Lazy Sunday and bureaucracy : round 1

Everything in France is closed on Sunday.  Everything.  Even mega-stores.  (Which, in retrospect, explains the Saturday rush on Auchan.)  But yesterday was a gorgeous day, and it gave me a good opportunity to explore La Couronne and take some pictures, even though the town was empty.

It's a really cute town!  Not usually so empty.

Flowers!  And roundabouts!

Om nom nom.

Boulangerie!

La Mairie

L'église.  I think there was a service going on, so I didn't go inside.

Today I had my first run-in with French bureaucracy - the CAF office (cue ominous music).  Marie offered to take me and hold my hand, so to speak, and of course I agreed because while I may be perfectly capable of buying a phone card or going grocery shopping on my own, administrative business is daunting (in any language, really...).  We took a number, which really isn't a good sign that you're about to get attentive personal service, and sat down to wait.  They were calling numbers pretty slowly, so Marie went to do an errand while I waited.  "We have plenty of time, I'll be right back," she told me.  Famous last words.  As soon as she left the office they started busting through the line like it was time for lunch or something, but I frantically texted Marie and she ran back. Just in time, too, because the CAF man was the most mumbly, difficult-to-understand person I've ever encountered (I mean the French are low talkers to begin with, but this was beyond) and if I'd had to face him by myself who knows what kind of paperwork I would have ended up with.   I showed him several documents, and he seemed to be pleased with that (see, I am learning), he made several copies, and then gave me a stack of paperwork and mumbled something about turning it in after I was assigned a social security number.  (I nodded along then got the run-down from Marie when we got outside, at a normal volume.)  However, I'm actually not complaining too much about the French system, because it's worth noting that America doesn't even have this level of housing assistance, and certainly not for foreigners.
And stay tuned for bureaucracy round 2 tomorrow, as I open a bank account...I'm well prepared with a file full of documents, bien sûr!