Vichy encore.
I have 15 minutes before my class this morning, so will quickly write from the computer lab here. I have been walking around town a bit this morning. The first class is at 11:00. On the way this morning Karine and I stopped at the house Jean-Marie and his brother bought from his parents and are renting out. They are redoing the 8" square tiles on the patio. There were three boys probably 12 - 15 yrs old (Jean-Marie`s nephews) putting sand in buckets and hauling it down a treacherous flight of outdoor steps to the lower level where the men were setting the base for the patio. 8 year old Justine was trying to help them. It looked like they had already taken out the old tiles and placed them to the side. Tom was in the middle of them working. I don`t know if that will take all day or not, but Tom`s week will be quite a bit different from last.

Yesterday`s visits to the chateau and the huge substation were pretty nice. We will be here until Saturday morning when we will get on the train to go back to Paris. Paris is unveiling a new public bicycle plan on Sunday that might be interesting. We saw the same thing in Lyon on Saturday. The locals purchase a subscription card which allows them to unlock one of eventually 2,100 bikes, ride it anywhere in the city and then turn it back in with a card swipe to any other stand in the city. If there bike is not returned within 24 hours, or if it is not properly locked to the stand, their bank account is charged 150€. The plan is modeled after one in Amsterdam.

That is all for now. We miss you all.

Love,
K.