Toulouse 26th July

26th July 

I haven't escaped from the heat yet, 33° in Toulouse today.

Toulouse from the bus

I went to the Air museum in the morning as there is a connection between Bristol and Toulouse with Concord and newer projects.

Walkway cycle path from the airport 

The buses confused me so I took the airport shuttle and walked the rest of the way, after an overpriced coffee and croissant in Starbucks at the terminal.

Airport concourse 

The museum was slightly disappointing being, as I suppose you would expect, mainly French Airbus stuff as it is beside the Airbus assembly factory.

Concord a bit mixed up with an Airbus A 300 wing

There was little mention of the propulsion systems other than descriptions of how the engines work and only one comment about the collaboration between Snecma and Bristol Siddeley / Rolls-Royce.

Underside of Concord's nose

They did have two Concords as well as a good selection of other planes including an Airbus 380 which is ridiculously huge!

A380

Twenty wheels in the main landing gear

One interesting aircraft was a small helicopter that worked by blowing compressed air out of the end of the rotors. No torque, so no need for a tail rotor. I'm sure plenty of people know about them, but I didn't.

No tail rotor 

A nice lunch in the restaurant before taking the tram back to the centre. Again being confused by buses, I walked in the other direction to the Halle de la Machine.

Nice shaded park in Toulouse 

They have a couple of the huge mechanical spiders and a minatour there, which unfortunately were not being demonstrated.

The Minatour 

Hydraulic spider

There was an interesting collection of other 'steam punk' type oddities including an old lathe that had been converted to a drum machine.

A use for an old lathe? Ok

We got treated(?) to a concert performance of all the ridiculous instruments. Interesting 🤔.

A little curio I saw in a perfume shop/boat unfortunately not for sale 

The huge mechanical animals are all operated by a large number of people, for example each spiders leg is controlled by one person with hydraulic spool valves. I would have thought it was a great opportunity for computerised semi-autonomous control, an ideal college project?

Down to the railway station 

Playing by the fountain 

Managed to find a bus to take me back to the town for a walkabout the central area, just so busy.

Part of the cathedral 

I found the cathedral but it was closed due to a fire. A fine brick building on the outside.

Toulouse 

I was concerned about the person sitting next to me on a bus for eight hours tomorrow with the slightly dubious state of my clothes so I bought a new shirt for the journey!

Eating in the street