Toulouse

The first week of July I went to the AMMA conference in Toulouse, France. The flight wasn't too bad in either direction, but I was annoyed they couldn't find a different flight for me on the way there.  They needed 10+ people to volunteer to get off and they were giving out $1000 but despite searching they couldn't find a different flight. Oh well, maybe next time.

The conference was very useful for me and I think my talk went well. I'm not going to talk about that much though, just show you lots of pictures of Toulouse! The conference was held at Meteo France, and I managed to sneak a pic of the main lecture theatre where I gave my talk and co-chaired a couple of sessions. And yes, the podium does have a giant satellite image on it!

Where I gave my talk at Meteo France

The conference ended with a banquet (as so many do), but let me tell you, this was no ordinary conference banquet. It was in this beautiful old building by the river and had the best food and wine ever. What other conferences serve foie gras and veal (of course I didn't have that but my salmon was great). There were about 6 course, including cheese and the most delicious macaroon ever. Yum!

Just to prove I was really there - me and my vegetarian sign!

I managed to find a little bit of free time a couple of afternoons to explore the city. I can't quite remember the names of all of the places I visited (although I could try harder to look them up if I really wanted to). Anyway, Toulouse is a beautiful city (known as the red city) and we had great weather for most of the week - warm and sunny makes for great pictures. Here are a selection.

Random street in Toulouse

Bridge over the river in Toulouse. I love the reflection!

The Capitole by day

The Capitole by night

Church downtown

Scrap metal dragon in a pond at a park

Inside of one of the several churches I visited. I think this was on the Rue du Taur (hence the bulls in the painting)

Sadly, I was a few week early for the Tour de France visiting the outskirts of Toulouse but on my last night they had a 3km and 10km run through downtown. If only I had my running stuff I would have joined in! I watched the start and finish of the 3 km and pretended I was at the Tour anyway!

Not the Tour de France

For those that find themselves in the Midi-Pyrenees I recommend Toulouse! I even remembered some of my high school French :-)