Pictures are courtesy of Nicole from last week during her visit.

She left this morning. We were up at 4:15 to get to the airport for her 7 a.m. flight to Paris. She had a long layover in Paris, and as I write this she ought to be between Paris and Atlanta. Good thing she has a day to rest before she has to go back to class.

Conveniently, our friends Jim and Sharon were flying in about an hour after Nicole took off, so we hung around and waited for them to arrive. Once we got back to the apartment we gave them an hour to nap, then I took them downtown where they could get on the sightseeing bus. I headed back to the apartment on the tram. They came back several hours later. They had gotten something to eat downtown and they wanted to turn in early so we just had a light dinner.

So, here are some random observations:

People here go for coffee often, but it's far more expensive than Italy. Last Wednesday after class I spent four Euros for a cup.

• But, when you order nothing more than a cup of coffee, they routinely bring a glass of water; sometimes they include a small cookie. In Italy, water was not something you were routinely give. Here, it is.









• Nearly everyone speaks English.

Today's news story is from Italy rather than Greece. A guy there is marketing vending machines that make pizza! Not a

frozen pizza that gets microwaved: it mixes the dough and makes it virtually from scratch.