In any city, it can be easy to get wrapped up in the constant movement, the fast jolts from one place to another, one meeting to the next, etc., until pretty soon your days and weeks look like little dots on the metro line maps.  There’s no perfect cure for it, to slow down I mean.  You just have to try it a little bit at a time.

And it occurred to me today, while reviewing the pictures in my camera for some shots around town—or more specifically the castle district—that a lot of people seem to know how to take it easy.

I think there is a culture here of talking to one another, of slow walks with old friends, of strolling.  And a big part of my Americanness has been both a little in envy and a little resistant of it.  But I’ve found there’s not much pleasure in the no-time-to-stroll attitude.  And in an effort to be less mechanical, I’ve really started enjoying moving in this way.  These pictures were taking in an early Sunday evening.  But it could have been any day and most times here.  Life seems pretty good going at this pace.