a beautiful day in the neighborhood

First let me say thank you, on behalf of Steph, for all your birthday wishes yesterday. Truth be told, his first reaction was "I don't know these people!" (and I thought, "Oh, but you will! bwahahahahahha") and he's a bit bewildered by the whole blog thing, but he really appreciated it. I skipped choir rehearsal last night and we just had a quiet evening at home. Oh, and he loved the muffins - I managed to grab one last night, and they were all gone by the time he left for work this morning!

This morning, I had some errands to run, and I had a really great walk around town. Of course, I realized about half way through that it would have been an excellent opportunity to carry around the camera, but I will be sure to remember for the next time. It was very foggy and a bit cool, but still a nice morning for a walk. My first errand was to drop off our taxes, so I headed through the middle of town. A new carousel has been erected in front of the town hall. I walked down the main shopping street to do a little window shopping. I wondered a little bit, down some lanes I don't know very well, and discovered some new half-timbered houses I hadn't seen before. When I arrived at the tax office, There were a lot of cars parked precariously on the side of the road and many people around, putting their paperwork in the two boxes designated for dropping off taxes. They are due next week, and it reminded me of the post office on April 15 back home.

The next errand was to go to the post office close to my home to pick up a package and drop off a letter. I took a different route, one that we've traveled many times in the car but I've never walked. It's possibly a shorter walk than going through town, but I think because there's not as much to see, it seems longer. Still, there are a few stately homes from the late 19th/early 20th century to gawk at. Most of these are now businesses or separated into apartments, but still lovely to look at all the same. Once I got past the downtown traffic, I crossed the Seine (yes, we have the Seine, too!) and walked along the bank, past the petanque playing grounds. Now that the weather is warming up again, this area will be populated by men and their sons (I have never seen a woman hanging out while petanque is being played; it is definitely a man's game) in the afternoons, but all is quiet at 10:30 in the morning. After I do my business at the post office and pick up a baguette, it is a mere five minute walk home.

It was an hour long walk and it was wonderful; I haven't walked like that in ages. I think I'm definitely going to make some time to walk like this more in the future, and remember to take my camera!