Since I’ve arrived into Switzerland, I’ve been doing a lot of running around, trying to see this and that. So the few days I spent in the south of France provided a much-welcomed change of pace. I went to Toulouse to visit a friend, and it was so great to see her. We did a lot of eating, wine drinking, and sleeping- three of my favorite things in life. (Note, if you’re not a lover of food, you will not like this blog post. Or any of my blog posts for that matter.)
My first meal in Toulouse was by far my favorite. We went to a pizza place down the street from my friend’s apartment. I had honey and goat cheese pizza (and wine, of course). It was the best pizza I’ve ever had. I promise I ventured out and tried new, french things while I was there, but pizza was on the menu for the first meal.
I ate a lot of duck while I was in France, on account of I was in France so I had to. I’m always a little apprehensive about eating duck. I’ve only had it a few times. The last time I had it was in Mississippi, which means it was freshly killed and cooked in our kitchen. So duck was just a little bit different in France.
I had duck confit, crisp duck on my salad, duck pâté… is this reminding anyone else of Bubba from Forrest Gump? No? Just me? Okay, moving on then. I really liked pâté, which I was surprised by. I wanted to try as many traditional French dishes as I could, and I’d say I succeeded. I drew the line at foie gras, though. I think I would have tried it had someone else ordered it, but I was not prepared to order an entire meal of it on my own. I like to consider myself an adventurous eater, but I’m not that bold.
After a few days of overeating, we decided to take a day trip to Carcassonne and do some sightseeing. It’s such a captivating city. From afar, the city looks as if it’s floating, perched perfectly on thick clouds of fog. In most places, the old part of the city looks as if it hasn’t been touched in thousands of years. We walked around this medieval town for hours, had some lunch complete with both duck and wine (duh), and went home shortly after the sunset. Top Day.
We made the trek back to Toulouse to continue what had quickly become our new routine- eating and wine drinking. I didn’t mind it one bit. I did venture out into the real world to walk around and see several gorgeous cathedrals- The Jacobins, St Augustine… but the highlight of my trip (other than seeing my friend) was the food and wine. I had crème brûlée, chocolate mousse (which I LOVED), and some of the best chocolate cake at The Flowers Café. To. Die. For. I also had a goat cheese salad there for lunch. It came with a big pot of warm goat cheese, a large helping of mozzarella, and tapenade on the side. So basically, while I was in Toulouse I stuffed myself with cheese, bread, dessert, and French wine. When in France, right?
As much as I loved the south of France, after about 5 days or so my body finally decided it hated me. It was time for me to head back to Paris for part two of my trip. I packed up my things, said goodbye to my friend (le sigh), and headed back to the city I fell in love with a few days prior.
More about Paris soon! I have to pack for my Thanksgiving trip to Rome now.
Xoxo,
Heidi
Heidi Elsewhere 