Just a quick note tonight, it’s very late (for us) here.   Class today was wonderful and challenging, again. After the morning work, we ate lunch with two friends at an amazingly tasty health-food oriented restaurant “The Dip”. It’s always crowded inside and out when we’ve walked by in the past, but today was welcoming and open…I forget what exactly we ordered, except we got a side of pita bread, but it was all organic, delicious, and surprisingly inexpensive! We’ll go back later. Just behind me in this photo is the copse of trees with a whole settlement of homeless individuals, living rough this huge open space is filled with merchants and clothing wares on every Market Day Lynn and her advanced class attended the showing of a 30 year-old French film we remembered from way back then, "The Dinner Game". Apparently it didn’t age well, the humor and poignancy somehow being lost now. While she was working on her education, I read my book, and took a long walk through streets of ...

Like many other days we had great class sessions this morning, then activities afterwards. First off, of course, was LUNCH for all the students! A full blown three-course affair at “Bon Pain Bon Vin” in the middle of the Vielle Ville. Lynn and the others attended, while classmate Slim and I took off for other adventures.   After a long lunch, Lynn   & the class attended the special session of Cheese Making, hosted by a master cheese maker here in town. The point was to learn how the dairy products are made, which make this Savoie region so famous. Everyone had their own cheese making supplies and equipment, so for a couple of hours they mixed. beat, strained, and mashed the cheese ingredients into submission. She brought the completed cheese back to our room in the hotel, so tomorrow after some refrigeration, we’ll try it out.   Slim and I missed the group activities, in favor of Slim’s reservation to take a paraglider trip. He needed a ride to the little town of Dous...

Some days start off without any thought of being blog-worthy…nothing special on the horizon. Today started that way, but ended up being a lot of low-key fun. Our second week of class started today, with some new students joining in and the obligatory “welcome “ lunch. New students from Germany, Austria and Lichtenstein (we think), plus most of our previous classmates.   Us, at the classic Annecy scenic photo spot for the "Boat House" Backof the boat house opening into a small plaza Lynn being scenic After lunch, we toured the interior of the “Boat House”(Palais de l'Île), the renowned boat-shape structure in the middle of the river streaming through Annecy. This thing is so pretty from the outside. Originally built there in 1325, with additions over the centuries. It's been a prison, a government house, back to being a prison, a hospital, a residence, etc. over the years. It was renovated in the  1980’s, again in 1993, and turned into its own tiny museum. We learned A...

We finished resting up from yesterday’s marathon “Lyon day” trip, so were ready to do something else today. I got up a little early to get out on a bike ride before traffic, and Lynn came down for breakfast (petit-déjeuner!) before hitting the Sunday Market here in town. What’s breakfast like at the hotel? Pretty good, serve-yourself   style, with a variety of fresh food. We usually have yogurt with nuts or fruit, apple sauce, a couple of mini-croissants (Awesome, not like Costco or Publix faux croissants!), cheese, water, and some hot chocolate. There are supplies for folks who like to boil their own eggs, make toast, brew up different kinds of coffee or espresso, make cereal, etc. After we load our tray, we usually eat outside on the patio overlooking the public playground and Church Notre-Dame de Liesse. Perfect start to any busy day.   I’ll get Lynn to write her own description of her market adventures here:      While John was off riding his bike around Lac...