Paris1972-Versailles2003

I will take you south deep cathar country and home of family on wifes side. We have been here many many times and have posts on several locations ,however, most have been brief comments of the sights to see. I think they deserve more so will do several posts on the things to see and we like in the pink city of Toulouse! The city is in the Haute Garonne department 31 of the region of Occitanie. Hope you enjoy the post as I.

Now this is heavens, walking the streets of Toulouse must be require to all those walkers lovers of architecture and history like me ::)  At the end of the allée Jean Jaurés you find the Place Wilson, its a place of gathering for Toulousains today and near the tourist office at its end.  It extends the Allée Jean-Jaurès, connecting the heart of the city to the Canal du Midi. Built around the square, cafes and cinemas concentrate the student nightlife. It is with the place Saint-Pierre one of the lively places of Toulouse. Accessible by metro stations Capitole and Jean-Jaurès. The place is named after Woodrow Wilson 28th President of the United States  a major player of WWI as an ally of France.

It was here that Simon de Montfort met the consuls during the siege of 1216. It was then a meadow outside the ramparts, closed here by the Porte Villeneuve. Since 1908, a sculpture and a fountain honor the poet Pierre Goudouli. In 2005-2006, pedestrianization work was carried out, reducing the number of car lanes from two to one, and paving the entire porphyry and pink marble pavement, like other pedestrian areas in the city center/downtown core. In 2007, the carousel of Toulouse, with a photograph of the city, which had been on  Place Saint George for 17 years, moved to Place Wilson. The square today includes a bald cypress, coniferous losing its needles in winter; a female ginkgo biloba; a red oak from America; a soap maker; a tulip tree; a pine laricio; a green oak; a hackberry tree; linden trees and a weeping cedar.

The rue Boulbonne  is a street in the historic center of Toulouse, The street has retained the appearance it had at the end of the 18C because most of the buildings built during this century, although modest, have been preserved, with their classic facades and their windows adorned with wrought iron railings. It was however cut in two, at the turn of the 20C, by the piercing of the rue de Metz: it kept from this time several buildings typical of the eclectic Toulouse style. Starting in the 1980s, the rue  Boulbonne benefited from an embellishment program, by erecting the Boulbonne fountain in 1984, and paving and pedestrianization of the street in 2005. Today, it is particularly its second part, full of shops and cafes.

The rue Boulbonne meets the following roads, in order of increasing numbers Rue Croix-Baragnon, Place Saint-Etienne, Rue de Metz, Rue d’Astorg, Rue Cantegril and Place Saint-Georges. Some remarkable buildings here are such as No. 9: building in coronations 16C; Thibaud Maistrier’s house (end of the 17C); house of Guillaume Chaillon (early 18C) .It was the home of the sculptor Thibaud Maistrier in 1679, and that of the painter Guillaume Chaillon in 1721. The facade is built in wood pan covered with plaster. The three floors are separated by wooden cords. On the 1st and 2nd floors, the left and right side windows are framed by a jam and a wooden support, the latter being supported by small consoles, while the central windows, larger, have a wooden balcony, also supported by consoles and equipped with guardrails. The third floor is open on a loggia, punctuated by four thin wooden Ionic columns, which support a molded cornice

At the old numbers  24-30 was the location of the house of architect Nicolas Bachelier, and  then Dominique Bachelier, 16C; and the Grand Hotel and Tivollier (1900-1901); prefecture of Haute-Garonne. built on the site of older houses, two of which had belonged to the architect Nicolas Bachelier, then to his son, also architect, Dominique Bachelier  formerly No. 26 and 28.

The Boulbonne fountain was built in 1984 on the site of the former Quatre-Carres well. It consists of a brick wall made of four pillars crowned with stone spheres and surmounted by a curvilinear pediment, which is inspired by the architecture of neighboring buildings. Water gushes out of three lion’s muzzles. The carved group rests on the central base. It is part of a larger ensemble designed to decorate the place du Capitole, but remained in the city’s reserves. It represents the Garonne river offering electricity to the city of Toulouse, thanks to the mills of Bazacle. The Garonne, a female figure bent under the arch of a bridge, leans on a paddle wheel. Above, the city of Toulouse, dressed in local costume, holds with her right hand a rudder.

