SATURDAY EVENING
What a wonderful vacation this has been. It’s hard to imagine that two weeks have passed. Every day has been a great adventure and we’ve had a nice balance of activity and rest. We could have easily entertained ourselves for another week, but I’m looking forward to the privacy of my house and I’m sure Vianyette and Michel will enjoy having their house back. I’m definitely looking forward to being able to travel and afford an hotel room most every night – hopefully it won’t be to far away in the future.
Our last night of Pastis in the ambiance of a Mediterrainne Villa. Bob is enjoying his last binge of pistachios and olives. It will be a while before we enjoy this again.
I got lucky and found just what I was looking for today, at the pottery shop that Vianyette recommended. I got a nice set of blue and white pieces to serve a “French” meal. I’ll have to surprise Bob one evening with a Pastis on the patio and pistachios and olives to start the night with. If I’m very ambitious I’ll serve a simple meal of meat, potatoes and salad, ending with cheese and fruit.
Monday 10:00
We’ve made it into Nice without any major problems this morning. Even managed to get our baggage into storage at the airport with the help of Suzie ( a co-worker and friend of Vianyette’s.) The antique market is set up this morning. Bob has a great eye. He picked out a beautiful milky glass lovebird vase. He sent me back to check it out. At 25,000FF it was probably one of the most expensive pieces in the market.
There were a lot of swag clocks, but they were very beat up and only one had the long pendulum and even it had been pieced together. I even saw a Napoleon Stafordshire piece. We had to get out of there – it would be too difficult to bring something back now – before we found something we were tempted to buy.
Well we are just about finished with our vacation. We fly to Paris at 4 arriving at 5 or 5:30. We will check into a hotel at the airport and then take the subway into Paris. I figure the Champs D’Ellsse will be a good place to head for. We didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to Marc and Delphine, but I have their address at home so I’ll write them a letter, in English so Delphine will have to translate.
We are soaking up the ambiance in a small square in the old city of Nice. Ambiance can be describe as a unique combination of smells and sights. The square is obviously old and the plastic chairs and table at the cafes seem incongruous. While sitting at the Cafe Geriko we are visited by a beggar dog and dived on by pigeons. It seems that you subconsciously develop the habit of scanning the ground pour merde and watching the sky for dive bombing pigeons.
12:00
It is getting hot. We finished walking around the old city. Jackie bought some gifts. We left the old village and walked down the waterfront. It was hot next to the beach. We have stopped at a cafe/night club to rest and wait for lunch with Vianyette. I’m drinking a Heineken and Jackie a Perrier.
Lunch with Vianyette was very enjoyable, she is such an animated character. We discussed, at length, the idea of opening up a cafe de Provence. We decided that Michel and Vianyette would have to come to the U.S. to be our business consultants.
Paris
Flight was uneventful. The airport is always entertaining. The inexperience travelers are very comical as they race from place to place, ever worried that they are going to miss their flights. What’s worse are the elderly. They all but play bumper cars with the luggage carts and always have this fearful look on their faces as if they are lost – they probably are.
Bob is off getting the luggage and I’m waiting at the back of the mob at the luggage carousel. It was a 1 1/2 hour non-smoking flight, so most of the people in this group are puffing away. The area is clearing out so I’m venturing in. I still refuse to butt the cart up against the carousel – like the rest of the herd.
Had a bit of a scare, my luggage didn’t come, didn’t come, didn’t come and the airline baggage attendant was recommending that we go to the office. Fortunately, just at that moment, my bag came. I wasn’t looking forward to traipsing around in the cool Parisian evening in my shorts. It’s about 60 degrees here.
The older couples are so funny to watch. We’re in the hotel now. Yet again I’ve sent the commando – Bob the Brute – in to tangle with the crowd trying to all check in at once. The older couples both try to crowd up against the desk, the man tries to negotiate with the receptionist and the wife furtively holds onto her husband and the cart that has their baggage. They act as if they are surrounded by terrorists and that all are waiting to prey on just them. We’re in a hotel lobby, for God’s sake!
