Toulouse is a city in southwest France on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km (366 mi) away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. With 1,102,882 inhabitants as of Jan.1 2006, the Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in France, after Paris (12 million), Lyon (1.8 million), Marseille (1.7 million). Toulouse is one of the bases of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, and CNES’s Toulouse Space Centre (CST), the largest space centre in Europe. Thales Alenia Space, Europe’s largest satellite manufacturer, and Astrium Satellites, EADS’s satellite system subsidiary, also have a significant presence in Toulouse. Its world renowned university is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229) and, with more than 97,000 students, is with Lille the third-largest university campus of France after Paris and Lyon.
Toulouse was the capital of the former province of Languedoc (provinces were abolished during the French Revolution). It is now the Chef-lieu of the Midi-Pyrénées region, the largest region in metropolitan France. It is also the Chef-lieu of the Haute-Garonne department. The main industries are aeronautics, space, electronics, information technology and biotechnology. Toulouse hosts the Airbus headquarters and assembly-lines of Airbus A320, A330, A340, and A380, the others (A318, A319, A321 and A380 interior furnishing) being in Hamburg, Germany.
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Fontaine de la place Wilson, it shows the poet Pierre Goudouli - www.mikepeel.net
Toulouse, known as the Ville Rose (“Pink City”) for its distinctive brick architecture, is host to a rich and diverse culture. It has a thriving scene of unusually beautiful graffiti, with the painter Tilt! and Miss Van at its forefront. The Théâtre du Capitole is the home of opera and ballet; there has been a theatre on the site since 1736. The Orchestre National du Capitole, long associated with Michel Plasson, plays at the Halle aux Grains.
It is the seat of the Académie des Jeux Floraux, the equivalent of the French Academy for the Occitan-speaking regions of southern France, making Toulouse the unofficial capital of Occitan culture. The traditional Occitan cross was adopted as the symbol of both the City of Toulouse and the newly-founded Midi-Pyrénées région. The city’s gastronomic specialties include Saucisses de Toulouse, a type of herb sausage, cassoulet Toulousain, a bean and pork stew, and garbure, a cabbage soup with poultry. Also, foie gras, the liver of an overfed duck or goose, is a delicacy mainly made in the Midi-Pyrénées.
To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facepage pages/Twitter accounts. Read more on City of Toulouse, Toulouse Tourism and Wikipedia Toulouse. Learn more about the use of photos.
