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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2013 13:57:57 GMT
I hesitated to make a report about Toulouse since bjd already made an excellent one a few years ago with both a PART 1 and a PART 2 a year later. And then when imec brought his family from Winnipeg to France, he devoted a report to it as well, which you can read here. So I just read those three reports to see if I had the same photos or not and should I even bother making yet another report... On top of that, I arrived in Toulouse in late afternoon and left the next morning at 8 a.m. so had I even seen anything? Well, I guess there are a few differences in my pictures, and maybe Toulouse itself has changed a little in those years, so here goes. My trips tend to start in Paris, so here is Gare Montparnasse where I had to wait a bit for the train. Train stations fascinate me anyway. In olden times, trains to Toulouse left from Gare d'Austerlitz. In a mere 5 hours and some, I was in Toulouse (no high speed rail line after Bordeaux). I even had a view of the station from my hotel window. For some odd reason, I jumped on the metro and got off somewhere at random. It is not the sort of subway system that overwhelms a Parisian, but it is fun anyway. It is identical to the Lille metro, with very small automatic trains. Okay, fine but it was time to go to the 'real' centre and see what was happening.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2013 14:06:14 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2013 16:30:23 GMT
The arcades facing the Capitole have interesting décorations on the ceiling. One thing that struck me in central Toulouse were the brass shop signs. I don't know if they have always been like this or if it is a recent enhancement of the city, but they certainly add elegance to some very ordinary names.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 12, 2013 18:12:06 GMT
It certainly looks like a wonderful city, with a really beautiful train station. The weather looks good too!
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Post by bjd on Jul 12, 2013 18:26:45 GMT
It looks as though you got along just fine without me, Kerouac! It's always interesting to see a place you know through someone else's eyes -- I hadn't realized about the brass shop signs. For your info, the wide pedestrianized street (rue Alsace-Lorraine) with small trees on it has been redone over the past couple of years. Originally, until the 1960s, there were streetcars on it. Then buses and much traffic. The pedestrianizing plans started about 7 or 8 years ago. There was one plan, then there was a new mayor of a different political party, so the old plans were torn up (along with what had been done before) and new plans were made. I hadn't seen the fountain near the tourist office yet. And the big "parisian-looking building" was a department store when we arrived and had been for years. It eventually closed and became a Marks and Spencer. When that closed, it was a Virgin Megastore. Zara moved in this year.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2013 19:49:20 GMT
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Post by fumobici on Jul 12, 2013 21:50:17 GMT
Beautiful.We cannot have too many Toulouse tours I think. And you even ventured across the other side of the river!
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Post by htmb on Jul 12, 2013 23:23:58 GMT
Beautiful.We cannot have too many Toulouse tours I think. I completely agree and am so glad to see your lovely photos. I only spent a few hours in Toulouse in 2008 when catching a train to Avignon. I was with friends who drove me around a bit. I remember going into a church. We also walked in the area across from the train station and had something to drink in a cafe. I've been saying I'd like to go back ever since. I was actually surprised to learn Toulouse is a fairly large city. I suppose that's because I only saw a small part. It appears you really covered a lot of ground, Kerouac.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2013 23:27:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2013 5:36:37 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2013 5:58:00 GMT
I bet that Toulouse is one of the only places in the world where most of the residents can probably tell you the first name of the 28th president of the United States.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2013 6:14:38 GMT
And then I picked up my car and hit the road...
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Post by bjd on Jul 13, 2013 7:11:43 GMT
Well -- you certainly saw a lot of the central city in those few hours. The old part of Toulouse is fairly compact, but you still managed to see a lot. Lots of good photos too. I wish I had known about the tango dancing -- I would have gone to see it.
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Post by htmb on Jul 13, 2013 15:07:56 GMT
When I was there I don't think I realized the Canal du Midi was right next to the train station, though there were many times I saw it (or other canals) from the train later during my journey.
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Post by htmb on Jul 18, 2013 20:41:35 GMT
I finally got around to watching your nice tango video. Well done. I think that's a dance I wouldn't mind learning. It looks a lot less dramatic when normal people dance the tango, as opposed to the tango I've seen in the movies.
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