People

People...the icing on the cake of travel!

Where do I start?  Chronologically seems like the best way, but the most interesting person so far is too much fun to write about, so I will start with him/them...

Walking around the gardens after closing was a thrill I'd been looking forward to.  What I didn't know was that artists may be allowed in after the public has left, and thanks to my photography, I'm considered an artist.  So there I was, wandering in paradise with a handful of people painting the beauty.  There were two men working, one with a big straw hat, looking a bit like Monet himself.  I stopped to chat with them.  Ahh,  those French accents are charming!  So we chatted and even though I asked who they were, their answers were jokes, mostly.  I chatted with another lady who is here from south Carolina to see her new grand baby and bought an apt near her daughter in paris to vacation.  She is an artist, a support herself artist.

The next day I passed the straw hat artist painting on the street.  I stopped to chat and told him I had just come from seeing Monets grave at the church, which by the way was beautiful and an emotional experience for me.  He asked if I had seen the magical magnetic rocks, which I hadn't.  I was too exhausted to walk back but we started talking about energy healing.  I shared that I did that and he asked if I would help his friend's knee that evening, so we made a date at the gardens.   There can be worse things than meeting 2 French men in the enchanting gardens to do reiki!  And this man, the straw hat painter, shared with me that his friend was indeed the head gardener at the gardens!  Wow, I had met the creator of that beauty!  Now that is an artist of grand proportions!  I'm not sure how much the reiki helped, but for me, spending that time with the artists, they were painting, was quite special!  After a while, I wandered off to take a few hundred more photos, then bid them au revoir, but not before mr. Straw hat asked for my contact info and website, so I asked for his card and will be in touch.   Friends at the gardens, just must return I think!

After my first night at the gardens, the S. Carolina artist and I were headed to the same place for dinner, so she asked me to join her.  I was excited to visit that restaurant because I had some of my cards to give them of a photo I'd taken years ago when I was there with my driver.  It is of stairs lined with big pots of pansies going up to an artist studio in the back.   I gave the cards to the man at the bar who said he was the manager.  He was thrilled and said that it was my home from now on.  I was so pleased that he, and the other manager, loved the cards.  I think that probably what he meant was that I was welcome anytime.  It is so much fun to have people appreciate my work.  

At the restaurant we were talking to the people from Australia on one side of us.  We were sitting out under the big trees and it was as though all of the people sitting there were one big group, everyone chatting with everyone else.  Delightful evening, especially for me, who usually dines alone.  Well, the Australians on one side of us started talking to the Australians on the other side of us...and the impossible happened...they knew each other!  Now keep in mind we are in a tiny village in the French countryside where few people visit, and even fewer spend the night.  Well, it turns out that one lady had been the 5th grade teacher of the other!!  Truly!  That is a small world story that rivals the one of my meeting someone in Venice who had known Cesar in Australia.  Hmmm, the small world stories seem to include australia...

And those are the 'icing on the cake' people stories from this French village.

But it isn't the end of my people stories from France!  I also met a Frenchman who could have been a model of romance book covers.  And our meeting was far too short, but fun.  After boarding the train from Brussels, I was considering the train's offer to get me a taxi to my hotel.  I asked about the price and it would be 15€ more to have 'my own' taxi.  Suddenly a beautiful blonde man sitting in front of me, turned around and looked over the seat and shook his head telling me not to do it.  After the man selling the taxis had departed that beautiful man looked over the seat again and with that charming French accent, told me he was so impressed I'd asked if there was an extra cost because he hadn't the first time and was shocked at the final price.  He said he was from Paris and if it was okay with me, he would show me where 2 taxi stands were.  Okay with me?  I think I might have followed him anywhere, but indeed, it turned out to be only to two taxi stands, the first had a long line.  When we got off the train he asked if he could help with my bags, and made me laugh when he saw how they were bulging and asked if I had ever thought of perhaps getting a larger suitcase!  Pretty funny, and I explained I was trying two small ones, thinking it would be easy.  He asked if I was okay following him and it was a bit hard to not answer I would follow him anywhere!  But I maintained my composure as we walked about a block to a taxi stand and he told the man in French where my hotel was, helped load my bulging suitcases, hugged me, kissed me on my cheek wishing me a pleasant stay and journey, and romance cover Frenchman was gone.  And I was on my own, but only for a bit...

A teacher from my school is from France and had arranged for me to meet a friend of hers, a retired school psychologist who has retired here.  Anne and I spent a lovely evening, she was a wonderful tour guide and very interesting lady, so we saw several places I'd never even heard of, and it was a lovely time on the city buses with the locals.  Anne made living in another country seem much too charming...and tempting!  If my retirement were more...I'm quite sure part of my year would be spent in a European country...but how could I leave Bram and meli?

People..