• Dave HipplerEurope 2025Traveler
    The Garrone River from the Rive Droite (Right Bank)
    The Hall of Machines!My first Kir (black currant liqueur with white wine.) Pinkies up.Our apartment in the center of the Old TownCassoulet, a southern France classicArt installation on the Pont Neuf across the Garonne River. I thought it was a dude!Street signs in the historic center are in French and Occitan, an almost forgotten languageAt the Bemberg art museum.Inside Le Capitole, the Hotel de Ville (city hall) in Toulouse. Wow!Ricard is the most popular brand of Pernod in France. Add some ice and water, sit back, and relax.I don't think anyone wore this armor into battle.There were some amazing impressionist pieces at the Bemberg.At Le Capitole, The City Hall of ToulouseA Concorde at the Musee AeroscopiaA picnic on the left bank of the River Garonne.Inside the Concorde. Flights ended in 2003.Hall of MachinesHall of Machines

    Toulouse, France

    Apr 12–15 in France ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F

    We had no expectations about visiting Toulouse and ended up just loving it. It's a great city. This is France's fourth largest and was voted by Lonely Planet as one of the best place to visit in 2025. It's France's tech hub, home of Airbus and the largest national space center in Europe.

    We arrived early Saturday afternoon. A lot of restaurants close at 2:30 or so, but we found a Thai restaurant nearby. We kept hearing a bass drum in the background while eating. After lunch we walked through a huge techno festival in the street. A lot of different groups had massive speakers on trucks and just cranked out their favorite music to large crowds.

    We scored a remodeled apartment right smack dab in the middle of things in the old city. The pedestrian streets were so crowded! And this was after the festival area. I guess Saturday is shopping day, because stores were packed. It was worse than Black Friday. The warm weather brought people out.

    There were so many highlights, I'll list only our favorites:

    - Fine dining. Food is great and not too expensive. Local wine is great value also. Cassoulet is the local dish. It's a hearty bean stew with a duck leg and a sausage.

    Museums - the Bemberg has wonderful impressionists and an interesting jewelry collection. The best museum was the Hall of Machines. It's hard to describe, so check out the movies. That's not AI! Imagine a group of artsy engineers who are also musicians created a museum about machinery, and your have the Hall of Machines. We didn't have time for about 5 other museums.

    - The airplane museum (Aeroscopia) We got to walk through a Concorde plane and several others in the suburb that hosts the Airbus factory. That was fun.

    - A stroll and picnic along the Rive Garonne. This is as romantic and exciting as a walk along the Seine in Paris. On Saturday night, it was party central with the younger set. They don't allow that in Paris.

    Le Capitole - the Hotel DeVille, or city hall. Wow. It's a shrine to civic government with fantastic murals adorning the ceiling and walls in in what can only be described as a palace. I wince when thinking of Madison's city/ county building

    There's so much more. We're glad we had 3 nights but could have used more. I can't recommend a visit here enough.

    More photos and videos are here.
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZWQBHyWdvY5se5yC9

    Hall of Machines
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/LLCfSnkXzSD5TTWT6

    Musée Aeroscopia
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/xVcGNuaNZ1z58EY26    Read more