Meandering With Murphy

Several thing struck Scott and I during our trip:

• There were lots and lots of people smoking or vaping. Young and old.
• People wore jeans everywhere. Even to a nicer dinner.
• My French must not be ver good. I can’t even say “vin blanc”.
• Scott got into driving “the French way”! He was parking on the “wrong” side of the street, making U-turns where he never would here, driving down one-way streets the wrong way, and driving and parking on curbs and sidewalks!
• It was great getting and using the WhatsApp for texting and calling people in the US and for communicating with people in France.
• Knowing about the Navago Decouverte pass even though we were not able to use it.
• Listening to people who told us we must go to the Van Gogh museum and have dinner with Jim Haynes. Both amazing experiences.
• Scott and I agreed that we are at a disadvantage because we do not speak a language other than English.
• Almost all the people we met were nice and very helpful. Here are some of them:
  • Julien, Megan, Sawyer and Fynn – wonderful welcoming family. We had lots of fun and “Jack” and Julien shared lots of jokes.
  • Julien’s parents Alain and Agnes. They were very nice and welcoming.
  • Friend Isabelle: A fellow school teacher. We had nice dinners and made great jam.
  • Friends Amile and Francoise: They were there on April 15th when the fire hit Notre Dame. They said they did not speak English very well but as we had more glasses of wine, their English got better!
  • B&B residents: The man from Nantes and his two sons.
  • B&B residents: A US citizen, her German husband and their two children. They have lived many places in the world. She wasn’t too keen on Germany.
  • B&B residents: The Belgium Pilgrims were delightful. It was fun to meet them and hear their stories.
  • B&B residents: Kurt and Lisa Lieberman from Minnesota. They welcomed us to tag along on their planned trips. We shared four great days of adventures with them.
  • B&B residents: Kathy and Tom from Minnesota. Kathy was a good friend of Megan’s mother. We shared some good times. Very nice people.
  • B&B residents: Ted and Puru from Geneva. Traveling on their semester break. Interesting guys and we had some fun meals with them.
  • Random people: The couple standing in line waiting for the boat. She was from Saint Louis Park and they live in Whitefish, MT. Scott knew one of his friends who used to live in Mankato.
  • The Swedish couples we met in the wine museum in Bordeaux who were from the same town as our friends.
  • The nice French person who helped us buy a train ticket, another person helped us find the bank, another person helped us find our way when we were lost and many other French people who were friendly and nice to two Americans.
• While I was gone, I read a great book called, “Wine & War” by Don and Petie Kladstrup. It talked about how the wine makers mobilized to oppose their German occupiers to save their cherished crops. It is an interesting take on the what happened during the war from a very different perspective.
• Finally, I have read a lot of books, both fiction and non-fiction about WWII and the French. Many of them referenced the French resistance which were examples of shining moments for the French during the war. They fought behind the scenes to hide Jews, sabotaged the Germans and the other ways they saved their country.
• But I still find it curious that it is only recently that they are coming to grips with their other part in WWII and the Vichy government.
• I have told this story before but when Scott and I first went to Paris several years ago we went to the Louvre and saw a very good film about how the Louvre saved many pieces of art when the Germans were approaching Paris. When we went back two years ago we wanted to see that film again. We went downstairs to where it had been and it was not there. I asked a docent about it and he said, “We don’t talk about that anymore.” I was shocked. Why would you not take pride in saving all of the art?
• The Wine & War book I read, the exhibit at the Louvre (Day 24) and the documentation mentioned at the Shoah museum (Day 25) all mention the French and their part in the war and their reluctance to discuss this. I hope when I go back again it will be different.