♥♥Gone to pastures new. Thanks to all of you. You are a lovely crowd, but time does not ...
♥♥Gone to pastures new. Thanks to all of you. You are a lovely crowd, but time does not permit me to do the site justice any more♥♥
Member since:01.08.2003
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La Ville Rose means the pink city, which seems rather a strange name for people to give to a vast city in the South of France, although there is good reason.
When you look over the bridges towards the centre of Toulouse, all of the buildings that form the historic centre of this great city appear to be pink. This is one of France's huge cities with over 600,000 inhabitants, and when I visited last year, I was amazed at the activity, because I live in a small community of 400 people, and to me, this was enormous.
I stayed near the centre of Toulouse with a friend, and in this particular area, the parks are amazing. There are roads leading off in all directions, but the people in the parks do not have to be concerned with the hustle bustle of city life, because parks are joined to one another with bridges that cross these major roads, and walking in the parks, feeding the ducks, or discovering all the collection of trees that have been imported over the years is fascinating.
Along the side of the River, there are avenues that are narrow, but inviting. You get a glimpse of the river, and at the side of the road, row upon row of platain trees which are beautiful. The branches of the platain are almost as wide as the trunk of the trees, and this is a tree that is native to this area and which you do not see a lot of in other districts of France.
The City Hall of Toulouse is housed in the largest square I have ever seen in France, bordered by street cafes and little streets that go off into different parts of the town, and I found that it is very easy to be disorientated in Toulouse, whereas normally my sense of direction is good. We walked through the streets and mingled with the people, through street markets where the atmosphere was one of comradeship and you actually felt safe, even though this is a City on a par with huge cities in England.
Walking through the central parks, we came across a real show off. In the centre of a city, in the centre of a park was a peacock that loved people. He came out and strutted his stuff and showed us his tail feathers.
Very different from Paris, Toulouse has a more relaxed atmosphere and I think that this can be accounted for by the warmth of the region, as well as southern mentality.
I loved the bridges across the river Garronde, the buildings which showed such stature and history and I actually loved the people who were friendly, and courteous.
Toulouse can be reached by rail, or by flying from the U.K. to Carcassone and then hiring a vehicle which I would say was probably the cheapest way of visiting this area. What is good about the area is that it is so near to so many attractions, although my week in Toulouse was barely enough time to discover all the history that the city had to offer.
What makes a holiday in this region is the proximity to the mountains making a day in the ambience of mountain air and scenery a real possibility and within easy reach.
Hotels are available at as little at £12 a night and I would anticipate that a person would need between £15-£20 a day to have a really good time and to be exceedingly well fed.
As for shops, I was amazed to see that there are the same big chains that you find in Paris, and that they are every bit as good.
This is a city to be explored, to be enjoyed, and the music and atmosphere that reminds me of the region still brings back that relaxed atmosphere of street cafes and good food.
The rose city will remain one of my favourite cities in France and I still have much to discover.
Rachel
Pictures of Toulouse (France)
The Rose City across the bridges.
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