Nothing Toulouse
This weekend I am in Toulouse with friends.
I've never been here before, but on first impressions it seems like a great city. Everyone I meet seems to love it here (let's ignore the survivorship bias, for now). The quality of life seems very high, particularly for people with kids. There's a strong local economy centred around the aerospace industry providing good jobs. And the pains au chocolat, or "chocolatines" as they're called here, are epic.
It's also one of the best connected cities in France when it comes to travelling across Europe. Claude suggests it could even be the best location for my retirement dream of opening up a Studio of the South for founders - a remix of Van Gogh's idea for artists in the late 1800s.
The downside, apparently, is climate change: it gets insanely hot during the Summer - the sort of hot that isn't even fun because it's so unbearable to be outside during the day. Weather, like everything in life, has a U-shaped relationship with happiness.
But nonetheless it's on my radar as a place to spend more time. I'll make sure the Studio has plenty of air conditioning...