Today ended up being one of those days where the options of what to do in Toulouse were disperse and plentiful.

I had intended to head to the Brass Days La Garonne in the Jardin des Plantes in the afternoon. I had taken an easy morning of reading and enjoying breakfast and lunch at home. I had gone to the Brass Festival Friday night and wanted to go back to see more of it.

As I was walking towards the Jardin des Plantes, I saw a line out in front of what I thought was a school but is now the Museum of Architecture and Patrimony. I joined the line as it was a new museum that I had not seen before. While waiting in line and entering, I got a booklet that said that this weekend was a pan European Union event, Les Journées Européennes Du Patrimoine. This basically a weekend where you can visit monuments, museums and other places having to do with patrimony of the city you are in. There are 82 sites in Toulouse that are open – some seem interesting and others are mundane.

After visit to the Museum of Architecture, I walked over to the Hôtel Dieu Saint-Jacques. It was a medieval sanctuary for the poor and sick across the river from the main part of Toulouse (to keep the sick and poor) away from the city. It is now a hospital building. Not where the sick are treated my more administration building. It is not open to the public usually. I visited the chapel which was lovely. In one room there was information on the pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. It is interesting as there are many routes for the Camino.

I, then, headed to the Brass Festival. I figured I could do more of the sites for the Patrimony days on Sunday.

The Bras Festival was fun. There were different brass bands playing in different areas of the gardens. I listened to an all female brass band, Hait Micheline, and a student brass band, the Fet des étudiantes toulsianne.

After watching those bands, the festival had a final closing battle of the bands. There were five bands that competed. Besides playing music, each had a skit that went with the music. It was similar to Dancing with the Stars as there was a three judge panel and then public applause to vote on the bands. One of the judges rolled dice to get her score, another judge gave a numeric value but was changing the values regularly. I was not sure the first judge as he mainly spoke and I could not translate it all. There were families with kids, older couples and various other spectators. It was a fun event.

After the Brass festival ended, I walked over to my favorite wine store as I decided to cook dinner at home. I had eaten out the first three nights in Toulouse so decided a home cooked meal would be good. I choose a Fronton, the nearest wine region to Toulouse. It is made from the Negrette grape. This is a varietal that you cannot get easily in the United States or at least in Alexandria. I tried a new wine from a producer that I had tried before. It was nice.

I had gone to the Marchè Victor Hugo earlier to buy some food for dinner. I try to shop on the day that I am going to cook so it is all fresh. Also, it is great as I can buy single portions of everything there is no waste. Along the line of waste, I am very excited as I can compost again. The complex I live in has urban composting in the parking lot so it is very easy. I have a covered plastic container where I put all the compostable material and just take it downstairs.

I fixed a boneless chicken thigh, green beans and salad. All very good and easy.

On the way home, I saw a street festival near my apartment but was tired from all my walking so skipped going to that activity.

I love being back in Toulouse and having all these options to do by just walking out my door and heading to the center of town.