I will add here a page on the wonderful sighst to see in the pink city of Toulouse, do read my posts on them in my blog.

The heritage on buildings is enormous here some religious like the Saint Sernin Basilica and the Convent of the Jacobins ; other modern like the site of Airbus, and some of knowledge of the new like the Contemporary and Modern Arts museum as well as the Capitole that itself houses the city hall, a room of nobles and famous with work by Artists of Toulouse from the 19C ,an Opera, a symphonic orchestra on the square of place du Capitole..Behind it are the tower or Donjon du Capitole in a park surrounded by the tourist office at the entrance to city center below the alley of Jean Jaurés (that comes from the Matabiau train station) , there is the Place Wilson surrounded by brick buildings with a lively ambiance of terrace bars ,cafes and cinemas. You go along the Garonne river to the quays and wharfs renovated in the 18C such as quai Henri-Martin and quai de Tounis built in brick to hold on the flooding and allowing to walk the banks of the river to discovered the old bridges such as the Pont Neuf, the oldest in Toulouse with 220 meters long and the Pont Saint Pierre a metallic bridge done in 1987. A bit down the Garonne river you will see the Bazacle, where the first inhabitants of Toulouse were installed and today it is a dam to keep the water level of the Garonne in balance during the Summers. Along the banks, you find the Hospital de la Grave and its Chapel of Saint Joseph de la Grave with the dome covered in copper as well as the water tower of Toulouse that houses a photographic exhibition. The place de la Trinité , and the rue des Filatiers are wonderful places to discovered with its wonderful mansions in brick ; at the rue des Filatiers there is the house or maison Calas,(jean Casas found guilty and executed for killing his son who had converted to Catholicism, himself a Protestant), and at the end of the street the Church de la Dalbade. You as well see the wonderful train station of Gare Matabiau and the Canal du Midi, the Saint Michel prison, and the Niel Palace built on the old fortications of Toulouse to house the marshal of France Adolphe Niel,and the amphitheatre of Purpan Ancely, one of the only remaining intact building of the Roman period in Toulouse.

The city has an incalcuble numbers of mansions on the pink brick architecture as well as famous cafes on the same motif. Other than the previously mentioned religious buildings there is also the Cathedral St Etienne or St Stephen; Church Notre Dame du Taur, Convent of St Augustinians also the museum of Augustins; Orthodox religious rites at the Church of Saint Nicolas at avenue de Grande Bretagne or the Synagogues with the oldest that of Palaprat. Othe than along the Canal du Midi, you have the Jardin Royal, and the jardin Japonais Jardin des Plantes,and the Grand Rond, are very nice green spaces in the city. Other museums in addition to those mentioned above are the Musée Saint Raymond located practically across from the Saint Sernin Basilica was created in 1892 to showcase the art and archaeology of antiquity. Very educational indeed. The before mentioned Musée des Augustins created in 1795 is the fine arts(Beaux-Arts) . museum. The interesting Hôtel d’Assézat houses the fondation Bemberg with a collection of books, portraits and sculptures. And of course many cinemas, theatres and galleries to make this a grand city of the south, the pink city.

The City of Toulouse and its heritage : http://www.toulouse.fr/web/patrimoine

The Toulouse tourist office on its heritage : https://www.toulouse-tourisme.com/en/what-to-see-and-do/

The Haute Garonne dept 31 tourist office on Toulouse: https://www.hautegaronnetourism.com/real-emotions/toulouse-the-haute-garonne-in-capitole-letters/

There you go another dandy in my belle France, and lovely territory of many memories from and with the family over the years. Again, very nice area ,hope you enjoy the some streets of Toulouse as I

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!