I got up and went to the market early this morning. It is less crowded and easier for me to interact with the vendors when everyone is not pushing and shoving. I got some fresh shrimp for the seafood market we visited yesterday. They were fresh, large and looked great.

After shopping, I hopped on the Metro to head out to the suburb where the Anglican Church of Toulouse is located. The Metro is small and very easy to navigate which makes it an easy way to get around. Unfortunately, there are only two lines and they do not go a lot of places. It is great for my Sunday go to church activity.

This week at the Anglican Church, they had communion which is only every two weeks as there are not enough clergy to handle all of the churches in the Toulouse area so the share. When I got to church there was the same group of people as the last time I went two weeks ago. They are friendly but older than I am (or I think they are) so not a great group to meet people through.

Prior to the service starting, they needed people to read the lessons and were having trouble getting volunteers so I volunteered. I was assigned the second lesson. I was slightly nervous as this was only the second time I had been to the church but I said I would do it. When the time came, I went up to the lectern and read the lesson. Luckily, I did not stumble going up or down the steps. Also, there was only one word that was difficult to pronounce so that was good. The minister thanked me for my reading after the service. It was not something I expected to do when I got up this morning but I was glad they were open to me doing the reading and it went well. The service is nice and again the people are friendly. There are about 20 congregants.

After the church adventure, I headed to the St. Aubin flea/farmers’s market. It is always fun to spend time and wander amongst both the vendors and the people shopping. I went to my usual cheesemonger and bought some cheese. The person selling was nice and switched to English when I was ordering. I said I wanted to practice my French and he said he wanted to practice his English so I did French and he did English. It is very nice that everyone is so friendly and accommodating. After the cheese, I bought some olives. The olive purveyor also was willing to do English with me doing French. They also sell different kinds of nuts as well as olives. He gave me a handful of pistachios to try after we completed the sale. I splurged and bought a lovely chocolate eclair. The purchases were for my daily lunch. I basically have charcuterie and cheese with bread for lunch.

The market was very lively and vibrant today. There were four (at least) groups playing music at different parts of the market. There was a quartet playing dancing music at the front of the market. There was an African influenced drum group at the back of the market. There were two young men with a trumpet and clarinet playing different music. I did not get a picture of them as they were wrapping up as I got to them. It was amusing, one of the guys was singing Frank Sumatra’s My Way. They were laughing and having a good time. There were also two women, one playing a guitar and the other was playing a saw as if it was a cello. I, unfortunately, could not get a picture of them either.

I went back to the apartment with my purchases and had a very nice lunch. I read a little and then headed out for my run.

For this run, I decided to do a circuit of the city and not just run on the Canal du Midi. The runs with Run in Toulouse helped as I could figure out a route to run that would have me circle around the city on the canal and river. I found a number of things that I want to go visit that I had not seen before, the Musee de Toulouse, the City Ramparts, another museum and a large park/garden. I find that running is a great way to see different things in a city and find some hidden areas that you would not see just walking in the main area of the city. I am happy as I think I have found my love for running again and with it, I am improving and look forward to running. The main post image and the one below were on my run.

I used the shrimp I had bought this morning for dinner. I made shrimp scampi. I realized why Ally, the Taste of Toulouse, said that the French think of the baguette as a mop. I used my baguette to soak up the great wine, butter, olive oil, garlic and lemon sauce with the shrimp scampi. I bought a fairly inexpensive white wine to use for the sauce and drank it with dinner. It was Pays D’Oc Sauvignon (Heritate de Carillan) and it cost $4.62. It might not be the best wine but for that price you cannot beat it. My side dish for dinner was grilled eggplant. The pictures are before and after cooking.

Another nice Sunday in Toulouse.