A Day on the Pajo
Started the day with a coffee with Jack and Max, who starteed his day with an ice cream cone (reminded of me a bit of how Louis often got off to a start). Max is a lively two-and-a-half year old who was normally a bit shy with us, of course; he seems to have mastered his dad to perfection. We even got to seee the whole family together, Jack, Max, Hayley and Hayley's mom. Jack gave us our ticket for the day-long boat cruise around the bay and we boarded at just after 10. Jack and Hazlez-s business, Black Mountain Travel, is off to a great start - well-established as a leader in outdoor travel activities like hiking and biking. Jack is involved in the overall Montenegran tourism development strategy and organization.
Pajo -- it's Donald Duck! It's the name of this little craft that was already full (just over 20 tourists and 2 crew), but not uncomfortably so. We headed into the bay and got a much better view than when we drove around it. The churches and monasteries are beautiful, either planted high up overlooking the bay from some isolated, practically inaccessible promentory, or down on the waterfront in the center of a village.
We stopped at Our Lady of the Rock, which we had photographed already too much on our drive. It's a church/museum on a man-made island. Apparently, there was a tree all by itself on a rock and a picture of the virgin was found hanging from it. This was considered a miracle, so for 200 years, the people of Perast sank boats and rocks around the tree until they had this artificial island and then they built this church. It's a little gem. It's completely painted inside the walls and the ceiling were all done by a single painter over a 10-year period. The walls are also lined with silver ex-votos from survivors of naval accidents or battles. Survivors also give gifts of paintings and local people give gifts of thanks -- like the old iron or sewing machine -- when they get a new one. There's a room full of these relics from 400 years ago to yesterday. Brides also leave a little souvenir before leaving the church if they got married there. It's really quite interesting. There's another church on a natural island just a few meters away, but we didn't learn anything about it.
We didn't stop at Perast on our way out, but we did on the way back from Kotor. It's a narrow town between the bayfront and the cliff. It's got a church, St. Nicolas, in the center. It's basically abandonned. There are a few magnificent houses that could be restored, but it's like a ghost town.
The Pajo crew served us a little lunch on our way to Kotor, where we stopped long enough for a long walk around the old town and a cup of coffee. Some skipped visiting the town to hit the beach for a swim. Kotor is like a small version of Dubrovnik. Not having been so recently destroyed and restored, it seems more natural. They've taken care to identify the old residences of the great families of the town and even indicate the century of construction. It does help you place them. The city walls extend high up on the hill overlooking the city, but seeing the height of the mountains just behind, one wonders how effective the walls could have been.
This boat excursion is a must. It's the best way to see the bay and spend a relaxing time on the boat. We are not sun freaks, but there was room to climb up on the roof or the prow to catch some rays. There were plenty of sunburned people getting off at the end of the day.
Skador Lake
Off to a later start than usual, we headed down the coast, via the ferry, towards the Skador Lake, the biggest lake that is shared by Montenegro and Albania. It's a national park, protected wildlife zone, but threatened by the pollution of the river feeding into the lake, nonetheless. It looks like there are some fantastic hiking trails and plenty of birds to be on the lookout for. We saw a stuffed Dalmatian pelican at the visitors' center; it's one of the largest pelicans I've ever seen. The visitors' center is two flights up stairs, above the restaurant and administrative offices -- not really concucive to visiting. We had missed the turn off the road before the levee that leads to the visitors' center, so after lunch we headed back, found the road and started on a drive down the western edge of the lake. Our idea was to drive about half way down and then catch another road back to the coast, but we missed the turn and ended up driving almost down to the border before the road turned. We needed to be most vigilent to take the turn towards Bar! This drive is beautiful. It's another single-track, two-way road, so you have to be very wary of oncoming traffic, but there is usually just enough space just a ahead or behind to put the car close to the mountain and let the other car pass. The flowers are beautiful: genet, thistle, and many more. The bees are everywhere. We passed chestnut groves and olive groves. Everywhere, there were magnificent views of the lake. This southern part of Montenegro is predominantly muslim and you can identify the mosques by their minarets. Otherwise, one town looks like any other. On our drive back up via the coast we ran into some thunderstorms and heavy rain. So we were very lucky on our day up to Mt. Lovçen and our day cruising the bay not have had any rain, and today the rain struck at the end. In fact it didn't get to Herceg Novi until long after we did.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Arrived in Montenegro
Guess what – it's asparagus season in Croatia, too. I treated myself to another asparagus special for dinner – Scallops with baby green asparagus tips, au gratin. Excellent, again. I don't understand people who do not appreciate food anywhere but home. As long as I don't have to think about what we're going to have, I love it anywhere.
