Gayle Brennan Spencer – sending random thoughts to and from South Austin
Toulouse managed to captivate our attention in a way that we ended up with an abundance of snapshots taken from her pedestrian-friendly streets.
Continue reading “Postcard from Toulouse, France: Pull out your walking shoes”
Above: Place de la Trinité
When I started sorting through our images of Toulouse, more shots seemed to be landing in the random file than normal. Part of that is the patterns of the city itself. The imaginative use of brick and stone, far more striking than the staid formal Williamsburg-look abundant in my original home state. And the way Toulouse tends to reuse not tear down the old, with an unbridled free-spirited approach to mixing centuries of architectural styles in the same block.
Continue reading “Postcard from Toulouse, France: Is there any logic to the wandering eye?”
After the aristocratic, monochromatic ashlar (of large cut-stone masonry) buildings lining the streets of Bordeaux, walking the streets of Toulouse is like a double jolt of espresso. Yes, there are a multitude of stone-faced structures of the same period of affluence as those in Bordeaux, but there is also brick, tons of it. Often brick is laid in striking patterns contrasting the red with stone.
But, for now, I’ve isolated a few of what certainly appear amongst the oldest group of structures in the historic center of Toulouse. Without turning to experts to verify in each of these cases, these half-timbered houses with brick infill probably date to the 16th century. Several are constructed of Roman brick, shorter in height and wider than more “contemporary” brick.
Continue reading “Postcard from Toulouse, France: Brick and timber swaybacks still standing”
Postcards from Barton Springs 