Funny Thing About France...

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Well, gentle reader, not just ONE funny thing about France. What I wonder about is the wonder that we see in all the little things.

Our host cannot imagine our repeated thrill at fresh fruits and vegetables. We had some strawberries and a melon today that I’m sure had never encountered artificial ethylene gas. They were so weirdly wonderful. Strange, at home, we can buy those “field greens” in the veggies section of the gooderer stores (The Wedge & Mississippi Market, but even my local Cub sports an open box of them) and those are so fresh it’s kind of scary. But beyond that, it’s “The Lettuce Train” or not at all. (I’ve been telling the story of that thing like everyday this week.)

But there’s more. All the scooters—TWO strokers, too!!—and oddly wimpy motorcycles, with the occasional monster in the pack. Saw 3 Ferraris today, and a PACER, parked in a shop in Cannes. But in general, the traffic is as hideous as the parking. Park anywhere, literally, motos even worse. And driving through the mountainous areas, the drive to Gourdon was hard, but to Chateau de Tourettes (we’d actually wanted—and passed through—Tourettes sur Loop) was the worst driving in my life. I was scared to death most of the time. And the GPS went from being helpful (for about 5 minutes, it and I worked together like a good rally team) to being less than useless (vaguley predicting the next move so we had to backtrack through several successive changes) to being dangerous (choosing a route that was single lane, no guardrails, and no pull-offs for miles: one truck, and we be driving in reverse for 20 minutes). Still, some moments worth remembering, and certainly to come back someday to ride a motorcycle through here.

Mouans Sartoux is a very, very cool town. It’s about to loose it’s 4-term mayor (6 yrs per term, folks) who’s progressive and eco-minded, and worked waaay ahead for long-term payoff on a bunch of things. Brief observations are that this town’s pretty damned right-sized for the the eco(nomy/ology), seems to feature folks of all walks, and has decent infrastructure as well as a decent range of housing stock. It’s not too far from everything (Cannes, Nice, Antibes, not to mention Mougin and Sophia Antipolis—lotsa tech there) so you could commute to a lot without killing yourself. (TGV to Monaco in an hour or so) All in all, amazing to visit. We’ve not done a whole hell of a lot, except soak it in.

The wonder of it all is just amazing, just being here, and for the reasons we’re here. Thanks, KMS, I love you, and miss you terribly. You’re daughter has turned out quite nicely, she’s beautiful, and unfolding her skills every day. I can’t wait to get to Paris, but I also can’t wait to get home. I want to ride Serenity on the straight and “boring” streets of St. Paul/Mpls and appreciate the wonders that we have, and I want to watch The Teen finish her GED and start school towards being an art curator. She HAS a goal, now she needs to learn what it takes, and come to France without me next time. Or, we come together, but pursue our separate dreams. (I, for one, want to ride a nice BMW through the mountains, alternating tents and hotels from somewhere to somewhere else. )

Bon Nuit.