Toulouse tourist information
Toulouse France
In just a few years, Toulouse made a name for itself an image as hive of economic activity. Aeronautics, space, electronics, information technology and biotechnology are the key words for this big city that has forged a major reputation for itself. .
However, Toulouse's growth has taken place in a way that respects the essential values that go to make for a quality life-style; Toulouse is a good place to live, proud of its re-found heritage and whose intense cultural life can suit both the cultural elite and the amateur.
Toulouse's real secret lies in its combination of youth and experience. It is home to the oldest fellowship in France, with the Académie des Jeux Floraux poetry prize association, and also the youngest, with the Académie de l'Air et de l'Espace devoted to aeronautics and space. This is a place where astronauts can gather together just around the corner from the mediaeval cloître des Jacobins Dominican priory or the Cité de l'Espace Space Museum, where the arts and techniques of tomorrow's world can find full expression.
Toulouse, situated between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, some 456 miles from Paris, is capital of the great Midi-Pyrénées region and is the 4th largest French city.
With more than 700,000 inhabitants and growing steadily, the greater urban district of Toulouse is among the biggest cities In southern Europe.
The general quality of life, including the good food, make Toulouse a fine place to live and work. It's a City with a distinct accent, often celebrated in song and verse.
Recent years have seen huge strides in terms of town planning and infrastructure, with the underground (metro), car parks, bridges, ring roads, urban expressways and motorways, development of the Toulouse-Blagnac Airport and so on. The scenery for the new millennium in the Ville Rose is already set.
Toulouse is well known for its significant role in aeronautics and space, but Toulouse know-how is also heavily invested in other major fields like electronics, health-related industries, food processing, strategic services, information technology, etc. The Ville Rose is also in the forefront of other advanced technologies like microbiology, biotechnology, etc.
The new Toulouse inhabitants who have made such big changes to the City's sociological profile may well come from the Paris region, Brittany or Alsace, as from Surrey, Tuscany or Bavaria.
This is the biggest university town outside Paris! Right from its foundation in 1229, the University of Toulouse has managed to assert its personality and develop its own specific character. Nowadays, Toulouse is very much a university city. More than 110,000 students attend its 3 polytechnics and universities.
The fine Occitan City is familiar with the great classics and has an outstanding cultural and artistic heritage. The many museums, concert halls and theatres keep the great tradition alive.
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