Nice is Nice

We woke up this morning for breakfast to be on the bus at 8:30 to head out to the largest  petanque park in the city of Nice. What is a patanque park?  Why it is where they play petanque!  It is like a cross between curling, horseshoes, and bowling and is a game (sport?) that was invented and is still very popular in the south of france.  Pretty much every park has a couple of petanque courts amd it is the stereotype that when men retire, they retire to play petanque (like we retire to fish or play golf. In the evenings you will see all of the older guys (and some women) out at the parks playing petanque.

  This park is exclusively a petanque park and hosts a petanque club.  The club gives lesssons and we got to take one!  We went out and had lessons in two different styles of Petanque - the traditional petanque played in Nice and a style played in Lyon, called boules lyonnaises.  The kids enjoyed these to greater and lesser degrees, but they were good sports, even if they didn't love the Lyon style of play...because - after all - "you're only in France once."
It is our last full day in France, of course, so after our lesson, we are going on a tour by bus to see the major sites of the city, and then finishing with a walking tour in the  rues pietonnes (pedestrian-only sections) of the old town.

We have the afternoon "free" and plan to do a little shopping and see a few things we haven't seen yet.

We have only today left to see what we want to see, do what we want to do, and eat what we want to eat in Nice before we have to wrap things up.

The kids will be happy to get home to see family and friends but also sad to leave behind the experiences that they have had in France.  Their worlds have been immeasurably expanded and they have taken their first step towards umderstanding that we are not only citiens of Fort Wayne; as well as being Hoosiers; and Americans; but we are also citizens of the Globe and that no matter what country we are from, what language we speak, or what faith we follow, there is a pan-human experience that we all share.  I think that having an opportunity to be in Nice after the tragedy here and seeing the sadness of the city had not been a bad thing; it is a reminder that in being brothers and sisters in Christ, we have more in common with others than we imagined and more obligation to each other than we knew. The path to Global Citizenship is long, but they have certainly started on the way! Nothing can take the place of a trip like this in terms of accomplishing that, so in helping the kids participate in this trip, you have done them a great service in their education - in terms of academics, as well has giving them an opportunity to grow as human beings.

Tomorrow we must be on the bus early in the morning to start the long journey back home.

We plan to make the most of it! (In fact, the girls have indicated that they plan to stay awake all night. Kyle - practical, as always - has said he will be sleeping. Lol.)