Cassis

This is NOT cassis:

Technically, it’s “Creme de Cassis” and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the Village of Cassis, located on France’s southern coast.

This is now probably one of my favorite snaps, taken as the evening winter sun illuminated the harbor:

And just around the corner I spotted the locals playing pétanque in the town square:

I’ve still never really wrapped my head completely around why people in the south of Europe are more outwardly social in this regard, spending more time outside with their neighbors.  A site like this would be strange anywhere in, for example, Alsace.