For an idea of what I meant in my last message, this is the scenic countryside around Toulouse where many people choose to live despite the long commutes (especially the newcomers from crowded northern Europe who come to work for Airbus and the other high-tech industries). The ski slopes of the Pyrenees (which you can see in the first pic) are only one and a half hour by car from Toulouse:
This one is only half an hour by car from downtown Toulouse:
This one is 40 minutes from downtown Toulouse:
This one in the 3rd ring of suburbs to the north of the city (the guy carefully shot his picture so the suburbs are not visible, but they are there just behind the photographer). Toulouse authorities plan to build the new Toulouse airport there, but local people are admantly opposed:
On that picture you can actually see the 2nd ring of suburbs up the hills on the horizon. Those hills are 20 minutes by car from downtown Toulouse (without traffic jam of course):
Young families typically move to these old villages in the 3rd ring of sububs, about 30 km from downtown Toulouse, where a lot of land is being opened for development (the 21st century suburbs are built litterally next to the Medieval village nuclei):
A typical pre-18th century farm in the 3rd ring of suburbs (about 30 minutes from downtown Toulouse by car). Maybe it's a German or Northern French engineer working at Airbus who lives there, who knows.
Another typical pre-18th century farm around Toulouse. These are dearly sough after by upper-middle class people (they renovate them, usually add a swimming pool and sometimes a tennis court, not to forget the BBQ area):
Typical Medieval church in the 3rd ring of suburbs:
Again the rolling countryside around Toulouse. This is only a 20 minutes drive from the main Airbus site, and about 35 minutes from downtown Toulouse:
Another Medieval church in the 3rd ring of suburbs:
An ancient ruin in the countryside around Toulouse (Toulouse is sometimes reminiscent of Spain, and sometimes of Italy; definitely NOT Parisian):
One of the many rural estates dotting the countryside around Toulouse, but that's for the rich people. This one is only an incredible 15 minutes drive from the main Airbus site:
This one is interesting because you can see a bit of the suburbanization that is little by little engulfing the vast countryside beyond the 2nd ring of suburbs. As I said, people prefer to live in this scenic semi-rural environment on the edges of the city rather than in crammed apartments in the inner city.
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