I know my last post sounded rather pessimistic, so let me start by saying that I'm over it. I'm really happy to be here. Lou's trip went as well as we could have hoped. He was a little fussy on the first flight, and he slept through the trans-Atlantic flight completely - from take-off to landing. The jet lag is another story, but so far he seems to have bounced back better than his old lady.

France is wonderful. The weather is a bit cool, and I didn't pack the right kind of clothes for the baby (a nice excuse to buy new ones, and the French make such cute children's clothes). So far we haven't done much - a little shopping and some walking around town. It is so nice to be able to start from your house and walk wherever you need to go. No Wal-Mart and fast food joints that stretch out for miles. Today we walked to the grocery store, to the clothing boutiques, and to the bakery, and then we came home. It's nice to be in a place that is so alive with people. Whichever American invented "zoning" was a complete idiot. There were lots of people pushing baby strollers, which gave me a sense of "Wow, I'm not alone in this." Which is a nice feeling.

I'll take this opportunity to point out that zoning, which yes, is idiotic, is not something that permeates all of America (stereotyper! racist!). Go urban, my friends, or even suburban to a lesser extent. Get out of Greencastle while you still can! I was just looking at photos of Paris last night. Wish I were there! I told Scott about seeing a man peeing in an alley. He found that quite amusing. And they think Americans are...well...let's not get into that.

I know Sara, but in my next post, you'll find out exactly why I can't go urban. This town only has 60,000, and its still beautifully layed out.
Here we have to pee in alleys, because there aren't any public bathrooms. I have a female friend that peed behind a bus one night. Hey, why hide? It's just human nature!