Today was a cozy Sunday mostly at home with the family. I slept in very late and that helped my jet lag a great deal. We had an assortment of pastries from the bakery, along with German bread and muesli cereal. I made the mistake of calling a pastry “pain au chocolat” and was taught the three mistakes one can make in Toulouse: 1) call it pain au chocolat instead of the Southern term “chocolatine” 2) say that you like football better than rugby 3) say the word “Boeing.”

We drove to the Canal du Midi for a leisurely walk. Their labrador Valentine got too excited with another dog and slipped into the canal, but he can’t swim! So Florian slid down to retrieve him. Stefanie gave a hand to help bring them ashore and I almost thought she would need me to help pull them out too! I didn’t want to take pics to not appear mean or unhelpful, but Florian was laughing and said “did not one capture my heroics?” The rest of the walk was uneventful, but full of beautiful trees and large boats with names such as “La Boheme” and Le Present.”

Their beautiful garden with a “weed” fig tree and Japanese maple

Back to the house for the father and the dog to shower! Carl-Phillip and Vincent are in the table tennis club and were keen to play with me. They were very kind and let me fumble through volleys, eventually teaching me the proper serve and even some tricks with adding a spin. I didn’t completely humiliate myself! Vincent was just happy to have someone play with him longer, he is always the last to want to stop playing. Meanwhile Stef prepared a feast of Sunday lunch! Goulash with bread, potatoes, buttered leeks, zucchini, and green salad. We all went from hungry to stuffed!

Stef and I pulled out our itinerary and ticket printouts to discuss our travel plans, and she started packing for the trip. To walk off lunch they showed me the “little forest” in their neighborhood.


Little pathway off their sidewalk to the forest
So lush!
They said the blue symbol denotes a pilgrimage path for Jacob (Jacobeans? Jacobites?)
That tree on the left?
It’s cork!
So strange!
Train crossing for Ben

Stefanie had made a special German cheesecake for the weekend. It was delicious! Light and lemony, made with quark! They often discuss my lactose intolerance and what it is and how I deal with it, and then smack their forehead and apologize when they serve me dairy again and again 😅. She was over the moon to learn that I DO drink herbal tea and roobis. Apparently it was distressing that I said I didn’t drink any warm drinks like coffee or tea. By the time for dinner we were still full, so she made “a very easy simple dinner” of apples and cheese toast (another forehead snack). It was so flavorful, with creme fraiche, emmenthal, and ham. While she prepared I had a fun discussion with her kids about movies and shows they like. Sophie is a big fan of Gossip Girl and the Vampire Diaries. She said the popular shows at school right now are Culpa Nuestra and The Summer I Turned Pretty. Stef also recommended Machos Alfa. After dinner the kids were excited to watch an American movie (no subtitles so they can practice listening). They chose the Thursday Murder Club on Netflix (ok, so British 😉). Florian and I have read the book and Stefanie has started the book. We were surprised it had a different ending! Everyone liked it, it was better than I expected based on the trailer!

So happy she loves the jacket!it’s a little big, ah it’s ok

I planned to go to be an hour my ago but we got sidetracked by more memory sharing (the Christmas videos in 2019) and the boys wanted to know more about 3D printing. Now I really need to get to sleep for tomorrow Stefanie and I are going to Spain! 🇪🇸 Gute Nacht! Bonne nuit! Buenas noches!