Ian has been putting up (mostly) gracefully with being dragged around old cities, medieval walls, courtyards, balconies and doorways, for much of this trip. Today it was time to visit Aeroscopia, the aviation museum at Toulouse airport in Blagnac, for something much more recent.  First we had a new metro system to come to grips with, but it turned out quite straightforward and efficient.  I liked the bright pink tickets, they were easy to find in my purse amid all the other crap that’s accumulated in there.  It was quite a long ride on the tram, but the weather was slightly cooler following overnight rain and loud thunderstorms.

Toulouse is the home of Airbus, so of course the museum features mostly Airbus and other French aircraft.  Most planes are housed in the very impressive building, but there are quite a few outside as well, so there is plenty to see.  There are two Concords, an A380, and a Super Guppy cargo plane, which Airbus uses to transport aircraft parts (the first time we saw one it was flying overhead in Hamburg, a very weird sight with its huge bulbous top).  You can walk through one of the Concords, an A300B, and the A380. 

Standing directly below the wing of the A380, you can clearly see how different its structure is from any commercial aircraft that came before it.  Designed to flex, it has a striking curve, which you can’t appreciate when you’re boarding or sitting in your seat.  For the first time, we got to go “up top”, but the plane is fitted out for test flying, and the display included banks of controls, and lots of ballast to represent passengers, rather than the normal luxury of first class.

Ian was also pleased to see two Lego displays, one of an A380, the other a gigantic build of a Star Wars X Wing fighter, with an insane number of bricks and build hours involved.  Too large to fit in our house.

We returned for a late lunch and a well earned ice cream.  I’m becoming more French by the day – there is a particular intersection en route to the supermarket, where cars turning left are meant to give way to pedestrians,  but more often than not, they zoom through and ignore us.  Tonight it happened again, and I found myself waving, shouting and gesticulating at the driver along with the locals.  I like to think we bonded un peu.

In the time I’ve been writing and editing photos, Australia has won three gold medals!!!