In Toulouse, and I assume much of France, most everything is closed on Monday. There are some shops open but most are closed. I think it is because they stay open on Sunday and with the 35 hour work week, they cannot stay open 7 days a week. Most restaurants are closed as well.

It was a very blustery day with overcast and now rain. The temperature was still very nice even with the stiff wind. I went for my daily walk. I use the walks to try to familiarize myself with the neighborhoods around where I am living. The city is not laid out in a grid the way Alexandria and Washington are. This means there are lots of winding lanes and small streets that take me to new and different areas of the city. On many of the small streets, you find interesting buildings, shops, cafes and restaurants. I have found myself looping back to where I started the wandering without knowing that was going to happen. My step count is very high since moving to Toulouse – it is back to pre-Covid and work from home levels.

The nice part of wandering and seeing the different streets is that I find restaurants and cafes that I want to return to try and see what they are like. The only problem is sometimes I am not sure how I got to them so finding them again will add to the adventure.

After a period of wandering, I ended up in a park on the opposite bank of the Garonne from the area I live. I sat on a park bench by the river and enjoyed the afternoon while reading my book. The parks always seem to have people walking dogs, exercising or just enjoying a stroll. It is nice to get into the rhythm of the town.

On my way back, I saw a branch of the river with a lock on it. There was a lot of activity as they were moving an empty barge from the main branch of the Garonne to an offshoot of the river. Being the nerd about rivers and locks that I am, I spent about 30 minutes watching the lock fill and then the workers moving the barge from the lock onto the offshoot of the river. There were at least 4 people involved in the activity. As I learned from my last visit, there is a lock master at each lock that manages the lock and the moving the boats through the locks.

Since it was a lovely but windy evening, I stopped in the main square and had a beer. I hoped to get a local beer but was disappointed as they did not have local beer. I should have guessed that was the case as the cafes/restaurants on the plaza are larger and cater to tourists as well as the locals. They are almost always busy with people, especially during happy hour when they have specials.

Last activity of the evening was making dinner. I finished the bottle of wine I had bought so will go out in search of another bottle of wine from the region tomorrow. Another adventure for me!