We ended up staying four nights in Toulouse - two more than we had planned - and forfeited our two-night stay in Marseilles. After Tuesday's Assumption of Mary public holiday we woke on Wednesday with high hopes that we would find an alternator somewhere in Toulouse. After all, it's the fourth largest city in France and is home to about half a million people. Well it seems that many of the good people of Toulouse have shut up shop and gone on holidays (after all it IS August). However, those we did speak to were AMAZINGLY helpful and the 'love for the car' was palpable. The hotel phoned numerous places looking for the part, one mechanic had a Jaguar alternator but it wouldn't fit. He spent an hour calling people, trying to find someone who might have the part or be able to repair it - most were closed for holidays. Thanks to the help of a friend in the UK, we sourced a replacement and DHL were scheduled to deliver it to our hotel the following morning (Thursday). The hotel extended our stay and sorted our onward booking. Problem solved! Mr F even removed the old alternator in readiness for a quick getaway, despite not having quite the right tools needed. We walked and walked the town of Toulouse with its grand old Railway Station, the Canal du Midi and more, went out for dinner and slept knowing that the part was on its way.
The next morning brought mixed news. The part was in Lyon but it had missed the connection to Toulouse. We were not going to 'escape from Toulouse' until Friday. We walked a cracking 18,000 steps on Thursday, visiting the beautiful Basilica, the archeological museum, an art gallery, and I found a shop selling English language books!
Friday morning brought anxious checking of the DHL website tracking our delivery. Finally, just before 11 o'clock, it arrived! The part was installed by my clever husband, blood was shed (as usual) and it worked! Our bags were already packed and we said a fond farewell to our new Toulouse friends (the staff at the Pullman Hotel) and drove the 5+ hours to St Tropez. We are now back on track and will hit the beach today! It certainly has been an Odyssey but we made it from the sand dunes of the Atlantic Coast to the Mediterranean Harbour of St Tropez!
Commentaires