After the fun trip to Bologna and the visit with Tom and Marion, I returned to my normal life in Toulouse. It is a good life so I have no complaints.

Today was the second national strike related to the student protests. I was not sure what to expect after the previous strike and the Saturday demonstrations.

When I headed out to lunch, the city seemed quieter than normal. There did not seem to be as many people out on the streets walking around and doing shopping. I was not sure if it was the strike and activity around it or just because it was a colder and drearier day. Many of the stores were boarded up as I walked over to Terra Tolosa. The Carmes market was still open. I needed some fruit for breakfast and lunches so stopped there on the way to lunch.

I had my usual lunch at Terra Tolosa. I really have become a regular. When they presented me with the menu board, Thomas told me they had some very good and fresh mushrooms (cepes) and I could add them to either the pork or fish main dish. They were not part of the standard main courses. I opted for the pork cheek and they did add them to the pork. The mushrooms were very good. I opted for the poached egg served on eggplant purée with crisp onion chips. I am not a big egg fan but I love eggplant. The combination was very good. I opted for the cheese plate for dessert.

Remi was not there so Thomas had Valentin ask me about wine. Valentin is the apprentice that is working at the restaurant now. He is somewhat shy and obviously somewhat nervous. His English is not great so I think he was nervous to talk to me as everyone else speaks English to me. We came to a deal, he would speak French to me and I would speak English to me. He chose a nice wine that went well with the dishes.

On the walk home, I saw more signs of the “manifestation” as it is called in French. The Place du Capitole was blocked again. You could walk down the side with the cafes but could not walk through it. There was a large police contingent there.

When I walked through the Place St. Pierre, the police were stopping people and searching backpacks and other items. They were making young people with heavy coats open them and were searching them. From what I gathered later, the manifestation was required to happen in the St. Cyprien and Arènes area. This was designed to keep the protest and possible violence away from the center of the city where the shops and main tourist sites are. The Pont St. Pierre heads to that part of the city and many people were crossing the bridge.

As I got closer to my apartment, I could see police lights and activity on the Pont des Catalans which is right past the apartment building I live in. Again, later I read that the police blocked the bridge to keep the protest marchers from crossing the bridge to the center of the city. From some videos, the confrontation was pretty aggressive but the police did keep it blocked. I could hear police sirens regularly but everything seemed to stay on the St. Cyprien side of the river.

The evening run with Run in Toulouse was canceled because of the protests and all the police activity. The run course usually takes in both sides of the river and run through the area that was where the protests were and where the police were blocking passage.

Since I was not running, I headed out to La Réserve for a spritz. I figured if it looked bad, I could turn around and come home. I could see police lights across some of the bridges but things seemed to have returned to normal. After the spritz and reading, I returned home and had a light dinner and relaxed.

One thing I am impressed with, even with the manifestations and all the activity, there were lots of runners out running every time I went out. I probably should have run but my course would have been similar to the Run in Toulouse course so was reluctant to try it.

It is interesting to say “normal” that now includes the manifestations. It seems that they have become the normal for the last month or so.