IntrepidWoman's Journey

Today was France’s National Holiday and it was celebrated very well by the French – parades, fireworks, events happening everywhere. Rain did not dampen the spirits, the French nor ours. We headed to the Louvre where I contemplated the Mona Lisa. I can’t say it made my heart beat faster, but finding a lovely John Constable and standing in front of it did!

It is nearly 2 a.m.; we have only been home for 2 hours and need to get up before 5 a.m. to catch the high-speed train to Agde at 7. This is a 4 hour, very fast trip from Paris in the north to the south of France.

Today we had another incredible meal in a sidewalk cafe. I had escargot, duck with potatoes cooked in the juices and apple pie with their special pastry accompanied by real vanilla ice cream.  This was followed by a mocha coffee that had shaved dark chocolate in the bottom of the cup, which when stirred into the coffee was absolutely orgasmic. Sorry Tim Hortons! I will post photos of our meal once we arrive at our next destination.  I have  so many photos from today! Our next stop is a much smaller place, around 22,000 and near several beaches on the southern coast of France.

I bought a Mary Poppins hat tonight to cover my weird, baby-fine hair which has been very rude since we arrived here. I realized it is exactly like the hats worn by the women in the cafes where Toulouse Lautrec painted except it needs a large flower on the side. I will talk to Carrie when I get home! I bought it in a little shop where the young man said I reminded him of his grandmother and then said she was a marvelous lady. He had been talking to David and Jack outside a few minutes earlier so I told him that was my son and grandson. He went out and gave Jack a present and told David that he had a lovely mother. David thought he meant ‘lovely wife’, as he had never heard anyone refer to me like that before; not ever, in his whole life, ha! ha! Ah, those Frenchmen, young and old, are wonderful!

I will miss Paris and must return someday. Traveling the metros is so easy to get to any destination, and there are so many museums, art galleries and restaurants that I could return every year for the rest of my years and explore new things every time. I have loved staying in an apartment. It is so French and so charming. We were able to unpack and ‘live’ here for a week, preparing many of our meals and enjoying the scenes on the streets below. I will post some of the photos I took tonight, showing the cafe on the main floor with the bright lights and red awnings, below our apartment. We took pictures at midnight as we arrived ‘home’.

I will even miss the cold showers. Well, maybe not so much. I look forward to our new destination where we will live in a four hundred year old house for the next two weeks. It will be a more laid back pace with trips to the beach, open markets for fresh food, shopping in quaint little shops and maybe time to read a book or finally send those post cards that I bought at the top of the Eiffel Tower to mail to those who sent me addresses.

This evening outside the Louvre, I finally purchased a little metal Eiffel Tower from one of the many street merchants who are selling them. I decided that I wanted one to perch on my desk at work to remind me that there is more to life than my job. I also bought some prints to frame of the art works that moved me the most in the Musee D’Orsay, so that my right brain (creative side) will be inspired to pick up my brushes and pastels when I get home and to do so on a regular basis. Life is too short to just work and then sleep. I want to work and dream and create with much less of my time spent on the work part. . .