Changing Times

Spent this Sunday working with my production crew on what will be their last podcast this school year. It was bittersweet - having a last hurrah with Ian and Kevin as we filmed a scene from the bell tower in the Upper School and then brought the footage back to the lab to download and edit. For these 2, it's the end of 2 years of creativity, of inspiration, of frustration and new discovery.

As I think of what Ian has achieved with his vision for this club, I look ahead and can't see anything with clarity. I want to be hopeful that the club will survive and continue on with similar energy, enthusiasm and creativity. We shall see.

So now I deal with endings. I really don't like this time of the year but experience tells me that in a few months, I'll be looking ahead to beginnings and that things will be okay again. I survived Geoff; I survived Paige. I'll survive Ian, too. And continue to wish them all only the very best as they move on to bigger, more exciting opportunities this world has to offer. I am so lucky to have known all three of these exceptional young people!

Friday's Are Dancin' Days

Snoopy's dance, Steve Martin's happy feet, Michael Jackson's moonwalk. I don't care who's doing the dancing, Fridays are definitely dancing days. They're the end of a work week and herald the beginning of the weekend. They signify the end of "have to's" and spring open the closet of Choices. Oh yeah, I love Fridays!

Today the newspaper class met for the last time. It was a bit sad. One of our staffers is moving to Switzerland but I hope he follows through with what he says he'll do - send us an article or 2. Wouldn't it be cool to say that our newspaper has a foreign correspondent?

During lunch, we had a meeting for anyone interested in writing for the newspaper next year. Holy Moses! We had at least 15-20 students in the room! It was so exciting to see the interest and if we even get half those students, we'll have a bigger staff than this year!

On the other hand, I'm a little concerned about my media production club. Membership has fallen a lot over the past few months but this year has seemed a bit loose and not as focused as last year. Perhaps it's going through a transition period; we'll have to see with the new leadership.

But, that was yesterday. It's the weekend and I'm ready to start dancing. How about you?

Loss

As I entered my room the other day, I was surprised to find a small group of visitors already inside. To my utter delight, one of the visitors was Nancy, the admission director at another private school my son had attended when he was in grade school.

I won't lie and say she looked the same. Nancy sported a few grey strands just like me but her smile and sparkling eyes have NOT changed, and I felt as warm and welcomed as ever. We tried to condense years of what's happened with our children who were classmates to a few precious minutes so as not to delay the tour too much but the time came when we needed to say goodbye. As I gave Nancy a parting hug and asked her to convey my heartiest regards to the school's founder, Nancy pulled away while gently asking me, "Didn't you hear? Laura passed away in March."

Thank goodness these admission administrators possess the intuitiveness and sensitivity that they do. My face must've registered shock or something so they moved on to another classroom while I quickly exited mine and headed for the bathroom to gather myself.

It's one thing to deal with loss and grief when it's fresh and in the now. Finding out about someone's passing months or even years after it's happened - well, it's just weird. It's not like Laura was a good friend or that I'd been in contact with her. But we were one of the school's families and I did work there for a little while. I saw Laura on a daily basis and we had wonderful chats. She was a smart lady who had this dream about creating a school for "bright and curious children", and we loved our experience there.

I know Laura's spirit lives on and her school embodies her passion for learning. Here's to you, Laura. May your Light brighten the other side as much as it brightened our world.

News Coverage

I had withdrawals in the beginning of the France trip because...there wasn't any American TV.

Okay, so I have shallow interests but with only 4 channels in English, 3 of which covered the news, I discovered that in Europe, America isn't the center of the universe. Instead, there was coverage spanning the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. CNN wasn't the CNN we have here in the States; CNN was the International version. I had to wait until 11:30 p.m. (France time) to sometimes see Wolf Blitzer reporting.

After a few days, though, I had spent enough time mulling this over. We Americans really are like teenagers - totally into ourselves without much thought or even concern about anything beyond our shores.

Sitting at a table along the Champs Elysees, I marvelled at the diversity of people walking up and down the avenue. There were different kinds of Africans, some in native dress and others in western dress looking so comfortable in their skin as they strolled the avenue. There were people from countries where women dress in long, flowing garb, heads and sometimes faces covered. I even saw a hunched woman whose face was covered with tattoos along with her hands and feet. I have no idea from where she came but thought she was perhaps a gypsy.

I suppose it's the proximity of these countries to each other that is the reason for more world coverage. It makes sense. But it also made me wonder when America will mature enough to a point where we, too, join the world community at least in covering world events in the news?

A Memorable French Purchase

So what would I choose to bring back with me as a reminder of this trip to France? Would it be a beautiful Hermes scarf (discounted in the city where Hermes is located - Lyon)? Or perhaps it might be a fanciful pair of shoes. Oooo, la la! Well, let me tell you about my dark glasses named Jim.

