I did my usual routine of going to the Saint Aubin’s farmers market in the morning. It is alway pretty busy with a very eclectic group of people. The combination of hipsters, older people, young families and other always gives it a good atmosphere. It is also fun to see people run into their friends there and do a little catch up. I think what adds to the market is the different stalls selling food items. There is everything from pastries to pizzas to waffles to paella and Thai food. I think some people come to make breakfast out of these or maybe buy some for later in the day.

The atmosphere at the Victor Hugo market is definitely different. It leans more to older people and more prosperous patrons. There are also quite a few tourists in the market as well. It is where I hear the most English when I am out wandering around. The Victor Hugo market is more expensive than both St. Aubin’s and I am sure the super marché (super markets). It does have fantastic fresh food and quite a variety that you would not see at a super market.

I was amused when I was there as I heard an American tourist talking to another group of Americans. They must have taken a tour together or somehow met previously as she said it was nice to see them again. I was waiting in line at the boulangerie (bread stand), which I never would have believed that I would ever stand in line for bread since I have never been a huge bread fan. But here in Toulouse I consume a lot of bread. Across from the bread stand is a stand that sells prepared foods and rotisserie chicken. The woman’s comment to the other group of Americans was that the rotisserie chicken was much more expensive than the Costco rotisserie chicken. She did concede that it looked better than Costco’s.

I went to Saint Sernin’s for church as usual. The service is very nice and it is always amazing to be in such an old, beautiful and elaborate structure for church. There were two young men in the service who did not seem to know what was going on. At first, I thought it might be that they were just new to Saint Sernin or were not familiar with the English language mass. One of the regular’s helped them get the order of service and explained some things. When it was time to take communion, she explained how to get in line. There seemed some reluctance on their part to take communion but they joined the line. The first one took the wafer but did not eat it and started to walk away. The priest made some motions about eating it and the young man figured it out and ate the wafer. My guess is that they were not Catholic so were not aware of the beliefs and practices. Luckily, it all worked out.

Later in the afternoon as it was beautiful and warm, I went out for a run along the river. I had seen maps for different courses in the Grand Parc Garonne on my last run. The Grand Parc is about 2 miles from the apartment. I was planning on around 7 miles. I am trying to get back up at a 10 mile long run after having been worthless at running over the winter. I got to the start of the Parc and figured I would do the 5.5 kilometer loop in the Parc. I started off and was doing well. I figured out going past the shorter route turn off but then when it got to where I was supposed to turn off for my route, I was not sure. I ran further along the path and figured out I had gone too far. I was not too upset as I found a farm where some children were feeding a donkey and there were two sheep.

The farm house was painted on the side with an elaborate painting. It has the Japanese/Chinese cat (which you see as small statutes all over Toulouse).

I figured out the path that I was supposed to be on and headed down it. Again, this area of Toulouse is very rural and is only 2 miles from my apartment. There was a dairy farm along the path as well.

I got to another fork in the path and was not sure which way to go. I took the wrong path but figured it out fairly early on and stopped to get out my phone (use the technology that you have and not just your brain). As I was looking at my phone two young ladies ran by in the direction that I knew I had to go. I started following them as I thought they would know the right paths to take. I matched my pace to them so that I was following them. I was worried that they thought I might be a creepy person for following them. It did not take too long to get to the path by the river where I knew where I was and where I was supposed to be. I sped up and went around them so it did not look even worse for my following them.

The good thing about my little adventure was I now know the different turns offs for at least three out of the four running/biking routes in the Grand Parc Garonne for future runs.

The last activity was fixing dinner. It is asparagus season in Toulouse so I bought some beautiful fresh asparagus for dinner. I baked it in the oven with olive oil. I fixed a trout filet to go with it. The young mad who sold it to me pointed out the one I was buy was large and he was correct. It is going to make two dinners instead of one.

All in all a fun day.