Exploring the Charms of Southern France: A Travelogue of Our Unforgettable Trip

It was September when I received a message with the words, "I want to share some news with you, I'm two months pregnant!"

Lauren and I have been good friends since high school. She was an exchange student my senior year and we just clicked. After we graduated, she went back to France but we continued to stay close and connected through socials, writing letters and sending packages every so often to each other. Then in 2019, I welcomed my daughter into the world and my husband and her had planned a surprise visit. I opened my door to find her standing there. It was so special that she made the trip out to meet my daughter and spend some time with us, so when she told me she was having her own, I knew we had to return the favor. I went to Oscar and told him the news and said, "we have to go!"

We picked a week, got our passports, and began planning our trip to Toulouse.

After anxiously waiting all year, the day finally came! We said goodbye to our kid's the night before at my parent's and headed off to the airport first thing in the morning. It was a long day of travel, which pro-tip - on long trips, pay for the extra leg room. Soooo worth it! We didn't and our legs were so cramped after our 10 hour flight.

After 19 hours of being on a plane, we had finally arrived and we were welcomed with overcast skies and la bise or a French greeting from Alex and Thierry, Lauren's mom and step-dad. They generously picked us up from the airport and hosted us for the week.

It felt so lovely seeing familiar faces. We hopped in their car and headed for their home in Blagnac, which is right outside the city. When we arrived, we were met with a mediterranean feel oasis. A beautiful white house complimented with light blue shutters all along the front and a red tiled roof which is ubiquitous in the south of France. The yard was landscaped with beautiful plants and an olive tree that hugged the barn in the back.

Once we got settled, we decided to embrace the rain and stretch our legs a bit. We walked down to Alex's favorite trail that follows along the river. When we got back we headed to the local store to pick up some cheeses and meats and then to their favorite boulangerie to grab some breads and pastries.

When people say that the French are known for their cheese, they're not kidding. They had an entire aisle dedicated to different cheeses. Oscar was in cheese heaven.

Lauren arrived to the house that evening and I got to meet her baby boy, Sasha who was just the cutest little chunk. You ever have friendships where you don't see someone for years, but then when you do it feels like you just saw them yesterday? Yeah, that's Lauren and I. Her friendship is such a blessing to me and I just adore her and her family. Once we all had hugs, they introduced us to Apertif dinatoire. It's a relaxed gathering with company where you grab a drink (for us it was wine) and you lounge around the coffee table eating finger foods like breads, cheeses, and cured meats. It's a time before dinner where you catch up, have conversation, and just relax. It was the rugby championships when we were visiting, and Thierry is a big fan so we had that on and we got to share in that experience with them. By the end of the evening we were exhausted from traveling all day, so we headed off to bed to get some much needed rest.

Day One

Having kids, I wake up pretty early. But before kids, I don't think I've ever slept later than 9 in my life.. until I was introduced to jet lag. I slept in until 10 am the next morning and it was a piece of heaven I didn't know existed.

Lauren and Alex wanted to give us the full local experience, so it was only right that we started our first morning off with some yummy pâtisseries. We enjoyed some pain aux raisins and pain au chocolat while sipping on coffee. As someone who loves coffee I just have to say that French coffee is waayyy better than American. We water ours down so much and we definitely came home feeling differently about it. Once we had filled up on breakfast, we got ready and headed into the city. Toulouse is filled with beautiful architecture and old world charm.

We began at the market, which if you have ever been to Pike's Market in Seattle, it's similar to that. Filled with breads, pastries, local meats, wine, etc. It was a bustling market full of life. Alex ran into a friend of hers and as they were talking, I just stood back and took in the culture of it all. Once we moved along, Oscar's eye caught some Jamon ibérico. If you're not familiar with Ibérico, it's an expensive type of pork that is only found in one specific region. Now, I'm not a cured meats kind of gal. I've just never had the taste for it. Alas though, I had a bite for the experience and was reminded that I still am in fact not a fan. But when in France, right? After the market, we meandered around the streets some, walking around a couple of catholic churches. It was fascinating seeing the differences between the roman and gothic styles. There's so much rich history in them.