Dubrovnik
We headed out right after breakfast and were on the highway in no time. In fact, driving was so easy we did not stop at Split (or thereabouts) as we thought we would. We just kept on going down the coast, all the way to Dubrovnik. The Croatian coast is fairly well-preserved maquis and olive trees. There are lots of olive trees; I'm amazed we don't import Croatian olive oil yet. Of course there are also plenty of seaside towns with their stony beaches, but not anything like the French Riviera. This is what it must have been like before WWII in the south of France. It's not all Croatia down to Dubrovnik; there's a little strip of Bosnia-Herzegovina along a secondary road from Mostar to the sea. This is ridiculous. The main road from Mostar, along the river that empties into the sea, is in Croatia. The river delta plain is very rich farmland with lots of orchards (Oranges, Cherries, Olives, …) and vegetables. There is a lake just before the river hits the sea and it looks like the whole plain is irrigated from the lake. This is all in Croatia. Then you have a tiny border crossing into B-H, a village with a stop light, and oops, you're back in Croatia. This village is not even a port, really. It's just a beach town. The district of Dubrovnik, then, is like a island on land for Croatia. Of course there are regular boat services to all the real islands, too, so it's not so difficult and, since this is no longer a war zone, the road is continuous, too. On arriving in the city of Dubrovnik, just as we started wondering where we'd stop for the night, a lady standing in front of a place with rooms to let flagged us to a stop. We thought it was for rooms there, but it turned out she got in the car and let up the hillside to where we could park the car. From there we took stairs about halfway down to the road where we had picked her up. We had a room with a fantastic view of the old city! I think it was a bit over-charged, but still much cheaper than any hotel would have been.
All we had to do was follow the stairs down, and down, and down until we ended up at the western gate entrance to the old city. It was dinner time, so we walked around a little and ended up at the marina for dinner. Then, after dinner we wandered around some more. The layout of Dubrovnik reminds you of the middle ages, but between destructions by fire and earthquakes, and more recently, war (1991-92) the city is not all that old. Most of the churches (and there are quite a few!) seem to be baroque, 17th century, or thereabouts. There is a relatively modern city hall right next to what must have been a renaissance city hall. At that corner, there is a memorial museum dedicated to the 300 or so who died defending the city not even 20 years ago. When I first came to France in 1970, it was just 25 years after the end of WWII, so relatively speaking, I was seeing places that had been destroyed and rebuilt after the war and seeing people who had lived through all that in the same way. So why am I so impressed, now? I think it's because the break-up of Yugoslavia, and the siege of Dubrovnik in particular, is something that I remember. It's not ancient history for me.Time to go trekking up the stairs for a good night's sleep, although with the heat, I truly wonder if it's possible.
Herceg Novi
We visited Dubrovnik again in the morning – had breakfast and then went for a walk along the ramparts. 80% of the roofs are new. That's how much was destroyed. It was another scorching hot day, so when we felt as though we'd had enough, we got the car (which we had brought down and parked in a hotel garage so we wouldn't have to go up those stairs) and headed towards Montenegro. Montenegro does not yet belong to the EU, so crossing the border is a big thing that takes a long time. But once over the border, your almost in Herceg Novi We found the Black Mountain agency at the bus station with no trouble at all and were taken straight to our apartment. Here we are parked at the foot of the stairs. We didn't hang around too long before heading down to the main agency at the marina, where we met Hayley, had a chat, got our bearings and even walked back up the stairs to the old town with her mother, here on a visit. After lunch, we felt we deserved some down time and had a siesta. Then we had to wait for the water to come back on before taking a shower and having a small, home-made dinner.
