The First Week

One can distinctly hear an accordion playing softly yet in the background. There sitting on a corner is an old French gentlemen, involved nonetheless in his music. I have ran into the gentleman twice. He is always hopeful someone will toss a Euro or two in his hat in appreciation for his tune. His tune is always fitting to my mood. Fitting to the mood of the French in living life as it comes!

Our apartment is extremely close to anything that you can imagine. Below us is a convenient little mall with a grocery store attached. The mall has everything from shoes, clothing, books and even little cafes interspersed within it. I have taken several strolls within this mall mostly window shopping, a little scared to buy something too quickly. I have also had the fear of saying something wrong to the the clerks in the stores. Besides Espace Saint Georges (the mall), there are various stores on any street you find yourself on selling similar things to the mall under our apartments.

We went sightseeing this weekend, just to see what was around Toulouse. We went into the Chateau d'au which contained a photo gallery of two photographers whose names escape me. Not only was the building interesting to see, its spiraling staircase and machinery, but the photography was brilliant as art itself. Besides the small photo gallery we just walked around Toulouse. The Place du Capitole was holding a farmer's market of sorts which we wandered through to see what you could get. One could get anything from vegetables to bread. Beyond that we decide to walk along the Garonne, the river which runs through the city. Over the Garonne is the Pont Neuf or New Bridge which was the first bridge in Toulouse as well as the oldest. It has been standing since the 15th century. This just reminded us how old things are in Europe. Ben was just amazed at it's structure that people could build such a bridge in the 15th century and that he took it to work everyday.

All in all Toulouse is a pretty city that we haven't quite unlocked all its splendors. It still has quite a few museums to see as well as shops to explore. It is all the matter of finding them and seeing what they have to offer.