By the time we got done with that, we were all hungry so we made our way over to a Brasserie for some good food. The restaurant was right in the Capitol square. The outdoor seating area was filled with dozens of tables lined up next to each other and covered by striped umbrellas. It's exactly what you picture eateries in France looking like. Something that was interesting was that we would find the Police Nationale or the French Police, would just drive through the square in their vehicles often in the same area where people were walking.

We finished off our lunch with dessert and then made our way down the streets to a canal that is a popular hangout spot. People share a drink there, have a picnic, play board games, and concerts are held there during the summer. We finished off our day with some afternoon coffee in tea in the cutest little café that was covered in floral pink walls. By that time it was getting dark out and so we made our way back to the house. Then I got sick.

Day two

I woke up in the early morning hours and couldn't stop throwing up. The only thing I could think of was that I had gotten food poisoning from something I had ate the day before, cough cough** the ham. I don't know if it was actually food poisoning or my body just wasn't used to the food, but nonetheless it was miserable. We had planned to go out to Carcassone that day, but we decided that it would be better if we just stayed home instead. So it ended up being a pretty uneventful day where I spent most of the day sleeping and just lounging around.

Day three

I woke up that morning still feeling sick, but determined to make the most out of our trip. We had waited so long to get here and I wasn't about to spend it lying in bed the whole time. Alex and Thierry had to work and by this time Florian, Lauren's fiancé and his daughter Lili had arrived. Florian works for the gendarmerie and had to work over the weekend. We said our hellos and then we borrowed Lauren's car and decided to venture out just the two of us and check out Carcassonne, a medieval city surrounded by battlements. It was a bit tricky in the beginning figuring out the directions, but we made it! It helps to have a pro in the driver's seat haha. The thing you will find in France is that everything is smaller, including the streets and the cars. So when we arrived in the city it was a little sketchy. We ended up finding a parking spot not too far from the castle and began the steep climb up. When we got into the castle we walked around a bit and I was a little taken aback with how touristy it felt. The streets were lined with restaurants and gift shops. It's understandable because of its history but I felt like it took away from the experience of it a bit.

After a while, we began getting hungry so we picked a brasserie and had some lunch. Oscar had Cassoulet, a comfort meal that Carcassone is known for. My stomach was still not recovered so I stayed in my own comfort level and had some pizza. We people watched as we ate. Something I love doing and find so fascinating. In touristy areas like that, you find so many different types of people and it's interesting to me to see how they interact. After lunch, we meandered some more. We walked through another church and I was in awe over the organ player. We had seen a few in the churches we had walked through but It's not something you see often where I live.

Oscar grabbed some dessert in a cute little boulangerie and we made our way towards the outside of the grounds where we had a beautiful view of the city and we even found some horses and a carriage carting people around.

Carcassone is made up of two cities. The older one where the castle is located and the newer which is across the river. So when we were done walking around the castle, we decided to make our way over to the newer side. While it's small, we were met with rich architecture and a beautiful park set in the middle filled with water fountains and a playground. There wasn't too much to do, and it was getting late. so we decided to make our way back towards the house. We were welcomed back with some delicious soup Florian had made from his Ratatouille cookbook. If you're wondering, yes I am talking about the movie.

Day four

In planning our trip, we had gone back and forth on where we would go. There's so many places in Europe we want to see and we were only going to be there for a week. For a while we were deciding between Paris and Spain. We had decided on Paris until we discovered that the rugby World Cup was the week we had planned on going and because of that, it would be about $1,000 in total for two days. As much as we still want to see Paris, we felt it best not to spend all of our money this time and so Lauren and Alex suggested Collioure instead and I am glad they did because it quickly became my favorite part of the trip. Collioure is about 2.5 hours from Toulouse and it borders Spain. It's terracotta roofs and cobblestone streets wind their way to the Mediterranean Sea.

When we arrived, we began our morning off with a hike, per Alex's suggestion. We climbed up the hill where the trail began and were immediately met with panoramic views of the Mediterranean.

