Toulouse is known as La Ville Rose due to its preponderance of pink brick buildings. No doubt we had become “pink blind” since we had already savoured the ambience of other pink cities such as Albi.
But Toulouse is the grand daddy of pink cities – the fifth largest in France, according to Wikipedia, and one of the fastest growing – possibly due to the aerospace industry (the home of Airbus.)
We spent three days exploring the sights - the Capitole, the local mairie administrative buildings, the Saint-Sernin Basilica, the largest Romanesque cathedral in Europe, and a number of excellent museums – Musee des Augustins, Hotel d’Assezat (Bemberg Foundation), Musée Départemental de la Résistance et de la Déportation, and Musée des Antiques de Toulouse or Musée Saint-Raymond.
One of the highlights of Toulouse was my birthday dinner at a small restaurant called Rose BonBon (http://www.lerosebonbon.com/- referring perhaps to itself as the “Candy of Toulouse.” Tucked in a small Impasse not far from our hotel, we had a very spectacular meal and my first taste of foie gras (a “delicacy of despair” I later learned. Alas, it will be the first and last time I will experience it.)
Toulouse was a lovely end to our months in southwestern France. 
