Date: October 16-22, 2023

Besides the four other conferences already mentioned in the prior write up, I also got a chance to travel to Toulouse for the 4th European Contamination Worshop taking place October 17th and 18th, 2023. I flew in the night before, but then extended my stay by a few days to get a chance to do some sightseeing. Prior to this trip, I have known France only through the eyes of Paris, so I was eager to explore some of the smaller cities. Also, I knew I will be back here in 2024 for the International Electric Propulsion Conference (IEPC), so this was my opportunity to explore. I opted to stay in an AirBnB, mainly due to the very positive experience in Ann Arbor. Well, here the experience was less stellar. My flight landed around midnight. Being all tired, I just wanted to get some sleep. I took the taxi from the airport to the AirBnB. While I found the keylock and managed to open it, I for the life of me could not figure out how to get actually get to main door to open. The key from the lock box is supposed to unlock it, but despite pushing, pulling, trying the ornamental handle, it just wouldn't budge. To this day I have no idea if this was merely a user error or it was somehow locked out. For context, you should also realize I am doing this, with my luggage at hand, on some random street, in the middle of night, with many very shady characters passing by. Toulouse has definitely an edgy feel to it. Many of these late nite walkers were clearly drunk, either being college students (there are many colleges in Toulouse) or other more vagrant looking types. After like a half an hour, pretty desperate for sleep at this point, I gave up and checked into a near by hotel. That single night ended up essentially doubling my accomodation cost for this trip. However, the next day I was able to get in the room. It was perfectly functional. The one benefit of AirBnBs over hotel is the presence of a kitchen (although tiny) and wash machine. I actually ended up doing some laundry despite my short stay.

The next two days I spent mostly attending the workshop. This was an excellent meeting, and it was refreshing seeing the amount of contamination transport basic research that ESA, ONERA, DLR, and other European agencies are funding. I feel that in the US, most of this work is tied to projects, which makes it more difficult to investigate the science alone, without specifically applying to a mission. Many of us went for dinner one of the evenings. I presented on the dynamic surface and lunar dust application work I have been working on with Elana.

Well once the conference ended, I had few days to explore. Despite the initial gritty impression, Toulouse is awesome. It is much more France than Paris. Prior going to Paris I had this naive impression of finding pedestrian squares, quaint cobble stone streets, and perhaps people doing their daily baguette shopping on a bicycle. Good luck finding that in Paris, at least in the tourist center. Paris is a huge city built mostly for cars. But you definitely find that ambiance in Toulouse. The center is full of cobblestone streets branching out from the central Capitole plaza.

My favorite place to explore a new city is by going for a morning run. Below you can see the route I took. I ended up visiting the Grand Rond, Jardin Royal, and Jardin des Plantes in the south and the Japanese garden in the north.

I also signed up for a walking tour offered by a British lady who had been living in Toulouse for years. It was me, and a group of British guys in town for a rugby match. Another thing I found out on this trip is that Toulouse is really big into rugy, in fact their team Stade Toulousain is the most successful club in Europe. This tour took us to some of the important sites but the highlight was the British bunch. They were very jolly.

Another thing I ended up doing, on my own, was a boat tour on the Garone and the canal. Besides being the hub for French Aerospace, Toulouse is also famous for being the northern terminus of the Midi canal (Canal du Midi). This canal, constructed between 1666 and 1681, connects Toulouse to the Mediterranean sea, 150 miles away. Talk about an egineering achievement! This boat trip did not take us on the Midi canal proper, but we got to go through a series of locks down Canal de Brienne to what could be described as the intersection for boat traffic. It is a pond with 3 different exits, the middle one of which is the terminus of the Midi canal. I wish the boat at least poked its nose into it but I can imagine getting back out would be challenging. At some future date, I would like to boat all the way down the Midi canal. This in fact is possible using boat rental services like Le Boat that a local friend utilizes on his annual pilgrimages to France. The highlight of that trip, I imagine, will be one of the several "boat bridges" that allow canal traffic to crorss, mostly undisturbed, over wide and choppy rivers.

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