As many of you have probably heard, read or seen on social media, there have been protest and vandalism at high schools around France. That has been the case at two schools here in Toulouse that I have read about. Once school, Lycée Ozenne, near the Basilica Saint Sernin which is in the older part of the city. I have walked past in a number of times as it is on the way to and from the Marché Cristal. The other school, Lycée Deodat du Sévérac, is about 1.5 miles from my apartment. It is near Le Trouquet Garnonne restaurant where I ate last Saturday night.
The protest at Lycée Deodat seems to be the worst and that could be because it is on a broad boulevard and so has more room for the protesters. The Lycée Ozenne is on a very small and narrow street so large crowds cannot really gather there.
The rest of the city is very calm and going about its business. The protests do not seem to really affect people and the city openly. I was talking to one person I know and he said it affected him as the tram was not operating, the tram route runs right past the Lycée Deodat. He said, he just took a bus instead. When I was out walking around, there was some police presence but not a great deal more than normal except near the Lycée Ozenne.
I had stopped to visit the Chapel of the Carmelites and then walked over towards the Intermarché supermarket off the Boulevard de Strasbourg and the usual route takes me by the Lycée Ozenne. I saw some riot police at the entrance to the street but they were just milling around and talking. I saw bicyclists and walkers heading down the street so I did the same. In front of the Lycée were a number of students but they were just sitting around and talking. When I got past the Lycée, without incident, there were more riot police. There was, also, a fire truck parked nearby which I am guessing was there to put out any fires that were started by the protestors.
Another aspect that is interesting is the protests seem to be in the morning and then wrap up. I have heard more sirens in the morning than usual but again, they stop later in the day.
There is supposed to be a large nationwide protest on Tuesday, October 6th. It will be interesting to see the impact on the city.
It was somewhat jarring to see the riot police near the Basilica and just on the average street. This was especially true after having spent 30 minutes listing to a pianist rehearsing for a concert in the Chapel of the Carmelites. I had not visited the chapel previously and on whim decided to stop by. When I first go there, a woman was playing the piano and discussing the music and how it should be played with a man. The woman eventually left and the man started playing the piano. It was lovely to sit in the beautiful chapel and listen to classical music being played. As I left, I saw that there was a concert at the chapel this weekend and recognized the pianist from his picture on the flyer. This is one of those wonderful, random things I love about Toulouse.
In the evening, I had dinner at Le Panache as usual. It really is my home away from home and my favorite place in Toulouse. I had the add benefit of having dinner with Wilfried. He is the photographer I wrote about that I ran into at the Brass Festival and had met previously at Le Panache. He speaks English fluently as he lived and worked in London and now works with a company based in Chicago. He is a regular at Le Panache as well.
It was nice to have someone to chat with in English and have a real dinner conversation. He has a brand new grandson (a week old) and showed me pictures of him. We talked a lot about art and different artists.
Ervim and Enzo were there usually charming selves. We got a free appetizer which was salmon and was great. We got to try some different wines – a very interesting Carnignan Blanc – a white Carnignan which I had never had before or even known that they made them. After dinner we did shots of Limoncello. All in all it was a fun evening.
