Looking for art classes and joining a local tennis club

Bonjour, bonjour,

We spent a long morning running down illusive prospects for an art class for Yvette (water color and/or acrylic painting). The first prospect--a talented and serious-minded painting teacher--has his office within three blocks of our flat. A sincere and no doubt committed man, he didn't have any classes in the months ahead that suited Yvette's needs. This is probably just as well as there was a subtle intensity to him that might not have worn well with Yvette over time.

And so, off to our second prospect--a "so-called" academy of art--who, according to their promotional literature, were holding class this morning from ten to noon. Finding them turned out to be a cultural adventure. Taking bus #21 to a bus-stop on the outskirts of Aix, we were pointed in the direction of a gravel/dirt road. After a couple hundred meters (hey, we're in the European Union, now; feet and inches don't play over here), we noticed a sign that seemed to identify our destination. Walking on to the property, we were soon confronted by a most-concerned woman, eager to inform us that we were on private property. It turned out, this was the site of the Belgian Consulate. And it also turned out that the academy of art was closed--not only today, but apparently for the entire week.

Finding our way to the other side of the road, close to the near-by turnabout, we soon mounted the same bus that had dropped us off ... on its return route to the town center.

For the curious, Niko was a part of these morning experiences (if you hold your dog on your lap, you can take them on the bus with you). Dropping Niko off at our flat, we soon headed out again to take the bus to the site of the city-sponsored tennis club we have decided to join (the one where they require a medical certificate signed by a local doctor who, although a cheerful fellow, didn't ask us one question about our health).

Arriving about 1:15 p.m., sure enough the tennis office at the sports center was closed. Rumor had it that the staff would be arriving soon, but we were a little concerned because we had a conversation partner meeting us at our flat at 3:00 p.m.

Not knowing what to do, we decided to have lunch at the restaurant on the site of the sports complex. Sure enough, the staff is lunching at a near-by table. When they left, we followed them to the office, filled out the required forms, paid our three-month court fee and were given a metal badge with our picture on it (we had to provide two pictures for the application process as well) along with a key to open and close the latch on the badge. Taking us outside to the sign-up board, the kind lady, who was attending to us, explained how the court-sign-up system worked and, soon, we were running for the bus to get back in time for our conversation session.

Tomorrow (Saturday), we hope to actually "play" tennis in the late morning and begin to see if we can find some locals to both play tennis with and help us with our French.

C'est tout pour aujourd'hui! (That's all for today). A bientot ...