Maui Jim. You've heard of this brand. I actually started the trip with my relatively inexpensive pair of polaroid glasses from Costco but accidentally left them in a bathroom while visiting the Roman acquaduct in the city of Nimes. Being light-sensitive, all I could think of, besides how stupid I was to leave my glasses behind, was "I gotta get another pair to wear in all this sunshine!"

Our next stop was the city of Lyon. Bingo! I should find something reasonable there. So Clay and I went out to shop. Notice I include Clay? If you know his shopping style, it's like this: Think laser beam seeking out and zeroing in on its target. ZAP! Gotcha. Well, that's pretty much how it was. We were walking and looking for places that sell dark glasses.

In the US, you can find dark glasses in drug stores, in department stores, in boutiques. France is another story. Drug stores sell...drugs (the legal kind). I never did see a department store, even in France although I'm sure they exist. All that left were the expensive optician stores. These are the kinds that make and fit you with custom lenses and frames while selling higher end dark glasses on the side.

I tried explaining that to Clay who had already zeroed in on the dark glass display. Don't worry about the price; just get it and let's go. So who was I to argue? The first pair I tried on, the MJ's, fit like a glove. I started to ask about the price but was again waved off by Mr. Let's Get Outta Here. So, one of the employees started fitting it to my face, twisting the earpieces and tweaking the nose pieces. She asked me, "Do you know about the Maui Jim brand?", to which I replied, "Huh?" and Clay more intelligently answered, "Yes, we have them in the States." That seemed to please the gal who I now think was really asking if we realized how much it was gonna cost us.

After running his credit card, signing the slip and gathering up the fancy case with glasses, we left the store. I think we were probably inside for all of 20 min.

Later on in the hotel, I heard Clay chuckle. "How much do you think the glasses were?" he asked casually? "I don't know. How much was it?", I replied. "Well, the receipt says it cost (and here I don't have the exact figure so I'm gonna make something up but it'll be close) 340 euro which translated to $450 or something like that. I just about gagged but Clay was a good sport about it, acknowledging that he did say to not worry about the price. We just didn't think it would cost THAT much.

Moral of the story: God created a head for the express purpose of holding things like glasses so they don't get left behind on trips.

Oh, and these glasses are now stored away in a safe spot where I don't have to worry about losing 'em.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

It is SO good to be home! After a zillion hours in airplanes (they do know how to people-manage well with enough food, drinks and boob tube material), we finally arrived back in LA around 7:30 p.m. We were greeted by our son, Chris and a few of his cousins which was really great. Our dog, Lani, was really glad to see us again. I always feel bad for the animals and wonder if they feel abandoned when we leave them, even for a day!

This bug I've had since arriving in Paris continues its hold on me and has worsened. I'm trying like heck to get over it and have resorted to taking a dose of antibiotics since it feels like the congestion has gotten up into my sinus cavities. Yuck. I simply must go to work on Tuesday so lots of water and rest, and a fighting attitude make up my arsenal for making this happen. Thank goodness Clay's around to help get food since our refrigerator and perishables like break are depleted. I haven't left the house since returning on Saturday evening!

Au Revoir, Paris!

The morning arrived much too early. Why does it do that? My cough is worse than ever but I am determined not to let this thing get the better of me.

Clay was not able to upgrade our seats to Business Class so unlike our arrival, we will travel like "peasants", a word I heard a lot on our tours. This translates into cramped quarters for hours on end but the destination is so worth it I can hardly wait to board.

Until then, we sit and wait in the Admiral's Club (American Airlines), watch CNN and sip our weird version of American coffee. European coffee is hair straightener strong but for some reason, they must think Americans can't take anything very strong (except if it's Starbucks, of course) so the American coffee tastes like it's been made with leftover grounds.

Okay, this is enough for now. The next time I write another post, I'll be back on American soil, back home and lovin' it.

Time to Go Home

What a wonderfully long, tiring and fruitful day we had today! To start off, we're both not feeling well but despite that, it's our last day and we're not going to lie around our room.

First up, our 5 hour bus & boat tour of Paris. After Clay got us up, hustled us out of the hotel so we could be at the bus boarding place in plenty of time to get an upper decker seat, we were a bit early. Ahhh, we spy a Starbucks and duck in to grab a mocha and croissant. But then it's rush, rush again and drat, I slop some chocolate onto my blouse, khaki pants and sunglasses! That put me in a great mood but we had to get to the bus tour place which we did (it takes about a 10 min. hike from our hotel if we didn't stop for anything). Then, we wait, wait, and wait some more. And when we did get into a European line (a European line is when everybody rushes the front of the line all at the same time whether you're waiting in a single line or not), we all ended up top anyway because the bus was half full.

