Toulouse, my first visit since June 14, 1998, 15 years ago – 2013France Preparation

I wonder how many people can think of Toulouse 15 years ago, on June 14, 1998…

When Japan participated in the World Cup for the first time, the first game was played here on this day.

Actually, I was at the site that day.

I will be back in Toulouse this May for the first time in 15 years.

My first trip to Europe in my life was to the 1998 World Cup in France, which was held 15 years ago.

As you may remember, at that time, many travel agencies were cheated by local brokers, and they could hardly prepare tickets for tour passengers.

But miraculously, I was able to get a ticket and watch the game at the stadium.

We played rock-paper-scissors with the tour group and won the rock-paper-scissors competition to get one of the few tickets.

As you can see, I have very fond memories of the show, and even though I’m not very good with things, I still have my tickets and photos from that time carefully stored away.

This is the ticket I took at that time (actually, I took it with a digital camera, which was very rare at that time)

And this is the ticket that I have now.

Well, Toulouse, I’ve actually been visiting the area near this city frequently for the past few years. Because this area is dotted with some of the most beautiful villages in France.

In spite of that, I never visited it after all…

Why did you decide to visit this time?

It was to meet a travel companion whom I met by chance during my previous trip to France.

They are a Japanese couple who I met three years ago when I was having dinner at a hotel in Conques, one of the most beautiful villages in France. They happened to be staying in the same hotel on the same day, and they came to talk to me because they thought, « How can a Japanese person visit such a place alone?

Since then, we have continued to communicate with each other, and every year when this time of year comes around, we exchange ideas about where to go this year.

This year, by coincidence, they are traveling to the same Midi-Pyrenees region and staying in Toulouse for a long time.

I hadn’t originally planned to stop in Toulouse, but with these memories of 15 years ago, I decided it was a unique opportunity and changed my plans a bit to stay in Toulouse for one night.

So this will be my first visit to Toulouse in 15 years. But when I think about it, I’ve been so busy with soccer that I haven’t taken the time to visit this city.

いろいろ盛り沢山のトゥールーズ、今から楽しみで仕方ありません。