The holiday got off to a good start with warm sunny weather and two peugeots, which we easily navigated onto the autoroute. For what was to be the first and only time on our trip, we made it to the hotel in Toulouse incident free in about 2h30. This was where one of the main sources of hilarity for the trip began, as ME failed to grasp FU's name; instead calling him Fluvio, Flavio or Fabio for the duration. After checking in we went to have a walk round the town, visiting Capitole, the Pont Neuf and the Jardin des Plantes. I had a very unsatisfying crêpe and hot chocolate; there's something to be said for Montpellier snacks. After deciding to return to the hotel at 20h, GL naively suggested that we might be eating at a reasonable hour. As it turned out, we ended up leaving the hotel at 22h (perfect Spanish and Italian timing) to look for somewhere to eat. As I had wisely mentioned earlier, it was quite difficult to get a table for 9 at 22h15 with no reservations, so we ended up eating at Entrecôte, which was very nice as usual, but wasn't the cassoulet I'd been hoping for.

A new day dawned and we had croissants and coffee in a cafe near the centre. After that we visited the Basilique St-Sernin and the Japanese gardens before having a picnic in Capitole, where we all got slightly pink in the sun; La Ville Rose etc. At about 17h we headed back to the cars to start the journey to Bordeaux. I didn't realise at the time, but nobody had actually brought a map or directions of how to get to the hotel, which was in the suburb next to Le Bouscat i.e about 20 mins from the centre. Predictably, FU was driving the other car and was in front when we arrived in Bordeaux, and promptly took the wrong turning into the centre. Just as I'd finished cursing him we stopped at a red light. Then realised both cars were on an island made for one between four tram tracks; and yes, there were threee trams approaching us on all sides. After a hectic few minutes of screaming and gesturing at each other the light turned green and we hurried off the lines. We eventually made it to the hotel at 20h, and decided to go out for dinner. Again we had the same problem finding somewhere and then ME suggested we get a take-away pizza and eat it on the street. At night. 3C. Luckily she was outnumbered but we did end up going to an English pub; at least we were warm and had a nice meal. There was then a further discussion about whether to go out or catch the last tram home; luckily we won that too.