Toulouse, Aug. 23-27

 It’s a two day trip from Castelsarrasin to Toulouse. When Tanya and I visited Toulouse last May before our departures (mine back to the US, hers north to Saint Jean de Losne) we had dined at Fogos, a restaurant she had visited on an earlier visit and really enjoyed. We were determined to eat there again. We arrived late Friday afternoon but as the restaurant is only open Monday through Friday (ah, the French) we would have to wait until Monday evening for our return visit.

In earlier visits to the city I had seen the modern art museum and the Airbus center but Tanya introduced me to La Machine, a theater troop that specializes in fantastic machines and exotic musical instruments in their productions. I’m going to post some pictures of the Minotaur and the spiders that are at the center but I urge you to visit the website (especially “Long Ma” and “Les Mécaniques Savantes” in the “Productions” section) and see some of these fantastic creations and other performances that are featured all over the world. It’s really amazing stuff.

On Sundays, a meal is served with much mechanical help. It really is a performance.

More on the website.

There are regular rides aboard the Minotaur around the facility.

One of the two spiders here.

The machines are all hydraulically controlled

 and there are 10-15 people aboard each one 

to manipulate the legs and other body parts.

The main driver sits right under the head.

Those four seats are for the performers that manipulate the legs on this side as the spider “walks”, one seat for each leg.

More about a performance on the streets of Toulouse.

Meanwhile, on the way to Toulouse we had discovered that the engines alternator had died, no longer charging Oldtimer’s batteries when we were underway. Luckily the nearby auto parts store had a replacement;  that was Monday’s chore. Task completed and a very satisfying dinner consumed, Tuesday morning we were off to our next stop, Castelnaudary, another two days east on the Canal du Midi.