It's November 4, 2026!
Opps, the November snuck up on me
Let's start at the beginning of October.
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| The weather is getting cooler! |
Then we have more friends visit from Monterey...
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| Susie, John, Bobbi and Polly at "Bleu" |
Bobbi and Polly were here for a day as a stop on the way from the southeastern coast to the southwestern coast of France on their road trip from Bordeaux to the Mediterranean and loop south, then west to us and then back to Bordeaux to Paris and home to the States. Was fun to see Bobbi and meet Polly.
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We got our appointment with OFII (not sure what it means) and prepared our documents for the medical visit at the OFII office in Bordeaux. We decided to take the train to Bordeaux early Sunday, see the city, relax in a nice hotel with a pool/spa/restaurant and then on Monday find our way to the OFII site, then come home on the train to sleep in our own bed.
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| John's dinner - Octopus leg It also had a fancy name that I don't remember |
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| My dinner - veal It had a very fancy name that I don't remembe |
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| In the bar for after dinner drink |
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| Going down the elevator |
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| Bordeaux down the street from OFII |
We enjoyed our little getaway. Weather was perfect, too.
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The big excitement of the month were the protests in the streets of Paris and...
PAU!
The first Saturday of the national protests, John and I went out for a walk and the streets were packed with protesters. We had to take a couple of detours and getting closer to the Post Office we noticed protesters rushing toward us with teary eyes and frightened faces. We stopped to talk to a friend in front of her apartment and noticed the smoke (tear gas???) dissipating from up the street. When the smoke and people stopped rushing by, we naively proceeded up the street. At the end of the street there was a bonfire and police were standing around it and all the shops and the shopping center were closing and locking themselves in. We sort of detoured to the back of the shopping center to see if we could go in, but it was also locked with guards at every door. As we proceeded to go around the block to avoid the crowds of protesters, we heard firecrackers, so we rushed further away and finally found our way home where we locked our doors and closed the blinds.
The next weekend, the City prepared for the worst and there was police and military presence everywhere. Our building locked the gates and we were told to put down our metal blinds on the front of our balconies.
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| John was enjoying the peace in the protection of the metal blinds |
The next weekend there was a peaceful protest parade below our balconies.
It was so peaceful John was totally unaware tha there was anything happening...