Lovcen
We were up early, as usual, and it was all I could do to put off leaving the apartment before 8! We headed around the Bay of Kotor – absolutely breathtaking views and then up the mountain to the Petar Njegusi mausoleum, just opposite the Lovcen peak. The road up is not difficult, in theory. It's not steep. It winds back and forth at a gentle incline. If only it was built for two-way traffic. At the mausoleum, there's a little parking area and 400 some steps to take you about another 100 meters up to a 1930ish monument. The view should be fantastic, but in spite of the blue sky, there was a bit of haze that hid the Kodor Bay (northward) and Scutari Lake (southward). We took a larger road down to the old royal capital, Cetinje, had lunch almost in front of the Presidential Residence, and then continued down to the coast to drive back up to Herceg Novi. We didn't have to go all the way around the bay thanks to the ferry – a great €4 investment.
Dubrovnik
We headed out right after breakfast and were on the highway in no time. In fact, driving was so easy we did not stop at Split (or thereabouts) as we thought we would. We just kept on going down the coast, all the way to Dubrovnik. The Croatian coast is fairly well-preserved maquis and olive trees. There are lots of olive trees; I'm amazed we don't import Croatian olive oil yet. Of course there are also plenty of seaside towns with their stony beaches, but not anything like the French Riviera. This is what it must have been like before WWII in the south of France. It's not all Croatia down to Dubrovnik; there's a little strip of Bosnia-Herzegovina along a secondary road from Mostar to the sea. This is ridiculous. The main road from Mostar, along the river that empties into the sea, is in Croatia. The river delta plain is very rich farmland with lots of orchards (Oranges, Cherries, Olives, …) and vegetables. There is a lake just before the river hits the sea and it looks like the whole plain is irrigated from the lake. This is all in Croatia. Then you have a tiny border crossing into B-H, a village with a stop light, and oops, you're back in Croatia. This village is not even a port, really. It's just a beach town. The district of Dubrovnik, then, is like a island on land for Croatia. Of course there are regular boat services to all the real islands, too, so it's not so difficult and, since this is no longer a war zone, the road is continuous, too. On arriving in the city of Dubrovnik, just as we started wondering where we'd stop for the night, a lady standing in front of a place with rooms to let flagged us to a stop. We thought it was for rooms there, but it turned out she got in the car and let up the hillside to where we could park the car. From there we took stairs about halfway down to the road where we had picked her up. We had a room with a fantastic view of the old city! I think it was a bit over-charged, but still much cheaper than any hotel would have been.
All we had to do was follow the stairs down, and down, and down until we ended up at the western gate entrance to the old city. It was dinner time, so we walked around a little and ended up at the marina for dinner. Then, after dinner we wandered around some more. The layout of Dubrovnik reminds you of the middle ages, but between destructions by fire and earthquakes, and more recently, war (1991-92) the city is not all that old. Most of the churches (and there are quite a few!) seem to be baroque, 17th century, or thereabouts. There is a relatively modern city hall right next to what must have been a renaissance city hall. At that corner, there is a memorial museum dedicated to the 300 or so who died defending the city not even 20 years ago. When I first came to France in 1970, it was just 25 years after the end of WWII, so relatively speaking, I was seeing places that had been destroyed and rebuilt after the war and seeing people who had lived through all that in the same way. So why am I so impressed, now? I think it's because the break-up of Yugoslavia, and the siege of Dubrovnik in particular, is something that I remember. It's not ancient history for me.Time to go trekking up the stairs for a good night's sleep, although with the heat, I truly wonder if it's possible.
