---

People!

I sometimes refer to our “French family” here - people that we’ve become great friends with over the years. Folks have asked to see some pictures of this family, so here they are. These friends make us feel part of a family when we’re here in France; they invite us to stay with them, they have us over for apéro, they help us when we need help doing something the French way. They are all just the best friends we could have. We love every one of them.

Mary and Gilles. We know Mary and Gilles from when they lived in our neighborhood over 40(!) years ago. We've been friends ever since. We've stayed with them and done lots of traveling with them over the years.

Jamie and Hervé. We met Jamie and Hervé about thirty years ago and have been great friends ever since.

Friends at Jamie and Hervé's Brittany House

Jamie and Hervé invited us to spend five days with them at their Brittany house, in Saint-Pierre-Quiberon (you can find it with a Google Earth search), along with Valerie and Yves. We had a most-excellent time! Some pictures from those days (many are courtesy of Valerie)…

Laurie, Jamie, Yves and me (with Roxie in the foreground) on the quai in Saint-Pierre-Quiberon.

Me, Hervé, Jamie and Laurie tucking in. We ate and drank very well the entire five days.

Yves doing the honors of starting apéro. We were fortunate to have an adequate supply of champagne...

Hervé, Valerie, Jamie, Laurie and Yves on the patio enjoying a beautiful day.

Yves on the quai at Saint-Pierre-Quiberon

Ok, ok, ok! For those who want pictures of us, here ya go. Neither Laurie nor I had new spiked-up hair-do's; it was windy on the Cote Sauvage beach!

Also wind-blown on the Cote Sauvage, Valerie and Yves. I'll know the world is coming to an end when Yves stops smiling. He has a great smile and it's always present.

Our Samois-sur-Seine friends

Jamie and Hervé live in Samois-sur-Seine, no more than a ten-minute drive from our digs in Bois-le-Roi. Also living in Samois-sur-Seine, about a hundred yards from Jamie and Hervê, are Riitta and Benoît. In 2015 we house-sat for them for 2 months in their beautiful house and became good friends from the minute we met them. You can see from the picture they are fitness nuts. Indeed: fitness as in entering a competition to run around Mt. Blanc in Switzerland: 63 miles of trail running. We always enjoy hearing of their fitness adventures, but joining them? Not gonna happen!

Riitta and Benoît.

Dinner in Paris with our Pau friend, Pierre

Pierre works in Paris and commutes weekly from Pau. We had a great time with Pierre and Penny when we visited them in Pau earlier in this trip ( see Pau Post). Last week we were in Paris and Pierre was able to join us at our favorite bistro, Le Triomphe, which is just a few minutes walk from Mary and Gilles’ flat where we stay in Paris. We had the best time at dinner - lots of talk and laughs. We were sorry when Pierre had to leave because public transport was starting to close down - a result of the protests occurring nightly in the suburbs of Paris.

Laurie and Pierre at dinner. A special time for us with Pierre.

I can’t tell you how mad I am at myself that I didn’t take pictures of Pierre and Penny when we were in Pau, so I would have a picture of them both to post. Grrrrrrr.

Phew! Almost didn't get to see Lesly and Pierre

They were busy, we were busy; we had a heck of a time getting together with our friends Lesly and Pierre. At the last possible chance, they made time for dessert (and champagne, of course) on the day before they left for their summer home.

Lesly and Pierre. We are so thankful that they squeezed us into a very busy schedule so we could see them. We joined them for a nice late-afternoon dessert in their garden with one daughter and the grandkids: a lovely afternoon. Next time we won't leave it to so late!

Pierre and Lesly's daughter Madeline and their beautiful grand-daughters Malia and Leila.

New Friends!

We keep making new friends! Anne-Marie and David are long-time residents of Chartrettes, across the Seine from Bois-le-Roi. We’ve met them a few times over the last two trips, had a great dinner with them earlier in this trip and finally got together for a lunch that was filled with great conversation and many laughs. Our next get-together has to wait until our next trip here, but we’re already looking forward to it and to staying in touch with them until we’re back.

And some non-French real family that we were really happy to see.

My nephew Scott and his wife Simone, who live a bit north of San Francisco. You know how it goes, we can't get to San Francisco to see them, so we meet in Paris! Sure, that's lot easier. We spent much of a day with Simone and Scott - a very enjoyable day. We're very grateful that they took so much time for us; I can tell you that their see-Paris schedule was full!