Toulouse, France

Sometimes it pays to look up when checking out the city of Toulouse in France. Take this photo for example. The murals, if that's the right word, are located on the ceiling of a walkway that borders the center of the city. It's a commercial area, with plenty of restaurants and shops in the building. The artwork gives it a unifying element.

Looking up is never a bad idea in Toulouse, for a surprising reason. It's the home of aerospace development in France. Airbus is headquartered there, and the Toulouse Space Centre is too. NATO has some offices in the area. When driving into downtown from the east on the main road, passengers can see a couple of rockets that are on display. In fact, a stop there might have been fun. Tourists usually see the old parts of European cities; a chance to view something new would be a nice change of pace.

Toulouse is the fourth-largest city in France at about 1.4 million people in the metropolitan area, and the air route between here and Paris is said to be the busiest in the country. A couple of other facts: The University of Toulouse is the oldest in Europe, as it was founded in 1229. And the pinkish bricks used on some of the buildings has given Toulouse the nickname of "The Pink City."