Day 16 - We walk the narrow streets of Toulouse, take the train to the Halles de Machine, ride Asterian the Minotaur, and immerse ourselves in the French steam-punk aesthetic. Morning sun, afternoon rain 58°F (14°C)

We started today with a walk around the neighborhood and Place du Capitole again.

Fun fact: in Europe, what we would consider the first floor is actually floor zero. The first floor is up one flight of stairs. Our apartment is on what technically is the fourth floor above street level, but is referred to as the third floor. Either way, there's stairs to climb!

We wandered the narrow streets.

Came across this cutie:

Eventually, we found our way to the Capitole once more:

The sun is almost shining!

We wandered back to the apartment for a quick lunch, then headed back out to the train station, Toulouse Matabiau. We had a 13:15 train to catch!

Luckily, it was only one stop to Halle de la Machine.

Not too many other folks getting off the train here.

And no one was heading in our direction towards Halle de la Machine, under the tracks and past this tribute to Airbus (based in Toulouse):

As we approached the venue, we saw this giant spider we later found out is named "Ariadne" after the Greek legend:

Inside the hall is another version of Ariadne:

Here's all the wires and machines in her "guts".

When we first entered, there was a group of folks sending this little device along a track to make a fire light up, so of course, Jamil and I had to do it:

Video where I caught just the last bit of Jamil's go:

Mine didn't go quite as high, but at least I got the fire to go!

The hall had this machine set up where a flame thrower was hooked up to a drum machine. The operator played music, and the machine spat fire along with and in alignment with the music. It was cool.

Then there was this display, where there were contraptions made from everyday things that made sounds. Two of the docents started playing their instruments and used the machines to supplement the music. These folks are really talented:

Of course, the most exciting thing to do at Halle de la Machine, and kind of the reason we were there, frankly, is to ride the Minotaur (whose name we later found out is Asterion). Here's a shot from the Halle de la Machine homepage of what it looks like to ride on this thing:

I'm sharing this because from it's back, you can't really get that perspective.

Here's how Asterion looked on the day we were there:

It was amazing. Here's a shot of the controls:

This thing is made of iron and steel and wood an wires and imagination and wonder.

We loved it.

It also shoots fire and roars. And plays music:

After the ride, we walked around it to see it up close from the ground. It's huge and amazing:

We felt very lucky that there were few other people there, we were able to have a really wonderful experience:

But why? Why create these weird machines? They are created and maintained by a team of performers and engineers. The machines are used in street performances all over the world.

In November 2024, these machines were taken out into the streets of Toulouse for three consecutive days, to perform and epic three act performance:

This Atlantic article sums it up well:

Over the past three days, the streets of Toulouse, France, hosted an urban opera titled The Guardian of the Temple—The Gates of Darkness, in which three massive robotic puppets of mythological creatures—Lilith the scorpion woman, Asterion the Minotaur, and Ariane the spider—performed in several locations around the city. The show, put on by the French street-theater company La Machine, was directed by François Delarozière.

The images from that article are astounding and worth a peek.

We spoke with one of the company's performers, and she told us about the huge amount of work that went into ensuring the safety of the audience, the buildings, and the performers. She mentioned also the difficulty of getting local political support for the arts and for creative work like this.

I would love to see one of these performances!

Here's a video that captures the street action.

Just look at this sweet face:

Halles de la Machine also showed the diagrams and drawings used in creating some of the creatures: Here's the one for Lillith:

She's the scorpion woman that we saw from the back of the Minotaur, Asterion:

Later, they moved her inside and were using a crane to attach something to her midsection. Fascinating to watch:

It makes one wonder about how a career is spent and how wonderful to create something to capture the imagination of thousands of people.

We waited for the train back to Matabiau in the rain, and were happy to be cozy in our apartment with a dinner of Toulousian saucisse, rice and broccoli with raclette cheese.

Oh and we even were able to watch Severance!