La Fete du Marais

After yesterday's cooler temperatures, it's very hot and sunny today and is currently 30 degrees! We were planning to go to the coast for the day, but decided against it in light of the weather - we didn't fancy sitting in the car in traffic as I'm sure the world and his wife has gone to the beach today.

So instead we've had a lovely relaxing day in St Omer - we sat and had coffee in the town square and then walked down to the canal. We always loved this area with traditional town houses on either side of the canal. I really like the reflections in the water and if you view the photo large, you'll see the traditional wooden boat from this region which is called a 'Bacove'. There are actually three of them together and they're decorated and currently moored there, advertising 'La Fete du Marais' next weekend. The Fete is a parade of decorated boats which will sail down the canal, and in all our time here we've never actually seen it, so it was nice to see this today.

We then carried on our walk to the other side of town and went to a local Brocante. We made a couple of purchases for our new house and sat and had a beer outside a local bar, whilst listening to a band and people watching. It's getting too hot for Louis now, so we've brought him back to the hotel for a sleep while we go and have a stroll in the park. Then tonight we've got a table booked for dinner at a restaurant we've never been to, but always planned to, so fingers crossed the food's good.

It's been a really nice weekend and great to re-visit the places that meant so much to us. Tomorrow we're leaving early as we have a day trip to Brighton to sign for our new house and pick up the keys - it's all becoming very real now!