Herceg Novi
We visited Dubrovnik again in the morning – had breakfast and then went for a walk along the ramparts. 80% of the roofs are new. That's how much was destroyed. It was another scorching hot day, so when we felt as though we'd had enough, we got the car (which we had brought down and parked in a hotel garage so we wouldn't have to go up those stairs) and headed towards Montenegro. Montenegro does not yet belong to the EU, so crossing the border is a big thing that takes a long time. But once over the border, your almost in Herceg Novi We found the Black Mountain agency at the bus station with no trouble at all and were taken straight to our apartment. Here we are parked at the foot of the stairs. We didn't hang around too long before heading down to the main agency at the marina, where we met Hayley, had a chat, got our bearings and even walked back up the stairs to the old town with her mother, here on a visit. After lunch, we felt we deserved some down time and had a siesta. Then we had to wait for the water to come back on before taking a shower and having a small, home-made dinner.
Lovcen
We were up early, as usual, and it was all I could do to put off leaving the apartment before 8! We headed around the Bay of Kotor – absolutely breathtaking views and then up the mountain to the Petar Njegusi mausoleum, just opposite the Lovcen peak. The road up is not difficult, in theory. It's not steep. It winds back and forth at a gentle incline. If only it was built for two-way traffic. At the mausoleum, there's a little parking area and 400 some steps to take you about another 100 meters up to a 1930ish monument. The view should be fantastic, but in spite of the blue sky, there was a bit of haze that hid the Kodor Bay (northward) and Scutari Lake (southward). We took a larger road down to the old royal capital, Cetinje, had lunch almost in front of the Presidential Residence, and then continued down to the coast to drive back up to Herceg Novi. We didn't have to go all the way around the bay thanks to the ferry – a great €4 investment.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Towards Montegro
Day one
Vacation. Well, you could say we're always on vacation since Paul retired, but taking the “French” definition of vacation to mean “going away”, then we are now on vacation. I had thought we'd take our time, not necessarily take the autoroute, and get to Strasbourg for the evening. Well, we started out early and skirted Strasbourg completely. Paul decided he'd like to see Horb again. That's where he did his military service. We stopped for a coffee break in Horb, took a little walk around the town center (Paul got some pictures) and decided this was not where we wanted to stop for the night, so we pushed ourselves to Tübingen, a very picturesque university town with a rather large pedestrian center. We got a room at the Am Schloss hotel, aptly named as it is at the entrance to the castle at the top of the hill. We had plenty of time to walk around the town a bit. We stopped for dinner at a sidewalk wienstube, which looked like a little neighborhood restaurant. Everyone else seemed to live in the building on the other side of the street. They all knew each other. I think it was, in fact, one of the finer restaurants of the town. Paul had wild boar and said it was the best thing he'd eaten in a restaurant in a long time. They had a special asparagus menu and I had that. Main dish – asparagus; dessert – asparagus and rhubarb and strawberry mousse. Delicious!
May 21
We woke up to a thunderstorm and left Tübingen in a downpour. The weather cleared up, though, as we headed south on the autobahn. The traffic was heavy and we didn't get to Salzburg until 2, but that gave us enough time to check in and walk about town. We even took the boat tour on the river. Salzburg is definitely not anything like Paris or London and I think we could have perhaps skipped the boat tour. There's not that much on the banks of the river. The town is named for the salt that was mined nearby and the river, which was used to transport the salt, is so named, too. It's a mountain river with a very strong current.
There was an antique automobile race in the town and we could catch glimpses of the cars from the boat and then, as we walked around town, almost every church square was taken up with the cars. We went into the Kollegienkirche and the Ersablei St. Peter (monastery church). Both were sufficiently Baroque to satisfy all our needs for the style, so we did not enter the Dom, the cathedral. One look inside allowed us to see as much as we wanted without taking a step further.
We admired the cars, watched some guys play a giant chess game, listened to a little Mozart played by a strange quartet – the only instrument I could name right off is the accordion. We had dinner not far from the hotel – a typically Austrian dinner. I had Weiner Schnitzel and Paul had boiled beef.
