Monthly Archives: December 2013

Toulouse Again And A Funny Street Sign

Falling under the ‘you couldn’t make that up’ category, here’s a photo of a street corner in Toulouse, France.

Street sign in Toulouse, France

Totally Terrific Toulouse — Part 2

Today’s highlights are a walk through the streets of the ‘Pink City’ of Toulouse in the Midi-Pyrenees. It was a cold and wintery 3 days there, so you’ll notice that there is very little in the way of blue skies!

Today’s post shows you a few glimpses of the Rue du Taur area with its charming pink brick buildings, narrow streets, wrought iron details, and medieval history.

The origins of the Rue du Taur are actually rather grim! This was the street where St Saturnin, first Bishop of Toulouse, was tied by the ankles to a charging bull and then dragged to his death at the instigation of the pagan priests who were headquartered at the site of the current Capitole plaza.

The basilica of St. Sernin (St. Saturnin) is the large cluster of buildings at the top of the Rue du Taur and it is all that remains of a formerly vast abbey complex.

UNESCO World Heritage Site Basilica of St. Sernin (St. Saturnin) in Toulouse, France.

Shoppers on Rue du Saur in Toulouse, France.

A slight curve in a narrow road filled with soft pink-coloured brick buildings in Toulouse, France.

Man sitting on a bollard in front of the Notre Dame du Taur church entry reading a guidebook.

Clad in a full fur coat and fur hat, a woman bustles through the shopping district on Rue du Taur in Toulouse, France.

Our journey down the Rue du Taur ends as the street opens up into the vast plaza in front of the the Capitole de Toulouse, a government and arts complex covering over 2 hectares (4.4 acres) right in the heart of Toulouse and rebuilt in the 1700s-1800s in the same spot as the original Roman Capitolium.

Rue du Taur terminates at the vast plaza containing the Capitole in Toulouse, France.

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The plaza in front of the Capitole building in Toulouse is frequently crowded with both tourists and local residents.

Totally Terrific Toulouse — Part 1

Stepping into the time machine a bit, here’s a bit of reporting on the lovely city of Toulouse in the Midi-Pyrenees of France. We spent several days there this year to celebrate my birthday and I thought I’d share some images from that trip over the next few posts.

The Musee des Augustins is housed in a large former Augustinian monastery built in 1309. The former home of 200 monks during the Middle Ages, this is a truly beautiful conversion of a set of buildings into museum space. Cloistered walkways surround a central courtyard and sweeping stairways take you to galleries on two levels. These contain architectural remnants dating back to medieval times, elegant sculpture, and several large rooms of paintings.

Entry to the Musee des Augustins, the fine arts museum in Toulouse.

Medieval tower of the former Augustinian monastery.

The small but elegant courtyard garden of the Musee Des Augustins.

Cloistered walkways surround the garden courtyard.

Historic gargoyles on display along the cloister walk.

The wonderful collection of gargoyles seen above was salvaged from another convent/monastery from the 1300s, the Couvent des Cordeliers, prior to its destruction and preserved here in Toulouse. These gargoyles are now displayed on pedestals beneath the covered roofline of the cloister walkways.

Did you note the distinctly pinkish tones of the bricks that the monastery is constructed of? Toulouse has long been known as the ‘Pink City’ for just that reason.

Part 2 coming soon!

Scaling Up and Going Grander

I’m scaling up size wise and going grander with the number of photos included. As a result, the next book will be a bigger and more expensive book. Print books can still be produced quite inexpensively but that is certainly NOT the case for colour photo print books unfortunately!

The book that I am currently editing is evolving into a much larger project than anticipated and I’ve made a few key decisions. As a result, it may or may not be ready for publication prior to Christmas. I’m hoping to be done by the end of this week, but if it ends up being a better product by waiting until after Christmas — then January it is!

The topic this time is France. I had planned to do three regional books on the North of France, the Midi-Pyrenees, and Paris. Now they’re going to all go into ONE LARGE book that has clearly defined sections. And I’ll be offering the print versions in 2 sizes — the small square size that I have used for the previous 3 books and a larger one (shape to be determined). There will of course be ebook formats for various types of tablets/e-readers/computers.

I recently became aware that I had over 18,000 images of France alone in my hard drive. Only a tiny percentage of them will make it into one of my books, but many will instead be placed into more travel articles or lodged with whatever agency I actually do continue to work with. And at some point in the future I plan to offer direct sales of prints. One step at a time though…

Interesting dilemma, eh? Far better to have too much to work with than too little. And for now, here’s one pic that didn’t go into the book. Enjoy!

Walking through the medieval walled city portion of Boulogne-sur-Mer in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France.

An Art Deco Beauty In Cincinnati, Ohio

Another happy announcement! Here’s my latest book — Midnight In The Station — and you can find it by clicking on the title to the left.

Again, this book, like the others, is available in iPad ebook, softcover, hardcover, and downloadable PDF file for any electronic device or computer.

This was a midnight visit to the Union Station in Cincinnati, Ohio and it’s truly one of the loveliest Art Deco buildings I have ever been in. It’s a tribute to that city that it has been restored so beautifully and, in addition to the Amtrak service that still operates several days a week, it also houses several museums.

I have created a new widget on the right sidebar for Ebooks and Print Books. Just click on that link and it will take you straight to the online store! All books may be purchased by either credit card or PayPal.

Enjoy!

A Wistful Farewell To Normandy

Quick photo for you today whilst I am editing another book. This is a shot of Mark by the seaside in St. Martin de Brehal — saying a wistful goodbye to Normandy in April before heading to Paris and Brussels the following day for a short holiday.

We lived for long periods of time in 2011 and 2012 in both Normandy and the Midi-Pyrenees and we continue to love both places for very different reasons.

There was always something heart-tugging about the energy of Normandy, by the seaside especially, and our last few months there were hard to document photographically. We both still miss it — in my case, every single day.

Saying goodbye to the Normandy seaside

So After All Of That Silence…

I’m in the middle of editing a 4th new book and I’m alternating between wired (and no, I am not drinking too much coffee) and Supreme Space Cadet.

Note to self #1 — multi-tasking is NOT always an option! (when feeling as scatty as a cat, trying to do 3 things at once is doomed to failure)

Note to self #2 — make certain that you click on SAVE DRAFT and not allow your finger to slide up to Hootsuite because you aren’t paying adequate attention whilst writing this very blog post. (sigh!)

Note to self #3 — pay attention when Darling Husband suggests that you NOT leave sharp knives in the bottom of the sink full of dishes. Ouch! However, the good news is that the kitchen is kinda-sorta clean again. (grumble-grumble!)

Seriously, I must be feeling better because my output this week work-wise has been beyond wonderful. I will be announcing a 3rd book this week (this time a bit more travel/architectural) and there is another one being edited and facts-checked today. Just call me the 7-days-a-week gal!

ALSO, I plan to address the e-book issue of what to do if you do NOT have an iPad since my ebook is only online in the Apple iPad format. I’ll be setting up a page for you to purchase the book in a PDF version which will work on ANY tablet and also work as an ebook on ANY computer. Cool, eh?

All for now — back to work. But here’s a wee teaser of what’s coming up!

“To Trains” sign in an Art Deco station built in the 1930s

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A Wanderful Life

The Neverending Journey