I got up this morning to a somewhat drizzly and cool day. The change in weather from DC was dramatic as the high was 64 degrees in Toulouse after leaving DC in the low 80s. I think the temperature is unseasonably cool for Toulouse as it is supposed to get up into the 70s this weekend and early next week.

I decided that I needed to go grocery shopping so I could have food to have for lunch and dinner. I cannot go out for every meal while I am here if I want to really test living in Toulouse the way I was living in Alexandria.

There are grocery stores in Toulouse – as I described yesterday (Carrefour City), but there are also city markets where different vendors have stalls that sell beef, pork, poultry, seafood and vegetables. There are two main ones in the old part of Toulouse, Carmes and Victor Hugo. I think the Carmes is the more upscale of the two from the way my Airbnb host on my last trip described it. Victor Hugo is much larger and has restaurants as well as food vendors. The markets are similar to Eastern Market in DC but much larger.

I headed for the Carmes market first as I wanted to have a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) and a Chocolatine (Pain au Chocolat/Chocolate Croissant) at a cafe I had found on my last trip (Mow Cafe) which is near Carmes.

After the nice breakfast, I went shopping. The first thing I needed was vegetables and things for a salad. I found a produce vendor and watched other patrons for a moment to ensure that I did not do something wrong when choosing the options and giving them to the seller for weighing and paying. Unlike our farmer’s market, each stand has a set of plastic baskets that you put your choices in and then give the basket to the seller. This makes a lot of sense as you do not use plastic bags and can put everything in one container. After making the choice, I provided the bag to the seller and completed the transaction. I had brought my own bag with me and gave it to the seller and she loaded up my produce and returned it to me. I have not figured out the exact comparison of prices and costs but I think it was cheaper than DC. I bought cherry tomatoes, a tomato, two zucchini, an onion, a cucumber and two tangerines and $10.23.

Next I headed to the meat vendors. I looked at the different options and decided on some chicken. The selection of choices was much larger than you find in your average grocery store which is not unexpected as tastes and food choices are different in France. There were whole ducked, duck breasts, quail, and rabbit as well as all forms of chickens and chicken pieces. I went for simple chicken thighs to start since I have not figured out the kitchen and what I really need to cook yet.

I then decided to check out the Victor Hugo market as well to see the difference in the two markets and get a better idea of shopping. Mostly the options and number of vendors at Victor Hugo are more numerous. I bought some cheese for lunch at the Victor Hugo.

I decided I needed some local or regional wine for lunch and dinner and found a small store right across for the Victor Hugo that sold regional food options and wine. I asked the young man working in the store for local wine (in French) and he asked me a few questions that I was able to answer in French. He suggested three different bottles and I chose the Plaisance Penavayre. Tot Ço Que Cal, Fronton 2022. It is made of Négrette which is a local grape varietal. The young man did switch to English to tell me to serve it slightly chilled and let it breathe for about an hour before drinking.

I took all my purchases back to the apartment and made lunch from the items I bought. I guess I am thinking as a Frenchman as I had a glass of wine with lunch. Lunch was cheese, my Cosette Compagna (bread), cherry tomatoes and a glass of wine.

I spend the rest of the afternoon reading and lounging around the apartment. I listened to Morning Edition on my Google home which was fun but discordant as it was a noon and not in the morning.

In the evening, I headed out to meet the Run in Toulouse group that I had found for running. I was slightly nervous as it was a new group and also the language barrier as I am not conversant in running French. I found the group and asked one of the people who leads the run about joining. He was very nice and explained some of the information. The group is not quite the same as the Pacers group. This group has three options, 5km, 8km, and 10km distances but the group all run together. They do not run by pace groups. I ended up running with the 8km group as I really was not sure which was which at the start. The course was really pretty as it runs through the old city and then along one of the canals and back along the river – both sides. They do allow the faster group to run ahead at some points on the run. Another difference is that they do exercises at the end of the run. It is pretty funny to see this group of about 30 people doing exercises in the middle of the main square of Toulouse.

The run was fun but I did feel a little isolated as I did not hear much English being spoken. There were a couple of people who spoke English but I was not running with them. At the end, I talked to one of the runners and he spoke English so that gave me hope of meeting people. I am going to be more intentional of trying to meet people at the next run. I posted the picture of my run on my IG account and tagged Run in Toulouse and I was pleased and surprised that they posted it to their IG account. I think the run group will be a good way of getting more involved in Toulouse.

Cooking dinner was a challenge! I had never used an induction stove top and could not figure out how to get it to heat up. Thank goodness for the Internet and YouTube videos. I did not know that you had to have the pan on the burner to make the burner heat up. Once, I got that figured out, I was finally able to cook dinner. It is fun to figure out all the new things in life. Dinner turned out well in the end.

One thing I have figured out after two days in Toulouse, I am going to be in great shape after my two months here. My apartment is on the third floor so I have lots of steps to climb every time I go out and come back. Between the running and the exercises after the run, I am going to be in better shape than just running.

Not sure I will have as much to add tomorrow but will figure out something to discuss!