Toulouse - the Pink City and the Ride on the Minotaur (France Part 9)

In Toulouse, we first went to the exhibition 'Halle de la Machine', which we had already seen in Nantes - by chance - before. In a large hall, more or less crazy machines are exhibited.

There are huge animals and mythical creatures that can also be used as means of transportation, such as several meters high spiders or a Minotaur.

On this one could also book a ride and so we rode on the water vapor snorting (some onlookers got wet) machine over the area.

Several employees were necessary to control the ride and generate head and arm movements.

In the exhibition, there was a section with 'musical instruments', which were mainly loud. They were built from broken instruments and whatever else could be found.

Also interesting was the 'mechanical dinner', which actually takes place from time to time and where food is served with the help of machines - for which you need more waiters than usual to operate them.

The guests are also involved: the bread is served by catapult and must be caught.

In the evening, we took a walk through the old town. Toulouse is also called the 'ville rose' because of the many buildings made of red brick.

The squares of the old town were lively and people were still dining outside in the restaurants in nice weather.

In the old town, the buildings on the banks of the Garonne were illuminated.

The next day we visited the town hall, whose magnificent halls can be visited for free.

Then we went to the Jacobin convent. In the church there are relics of Thomas Aquinas, one of the famous theologians of the medieval church.

In the Musée St. Raymond, there was a special exhibition on antiquity and pop culture, showing the connection between modern films and comics with ancient mythology.

We took a boat trip on the 'Canal du Midi', an artificially created connection between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

The trip was not very spectacular and took over an hour through Toulouse, because we had to pass three locks along the way.

Our final walk in the evening took us across the Garonne to the other side, where we saw the Dôme de la Graves and the Hôtel Dieu St Jacques up close.