A whole day in Salzburg
We got up and it was raining. After breakfast, though, the rain stopped and we headed down Liner Gasse, the pedestrian street towards the old town, again. Before we got to the end of the street we took the turn to go up the Kapuzinerberg to get a view of the city from high up. It was indeed a beautiful view. The sun was shining on the Alps and the woods were dripping the last of the rain. It's a steep climb up and we came down via the stairs. Salzburg is a lot like Italian cities – churches on plazas that all connect. You just go from one platz to the next. We stopped at the Neue Residenz on the Domplatz. This was the Archbishop's residence. Very little of the original building remains. It was bombed in WWII, as was the cathedral and much of Salzburg. The town was rebuilt as it was, but has a very clean, Disney-like look to it. Anyway, the Neue Residenz is the city museum. They have lots and lots and lots of engravings and paintings of the city as seen from all the interesting angles. There's a bit of the city history, with portraits of all the prince-archbishops who ruled. Here's a little tidbit: Jews were not expelled from Salzburg because they were never allowed to live there, nor even to enter the town. Protestants, however, were expelled.
Apparently it rained while we were in the museum, but it was fine by the time we left. We took the cable car up to the fortress, Festung Hohensalzburg. There you have a great plunging view of the town (it's so small!) and all the churches. You can see the fortifications and the staterooms the prince-archbishops maintained. Just as we decided to go back down into the town for lunch, it started to rain again. We took shelter and waited for the next cable car and by the time we were down the hill, the weather was fine, again. Lucky us. We headed back towards the hotel, had lunch (very long) and it just started to rain again on our way from lunch to the hotel. The downpour of hail hit just as we got to our room, so we could watch from the window. In fact, we had a couple of hail storms, but managed to get out again and visit more of the north bank via Franz-Joseph Strasse. We had dinner near the hotel so we wouldn't have far to run in case we got caught in another storm. I took advantage of asparagus season again, with cream of asparagus soup. Paul had a lovely looking trout. It's early; we're back at the hotel; and ... it's raining!
According to CNN, we were in the heart of a violent storm front that spawned tornadoes further north in Germany and hailstorms all over Austria. More of the same is forecast for tomorrow, but it looked like Slovenia and Croatia were fairly clear. We'll see. This is nothing like the typhoon in Hong Kong last year! That was a day of solid rain with no letup. Here, it's sunny and warm during the breaks.
From Salzburg to Zagreb
It was a fine day, today. Off to an early start, and on to the autobahn to get out of the Salzburg area, we escaped to the side road for a while. The Austrian villages and towns are picture perfect – clichés, exactly. There are fortified castles on the hills overlooking the towns and then the towns build around the church. Clean, neat. There is still a bit of snow in the Alps; we even passed by some people skiing. After a while we got back on the autobahn and did not linger in Slovenia. We are now in Zagreb, where we walked around a bit, but did not feel like actually visiting in detail. Our hotel is not in the center. We took the tram into town but now that we are back at the hotel, I doubt we'll go back. The hotel is in a post-war neighborhood – communist era. The buildings are aging badly, but the cafés are busy and there's lots of activity, so you don't have the feeling of a forsaken neighborhood. The city center is still old, not restored. There are the government buildings – more Victorian-style palaces with baroque icing, like wedding cakes. The smaller side streets still have low buildings in all different colors.
Vacation. Well, you could say we're always on vacation since Paul retired, but taking the “French” definition of vacation to mean “going away”, then we are now on vacation. I had thought we'd take our time, not necessarily take the autoroute, and get to Strasbourg for the evening. Well, we started out early and skirted Strasbourg completely. Paul decided he'd like to see Horb again. That's where he did his military service. We stopped for a coffee break in Horb, took a little walk around the town center (Paul got some pictures) and decided this was not where we wanted to stop for the night, so we pushed ourselves to Tübingen, a very picturesque university town with a rather large pedestrian center. We got a room at the Am Schloss hotel, aptly named as it is at the entrance to the castle at the top of the hill. We had plenty of time to walk around the town a bit. We stopped for dinner at a sidewalk wienstube, which looked like a little neighborhood restaurant. Everyone else seemed to live in the building on the other side of the street. They all knew each other. I think it was, in fact, one of the finer restaurants of the town. Paul had wild boar and said it was the best thing he'd eaten in a restaurant in a long time. They had a special asparagus menu and I had that. Main dish – asparagus; dessert – asparagus and rhubarb and strawberry mousse. Delicious!
