I was suffering from jet lag so woke up fairly early. I had tried to stay up until at least 10:00 pm to try to get me to sleep longer but woke up around 3:30-4:00 am. I tried to go back to sleep but failed so ended up reading. I made tea to go with my reading.

Once it hit 8:30 am, when I knew BenYay’s would be open, I showered and walked over to BenYay’s to have my traditional first breakfast when I am home of beignets. I did alter it somewhat as I had hot chocolate instead of tea. I guess I wanted to have some memories of Toulouse with breakfast. The beignets were just what I needed.

After finishing breakfast, I walked down to the Potomac and walked along its banks. I was trying to get sun light as I understand that if you get sunlight and get your body synced with the day and night, it helps with jet lag. It is very different walking in Alexandria than in Toulouse. There are not nearly as many people out on the streets during the day time hours. Also, there are not as many pedestrian primary streets so it is mainly walking on the sidewalks. We do have 3 blocks of pedestrian only streets which is nice.

On the way home from my walk, I stopped at the Safeway to grab some food as I did not have anything to eat at home. I did not want to do a big shopping as I figured with my still somewhat jet lagged brain, I would over shop. I bought some fruit so I could have it for breakfast, a few ingredients to make gazpacho so I could have something for lunch. I opted for gazpacho as I found a can of tomatoes in my cupboard so I could use those.

I made the gazpacho (I love it in the summer and have been crazing it). I had it twice in Andorra – one at a restaurant and once a Marc’ house. The recipe I use is very easy.

Gazpacho Andalusian

8 ripes tomatoes, peeled and seeded or 32 ounce can of tomatoes

2-3 garlic cloves minced

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 tablespoon of paprika (I used smoked for a little more flavor)

Dash of cayenne

One cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

3 tablespoons of olive oil.

1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar

3 cups of tomato juice

Scallions and Green Pepper chopped, for garnish

Mash garlic and blend with salt, paprika and sugar. Combine cucumbers, tomatoes, cayenne, vinegar and olive oil. Add all of it to a blender and blend to consistency of your choice. When ready to serve, add tomato juice to your taste

After lunch, I rested a little. I took a very short nap as I am trying to stay on U.S. East Coast time.

In the evening, I met some friends for drinks on the roof top bar of the Hotel Heron. It is one of the only roof top bars with a view in Alexandria. The evening was warm but not hot so it was a very nice place to relax and spend some time and watch a sunset. Alexandria basically faces East/West but you do not get to see good sunsets as the city is built up to the west so it blocks the view of the sunsets. Sunrises are somewhat better as the east bank of the Potomac is not overly developed so if you are on the river sunrises are visible. I am not an early morning person so I usually do not see the sunrise. I have always joked if God wanted me to see sunrises he would have made them at noon.

All in all it was a good first day back and the slow return and adjustment to living in Alexandria after my fantastic time in Toulouse.