[fmw]

I'm hoping to attend and my French is quite rustic (i.e. horrible), so that is at least one non-French speaker for you. As to the age thing: here in Europe, nobody will check your age when you enter a bar. If you look particularly young they might not let you order personally, but they would probably serve beer to a 12 year old if one of his parents would order it for him. I'm not sure how old you are, but I think the legal drinking age in most European countries is 16 (and 18 for strong liquor).