Since they were announcing rain later this afternoon, we decided that we would head to a far point and work our way closer to home as the day advanced.
Our 1st point of interest was a cache by the name of ‘la dame perdue’ which took us to a small square not too far from the Joan of Arc square. In the middle was a statue with a lady whose head was coved by what looks like a half-opened umbrella. I’m pretty sure it’s not an umbrella but it sure looks like it. We were supposed to find the name of this lady, but we did not find it anywhere and even asked a local lady if she knew who the statue represented. No one knew so we will need to do some research.
Next, we entered a very nice park with flowers and many small paths taking us to sculptures and fountains. Our next series was in the Japanese garden. There are many paths in this garden which is divided in sections. It is not a big garden but there is a section for the dry garden, a pavilion, an island, a lake, a bridge, a dry cascade, a rock garden, and other sections all supposed to make you feel more Zen.
In our walks around Toulouse, we have found that the maire seems to like having his name placed on monuments or any public space that he has helped finance through his office.
Jacques had liked his lunch at l’entrecote in Bordeaux so much that he wanted to go again, as it was close to lunch time by the time we finished visiting the Japanese garden we stood in line for the opening and were assigned a place at the first sitting. We had a nice long chat with the two ladies sitting next to us and they twisted our arms to try a dessert, so we decided to share the profiteroles. Andre, this one was for you because instead of being stuffed with cream they were stuffed with ice cream. They were huge and there was 5 of them. All delicious.
It was raining when we came out of the restaurant. We went to the victor Hugo market and climbed the stairs to see what the food courts there looked like for future references. After which we walked to the train station because we wanted more information on the packages for train travel. In France nothing is simple. There is 2 lines depending on what you want, and you must wait until you are told that you can advance and tell the person supervising the line what you want so he can then direct you to the appropriate person. It so happened that he was able to answer our questions himself, so it was relatively quick.
When we left the train station, we decided to time how long a walk it was for tomorrow when we go to either Carcassonne or Albi. It took us exactly 23 minutes so we will allow 30 minutes leeway as it was raining and there were less people on the streets.
We took a short break and while Jacques was busy ordering our train passes for the next 2 days, I went exploring at the saint George galleries which is nearby. It’s an indoor mall, nothing much of interest that I can’t find in Moncton but I did find a large grocery store that seems to be better quality food than at the Monoprix so from now on that is where we will do our everyday groceries but also I found a bakery with artisan bread and lo and behold they had mille feuilles that Jacques will be wanting to try.
In the evening, we went so that Jacques could see my finds and then we proceeded to walk in the rain that had started again while we were in the mall to walk to the Capitole stopping along the way at a store that sells everything possible to be made with violets, sugar of every size and shape, candies, liqueurs etc. We revisited the museum and the painted porticos before coming back to spend the rest of the evening in the apartment. We walked almost 14 km today.
I get blamed for everything lol
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