I am back to the old routines from when I was in Toulouse in the fall. I got up this morning and had breakfast. I tend to get up later in Toulouse as the sun rises a little later. Also, the Airbnb has shutters on the windows and only shears for curtains. I close the shutters at night and the bedroom becomes dark as a cave. It is great to sleep in but does not give the hints of sunrise as my apartment in Alexandria does.

I went for a walk along the river away from the old part of the city. I was trying to figure out if I could do a long run along the river on the weekend. I do not know how far the path along the river goes but I was able to walk over 1.5 miles and the path continued. I will try running the path this weekend and see how far I can go before I have to turn back. Or it is continues a long way, I will run to my half way point and turnaround. One of the nice things is the river path is on both sides so if there is a bridge, you can crossover and then run/walk back on the opposite bank of the river.

After the walk, I had lunch at Au Gascon. I always joke about it being the old folks restaurant. Generally, when I have lunch there the fellow patrons are all older and seem to be in retirement. I am not sure it is actually true but it seems that way. Today was the exception as there were a couple of young people there. The reason I like it is that it is inexpensive and gives you good portions and most importantly vegetables. The formule (fixed price meal) is super reasonable. An appetizer and main dish are 12.50 euros. You can get the same with a dessert for 15 euros. The main course comes with a small salad portion and a starch. I was slightly confused with the starch today as prior meals had included frites (French fries) but this time it was plain rice. I, also, had a glass of red wine and the whole meal cost me $19.01.

The first course was salad and deep fried eggplant. The main course was Bavette which is skirt steak in pepper sauce. As always, it is served with good bread. I have never been a big bread eater but in France I join the group and consume bread with lunch and dinner.

After lunch, I did a little life maintenance shopping. I needed tea from breakfast and milk so I head to Monoprix (grocery store) for those items. As I have a good salt fetish, not necessarily as I like salty food, just an interest in sea salts, I went to an Epicerie that I had found and bought some sea salt – Fleur de Sel – Ile de Ré. Ile de Ré is an island off La Rochelle in the Bay of Biscay in north central France.

In the evening, I headed out to the Run in Toulouse running group. I really enjoy running with the group. This week, the weather was much nicer so there were probably 50-60 people at the group. They break up into 3 groups. I usually run with the middle pace group and that has around 40 people on good days. I am always amazed that there are not more accidents and crashes as we run along small streets and sidewalks with cafes but nobody seems to mind or care. As usual, it was a slightly different route than all the previous runs. I am going to be disappointed when we do the same run for a second time. As usual there were calisthenics at the end. I will not get used to doing calisthenics after the run but it does make me healthier and we do some stretches so it is good for me.

Elliot, who I had met through the run in the fall, was at the run. It was very nice as I had someone to talk to during the run. Not that I have minded running by myself but it is nice to have someone to talk to. After the run, we discussed my French and I asked if we could do a 50/50 of his speaking French to me and me speaking English to him. He was good with that idea so I am going to have to be brave and just jump into trying to speak French to him as we just settle on French as a default. Today, a couple of others interacted with me which as nice but those were all in French.

Just as an aside, there is a Five Guys in Toulouse and that always confuses me. It is on the main pedestrian walking/shopping street. Since Five Guys was started in Alexandria, it is an interesting tie with home.