The Wrap-up and Some Thoughts
We're Back.....
Friday July 14th we finished packing up, cleaned the most-excellent house in which we lived and which we thoroughly enjoyed for two months and headed for the airport. Traffic was no problem, but then I decided the GPS was taking us the wrong way, took my own route and was proven to not know what I was talking about; turning in the car was quick and easy; and the shuttle to the terminal was easy-peasy. Getting our bags checked-in was a mess - in twenty minutes a total of two people were served in the long line we were in - until a supervisor showed up and got things moving. We boarded on time and because of a fluke in how our reservations were made we were in Delta’s Select class which is between Business Class and their upgraded economy class and which was very nice. An eight-hour flight, a four-hour layover in Minneapolis and a quick flight to St. Louis, where Craig picked us up at about midnight.
At that point, we had been up for almost exactly 24 hours and we were whupped. No welcoming tiki drinks for us that night - it was to bed as fast as we could go.
COVID-19
We had a fine time in St. Louis except for one tiny problem: COVID. A day or so before we left France Laurie had a bit of a sore throat, but it had pretty much gone away by the time we left. So when I had a bit of a sore throat Sunday night we thought, “Eh, I must have caught the bug Laurie had.” Right. Monday morning I was coughing and hacking and had terrible congestion and a headache. But, being expert at denial, I said no when Craig asked me if I wanted to be tested for COVID.
Unfortunately, Friday morning Craig came downstairs and said, “We’re testing you. Annie just tested positive, I tested positive and Clara tested positive.” (Annie tests herself every morning before she goes into her lab.) He was right: I tested positive, too. By then my symptoms had improved greatly and by CDC guidelines, I was no longer contagious, so we came home that evening.
It wasn’t done with us, though. Sunday Laurie woke up feeling punk, and tested positive. She went to an urgent-care type place because Annie had recommended she get on Paxlovid immediately if she tested posiitve. So Sunday night Laurie started Paxlovid. It’s a miracle drug: by Monday morning she felt fine, except for the horrible taste Paxlovid leaves in your mouth.
I’m writing this almost five weeks after we left France and four weeks after we left St. Louis. We’re both fine; the Paxlovid worked great for Laurie and non-Paxlovid-taking me took about three weeks to get close to normal. Update two months post-Covid: I’m still not 100%: having some sleeping problems (awake at 4 a.m. every morning), a case of the general blahs, just feeling not quite right. I hope it continues to improve; I had a mild case, really, and it’s still taken six weeks to get to where I am…“not quite right.”
Update a year later: it took me almost seven months before I felt back to 100%. I had the cough for about five months, a terrible time sleeping, and mild depression. Ugh!
Since the start of the pandemic I’ve said, “Everyone is going to get COVID at some point.” Now we’ve had our turn in the barrel. Lesson learned: at the first symptom, get tested and if you’re positive, get on Paxlovid. It was no dang fun being as sick as I was that week in St. Louis and I would have avoided that experience if I’d listened to Craig and Annie’s urging that I follow that advice.
Trip Wrap-up
We had a great trip! Until 2021 our long-stays in France were from mid- or late-May until mid-August, which meant that much of the time we were there our friends were off on their vacations. In 2021 we went later and were able to see our friends much more; this time we went earlier (mid-April) and again were able to see all our friends. We have made so many really good friends in France that we call them our “French Family.” Want to see pictures of them? Our French Family
So thanks to Jamie and Hervé, Mary and Gilles, Yves and Valerie, Penny and Pierre, Riitta and Benoît, Lesly and Pierre, David and Ann-Marie, and David and Sally (who let us stay in their oh-so-comfortable house for two months). You all are just the greatest; it’s an honor and a joy to have you as our “French Family.” Thank you for all you did for us when we were there. We can’t wait to see you all again soon.
Cheese
If you look at our cheese log you’ll see that we didn’t have nearly as many cheeses this year as in past trips to France. Fear not - we had as much cheese as ever (which means lots), but we stuck more to our favorites this trip.
Occasionally someone will ask us what our favorite cheese is; really, we don’t have one favorite. Of the soft cheeses, it’s Brie de Meaux - our French home-base is smack in the middle of the brie region and we always have brie in the house. Of the cured cheeses, Ossau-Iraty would probably be our favorite - a cheese from the Basque region of France, in the Pyrennees. This year we found a new favorite - Tomme de Brebis. This is a semi-cured cheese, so softer than Ossau-Iraty and firmer than Brie. It is made from a mixture of cow and sheep milk, and once we’d tried it, we almost always had some in the house. Honestly, though, we didn’t have one cheese that made us say, “We won’t have that one again.”
Our Favorite Part
When we return from these long trips, we often get asked “What was your favorite part of the trip”, and, honestly, we don’t ever have a good answer. Well, that’s not entirely true: the #1 favorite thing of all is the time we get to spend with all our “French Family.” After that, it’s hard to say. Highlights:
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Sicily. Great fun to travel with Mary & Gilles for twelve days; loved the Greek and Roman sites; Palermo was a good kind of crazy; Syracusa very enjoyable, especially early morning before the tourists mobbed the city and in the evening after they’d left; seafood was amazing - we had it every chance we could. Will we return? Maybe, but to concentrate on the ancient sites we missed and spend time in some smaller towns. First Sicily post
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Brittany; time with Jamie & Hervé and Valerie & Yves at Jamie and Hervé’s house in Saint-Pierre-Quiberon. A magical place, and having five days to spend with Jamie & Hervé and Valerie & Yves: just wonderful.
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Spain, especially Zamora. We have been to Spain probably seven or eight times and seen much of the country; Zamora is by far our favorite place. It seems to us to be the quintessential Spanish town: an “old town” that has a section that takes us back to medieval times and another section with an early-1900s art nouveau feel to it; walks along a beautiful river; tapas everywhere; great food and wine at low prices (in the fancy restaurant at the Paradore a bottle of Ribero del Duero—our favorite Spanish wine—was $25, and a big glass of vino de la tierra (local wine) on the bar terrace overlooking the city was $5); and a paseo—the evening walk—that has been going on for centuries. We will try to get to Zamora every time we’re in Europe. This place has captured our hearts. Zamora
Au revoir...
