Hotel des Beaux Arts, Toulouse

The hotel itself was a very pleasant surprise. It's location was spectacular. First impressions were all very positive. In the evening we ate at the wonderful restuarant below the hotel, situated on the bank of the river. The biggest surprise came when I woke about 3:00am feeling that I was being bitten by small mosquitoes, if only that had been the case. I went to the washroom, put on the light, and found myself covered in bed bugs. When I went back into the bedroom to waken my wife I found that, not only was she similarly covered, but the whole of the bottom part of our bed was covered with my blood. As we both have an aversion to being a low part of the food chain, we showered quickly, carefully shook out our luggage, and spent the balance of the night sitting upright in the reception area. In fairness to the owners, it is an old hotel and perhaps this kind of thing is to be expected in old European hotels. Certainly it seemed to come as no great surprise to the management.