Sigh...I never like leaving France, and this trip certainly is no exception. I don't know that I'll ever tire of the place, whether it be Paris or some tiny little town out in the country. Mary Germain always cautions me that what we see isn't real life, and I understand that, but...the country still charms me, after many trips, and we're already planning on coming back next year.
Our last day here was perfect, and we didn't visit one museum or see one "sight." Laurie and Mary went to the local market in the morning while I sat and enjoyed the sunshine. Then we went to the home of our other French "family" for a long, leisurely and delicious lunch with Jamie and Hervé and three of their four children. It may not be real life in France, but it certainly fulfilled what we think of real life there: three hours of conversation, excellent wines, great food, aperitífs outdoors in the autumn sun...waaaaaaah, I want to turn around and go back! Thank you to Jamie and Hervé for a lovely and memorable afternoon.
Then we took a stroll around Jamie and Herve's town, Samois-sur-Seine. Nothing special, just a walk along the river in the late-afternoon sun, followed by a simple dinner at Mary and Gilles' house.
And so our sojourn ended. We could not have better friends in France. This trip, Mary and Gilles opened their house not just to us, but to Derek and Jill and Craig and Annie and Clara. Then they took us off to Burgundy, a part of France we'd never seen. Lastly, they got up early this morning to fight the traffic to the airport. We spent ten days with les Germain this year, longer than our usual six or seven days, and we were both very sad to wave goodby to them at the airport.
But there's always next year!
I'll add some pictures over the next couple days, so stay tuned.
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