May 21
We woke up to a thunderstorm and left Tübingen in a downpour. The weather cleared up, though, as we headed south on the autobahn. The traffic was heavy and we didn't get to Salzburg until 2, but that gave us enough time to check in and walk about town. We even took the boat tour on the river. Salzburg is definitely not anything like Paris or London and I think we could have perhaps skipped the boat tour. There's not that much on the banks of the river. The town is named for the salt that was mined nearby and the river, which was used to transport the salt, is so named, too. It's a mountain river with a very strong current.
There was an antique automobile race in the town and we could catch glimpses of the cars from the boat and then, as we walked around town, almost every church square was taken up with the cars. We went into the Kollegienkirche and the Ersablei St. Peter (monastery church). Both were sufficiently Baroque to satisfy all our needs for the style, so we did not enter the Dom, the cathedral. One look inside allowed us to see as much as we wanted without taking a step further.
We admired the cars, watched some guys play a giant chess game, listened to a little Mozart played by a strange quartet – the only instrument I could name right off is the accordion. We had dinner not far from the hotel – a typically Austrian dinner. I had Weiner Schnitzel and Paul had boiled beef.
A whole day in Salzburg
We got up and it was raining. After breakfast, though, the rain stopped and we headed down Liner Gasse, the pedestrian street towards the old town, again. Before we got to the end of the street we took the turn to go up the Kapuzinerberg to get a view of the city from high up. It was indeed a beautiful view. The sun was shining on the Alps and the woods were dripping the last of the rain. It's a steep climb up and we came down via the stairs. Salzburg is a lot like Italian cities – churches on plazas that all connect. You just go from one platz to the next. We stopped at the Neue Residenz on the Domplatz. This was the Archbishop's residence. Very little of the original building remains. It was bombed in WWII, as was the cathedral and much of Salzburg. The town was rebuilt as it was, but has a very clean, Disney-like look to it. Anyway, the Neue Residenz is the city museum. They have lots and lots and lots of engravings and paintings of the city as seen from all the interesting angles. There's a bit of the city history, with portraits of all the prince-archbishops who ruled. Here's a little tidbit: Jews were not expelled from Salzburg because they were never allowed to live there, nor even to enter the town. Protestants, however, were expelled.
Apparently it rained while we were in the museum, but it was fine by the time we left. We took the cable car up to the fortress, Festung Hohensalzburg. There you have a great plunging view of the town (it's so small!) and all the churches. You can see the fortifications and the staterooms the prince-archbishops maintained. Just as we decided to go back down into the town for lunch, it started to rain again. We took shelter and waited for the next cable car and by the time we were down the hill, the weather was fine, again. Lucky us. We headed back towards the hotel, had lunch (very long) and it just started to rain again on our way from lunch to the hotel. The downpour of hail hit just as we got to our room, so we could watch from the window. In fact, we had a couple of hail storms, but managed to get out again and visit more of the north bank via Franz-Joseph Strasse. We had dinner near the hotel so we wouldn't have far to run in case we got caught in another storm. I took advantage of asparagus season again, with cream of asparagus soup. Paul had a lovely looking trout. It's early; we're back at the hotel; and ... it's raining!
According to CNN, we were in the heart of a violent storm front that spawned tornadoes further north in Germany and hailstorms all over Austria. More of the same is forecast for tomorrow, but it looked like Slovenia and Croatia were fairly clear. We'll see. This is nothing like the typhoon in Hong Kong last year! That was a day of solid rain with no letup. Here, it's sunny and warm during the breaks.
