Onward to the Last Stop in France

Saturday, Apr. 22, 2017--Carcassone to Toulouse

Saturday is market day in Carcassone.  I had read it was a great market worth visiting, so I made a note on my plans to see it before leaving town.  As I went out of the apartment to walk to the main square where the market is held, there were lots of people on the sidewalks--both coming from town and going to town with almost all of them rolling a wheeled frame with a large shopping bag attached. 

The market was fantastic.  How I wish we had a similar market in San Antonio.  The Pearl Market looks like a simple weakling in comparison.  The vegetable vendors had both white and green asparagus, truffles, two kinds of artichokes, and all kinds of other vegies.  The seafood vendors had maybe 10 kinds of muscles/oysters.  The sausage makers had lots of beautiful salamis and dried meets.  The flower vendors had lilacs, tulips, roses, lilies, etc., including even some already out lavender.  The bakers had wonderful, heavy rustic breads with thick, crunchy crusts--the kind I have hoped to be able to buy in San Antonio since moving there but have never been able to find.  The pastry vendors had beautiful pies, cakes, croissants, etc.  I wandered taking photo after photo, then I wandered more just watching the crowds as they shopped.

My train was at 11:29.  When they announced the track number at 11:05, I headed that way.  Immediately, I looked at the screen to see the location of my car--Number 14.  The imagine showed 13, 15, 16, but no 14.  I returned to the information counter in the station.  The lady said just to get onto car 13 or 15 and show the agent my ticket to get a seat elsewhere.  Well, I have taken three trains in France so far without ever seeing an agent on the trian.  Today was no difference.  Groups of us, all with seat assignments in Car 14 stood the whole way to Toulouse even though we supposedly had reserved seats!  No one came to help us.  No one official was ever in sight.  The people inside the terminal didn't respond to my request of whether they could rebook me with a seat in another car.  NOT a way to run a railroad.  This was my 4th trip.  None had hassles.  #1 was canceled and I had to take a train an hour later.  #2 arrived late and was so full that I had to stand like a packed sardine all the way and arrived an hour late.  #3 ran on time, but a man was in my reserved seat and didn't offer to move; therefore, I sat in the seat beside him.  And this was #4--on time but no car to provide me with my reserved seat.

But my problems didn't end there.  I had been worried for 2 days.  I wrote Alexandre, the owner of my reserved apartment in Toulouse yesterday morning telling him that I would arrive at 12:16 if the train was ontime and would walk directly to the apartment.  I didn't hear back from him until late in the afternoon.  Essentially, he gave me a number of his girlfriend and told me to call her when I arrived at the station and she would meet me at the apartment; otherwise, he said, I would be waiting at the apartment forever with no one to meet me.  Well, my phone doesn't work in Europe except via WiFi, and it does not allow me to call European numbers.  I wrote him back in the late afternoon telling him beyond the fact I couldn't call his girl friend with my phone:  1)  I WOULD be on the train and would be at the apartment about 15 minutes after it arrives.  2) That the train service has a real-time website for checking to see if trains are on-time and what time they are expected that his girlfriend could check to know whether I was delayed and to judge when I would be at the apartment. 

I never heard back from him last night.  And there was no message by the time I left the apartment this morning.  When I arrived at the station, their WiFi does not allow calls or texting which I could have used to try to reach the owner.  I asked for help, and a very nice male employee took me to a service office and dialed the number of the girlfriend.  I got a RECORDING.  I left a message that I was here and was headed to the apartment.  I got to the apartment and rang the bell, but there was no answer.  An employee of a cafe across the streetlet me use their WiFi to text the owner to ask him to tell his girlfriend that I was here.  I got no response.  After about 30 minutes, I called a number I have for AIRBNB.  (You can't find a number on their website, so I have saved this for years.)  After a long wait, someone came on the line and I was reporting that I had encountered problems communicating with the owner for two days, that I had arrived, that I had called the number he gave me and got an answering machine, and that no one was here.  We went through all the authentification the needed to make sure I was who I said I was.  Just at the end of that when they would have started helping me to contact the owner with a number they had, the girlfriend showed up across the street.  What a relief, but what a frustration in the meantime!!

AIRBNB tends to favor those offering rental units over those renting units.  They allow their listers of units to cancel at any time without a penalty.  But renters cannot cancel after a given date based on 3 categories that units can be listed under--flexible, moderate, or strict--and most units are now listed under moderate or strict.  As I said above, they do not have phone numbers on their website for you to call.  They only have an on-line type-back-and-forth way to communicate with them about a problem.  These are big weaknesses in their offerings.  It cases clients trying to rent through them a big disadvantage and leads to burn-out.  If they aren't careful, over time they will find they have more listings than they can fill because of customers having problems with units they have rented--either being canceled too late to make alternative plans or having problems in their contacts with owners.  Last year, I had an owner in Bratislava try a bait and switch on me--not wanting to cancel the reservation herself, but wanting me to move to a less appealing apartment both in terms of looks and location.  This year, I had an great apartment I had rented in Seville canceled--probably because the owner got an offer from someone wanting to stay more days than I had booked to stay.  And today I joined the club of those dealing with the possibility that they had arrived and there was no one to meet them and let them into the apartment. 

The apartment I have rented here in Toulouse is really quite nice.  It's basic, but it has a very nice big glass door that opens with a wrought iron railing to provide an "inside" balcony.  It has a large-screen TV.  The kitchen is well equipped even though it is inside what we would call a wide closet in the US.  It has a nice desk for typing and good WiFi.  And it is cheap at about $42 per night total.

I went out in the afternoon to explore the city.  Toulouse has been a large city for a long time.  The older section of town with roads established by the Romans and buildings that include many that are half-timbered is much larger than the old section of Lyon.  Instead of being a few blocks along 2-3 streets, it covers probably 100 blocks for more.  I just wandered enjoying the warm day, the uniqueness (after over two weeks of stone buildings) of red brick buildings, and watching the crowds.  I went through the main square known as Place Capitole.  I saw Pont Neuf, the only old bridge remaining across the river here.  I passed Les Augustins which used to be a monastery but is now a museum.  I saw Hotel d'Assezat, one of the old mansions of the city that is also now a museum.  But what was interesting is the many, many blocks of old buildings on narrow streets that are filled with fancy shops.  I stopped at one (Patisserie Conte on Rue Croix-Baragnon which was lined with designer shops) and got an almond croissant for a snack.  UMMMM!

I've stayed inside this evening.  I ate food I already had for dinner and had it with a glass of wine from a bottle I bought this afternoon when exploring my neighborhood which seems to be a former workers' quarter and is now an immigrants quarter with Indians, Turks, etc.