Wish I Were Here

Although I loved traveling in Quebec this summer, I am suffering from France withdrawal.  I had the opportunity to go there three times in the preceding year, and will go again next summer with a group of students.  Fellow bloggers (especially Elisabeth--merci!) and other friends help me keep current with what is going on in France, but I am having pangs of nostalgia.  To console myself, I am trying to remember things that I didn't like about last summer's trip.  It was hot.  Very hot.  Sometimes my fellow travelers and I got cranky waiting in line or carrying bags or squeezing onto a bus in the heat.  We had little access to electronic devices or automobiles.  Can you tell from the pictures we were panting from the heat?

This exercise is not much consolation, because there was a lot to love about the trip.  My colleague, Joe and the students were wonderful, darned near all the time.  I was delighted as always by some old stand-bys: the socca in Old Nice, the scents of lavender and herbes de Provence, Berthillon ice cream (caramel is the best), falafel in the rue des Rosiers in Paris, cheeses from the five corners of the hexagon, the cool stones of medieval cathedrals, favorite canvasses in the Seine-side art museums, the puffy clouds against the blue Parisian sky, and the liveliness of the street life.  This time we also took a side trip to Florence, Italy, where we stayed in the shadow of Brunelleschi's dome.  Each trip is unique in the chance encounters one has with regular French people when wandering off the beaten path.  I have always found them generally helpful, generous, and friendly.  Another source of wonderment is the students' reactions to what they are seeing.  Seeing it through their eyes makes it new for me every time.  France is a text that is open to a wealth of interpretations.  That's what keeps us coming back.

 

Comments

[Elisabeth]

With me, it's a quasi permanent schizophrenia (no offense, I hope, to those who are truly affected by this very serious mental illness): I miss France terribly when in the U.S., and I do miss part of what I like about the U.S. when I am in France (I have to say that that part has been shrinking badly over the past few years...). So, yes, your post did resonate with me.

[Francaise de Coeur]

Sorry to be so late to comment here, but I just had to say: No, sorry, noix de coco is the best!

[jean]

Francaise,
I have not yet tried noix de coco. Next time I'll check it out. I've been stuck on caramel . . . Thanks for the recommendation.

[Francaise de Coeur]

Actually (she sheepishly admits), I haven't tried the caramel, as I've been stuck on the noix de coco...