Last Saturday we caught a very fast train to Toulouse where Hugh (or Hugues as I now like to call him!) was giving a talk and meeting some colleagues. A few of Hugh's lab have been coming here for a while and now I can see why - Toulouse is a lovely city- the fifth largest in France. Spring had really sprung here in the south and it was a balmy 16 degrees and we enjoyed walking the twisting, old streets admiring the architecture of this pink city, so called because most of the buildings are built in red brick. It is home to many old Romanesque churches and was known as Tolosa in Roman times. On our first day we visit our first one - the cathedral of St Etienne - which was built in the thirteenth century and is a very odd jumble of architectural styles. We then stroll on down to the bridge across the Garonne river and through the clouds can just make out our first ever glimpse of the Pyrenees. Below is Hugh's picture of Toulousians catching their first sun of spring, basking on the banks like penguins.
On the way home we visit an amazing museum in a former Augustine monastery. It has many unusual Romanesque sculptures but also houses an incredible collection of French art. Lots of scantily-clad maidens abound but I discover 3 paintings by a seventeenth century woman artist called Louise Moillon who painted incredible still lives of fruit. Apparently there are a couple of her paintings in the Louvre which I must have missed - I will rectify this as soon as I return to Paris, as she is now my new favorite artist! Later we meet up with some friends and watch a game of rugby in an extremely crowded bar (France vs Ireland) before going to a great (and almost as popular) vegetarian restaurant in the old quarter. Toulouse, perhaps because of its student population, has a lot more veggie options than Paris and even caters for a newly-minted vegan like myself!
On Sunday we wander through the botanic gardens and are amazed by all the beautiful spring flowers on display - crocuses coming up in the lawns, multi-coloured primulas, pansies and poppies predominate elsewhere and it is very relaxing walking around in the sun. Pleasingly, the flower emblem of Toulouse is the violet and with my love of purple, I buy up big on soaps, perfume and other pretty violet things with glee. I am undecided about the violet liqueur though and will have to taste I think before I buy! We also discover the famous canal du midi which was built by a Toulousian man called Pierre-Paul Riquet in the seventeenth century and which connected the Atlantic coast with the Mediterranean sea, an amazing feat of engineering.
On Monday I am kept very busy visiting the Unesco World heritage-listed Basilica of St Sernin (who knew there were so many saints?) which was a famous pilgrimage church on the St Jacques de Compostella route. But the biggest treat for me was visiting the museum of antiquities which has an amazing collection of Roman statues and great information about Roman Toulouse. I am very happy in my natural element! Armed with my new information, I can identify Roman walls and the Cardo Maximus (main street) of Toulouse which is still the heart of the city (see below). The main square of Toulouse was the site of one of the main Roman gates into the city and now has a spectacular town hall with beautiful paintings (read more scantily-clad maidens) and sculptures of famous Toulousians, including the mathematician Fermat, along the walls of its main hall.
My last day in Toulouse in spent browsing through a few more particularly gloomy Romanesque churches and convents and one lovely art museum in an old Renaissance house complete with a picturesque staircase tower. Toulouse has many old towers dotted around the city and also a number of beautiful Renaissance mansions, as it was a very prosperous town in that period. I am happy to find not only a nice statue of Joan of Arc on horseback, but also a dear little statue of her high up on a wall in the old quarter. The street signs around here are in two languages - French and Occitan, the dialect of the south which seems kind of symbiosis of French and Spanish to me. Tomorrow we are off by train to Switzerland (Lauanne/Geneva/Gland) for a combination of work and friend visiting. Back to the cold I fear!
No comments:
Post a Comment