After being on the go for almost two weeks, I decided a lazy Sunday was a good idea.

I got up and wandered to the Place de le Capitole for a petit dejeuner and just enjoy the people watching. There was a young family taking pictures of the dad throwing the kids up in the air and catching them. Many family groups just wandering around the square. The highlight was three classical musicians giving a free concert while I ate.

After breakfast, I wandered over to the local Sunday market at the Saint Aubin church. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of the market. I was too busy looking at the food that was on offer. There were fruits and vegetables. Many local cheese mongers show a variety of different local cheeses. When someone wanted to buy cheese from one of the large rounds, the seller would hold up the cheese with the knife position on the slice he was going to cut and the buyer would tell them more or less and then it would be cut and wrapped in a wax paper. There were butchers set-up. Also, there were lots of stands selling street food, local sausages, kebabs, crepes and other items.

I got into the festive mood and decided to buy some cheese, bread, and peaches. It was fun to try to be like a local and buy the food. Not sure I was as proficient with my French as I would have like to been but I did all the transactions in French was able to understand the cost and to pay.

I was very excited as I found a direct wine seller who was selling wine from their vineyard at a stand in the market. I had been having trouble figuring out how to try to find and taste local wines in the city. This winery was Chateau Fabre Cordon. They had some white and reds. I bought one of the reds – qui m’aime ME SUIVE – who loves me FOLLOWS ME. It is a blend of Carignan, Grenache and Syrah. It is from Corbieres which is just south east of Toulouse towards Spain.

I returned to the Airbnb after the market to put the food away as I did not have one of my shopping bags so I was walking down the street with a bottle of wine in my hands. In France, it did not cause anyone to look at me differently. I also had the peaches and bread in a small plastic bag.

I did another run by the Canal de Midi and then along the Garonne waterfront on an island in the Garonne. This run was not as easy as my first as the canal did not connect directly to the river (which I knew) so I was running through neighborhoods and sometimes would not take exactly the right street so had to stop and figure out the best way to get to the river. Even though it was not mapped out exactly as it should have been by me, it was a good run as it took me through local neighborhoods and I saw local Toulouse, not tourist Toulouse. I saw groups of people playing bolles (bacci) in parks. Lots of bicyclists riding around town. Other runners out for a Sunday run. The run ended up being 6 miles so was a good run.

I, finally, found real old fashion canal boats. Unfortunately, they were in a marina that was fenced off so was not able to try to interact with anyone but there was one from London so it is definitely possible to boat around France.

Going with the lazy Sunday, I set up my peaches, cheese, bread and wine and had a light dinner while I read in the Airbnb. Below the food picture is a picture of the room which is quite traditional old Toulouse. The wine was very good. It was flavorful and dry which is what I like. The goat cheese was rich and nutty. The French definitely know how to make bread.

The big windows are great.

One more day on this trip and then it is the flight home.