Falling under the ‘you couldn’t make that up’ category, here’s a photo of a street corner in Toulouse, France.
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Falling under the ‘you couldn’t make that up’ category, here’s a photo of a street corner in Toulouse, France.
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©Deborah Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
Please respect the words and images on this page.
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Today’s highlights are a walk through the streets of the ‘Pink City’ of Toulouse in the Midi-Pyrenees. It was a cold and wintery 3 days there, so you’ll notice that there is very little in the way of blue skies!
Today’s post shows you a few glimpses of the Rue du Taur area with its charming pink brick buildings, narrow streets, wrought iron details, and medieval history.
The origins of the Rue du Taur are actually rather grim! This was the street where St Saturnin, first Bishop of Toulouse, was tied by the ankles to a charging bull and then dragged to his death at the instigation of the pagan priests who were headquartered at the site of the current Capitole plaza.
The basilica of St. Sernin (St. Saturnin) is the large cluster of buildings at the top of the Rue du Taur and it is all that remains of a formerly vast abbey complex.
Our journey down the Rue du Taur ends as the street opens up into the vast plaza in front of the the Capitole de Toulouse, a government and arts complex covering over 2 hectares (4.4 acres) right in the heart of Toulouse and rebuilt in the 1700s-1800s in the same spot as the original Roman Capitolium.
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Stepping into the time machine a bit, here’s a bit of reporting on the lovely city of Toulouse in the Midi-Pyrenees of France. We spent several days there this year to celebrate my birthday and I thought I’d share some images from that trip over the next few posts.
The Musee des Augustins is housed in a large former Augustinian monastery built in 1309. The former home of 200 monks during the Middle Ages, this is a truly beautiful conversion of a set of buildings into museum space. Cloistered walkways surround a central courtyard and sweeping stairways take you to galleries on two levels. These contain architectural remnants dating back to medieval times, elegant sculpture, and several large rooms of paintings.
The wonderful collection of gargoyles seen above was salvaged from another convent/monastery from the 1300s, the Couvent des Cordeliers, prior to its destruction and preserved here in Toulouse. These gargoyles are now displayed on pedestals beneath the covered roofline of the cloister walkways.
Did you note the distinctly pinkish tones of the bricks that the monastery is constructed of? Toulouse has long been known as the ‘Pink City’ for just that reason.
Part 2 coming soon!
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I am very pleased to announce the publication of a SECOND book this week — Brief Bits Of Barcelona. This book is available for purchase in several formats — ebook for iPad, hardback, and softcover. Barcelona is one of the places in Europe that we would return to again and again, so I hope this book either encourages a trip there or brings back some of your own memories.
I’m already working on the NEXT book, so come back soon for the launch of yet another one (and another, and another…).
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We’ve been back in Melbourne, Australia for a week now, so it was definitely time for one of our favourite pursuits — a day out and about in the city for a few hours of food and culture. Seriously, Melbourne is such a vibrant city that even if it is a gray-sky and gloomy day, if you are bored — you just need to get up and get OUT of the house!
Here are 4 things to do on a Sunday in Melbourne.
1. Arrive at your destination without the hassle of finding an overpriced parking place if you travel by train for an easy way around the city. The comprehensive train network makes Melbourne such a joy to travel throughout!
2. Eat a reasonably priced lunch in an eclectic food court inside a beautiful building at Southgate. There are also some wonderful luxury stores and full service restaurants in this multi-level building complex.
3. Go to the Sunday Market at the Melbourne Arts Centre to see quality handcrafted art, craft, and food items. The row of glass-overhang-covered artists has an enthusiastic audience each weekend.
4. Spend an inspiring afternoon at a world class museum — the NGV on St. Kilda Road. There were hundreds of people milling around inside this large art museum, but there was a very happy and relaxed vibe. Autumn leaves were swirling around outside of the beautiful bluestone facade and the people strolling by were dressed appropriately for the cooler temperatures.
The other enjoyable exhibit, in part as an observer of the effect of it on the audience as they either walked by or interacted with it, was Clinamen by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, a sound and motion exhibit with round white ceramic bowls floating in a round pool of deep blue water. The gentle clink as bowl contacted bowl tinkled pleasantly in the atrium space.
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Bright sun, deep shade — just made for black and white. Enjoy!
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It’s not the kind of Mother’s Day celebrations I would have ever thought about, but apparently one of the ‘things to do’ on Mother’s Day in Sydney, Australia is to take your mother to the beach to celebrate if it’s a nice day. And Coogee Beach was a perfect example of the packed-with-people spots. The ‘Pram Brigade’ of young parents pushing children in strollers was certainly out in force!
The skies were gorgeously blue, the winds were ever-so-slightly brisk, and the temperatures were warmer than the norm. So it was a perfect day for a walk along the boardwalks and footpaths at the seaside with a hearty cafe lunch as a reward.
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