• The weather has been almost perfect! We had a couple days of rain last week and today it is pretty warm. Other than that, everyday has been sunny and in the mid/upper 70's. Here is what the past week looked like... Not too shabby :-)

• The French people have been great! We had 1 encounter with a French bus driver  who was kind of a la merde (it is French... Google is your friend  :-)  )  He was probably mad because he was not on strike that day and had to work. Other than that, they have been friendly and helpful!

• The Euro 2016 Football (Soccer) tournament has been a great surprise and lots of fun! We have met lots of fans from Poland, Northern Ireland (who could forget them), Sweden, England and others. It has been a lot of fun!!!! 
• BUT, soccer is wayyyyyy too boring. You watch for 90 minutes and most of the time the score is 0-0  or 1-0. 
• If you read my June 22 blog you will recall we travelled to Biot and I noticed a lot of roosters. Well, I found out today that the rooster is the country animal of France (I'm not kidding!). So let's see... America has the majestic soaring eagle and France has a rooster???  All I can think of is France is represented by Foghorn Leghorn :-)  Historical reference: 

• I have been amazed at the number of Europeans who have asked me about Donald Trump  and never Hillary Clinton. They want to know what he is like & what I think about about him. 
• More politics.... As you may have read, Britain voted to leave the EU. Last week I was talking to a bunch of guys from England in a bar (imagine that!) and asked about this subject. They said most people over the age of 35 want to leave while those younger people want to stay. He said the younger people want the welfare/security/big government of the EU while older people want their independence and don't like the fact that a bunch of unelected  bureaucrats in Brussels are making rules for the Brits. Since that discussion, I have talked with ~10 people from England and he was right - the younger people want to stay, the older people want to leave. 
• Our apartment is fantastic! We pretty much live on the balcony when we are in the apartment. We have every breakfast & dinner overlooking the park. It is very civilized! PLUS the location is great. We have the following  within 2 blocks of our apartment:
• 3 food stores
• 2 bakeries
• 2 ATM machines
• A couple of bars
• More than 6 restaurants
• A gelato stand
• A bus stop
• And a lot more!
• Plus the main train station is a 10 minute walk away and the beach is 4 blocks away (about 8 minutes). 
• Speaking of our apartment... The good news is we have a washer & a dryer. The bad news is you need a PhD to operate them :-) Aside from the fact they are in strange language I know nothing of :-)  They look like the control panels from a friggin nuclear power plant. We had to set the temperature, the mix rate plus the RPMs (the property manager said anything over 800 RPMs would cause an explosion :-) )  Just give me a START button & I am happy. Here are control panels for each.

• The French have really perfected the baguette! I have never had a bad one here. They are all perfectly made with a slightly crunchy outside and a wonderful texture and taste in the middle. Better stop now or I will make you crave for one. FYI... Yesterday I made our daily run for a baguette and croissants from the bakery... total trip time.... 5 minutes! 
• Speaking of food, we have not had a bad meal! The food is great, but a little expensive. A decent dinner will cost you around 20 euros (about $22). This is a modest meal with a small salad, a piece of fish and a starch. Tasty but not extravagant. You can get a pasta meal or a pizza for around $10-15.

NEWS FLASH