Harold is getting good at finding his way around. Paris is a big city, full of neighborhoods and narrow streets that turn into “other named” streets and there’s “place des” this and “place des” that. It’s easy to get turned around. But I imagine one becomes more and more familiar when having to navigate Parisian streets on a more regular basis. I like the streets around the Pantheon… you can see the Eiffel Tower on one side… and then look down another street and see it down to the river and beyond. What a view (it’s up the hill)…! But I really love St. Germain-des-Pres area. The streets are artsy (there’s the art school right there) and there are interesting art galleries and stores to fall into.
Harold seems to really like the City of Light. We didn’t go up the Eiffel Tower this time around. Harold didn’t seem to mind. I think that he might be a bit afraid of heights, although, he didn’t actually say so.
I love the fountains in Paris… but my ultimate favorite is the St. Michel. Pointing upward, MichaelĀ says” God is the Ultimate Power in the Universe (next to the Death Star) so get thee under my foot, le devil.” Take that! Ptttthhhhht!
My people are brave. Nelson decided before our trip, that he wanted to rent a car here in Aix so that we could see the countryside. I haven’t the nerve to drive in a city that I barely parle the language, much less read it. But yesterday, we went down to the Hertz rental car place and we drove away with a Chevy (of all things) Matize. So Harold and I got to see some lavender fields… as well as some sunflower fields, olive groves and wine grape vineyards as well!
We started out driving just up the hill from Aix where we’d seen an advertisement for an Absinthe distillery. Being fans of Pastis and absinthe, we set out to a place that distills the stuff…. Liquoristerie de Provence. They sold all kinds of products associated with l’absinthe and herbes and such, including a liquor made from lemon verbena, which we came away with. Harold found the video on the making of absinthe fascinating. He’s been reading over my shoulder the book I bought on the subject. There are lots of illustrations along with the histoire d’absinthe.
From there on, we wound our way around the Lower Luberon Mountains, up tight narrow roads and past sheer cliffs overlooking fields of wine grapes, sunflowers, and lavender. We stopped along side the road at a sincere lavender patch… and Harold was beside himself… you can see the bees all around and hear the soft hum.
Harold has been enjoying the cafes here around Aix. Here we are at the Bastide du Cours (on Cours Mirabeau). It has misters (as in mist/water) that are quite refreshing. The brown thing in the foreground is some art that we purchased from a fine fellow, Lionel Borla (from Marseille) whose painting caught our eye at a street faire here on the Cours.
It was a day of travel… and Harold was traveling by train. The ride from London to Aix included a Tube ride, the EuroStar (supah fast train under the Channel), a Metro ride, the TGV (another fast train!) and a cab ride (a very fast car!). We were exhausted by all the movement.
Harold had his passport ready for the French guy at the Eurostar station… although, the attendant didn’t bother to ask for it. Anyhow, Harold had never gone that fast in his life (the top speed is 208 miles an hour… we got pretty close as the train was running late).
Once in Paris, we had to get to Gare d’Lyon via the Metro… once there we had a bit of a layover and so we grabbed a lunch in a cafe at the station. I had a bacon/mint wrap (they were out of tuna or thon) with lemon water and Harold’s stomach was a bit queasy, so he just had a coke zero (this was a mini can free sample… apparently Coke Zero is new here and they were promoting it at the Gare d’Lyon).
Harold’s London Adventure has been grand… Yesterday we took a trip down the River Thames to see the Barrier (which regulates flood tides in the event of a flood tide). There were so many nifty houses, businesses, ugly buildings (including that horribly awful looking dome what is now called the 0-two) along the river. Harold liked all the different bridges… especially the Tower Bridge, which I want to call the London Bridge… but it’s not.
Harold is also catching up on his reading… here he is reading a bit from Judy’s Posey Simmonds book she picked up at Gosh Comics.