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 series.

Now this is heavens, walking the streets of Toulouse must be require to all those walkers lovers of architecture and history like me ::) Enjoy it

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.

The Toulouse tourist office on its walks et al: https://www.toulouse-visit.com/heritage-walks

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 series posts to come on Toulouse, the pink city!

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