The normal was that I went to Terra Tolosa for lunch. The lunch was great as usual. I am always impressed with the presentation and use of ingredients. I had mackerel tartare with olives for the first course, tuna with roasted vegetables. The vegetables included roasted bok choy and fennel. The chef said they drizzle honey on the fennel when roasting it to give it a little sweetness. It was great and I will have to try it when I cook fennel next. Dessert was rice pudding with almond garnish.

I had a nice glass of white wine recommended by the restaurant. It was very crisp and dry. The wine is grown and produced in the Pyrenees near Pau. It is about 2 hours northwest of Toulouse. Domaine Bellegrade grows Gros Mensang, Petit Mensang and Camaralet. It is an organic producer. The Ènergique is made of 100% Gros Mensang and is fermented in stainless steel.

After lunch, the new started, Raghu reached out and we wandered over to the Japanese Garden in the Jadin Compans-Caffarelli. The former mayor of Toulouse was fascinated by Japanese Gardens and decided there needed to be one in Toulouse. He copied the design on the Japanese Garden in Dublin and the Kyoto gardens. It was a very tranquil space in Toulouse as one can imagination.

There was a large Koi pond and the fish were huge. I sent the picture above to my friend, Natasha, who has a koi pond and teased her that she was not treating her fish as well as they were not as big.

Raghu and I walked along the Canal de Midi which Raghu had not done before. I am always amazed at the locks on the canal. The one we walked my had a user function to run the lock and allow a boat through the canal. All of it was automated.

In the evening, it was Run In Toulouse group run. As usual the route was different but this was the first time I felt that the “captaine” did not have a real idea of the route he wanted to run. It seemed very disorganized but we still got our 8 kilometers in.

It was a nice as Elliot was at the run. It was the first time he was at the run since I had been back. Elliot said he had been lazy about running over the last couple of months. Chatting with him was as if time had not passed since we had seen each other last which was good. He is looking for a new job and he is excited as he has a second interview.

We talked a little about the difference in work in France and the United States. I had joked that I hoped if he got the new job he would not start quickly as I would miss him at the runs. Elliot said that he is required to give 3 months notice by his contract with his company. He hopes to negotiate to 2 months. I was surprised but not really as I knew most workers here in France has contracts. I explained that in Virginia there were not really any contracts for work and I had taken a new job the standard was 2 weeks notice. We discussed the benefits and drawbacks of each and the cultural differences.

I, also, saw Lucas for the first time at the run. I like his energy in the run. He runs with a speaker and plays music while running. He seemed happy to see me at the run again.

Just an observations, when it is cloudy, the sunsets (coucher de soliel) are always spectacular. The post picture is sunset.