The wind finally wound down today so it was much easier to go out and walk around.

As my time for this visit comes to an end – a little over two weeks before I head back to Alexandria. I am currently doing basically a 90 day here in Toulouse and 90 days in Alexandria. It is the Visa requirements for France unless I get a year long visa. I am trying to do the things that I really enjoy in Toulouse.

My first was going to Cocoafages for chocolat chaud (hot chocolate). It is probably the best hot chocolate in Toulouse. I am not sure what makes it so good but it is. It might be the quality of chocolate that it is made with. I will have a couple more before I leave.

In the evening, I went to Le Panache, my home away from home in Toulouse. It is always somewhere that I meet people, see people I have met before and have a good time and feel part of a community.

When I first got there, Damien, was there. He is a friend of Enzo. He was the person who bicycled out to the farthest part of the half marathon and cheered us on. We talked about running. He had done a 50 mile trail run recently in the mountains near Toulouse. It was the Festival des Templiers in Millau. It is an ultra trail run.

A man who was having dinner there heard me speaking English and started talking to me. He is from Versailles originally but had moved to Toulouse. He works in IT and is employed by a company in Chicago. He was interesting – he told me he was responsible for free Wi-Fi in France. Not sure I totally believe it but it is interesting. He also told me that he started out as a hacker and then moved to IT security and works to prevents hacks. It was fun to chat with him.

The food was as usual good. I started to order the Mussels as I love mussels but Ervim said I should have the mushroom ravioli. He said it was his creation. Since he recommended it, I ordered it. It was incredible. The flavors of the broth that it was served in was so flavorful. It was new on the menu and Enzo asked if I approved after I had eaten it. I definitely did!

After that I had the octupus with mille feuille potatoes. It is one of my favorite dishes.

I am not sure how we got on our ages, I might of asked Enzo how old he was and how long he owned Le Panache. He asked me how old I was and I shocked him. He thought I was around 50ish and had no idea I was 69. I pointed out I had good genetics.

The post picture was outside of a club as I walked home. I am not sure what was going on but there must have been some kind of festival. All the young kids were wearing lanyards that held a plastic cup. They had bandannas on. Everywhere I walked on the way home, I saw lots of kids and they seemed to be wandering from bar to bar. The night was very lively.