I did not blog on Saturday as it was a normal but not exciting day. I did my usual activities of walking around the city. I am on my quest to keep up my 10k steps a day so have to do a long walk around the city to get the steps. I ended the walk by having an Aperol spritz at La Reserve.

I ended the day with dinner at Le Petit Marais. Gabriel was very busy as the restaurant was doing a good turnover of diners. It was a gorgeous day and most people wanted to eat outside so Gabriel had to move tables from the inside of the restaurant to the sidewalk outside.

One of the interesting parts of life in France is that dogs are a very integral part of life in France. I see people out walking dogs all the time. They are supposed to be leashed but many are just wandering around. I have not seen any aggressive dogs so it is not really a problem. The one unnerving (for me) aspects is that dogs are welcomed into restaurants. People just bring them into the restaurants as they dine. In Alexandria, which is a very dog friendly city, dogs are not allowed in restaurants. They can be at outside dining but not inside. What made me think of this was a dog at Le Petit Marais. We were all sitting outside so it was a little different but at one point the dog got very noising at another dog walking by. Not growling but just barking. I think I would have done the same thing as the dog being barked at was a prancing little fur ball that looked more like a toy than a dog.

Sunday was again the normal Sunday activities, shopping at St. Aubin’s, Victor Hugo market, church, running and fixing dinner.

The olive purveyor wished me safe travels back to the U.S. He also told me to be careful as things were crazy in the United States according to him. He said he had a friend who lived in New York and told him how wild things were in the U.S. It was the first real comments about the situation in the U.S. since I have been here. I bought olive oil from him to take home so I can have some good olive oil to use when home.

For the run, I decided to do a run around the city. I ran along the river and then turned off and headed down part of the Canal de Brienne which I connected to the Canal du Midi. From there I headed back to the river and ran on the opposite bank of the river back to my apartment. It was my last long run for this stay. I am heading to Bordeaux to meet friends this weekend so will not be running in Toulouse. I hope to run in Bordeaux on Sunday morning.

I did miss some of the activities in the city. They had a food festival in the Grand Rond park which I did not know was happening so I ran past it as it was closing. The Tour de France is going to have a stage in Toulouse and they are beginning to advertise it. They had a little Tour de France for kids in the Place St. Pierre. They set up a little course that seemed to have obstacles to immutable the stages of the Tour for the kids to ride through. They had police volunteers helping the kids. On the Quai de la Daurade there was a mini climbing wall set up and a kid hockey rink on the ground not ice. The city seems to be coming alive again as it was here when I was here in the fall.

There was a boules tournament as well that I ran buy.

You cannot really see it but the person in front of the cars is juggling. He walks out when the cars stop at the light bows, juggles, then bows again and tries to get people to give him money.

It might be the person I saw practicing at the Quai de la Daurade Saturday evening.