Greetings all!
Paris is as wonderful as I remember. So much to do, and so little time. (And so hard to find an internet cafe!) Today was a bit of an emergency - our train will be arriving in Avignon after the hours of registration at our apartment, so we had to find a live computer attached to the internet so that Richard could send them an email!
Just some stray notes on Iceland and France.
If you ever travel to Iceland, take the time to visit Gullfoss (the waterfall - it does have a name.) While Richard was totally unimpressed, it was without question, one of the most dramatic points of nature I have ever seen.
There appears to be a cello convention going on in Paris at this time; either that or a cello case strapped to your back is the latest fashion accessory in Parisian haute-couture. We have literally seen dozens of people roaming the streets with them, but nary a violin case. Obviously, vionlins are so last year!
Despite my adamant objection, it turns out that Richard was correct: there were parts of the Louvre that we missed in our three hour run through last time we were in Paris!
It was much more fun translating for Richard before he studied some French. When I told him the menu had "Blackened Salmon Butts" as a plate (in France, "entrees" are appetizers and "plates" are main courses) he just shook his head and groaned. Neither of us ordered it, so we don't really know what it was.
I am sure that most of you, like me, assumed that when flying Icelandair, the flight attendant would be in native dress and lead the passengers in rousing Icelandic folk songs while serving kippered herring. Wrongo-Dongo! They looked very severe in their highly westernized formal uniforms. They did not sing, and there wasn't a kippered herring in sight. Sigh.
We made reservations for the train to Reims today. I was so prepared to do the entire process in my totally fluent French. "Bonjour, monsieur. Mon francais n'est pas tres bon, mais nous avons les 'EurailPasses' et il faut que je fait les reservations pour le trains a Reims pour jeudi, le jour apres demain, s'il vous plait." His response was succinct. "Speak English, old man!" I guess I'm not quite the international icon I imagined.
So here I sit in a French internet cafe, but they have an English keyboard. Go figure!
More when I have the chance!
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