Yesterday we met Tim and Lynne Martin for a drink and a chat at a little bistro in the heart of Paris. Lynne wrote the book Home Sweet Anywhere and writes the blog at Home Free Adventures (http://homefreeadventures.com/). Their blog and adventures were the root of our new life traveling and seeing the world. A couple years ago I read an article Lynne wrote and published in the Wall Street Journal about how they retired, sold the house, and traveled all over, living wherever their interest took them. I read every word in her blog and was inspired to take the plunge into being a full-time traveler. When her book came out in April, I read it, too, and loved it. If you haven't read it, you should. Lynne and Tim are just delightful people and we spend an hour with them, chatting about where we are going and how we are doing it, the people we've met, and everything else that came to mind. They are both so friendly and easy to talk to that the hour flew by quickly.

We also made a new friend at the meeting with Lynne and Tim . Anita Welch from North Dakota was in town for a conference and is also a fan of Lynne's book. Anita is an education professor at North Dakota State University in Fargo. She is also an avid traveler and has recently accepted a job teaching in Abu Dhabi for the next three years. We shared our loved of travel and our common interest in teaching. After Lynne and Tim left for a meeting, Anita, Cory and I decided to find a sports bar with a big TV to watch the USA - Germany World Cup soccer game. We hopped on the Metro and came back to our neighborhood where Cory and I had found multiple bars with TV's that always showed the soccer games. The three of us sat in the front of a large, wall sized screen and rooted for USA amongst a bar full of young French and German soccer fans. They were very nice and a great time was had by all. Lots of beer, lots of wine and lots of clapping and cheering! After the game we were all hungry for dinner. My theory is to find the best food, ask a local. So, we struck up a conversation with a group of young people and asked them where they would eat if they were having dinner . They led us to an Asian restaurant several blocks away and we had the best meal! We ordered big bowls of rice noodles with half a dozen different chopped vegetables and either shrimp or beef and egg rolls. We talked and ate until we could hold no more! Cory and I walked Anita to her metro stop and made our way home. We truly enjoyed meeting our new friends and hope to stay in touch with them via blogs and emails.

Today we decided to check out something very different--a cat café. That's right; a restaurant/café where a dozen cats are the pampered and featured attraction. The café was a short metro ride away. We arrived at the Café Les Chats in mid afternoon and entered a small anteroom where a young man at the desk explained that we needed use the antibacterial lotion on our hands before entering the café. He then told us that there were three rules: do not feed the cats, do not disturb or wake a sleeping cat, and we may take pictures, but no flash that irritates the cat's eyes . He said we may enter the swinging doors and sit anywhere we liked. The café has two levels, a living room with couches, coffee tables, and easy chairs and a basement with dining tables, easy chairs and coffee tables. There are twelve adorable cats who live in the restaurant and are totally pampered. There were several kitty condos and cat baskets and toys around the room. The atmosphere was very relaxed and everyone spoke in hushed tones and moved slowly, so peaceful. We sat in the basement and had a wonderful lunch of Caesar chicken salad for me and Italian salad with meat and cheeses for Cory with wine for us both. After lunch we petted several of the cats and they were very amiable and sweet. While the whole concept might sound strange to some, it was really a very nice lunch and very peaceful café. We miss our own kitties, so it was nice to pet and talk to some happy and contented kitties for a while.

Tomorrow we pack and get ready to take the Eurostar to London. We'll be up early Sunday morning at 7am to catch the 9:15 train. It's hard to believe we can take a train straight from the middle of Paris to London in only 2 hours and 15 minutes. We're looking forward to seeing this feat of engineering.