France Tales

We spoke to Alessandro and Stefano last night on the phone. They both asked me my first impressions of France. Does first impression mean it has to be the first things you think about when you get off the plane? I couldn’t think of a first impression, at least not something insightful and interesting. We traveled for nearly 24 hours, after a week of intense anxiety, and I am still groggy and jetlagged. Le decolage horaire. My first impressions were get me to a bed, let me sleep for 3 days, feed me, then I’ll tell you.

If I think about it I can give you impressions but they are not spontaneously occurring thoughts. We ate tomatoes from the neighbor’s garden here in Le Buisson. They were very sweet and full of flavor. I thought of the sun and soil in the Dordogne and how rich it must be to produce such magnificent vegetables. No wonder the French are such foodies. It would be a waste not to take advantage of this.

Driving to and from Bergerac we passed through many small towns and villages. They were breathtaking. They weren’t all in pristine condition but they all exuded varying degrees of charm. None of them gave me that, “Oh my god, this is depressing” feeling. I thought of how you could drive through many small towns and villages in the US and they would tend to be ugly and depressing. No matter how difficult life may turn out to be in France the surrounding physical beauty is always apparent. That has to count for something. I’m hoping it will anyway.