Thursday 25 May 2017

Toulouse Day 2

Today we walked to The Saint-Etienne Cathedral in Toulouse a Roman Catholic cathedral in the historic center of Toulouse , in the department of Haute-Garonne . It gave its name to the neighborhood that surrounds it. The origins of the cathedral are unknown. Its first traced date from 1071 , when Bishop Isarn decided to rebuild the building, then in ruins. Its architecture is special because it is composed of architectural elements of various eras.





The Chapel of St Roch





Chapel of St Germaine






Chapel Notre Dame des Anges







We then walked along to the Monument to the Dead François Verdier on the way to the Grand Rond.





We then walked to the Museum of Toulouse, the most extraordinary museum, the way it was laid out and the collections that it held were modern and simple, yet so clever and visually stimulating I think it is the most I have enjoyed a museum in a long time.

Examples of Woad dying.


Ancient bells, trumpet, drum and harp.


The museum held the most amazing collection of crystals.



Along the outer glass wall of the museum they had skeletons of all sorts of creatures with the museum garden in the background which was such a lovely way to display them.




Then the display of taxidermy animals was the most extensive I have seen. Amongst them a huge display of owls. 









Then it was on to the shell collection



Next were the insects, some I just couldn’t help but see has little fairies in their pretty skirts of the most amazing colours, you  could just imagine them dancing in the garden. Of course there were my beloved dragonflies, so delicate and majestic. 








It was just amazing then my next love of nature the fungus, I have never seen these delicate pinks in my bush walks though.


Collections of flora items had my craft mind thinking of ideas for when I return home.




Then the fossils were extraordinary in their detail.







The next room in the Museum featured early indigenous civilizations, featuring adornments and ceremonial items.



This was a ceremonial drum.



After a beautiful lunch we wondered through the Botanical Gardens and then on to the Canal Midi in the hopes of going on a cruise, however our efforts were not rewarded as no boat appeared and we were the only two people that appeared to be interested.

The gardens created at the time of the French Revolution are the oldest public park in Toulouse. A Mecca of botany with nearly one hundred species of deciduous trees.





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