After our hike, we trekked down the steep decline to the town to get a bite to eat. We stopped to find a restroom only to discover what Turkish toilets are, which if you aren't familiar it's basically a hole in the ground. We finally found normal restrooms, but unlike American public toilets, the toilets here are self cleaning which basically means there's a spray that disinfects the toilets when you are done but it gets everywhere. So the bathroom is soaking wet when you walk in. It was an experience I was not prepared for.

The streets were filled with local shops and little restaurants. We turned down one street where were met with pink umbrellas hanging from above us.

We found a restaurant right along the sea and indulged in some fish and chips. We found that while not a lot of people spoke English there, Spanish was not uncommon since it bordered with Spain. We got by just fine on our little bit of French we knew, but Oscar loved that he could converse in a language he knew and was comfortable with. Before heading back, we walked along the streets some more, with the smells of restaurants and creperies wafting in the air around us. We ended our day on the beach, with bare toes buried in the pebbles and our eyes taking in the sea. I couldn't help but think how cool it is to say that we have been here!

Day five

After four days of feeling sick, I was finally beginning to feel better on Wednesday. Lauren and Florian planned on showing us around Gallaic and Albi and I was looking forward to fully taking it in. We began in Albi, a quaint little town with a lot of charm. We walked through the Cathedral Basilica and couldn't help but appreciate the detail and size of it. It was unlike anything we had ever seen before. We then meandered a little down the cobblestone streets to Le Jardins De la Berbie, a beautiful sculpted garden that opens up to views of the city and banks of tarn.

We enjoyed lunch at La Bonne Maison We relished in good food and conversation amongst a cozy atmosphere with familiar music playing in the background. Something I found interesting was how often I would hear American artists playing through the speakers of restaurants there. Taylor Swift being one of them. I learned she is very popular in France and it wasn't uncommon to hear her music playing.

After lunch we made our way over to Gallaic, which is where Lauren and Florian live. They live on base of the gendarmerie (Military Police) and gave us a tour of their home and the grounds. Oscar being law enforcement, loved talking with them and learning the similarities and differences between their lines of work. At the end they traded patches, which is almost like a wright of passage for law enforcement. We then went to pick up Sasha who was at daycare. I was surprised to see how serious they take child safety there compared to here in America. Everything is gated or locked down where they let you in from the inside. It made me wonder why that's not something we do here. We ended the evening making halloween decorations with Lili.

Day six

Our last full day in France. Alex and Thierry both work for Airbus, a corporation responsible for making private and commercial aircrafts. They had scheduled a tour for us so we could see first hand the process that goes into making the planes. Airbus's headquarters is in Blagnac, which is right outside of Toulouse. So it was common to see buildings all over with their name on it. Alex and Thierry showed us where they work. Alex's building is actually on the airport grounds and she can see the planes taking off from her window. Thierry is an engineer and works on the side of it where he puts the planes together for final delivery. After the tour, we went through the museum where they had several different plane models. We walked in an A300, a Concorde, and an A380, which most people are familiar with as the double decker planes.

Between Alex and Thierry and the tour, we learned so much history and knowledge about planes. It was incredibly fascinating. They both had to go back to work after the tour, so we headed back to the house with Lauren and Florian. We spent the remainder of the afternoon packing and getting ready to head home the next day. It was only right to end our day with some wine and raclette for dinner. Raclette is a like a version of cheese fondue where you melt the cheese on your individual hot plate and then pour it over potatoes, meats, and veggies. It was a welcoming comfort with the rain.

Friday arrived far too quickly and our week of being in France came to an end. It was time to make the trip back home. We were both so excited to see our kids but also sad to be leaving. I couldn't help but cry as they dropped us off at the airport and we said our goodbyes. It was an unforgettable week. Every time I go someplace new I feel like I discover a new piece of myself. And our friendship with Lauren and her family grew stronger in the time we were together. We're so grateful to have them in our lives. We miss them everyday and look forward to the day we get to see them again. We made our way onto the plane and soon began lifting off towards hone. With that we waved goodbye. Us from our window and Alex from hers.