It could be argued that most cities have too many street signs – so many that people don’t usually pay attention to them unless they’re searching for something specific. But the sign planted at the corner where Rue des Arts meets Rue Crois-Baragnon? That one’s a bit harder to ignore... because it's yellow. Sadly, the bright hue is not due to any whimsy on the part of the local traffic department. In downtown Toulouse, all the roads parallel to the Garonne river are marked with yellow signs, while those that run perpendicular have white ones. This ingenious system began in 1815, when the council felt it should help those many souls lost among the city centre’s winding streets. Two centuries later, the signs are still helping those visitors walking about Toulouse without a map or GPS!
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