Faire les courses means to go grocery shopping. This is my main activity (other than church) on Sunday. I know this is probably unusual but it is one of the things I love most about Toulouse. It is the part of life that is the most different from my life in Alexandria, as much as I try to replicate it in Alexandria.

I get up somewhat early and walk over to the St. Aubin’s market. I would describe it as a farmer’s market but it is actually more like a flea market with food. There are fruit and vegetable stands, poultry stands, seafood stands, cheese stands, charcuterie stands, flower stands, stands selling shoes, cloth, jewelry, wood working. There are prepared food stands. It basically has almost everything one would need. Sometimes there are spontaneous music performances.

I am usually looking for fruits, vegetables and olives. There are about 20 stands selling fruits and vegetables. I do some comparison shopping as the prices sometimes are different for the same items and, also, the selection can be different. This Sunday I bought strawberries, cherries, peaches, clementines peas (in the pod), and cherry tomatoes. This bounty cost me $17.

The next stop is the olive purveyor. He is my best friend at the market. He always remembers what olives I buy. He asked me about life. The transaction is half English/half French. I, also, buy pistachios from him.

From St. Aubin’s I head over Maison Pillon and buy my treat for the day, a chocolate croissant. Maison Pillon is a chocolatier and patisserie. I think they have the best chocolate croissants. A chocolate croissant is $1.75. While I was in Alexandria, I went to Eclarions (French patisserie) and a chocolate croissant there was $5.25. I am definitely going to miss Maison Pillon.

The next stop is the Victor Hugo Market. Here I buy my fish, meat, cheese, baguette and other items for lunch. Each item I want is sold at a different stand. So to get chicken, fish, Serrano ham, cheese and a baguette, I have to stop at five different stands and buy from 5 different shops. The chicken stand is Farbos & Fils (sons) but interestingly the salesperson is a woman. I bought one chicken breast for dinner on Monday. The chicken costs $2.70. For the Serrano Ham, I go Maison Garcia. They are a high end charcuterie stand but also sell all things pork. I bought a pork chop ($3.38) and a packet of sliced Serrano ham (1/4 lb – $5.95) which I eat for lunch. For cheese, I usually shop at Deux Chavene. I have shopped at Cremerie Martin as they have the Beaufort cheese that I have come to love. My favorite baguette comes from Boulangerie Credo. Unfortunately, it was closed for the Ascension Day holidays so I had to buy from another boulangerie and the baguette was not nearly as good – baguette costs $1.40. I did not buy seafood this trip but buy it at Marée Toulousian. The best part of this type of shopping is all can be bought as a single serving. I do not have to buy in large quantities and freeze it for further use.

After church and I head over to the Le Boutique des Vins. This has become my go to wine shop. The staff is very friendly and are willing to explain the wine in slow French so I can understand. I have bought a lot of the Fronton wine which is the nearest wine region to Toulouse. I have never paid more than $20 for a bottle and all have ben very good. Generally the cost is less.

The last stop is a pastry shop for desserts. My original choice was Au Pouisson Rose but I found Patisserie Conte. I tend to like the small pastries from Conte better. Each pastry is $1.75. I especially like the chocolate eclairs and the chocolate and raspberry cakes.

After all my walking and shopping, I head home for lunch and a rest. I have spent about 3 hours between walking and doing the shopping. Not your average American shopping at a grocery store. For me it is fun and is part of what makes life here in Toulouse interesting. I like the ability to buy almost exclusively local and fresh food. All the stands show where the products come from and the quality of them based on the French system.

I do some shopping at the grocery stores for staples. I buy milk, tea, orange juice and cereal from Monoprix. Again, much of this is even local with where it comes from on the label. The milk is all locally produced. Most all the food has a A-E scale on its health properties. Sometime I am confused as food that I would not think is that healthy is higher on the scale than I would expect.

After I cooked dinner, I walked over to La Reserve for a Aperol Spritz as I was waiting for the sun to go down. Sunset is around 9:00 pm here in Toulouse now so it did not get dark until around 10:00 pm. I had read that the Capitole building would be illuminated with the Pride Rainbow. I wondered why but through research, it was the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. I did not know there was an international day for this but the Capitole building is always spectacular when lit. I have seen this spectrum and the French flag.