Bus Details
The bus will pick us up and drop us off by the metro station entrance on Place Esquirol every day.
Tues, visit to Albi. Pickup at 1:45 PM, return in Toulouse around 8 PM. Big green Verbus vehicle.
Wed, visit to Château Lastours and L’Isle-sur-Tarn: Pickup at 1:30 PM. return in Toulouse around 7:30 PM big RED bus (Duclos company)
Thu, visit to Foix: Pickup at 2 PM, return to Toulouse at 8 PM. Big green Verbus vehicle.
Fri, visit to Airbus. Pickup at 1:15 PM, return to Toulouse at 6:30 PM. Big green Verbus vehicle.
Sat, Visit Carcassonne: Pickup at 8:30 return at 5 PM. Big green Verbus vehicle.
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Bonjour Bootcampers! Are you excited? The bootcamps starts in 8 days!
Restaurants you should consider for your dinners “on your own”
Now is a good time to start making restaurant reservations. You don’t need reservations to eat in Toulouse, there are lots of restaurants where you wait a little bit and get seated. The more people, the more likely they are to tell you that they’re full. But if you’re OK finding a different place every night, go with 1 or 2 bootcampers and play it by ear, you can also do that.
- Vivants near the canal. This is a small restaurant that doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the food is delicious. Their menu is simple: they have 1 chicken, 1 fish (tuna), 1 vegetarian and 1 meat (lamb). Small room but really comfortable, the waitress speaks English. Good for groups of 6 but probably not bigger.
- La Compagnie Française. Despite the name, this is an Italian restaurant. The food is tasty, staff friendly, they have a big terrace and it’s a good value. Reserve here if you’d like to organize your own small group.
- Ma Biche sur le Toit, this is the rooftop of the Galeries Lafayette in Toulouse. You don’t need reservations to go there for a drink, but they take reservations for up to 8 people here.
- Le Pavé des Minimes. This is not in the city center, but it’s right by the metro stop Barrière de Paris on line B, only 15 minutes from the city center. Beautiful terrace and lovely local favorites. This restaurant was a “lunch joint” a long time and they’ve developed into a great place for dinner as well.
- O Cent Couverts Toulouse. This is at the edge of the city but easy to get to by city bus. This is a big buffet with a fixed price of 31€ including drinks. They have French and Asian specialties. We like it because they have a “plancha to order” where you put what you want on your plate and the chef cooks it in front of you. You choose from a selection of vegetables, meats and fish and it all gets cooked on the hot plate. Lots of appetizers, desserts and also classic French specialties like Boeuf Bourguignon. Big room, if we decide to all go one night, they can reserve a room just for us.
- Brasserie des Beaux Arts near the Pont Neuf. Classic bistro with fish specialties. Reserve in advance for more tha 3 or 4 people.
- Brasserie de l’Opéra, on Place du Capitole. My go-to place for a nice lunch, white tablecloth, classic service. Reserve in advance for more tha 3 or 4 people.
- Les P’Tits Fayots on 8 rue de l’Esquille. Small place, must reserve even for 2 people.
- Cassoulet restaurant in Toulouse. I will try it soon, but Elyse says it’s nice, so it goes on the list: Le Colombier on rue Bayard close to the train station.
- And for those of you who are in the mood for a crêpe, go to Crêperie du Sherpa on rue du Taur.
If you need to reach me at any point during our time together, call me on WhatsApp. You should all have my number but if you don’t ask me in person, I don’t want to put it on this public website.
Here is the schedule for our week together:
Sun, May 21: Welcome to Toulouse
I will be at Place du Capitole under the clock at 9:45 AM to greet all of you. I’ll give you an ear piece and share some instructions. We’ll start moving by 10:15 to go to the Victor Hugo covered market. There we’ll have to split into two groups. One that will do the cheese tasting at 10:30 and the other one will do it at 11:15. While one group is at the cheese tasting the other will walk around the market.
