When I went out for my usual ramble around the city, I saw that many streets and alleys were blocked off. I was not sure what was going on but ended up in the Place du Capitole and found these two huge machines. I saw some signage along the road and googled it and found it is the Opera l’Urbain. This is an outdoor opera where three large machines/characters perform around different areas of the city over three days. I did not see much of the performance yesterday as I was not sure what was going on but will try to see more of it today. I did see one of the machines/characters moving down the street but I was fairly far off from it. There are thousands of people out watching and following the machines/characters through the street. I wanted to watch more but had dinner reservations so could not wait around. I definitely will be out and about today to try to see more.

Third picture is bad but it is one of the characters moving through the rainy street with hundreds of people following the machine/character. The Minotaur and the Scorpion are the two main characters. There are three acts that take place today, morning, afternoon and night so I am going to have to find at least one to watch. You just have to be in the area that are designated as there are no official start times.

My dinner reservation was at Le Panache which is becoming my “Cheers” in Toulouse. The wait staff remembered my name when I arrived and were super friendly. As I mentioned the last time I wrote about Le Panache, it has a bar I can sit at while I eat and chat. My French was getting a little better as I could understand more of what was said to me and we could have simple conversations. It is getting better.

The food was very good as usual. I had Cepes in sauce champignons for starter and Noix de veau avec champignons and risotto for my main course.

As an aside, those who know me well know I have an obsession with salt. Not necessarily consuming it but buying and using it at dinner parties. I found a shop that had a large selection of salts – some that I do not own. This gives me an opportunity to get more salt for my dinner parties when I am back in Alexandria.