest departmental capitals in France. Tucked between the Arget and Ariège rivers means that it is slightly cooler and more pleasant than the furnace-like Toulouse.