Today was one of those days that reminds me how much I like Toulouse and its vibrant life. The heat wave had broken and it was cooler and overcast.

I had seen posters for a Food and Beverage festival that was being held at the Grand Rond garden this weekend. I decided to head over to see the stalls and just enjoy an afternoon.

As I walked from the apartment, I found one craft fair and one street sale. It is fun to just walk and find these types of activities around the city. The street sale had lots of interesting options. I was tempted but I really do not need anything and getting anything home would have been difficult so I refrained.

The option that tempted me the most was a table with bottles of very old wine. I have no idea where they came from but were varied. The cost of 2 euros per bottle. I am sure most were not drinkable but if I had known more about the bottles and makers, I probably would have bought a couple just on the off chance of finding a good one. It was very tempting.

The festival was fun to wander. It was mainly food and beverages from the region. There was charcuterie, cheese, honey, wine, beer, pasta and other options. I ended up having a beer from one of the craft brewers. I it was a dark beer and called Sir Nutty Smith.

I, also, bought saffron salt. I have a terrible obsession with interesting salts and I had never had saffron salt so I decided to buy some. It will be a nice addition to my salt collection and something new for my friends to try.

The festival also had a sort of petting zoo for children with multiple farm animals.

As I was walking to the restaurant where I was going to meet Marc for dinner, I ran across a baby hedgehog. Not something that I expected to see in the gardens of Toulouse. I think it was a baby because it was very small. The picture is not that good as I did not want to get too close and scare it and, also, was not sure if a mama was around that might take exception to my being near it.

I met Marc and Reflets for dinner. I wanted to take him out to dinner for being so gracious to me last weekend in Andorra. I did not take picture of the meal as I wanted to concentrate on us and not look like I wanted to be an influencer. I did have beet tartare served on a bone with the bone marrow. It was delicious.

The dinner was fun. We talked about lots of different subjects and it was just fun to get to know Marc better. I am glad that I joined Run in Toulouse and have gotten to know some native (even though he is from Andorra) Toulousians.

Last night was the European Football Championship match between Paris Saint Germain and Arsenal. When I walked through the Place Saint Pierre in the afternoon, it looked like the evening could get quite rowdy. Lots of students were in the bars that line the Place in anticipation of the match. Paris Saint-Germain won the match and there was a celebration. Lots of honking of horns, fire crackers and shouting but nothing too back. Marc and I walked back through the Place after dinner but things seemed to have calmed down. I gather the celebration here was nothing compared to Paris where they burned cars and other activities.

All in all it was a good day. I am glad I am having some fun days at the end of this stay.

Modern technology certainly allows one to stay more connected which is a good thing. Prior to heading out, I watched a livestream of my mother’s best friend’s memorial service. I was very sorry that I was not able to be there in person as Mary was my second mother and was one of the very few remaining ties to my family and my growing up. Having the ability to participate even if it was only by the livestream was very nice. There are many criticisms of social media (all valid) but being able to communicate, keep in contact and participate remotely is a great thing.