I guess they have been watching too much TV and reading newspapers that are filled with the violence of the city. I truly hope that I don’t succumb to that warped view of the world as I approach senility
Paris at night, in a light mist, was very nice. We took the bus from the hotel to the train station and rode Metro in to Notre Dame. We had a very French dinner of lamb chops at the “jardin de Notre Dame” and were ready to walk the city. Notre Dame at night Walking up the Seine was very beautiful with all of the lights and spectacular buildings. I correctly guessed the Louve, despite there being no signs. Everywhere there are magnificent statues and monuments. Bob had his camera apparatus along so he took some “guess” shots of some of the sights.
We walked along the Seine, across to the Louve, up to the Place de Concorde where we could see the Tour Eiffel, and then up the Champs-Elysées towards the Arc de Triumph. Then back to the metro again. It was a beautiful walk but by this time it was about 11:30. Ah Paris – City of light, city of lovers. Its been many years since I was last in the city. I forgot how beautiful the city can be. There was a light mist falling and the lights of the city were reflected in the streets. I regret that we are so rushed. We had arrived at the airport around 5:30 and by the time we had checked into the hotel and took the train in to the city it was Close to 8:30. We ate diner in a small restaurant near Notre Dame. It wasn’t anything special – other than having dinner in Paris with Jackie. I had brought a camera and tripod so I would try and capture some of the feeling of the city for Jackie. We walked from Notre Dame up close to the Arc De Triumph. The Tour Eiffel was lit up against the gray sky. The Champs- Elysées was alive with people, even at eleven o’clock.
We will have to plan a vacation just in Paris when we can enjoy moonlight walks up the boulevards. We called it a night and caught the metro back to Roissy and bed. Bed was a a wonderful experience, in part because it had been a very long day with a lot of waiking, and in part because for the first time in two weeks Jackie and I had both privacy and a double bed:
This morning it was up and off to the airport. I did my famous imitation of a pack mule. Getting checked in wasn’t to painful considering we were in Paris. .
We spent our last Francs in the duty free shops and boarded the plane at 11:00. I trounced Jackie in two more cribbage games. I figure in an 11 hour flight I should be ahead by about fifteen games when we land. A pleasant surprise was getting seated at an exit aisle with only a window and aisle seat. It’s “almost” as good as first class.
What struck me most about Paris was that it was orderly and planned. The design, years ago, for the wide boulevards and the beautiful buildings along the river really has paid off. Comparing it to London, London didn’t have much forethought.
It definately gives Paris the edge on most other cities.
SAN FRANCISCO
We’re again at the carousel awaiting our bags – same story of fretful old people pressed against the luggage carousel and one hand on their cart behind them. No one else can get near it. I was going to try this time but was bumped out of the way by two old biddies – what’s worse is that they are French and were unable to understand my friendly slang I murmured in their ears.
Apparently this is a group of 36 some odd French that are on a tour to Vancouver B.C. I think they should have to earn their wings before being able to buy a ticket!
PORTLAND
It was an uneventful trip from SFO to PDX. We stayed awake playing cribbage. The landing at PDX was unusual. The plane took a long, wide loop to the north and came in on a very long glide path. I was beginning to wonder if they were having any problems, but finally we touched down.
We got our bags and took a cab home. Made it to Jackie’s house – dead tired. Total flight time etc. was about 16 hours. It is now 4 AM on our biological clocks, we were up about 7:30 AM so that’s just a few hours shy of 24. We’re going to try to stay up a little longer (it is 7:00 PM local time) so we don’t wake up a 2 in the morning. We will probably wake up at two anyway. Jackie unpacked the pottery and it all came through fine. She’s now making her obligatory phone calls to family to let them know she is home. I called my Mom. As soon as Jackie is off the phone we will try to stay up by watching television and then crash and burn. Tomorrow I will re-read this and see if it is at all coherent…