Bonjour, mes amis:

Although it's sprinkling at the moment, we did see a lot of beautiful sunshine yesterday afternoon. Starting this afternoon (we hope), the weather is supposed to improve--with days of sunshine projected for the week ahead.

We had our second opportunity with a French-speaking conversation partner yesterday, again meeting at the nearby Book in Bar coffee shop/ book store. For an hour and twenty minutes we spoke French and English with Fabien and Gabriella, his English girl friend. Fabien's English was pretty good ... just needs practice speaking. He has hopes of going to the United States to work with computers in some capacity. His family is from Corsica.

We're meeting with him again next week--same time and place. He seemed to think he could connect me with some local tennis players ... we'll have to see if anything materializes there. Nice young man of about 25. His girl friend seemed to be a recent development. She is apparently returning to England for a week or so. Not sure where that relationship is headed.

Earlier in the afternoon, we (Yvette, Niko and me) came upon an 87 year-old woman, sitting on one of the many benches along Cours Mirabeau (the beautiful blvd near where we live). For about an hour, we engaged her in some lively conversation (she spoke no English). She had traveled all over, it seems--to Egypt, Viet Nam and other part of Asia, and of course all over most of Europe ... knowledgable, interesting lady.

This is the third such experience we've had talking to older people sitting on benches along the boulevard. In fact, we've decided to incorporate this into our daily strategy for French speaking: seeking out the older generation on the benches along Cours Mirabeau.

Natasha and Erica go to London today where they will spend the night. Then Erica flies off to Geneva where she'll meet Cliff (who's off to Barcelona with Lawrence) to visit some college friends who live in Geneva. Then, E and C take the train here on Sunday for a week with us.

A bientot ...