Lunch in the restaurants above the Victor Hugo market. It is important to secure tables as soon as they open at noon. You’ll be able to choose from several restaurants and we’ll have to split up into tables of 8 maximum. You’ll pay for this lunch on your own.
At 2:30 Elyse will take us around Toulouse for a “get to know the city” tour. We’ll walk to Place Saint Georges, Langue Onze, the Canal du Midi, Grand Rond and back to Place du Capitole.
Apéritif starts at 6:30 PM (I wrote 8:30 yesterday, that was a mistake) at the Florida café on Place du Capitole. This is nibbles and drinks and is included in the price of the tour. You may want to find more dinner afterwards, but I suspect many of you will be tired and will be more interested in finding your bed at that point!
Mon, May 22: Toulouse
This morning you’ll start at Langue Onze (I think class starts at 8:30 on the first day, but I will need to confirm with them) and class will let off at 12:30. You’ll do lunch on your own or in small groups, then we’ll all meet Elyse at 2:30 PM under the clock of the Capitole for her wonderful Toulouse Historical Tour. She always has more to say, so I don’t think the tour will be over until 6 PM. After her tour, you’ll do dinner on your own.
Tue, May 23: Albi
Today I think your Langue Onze starts at 9 and ends at 1 PM and will continue with that schedule until Friday (to be confirmed with Langue Onze).
We will meet the bus on Place Esquirol at 2 PM to go to Albi. There we have reservations to visit the Musée Toulouse Lautrec and the magnificent Sainte Cécile Cathedral. We will have to do this in 2 groups because the museum doesn’t allow such big groups all at once.
The bus will leave Albi at 6:30 PM and will drop you off in the Toulouse city center around 7:30 PM. Dinner on your own. If you’re going to reserve a restaurant, best not reserve until 8 PM.
Wed, May 24: L’Isle-sur-Tarn
You’ll spend the morning in class and the bus will meet us at 2 PM to take us to L’Isle-sur-Tarn. There we will visit the Chateau Lastours winery and will do a wine tasting followed by a visit of the small town of L’isle-sur-Tarn. You should be back in Toulouse for dinner on your own around 7:30 PM but best not reserve until 8 PM.
Thu, May 25: Foix
Morning in class. Today it is possible we’ll need to meet the bus earlier (at 1:30 PM) because Foix is further away. Elyse has arranged a visit of the chateau de Foix and museum. The bus will leave Foix by 6:00 PM, don’t plan on being back in Toulouse until 8 PM for dinner on your own.
Fri, May 26: Airbus and Aeroscopia in Toulouse
Today is going to be your last morning in class, then we’ll meet the bus at 1:30 PM to go to Blagnac and start our Manatour visit at 2 PM and they’ll kick us out by 5:45. Dinner on your own (tonight would be a good place for you to go to L’Entrecôte on your own if you wish because you should be able to be in line by 7 PM)
Sat, May 27: Carcassonne
Today we’ll meet the bus at 9 AM and make our way to the beautiful Medieval Citadel of Carcassonne. Elyse will guide us and we’ll also use the audio tours inside of the château. We should get back on the bus by 4 PM and you’ll be in Toulouse city center by 5:30 PM. Farewell dinner at la Brasserie des Arts, included in the price of the tour.
Extra Costs
As you know, vendors would rather not deal with 40 different payments because it takes too long and generates too many credit card fees. I will pay for all of these activities and tickets with my credit card, but I’ll need you to give me 100€ in cash per person to cover those costs. They will include:
- Cheese tasting with Betty Toulouse (1 glass of wine or other drink included)
- Museum and Cathedral tickets in Albi
- Wine tasting at Château Lastours (I’ve arranged to bring nibbles to go with and I’ll also bring other drinks for those who don’t drink wine)
- Foix Museum and Château tickets
- Aeroscopia and Airbus visit with Manatour
- Carcassonne Château tickets
The only things that are not included are all the lunches and dinners on your own.
I hope this covers it, but if you have any questions, please ask them in our WhatsApp group and I’ll answer there and update this page as well. Merci !