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September 15, 2006
Le Retour
Bonjour! Yes, I'm back from France, poor but happy. Here's my report.
Paris:
When I arrived, I met up with Steve and Nhadine for a late night dinner followed by early morning farmer's market, then they travelled south and I was on my own for a couple of days.
Best parts: wandering with my pals around the Quartier Latin, drinking the most delicious cafe au laits, long sidewalk dinners with Paris' newest resident, Joe S.
Worst parts: bad jet lag, a rainy day, a mediocre meal (in Paris! I know!!)
St. Remy de Provence:
Audrey, Daryn, Felicia, John, Kamar, Nhadine, Steve, Tom, Ziva and I rented this villa for a wonderful week. The place was amazing -- a 6-bedroom 18th century farmhouse with grapes, olives, figs and walnuts growing on the large estate. The laziest among us spent most of our time lounging by the pool, eating baguettes and cheeses and drinking delicious local rose wine.
Best: a whole week with Steve and Nhadine, a day trip to the Mediterranean Sea, lots of time to read, eating almost every meal outside, witnessing John's signature dive, The Flying Squirrel.
Worst: hmmm. Well, the pool wasn't heated. I think that's about it.
Burgundy region:
When the villa week was over I got on a train for a bike tour of Burgundy. Me and my fellow riders (Alan, Alice, David, Harriet, Jean, Leslie, Lynn, 2 Mikas, Paul, Phil, and Stephen from England, Scotland, Canada, Finland, South Africa and New York) rode 25 miles a day along canals and through vineyards from Montbard to Beaune.
Best: liking the other people, good exercise, great weather, beautiful scenery, and outrageous 5-course French dinners every single night.
Worst: believe it or not, by the end of the week I was getting a little weary of all the culinary decadence. I think that's my only complaint. Except that it wasn't longer...
My flight back was cancelled and it ended up taking me 26 hours to get home. It's always hard to come back from vacation but Ted and Naomi helped a lot by throwing a small welcome home dinner on my behalf, and drawing this on their front steps:
More Paris/Provence and Burgundy pictures, if you're interested.
Posted by emily at September 15, 2006 4:42 PM
Comments
Sounds like paradise. The most amazing revelation here? You have a Flickr site.
Posted by: nicole at September 15, 2006 8:03 PM
Sounds like a fun trip.
Now you're back and can enjoy some nice freedom fries and maybe some freedom bread pizza.
Freedom!
Posted by: Noah at September 18, 2006 12:28 PM