From Salzburg to Zagreb
It was a fine day, today. Off to an early start, and on to the autobahn to get out of the Salzburg area, we escaped to the side road for a while. The Austrian villages and towns are picture perfect – clichés, exactly. There are fortified castles on the hills overlooking the towns and then the towns build around the church. Clean, neat. There is still a bit of snow in the Alps; we even passed by some people skiing. After a while we got back on the autobahn and did not linger in Slovenia. We are now in Zagreb, where we walked around a bit, but did not feel like actually visiting in detail. Our hotel is not in the center. We took the tram into town but now that we are back at the hotel, I doubt we'll go back. The hotel is in a post-war neighborhood – communist era. The buildings are aging badly, but the cafés are busy and there's lots of activity, so you don't have the feeling of a forsaken neighborhood. The city center is still old, not restored. There are the government buildings – more Victorian-style palaces with baroque icing, like wedding cakes. The smaller side streets still have low buildings in all different colors.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Bientôt les vacances
Youpi, on part bientôt. C'est Paul qui s'est occupé d'une partie de l'organisation cette fois. Je me suis occupée du contact (Jack) à Herceg Novi, Montenegro et Paul s'est occupé de l'aller. Nous allons passer par Strasbourg, Salzburg, Zagreb...
J'ai hâte de partir -- retrouver un temps d'été. Ensuite viendra l'été -- l'anniversaire de Marguerite, le mariage de Claire, le bébé.
----------------
Candy (a homeroom mate from Girls' High), a colleague friend of hers and I went to the theater Friday night to see Très Chère Mathilde (My Old Lady).
The star of the show is Line Renaud, a wonderful 80-year-old actress, a real legend here (or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_Renaud). It's only a three-person cast and Candy knows the guy, Samuel Labarthe, and he's the one whose guests we were. He plays the part of a 50-year-old American who comes to France to claim his inheritance (an apartment) and finds it occupied by this old lady. He's French, but he has to act as an American, with a heavy accent. He does a fantastic job. I was speculating that Anita's cousins probably know him, too, so we'd have another six-degrees of separation situation.
Anyway, we had a great evening even if I had to leave a little early to not miss the last RER to my 'burb. What was really funny was --- talking to Candy is very natural, like we'd been seeing each other and just continuing conversations for the past 40 years, and conversation with Jeff, her friend from Rome, was just the same. Here we are, the three of us, who arrived in Europe during college and really never left. We can just jump into a conversation and know what came before, the background to it.
Candy, Anita, and I were all in the same homeroom (all W's). It's amazing how this Facebook/Google group connections have worked.
J'ai hâte de partir -- retrouver un temps d'été. Ensuite viendra l'été -- l'anniversaire de Marguerite, le mariage de Claire, le bébé.
----------------
Candy (a homeroom mate from Girls' High), a colleague friend of hers and I went to the theater Friday night to see Très Chère Mathilde (My Old Lady).
The star of the show is Line Renaud, a wonderful 80-year-old actress, a real legend here (or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_Renaud). It's only a three-person cast and Candy knows the guy, Samuel Labarthe, and he's the one whose guests we were. He plays the part of a 50-year-old American who comes to France to claim his inheritance (an apartment) and finds it occupied by this old lady. He's French, but he has to act as an American, with a heavy accent. He does a fantastic job. I was speculating that Anita's cousins probably know him, too, so we'd have another six-degrees of separation situation.
Anyway, we had a great evening even if I had to leave a little early to not miss the last RER to my 'burb. What was really funny was --- talking to Candy is very natural, like we'd been seeing each other and just continuing conversations for the past 40 years, and conversation with Jeff, her friend from Rome, was just the same. Here we are, the three of us, who arrived in Europe during college and really never left. We can just jump into a conversation and know what came before, the background to it.
Candy, Anita, and I were all in the same homeroom (all W's). It's amazing how this Facebook/Google group connections have worked.
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