Okay, then we're off on our tour which turned out to be a bust. Just driving in circles around the city with a pre-taped voice in a zillion languages pointing out this building and that statue. It turned out that almost everything worth a photo was on the opposite side of the bus. When we got to the place where the boat was, we jumped ship or in this case, bus, and took off on our own. That's when the day really took a turn for the better.

We caught a cab and went to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral. Don't laugh but I thought it was going to be like the chapel at Notre Dame University which is absolutely gorgeous. The real deal is beautiful but after visiting many cathedrals and basilicas, it really looked like many of the others, just bigger. But it's still nice to say we've been there.

After we returned to the hotel, Clay confessed he wasn't feeling all that well. Being the trooper that he is, though, we decided to cancel our dinner in the Eiffel Tower (9 p.m. reservations) and see if we couldn't explore the Champs Elysee and get a closer look at the Arc de Triumph. Turns out after taking a cab to the Arc, we arrived in time to see the military honor guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. After figuring out how to cross that crazy traffic circle around the Arc (it's a tunnel but you have to really look for it), we bought what appeared to be tickets to visit it. Also turns out it's a charge to climb the Arc but there's no charge just to visit. Clay did the math and figured it wasn't really all that bad of a climb (not like the Statue of Liberty) so up we went.

I have to tell you that it may not have been as many steps as Ms. Liberty but it was still a lot of steps! Even Clay was beginning to regret this when I looked up to see the exit just a few more steps up. Hooray! The view was spectacular and reminded me of San Francisco with all the cathedrals and hills in the distance, but France just has a lot more greenery and palaces. C'est la vie.

We decided to see if we could pick up a few items walking down the Champs Elysees. Along the way, we stopped for a drink and to people watch along the Boulevard. I can check another thing off my Bucket List. It was so much fun! We continued to walk and decided to walk back to the hotel. Just before we got there, we remembered a Japanese restaurant and, wanting some comfort food instead of the rich food we'd been eating for almost 2 weeks solid, we found it and stopped in. It was empty except for us and was run by Chinese but the food was okay and it was good to eat simple again.

Finally, we got back to our room and decided to use the rest of our rapidly depleting energy to pack what we could since the morning would come soon enough. Ah, it's a good feeling to know we are heading back home!

Versailles - C'est Magnifique!

I can cross the Hall of Mirrors off of my Bucket List. Clay arranged a 4 hour tour (1 hour to get there and back) with 4 other people and it was spectacular!

Turns out today was some sort of holiday so people weren't commuting to work which meant good traffic out of the city, but did mean kind of large crowds at the Palace. I don't really know if the crowd was bigger because of the holiday or if it was smaller or maybe even larger at this time of the year but let's just say it was elbow-to-elbow in the Palace itself.

Seeing the statues, rooms and artwork in pictures just doesn't do these kinds of places justice. Everything was breathtaking even if you don't like the style personally. Knowing that many things we saw were authentic back to the period of Louis XIV was really something including statues and vases outside in the magnificent garden areas. And the hedges - so tall yet expertly trimmed! Note in the picture below that the humongous garden area looks strikingly similar to the Washington Mall (where Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech). The same architect, Lafayette, who designed Paris and Versailles, designed Washington, D.C.

I have many pictures and videos that I will post at some point but have to get ready for dinner now. Yes, I feel well enough to go out to dinner tonight! I must've had a 24 hr. bug coupled with a very sore throat but am feeling almost 100% again (except for the throat). Another couple said they, too, had a bug and sore throat so it must've been passed around while we were still aboard the Avalon Scenery boat.

Sick. Ugh!

Can you believe it? I'm not feeling well so Clay's gone to dinner with another couple while I have room service (french onion soup and hot tea with lemon and honey). The timing couldn't be worse as tomorrow is our Palace of Verseilles trip. Well, this is the reason I'm staying in tonight and tomorrow morning so wish me luck.

In the meantime, today, we had our group tour of the Louvre. It was well worth it. We got checked in and hooked up to our audio receivers (to hear the tour guide) and we wove our way through just a small part of the museum but saw Winged Victory, Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. Afterwards, we had lunch and we stayed to explore more the the humongous place! I have fabulous photos but will upload them later when feeling better.

So, now, it's tucking the wonderful down comforter around me to stay warm, having some soup and hot tea (oh, that sounds divine!) and think "I'm getting better, I'm better, I'm 100% well." Wish me luck!

Vienne_Lyon Sat. May 16

Got to bed very late after an evening of a great meal, good company, terrific music from the 70's and 70's, and dancing like it was no tomorrow! Very fun, very exhausting which resulted in not getting up in time for the 8 am tour of Vienne.

Vienne became a Roman colony under Caesar about 47 BC.

