I realized the French have 3 state holidays in May, May Day, VE Day and Ascension Day. It makes for a good month to take vacation is you are working. Ascension Day was a perfect holiday for a four day weekend as it fell on Thursday and I gather most people took Friday off as well.

While walking around the city, there was lots of activities going on to celebrate the day – more than for May Day and VE Day. Many of the small streets were blocked off so the shops could have sidewalk sales. It was a mixed bag as many of the shops were closed because of the holiday.

The city had set up all sorts of outdoor activities to view – there was a group of stilts and had a music accompaniment of a music for a boat on wheels. Do not know what the group was but they were fun to watch. They had moved down a street as sort of a parade and then set up in a square and danced and jumped rope. It was very impressive. I do not have a picture as I took a video and I cannot upload it on WordPress with my account. It will be still up for a couple hours on my IG account (@pwb1956) as I posted it as a story.

There were different bands set up in other plazas that performed. One of the more enthusiastic group was the Stade Toulousian band which set up in front of one of the student pubs in Place St. Pierre and the student drinkers were very enthusiastic in their joining in with the fun.

It was fun to walk around the city and see all the activity. It made the city very lively and all the people seem to be enjoying the day. It was warm – the warmest day we have had since I was in Toulouse but during the day it was ok to be out and walking around.

I had another good lunch at Terre Tolosa. It was a nice last lunch there before I head home. I am going to miss the fantastic and inexpensive lunches at the restaurant.

The run was quite warm. There were lots of comments on how hot it was. The course was pretty funny as I think the run leader was trying to keep the run in the shape as much as he could. We ran in the Jardin de Plantes and the Grand Rond. We ran around in circles to a certain extent which was kind of amusing. The group was smaller do to the holiday and the weather but still a good run.

The sky was clear and you could see the Pyrenees in the distance which is always beautiful.