From the heat in Toulouse to the fresh air in Victoria

Ruth: On our last day in Toulouse the temperature rose to 39 degrees. It was not the feared 41 degrees that Gord had been warning me about, but still a worry, especially without air conditioning. The news reports claimed that it was the hottest day on record in France, based on a protocol that finds the average from 30 reporting stations across the country.  Dozens of people drowned trying to find relief in various bodies of water, and a nuclear power plant we had passed was shut down because the cooling water was too warm.

Architecture design is everything in the heat. We were lodging in an apartment we had stayed in the last time we passed through Toulouse. Fortunately, it was on the ground floor facing a shady interior courtyard and had walls four feet thick around much of the bedroom. I think it was the mass in those walls that kept us comfortable for our three night stay. 

In spite of the heat, we still enjoyed our time in Toulouse. Years ago we spent two weeks in the city studying French, and it was great to return to our favourite haunts. The colossal Romanesque Basilica of  Saint-Sernin always tops the list. We visited it several times including once to hear vespers sung by the choir.

While there is always some sense of loss at the end of a trip, it was a bit of a relief to leave Toulouse.  The heat wave was forecast to persist for several more days, and it did place some constraints on our activities in Toulouse.  In any event, Victoria in the summer is a beautiful place to be.