Week of Museums

A word on the post "When in Rome:"  I tried to do a parallel list of things, "Unlike the French," which would list the American habits I've retained.  All that came to mind were the things on my wall: a map of tourist destinations in the Midi-Pyrenees, and two posters of French bread and cheese. Pretty sure French people don't hang those up.  Other than that, I couldn't think of anything, which goes to prove one of three things: a) I've acclimated perfectly  b) the cultures aren't drastically different or c) we are often blind to our own ways.  If a French person were to observe me, maybe he could point out some distinctly non-European things I that do.

A week of museums:

Le Musée d’Histoire Naturelle: Looking at the gems, minerals, skeletons, taxidermied animals, and other natural wonders, the same thought kept reoccurring: there is nothing made or designed by mankind that God didn't think of first.  From the shape of pyrite, to the "unnatural" colors on a butterfly, to the glossy feathers of an Ibis, it's good to be reminded of the incredible variety and beauty on Earth.

Musée Saint-Raymond: busts and mosaics from antiquity, an underground nécropolis with tombs found on-site. Toulouse is an old, old place. (Did you know it was once capital of the Visigoth kingdom?)



Musée des Augustins: Fine art housed in a historic building:

 

Musee D'Ingres:  Last Saturday I took a train to Montauban, a town 30-minutes north of Toulouse that had its hey-day several hundred years ago.  Today its two claims to fame are its age (founded in 1144 as a fortified frontier city) and its museum.  The Musee d'Ingres houses art by Ingres, the neoclassical French painter whose most renown works I saw in Paris.  The museum is inside the old counts' chateau and I thought the basement was very interesting:

  

You could see tunnels and dark passages leading from the stairwells and through the walls to different parts of the castle.  Made me want to grab a torch and explore.

Montauban, on the River Tarn

Musee d'Ingres is the large building on the right with two corner towers.