White swans and yellow grass

I'm completely obsessed with swans. Whenever I spot one I become a stalker, walking along the water trying to get to the best vantage point to get a picture. I don't usually see them on the small waterways around the Citadel, but I do see them on the Deule and some canal remnants around town. They are often paired up but I can't tell the males from the females. 

It has definitely been feeling like fall around here lately—lots of cloudy days, some rain, and chilly winds. That's good walking weather and I've been posting some pretty good daily step counts most days. Maple trees are not native here so there aren't a lot of reds in the woods, but yellow leaves cover the ground even as many more remain waiting to fall. The season lacks the wildflowers of spring and summer but is still quite beautiful.

This past weekend was the annual beer festival in Lille. It is held in an old train station in the center of town. There were a lot of beers to try, but IPAs and NEIPAs are the most common. I rule those out automatically, which helps me narrow my choices. Lots of local breweries were present, of course, but also a couple from the UK, one from Sweden, Latvia, Estonia, and Ukraine. Those are not breweries we encounter around here normally.