I did get up in time for the hot breakfast buffet and still managed, along with another couple, to take in the town of Vienne on our own walking tour. Saw an ancient ampitheater which was awe-inspiring in its antiquity.Then there was the beautiful Saint-Maurice Cathedral.

We didn't really have time to explore the town as much as we would have liked because the ship was departing at 11 for the second largest city in France, Lyon.

Friday, 5/15: Avignon-Viviers

Whew, the server went down and this is the first opportunity I've had to access the Internet!We've just finished our morning program and have just enough time to ourselves before lunch (oy, my waistline!) and then an afternoon tour of a walking tour of the town of Viviers. It was amazing to pass thru the deepest lock in France and then pass by one of their many nuclear power plants. The weather today, unfortunately, is overcast and wet. That, coupled with the chill, will make it challenging to do the "steep walk to the cathedral tour" but perhaps the exertion will be good not only to keep warm but to burn off all that good eating! I have been taking lots of pictures and some short video clips but unfortunately, need even more time to download, wait, connect to the Internet, wait, access my sites, wait, and then upload. Patience is indeed a virtue!

On Board

Today, we boarded a bus to leave Marseilles and headed south to Arles where we boarded our ship. On our way, we toured a really old hamlet except I can't remember the name nor find the literature. I have pictures that haven't been downloaded yet because there's no time now that our function is underway but will continue to at least keep writing. Tomorrow, there will be a walking tour of Arles in the am and a tour of Nimes in the pm. More then but, for now, it's 1 a.m. and we have a 6:30 wakeup call.

The Dragon Has Landed!

This is the 4th time I'm trying to post this blog. Figuring out how things work here in this part of the world takes some adjustment, BUT we're here now after starting out at LA, then Chicago, then Brussels and finally Marseilles. Our travel was non-eventful and all of our luggage arrived with us which is actually amazing considering all of our transfers.

Clay and I are still pinching ourselves to make sure this isn't all a dream. Marseilles, so far, reminds us of Dana Point with the weather right now (the temperature and humidity are comfortable) and marina, which is where our hotel Sofitel is located. There are interesting fort-like structures nearby and hopefully tomorrow, when we go on a tour before being taken to our boat on the Rhone, we'll find out what those structures are. There is also a Notre Dame Cathedral which we've heard has a wonderful view of Marseilles' port, also known as the Gateway to Africa.

I have to post one final picture I took on our flight from Brussels to Marseilles. Normally, there's a section for corporate travelers called Business Class and this flight was no different. Notice, though, where the sign identifying this section is located, and how large the section is:

That sign is located on the aisle seat of the first row! I must've been tired but I was greatly amused by this. The flight attendant had an easy job serving pre-flight drinks to 4 people.

Okay, let me get this over with because it's a lot of typing. Here's our schedule:

Day 1 & 2: Arrive in Paris, visit Louvre, Versailles, and explore the city.
Day 3: Arrive in Marseille, board Avalon Scenery
Day 4: Arles, FR - tour, visit Nimes
Day 5: Avignon, FR - tour, visit Pont du Gard/Uzes (Roman aquaduct, medieval town)
Day 6:Viviers, FR - tour, set sail for Lyon
Lyon, FR - Walking tour
Day 7: Lyon FR - WWII Resistance tour
Day 8: Macon, FR - Chardonnay (wine tasting)
Tournus, FR
Set sail for Chalon
Day 9: Disembark, train to Paris
Day 10: Return to US

Wow, that was a fast trip! It looks short on paper but I left out all the ship activities, dinners, "special entertainment", and other things I don't yet know about. Okay, that's it for now.

Good Friday, 5/8/2009

Forgive the reference to the Christian Good Friday, but for me, this is a Good Friday. It's the end of a work week and many will agree with me that this is good. But it's also the Friday before our Sunday departure for France and that's GOOD!

For the curious, here is a link to our river cruise boat (sounds like Disney's Jungle Cruise, yes?):
http://www.avalonwaterways.com/Experience-Avalon/ Click on either the virtual boat tour or view the cruising video. You can even click on the Ship Camera and Locater to see where we are each day (kind of like e-stalking).

Clay and I will begin with earnest our preparations to leave: cleaning, laundering, errands for this n' that, completing housesitting lists, on and on. So tonight's dinner is McDonald's. Yeah for fast food. There is a time and place!

At Last!

For those of you who know I'm preparing to leave on my first trip abroad to France in a few days, this is not what "At Last!" is all about. The "At Last!" to which I refer is getting a personal blog started. I have a tech-oriented blog but figure my family and friends already think I'm geeky enough. So, here I am, at last, ready to tip-type to my heart's content. I'm counting on you to give me feedback every now and then on what I'm writing about. Then maybe you, too, will start your own blog for me to live vicariously through, as well!