June 11, 2024 • 62 mins
Ever wondered how a solo trip can transform your life? Join me as I take you through my three-week adventure across France in this episode of Global Journeys with Jill Dutton. From navigating the bustling streets of Paris to the peaceful countryside near Agen, exploring the rich history of Bordeaux, immersing myself in the culture of Narbonne, and enjoying a serene barge cruise along the Canal du Midi, this trip was a transformative experience. I share how every step of the journey has sculpted my passion for culture, cuisine, and writing. Discover the meticulous planning that turned this solo trip into a tapestry of vivid experiences and practical travel insights.
Watch the video of the travelogue here: 3 Weeks in France: Travelogue (globaljourneyswithjilldutton.com)
RESOURCES
Paris
- 2 nights at Hotel Montalembert by B Signature Hotels & Resorts
- Paris tour with The Tour Guy
Agen/Relais de Camont
Bordeaux
- 3 nights atVillas Foch
- Don’t miss the La Cité du Vin museum and a tour with “Vert Bordeaux”
Narbonne
- 1 night at Chateau Capitoul
- 2 nights in Mosaïque Hotel
- Visit Fontfroide Abbey and the Narbo Via museum
Canal du Midi
View the itinerary from my trip: Writing, Wine, and Waterways: A French Memoir – 3 Week Itinerary From Paris to the French Countryside, to the Coast (globaljourneyswithjilldutton.com)
Want more? Follow Jill's travels, view itineraries, read travel articles, and listen to podcast episodes at Global Journeys with Jill Dutton.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Global Journeys with Jill Dutton, the
podcast where we embark on ajourney through culture and
place, one fascinating story ata time.
I'm your host, jill Dutton, anavid traveler and writer,
passionate about exploring theworld and uncovering the unique
tales of the people I encounteralong the way.
Along the way, join me as wedelve into the heart of
(00:23):
destinations, offering aninsider's perspective through
the captivating narratives ofindividuals who shape their
communities.
Whether it's chatting with adistillery owner crafting
artisanal spirits, an anglercasting lines in remote waters
or a chef mastering the flavorsof a region, each episode offers
a glimpse into their world andexpertise.
(00:45):
Stick around till the end ofeach episode to discover more
about my travels and writingadventures.
In the meantime, get ready tobe inspired, enlightened and
transported to distant lands onGlobal Journeys with Jill Dutton
.
Welcome.
This week's episode of GlobalJourneys with Jill Dutton is a
little different than mostepisodes.
(01:05):
I had just returned fromspending three weeks in France
when I ran into a friend at thelocal library.
She suggested that I hold atravel log at the library so
others could experience the tripthrough my eyes.
My friend, mona Raglow,volunteered to record the event
in person so that others couldlisten to it later.
(01:26):
The following recording is fromthe in-person event.
Three Weeks in France, atravelogue.
I was 12 years old, standingalone on a street corner at
(01:49):
night in Amsterdam, while Iwaited outside, too terrified to
go in, my mother was inside,learning about the Hare Krishnas
we had met at the airport.
My mother was always curiousabout people and culture and she
believed in experiencing lifeto the fullest.
This adventurous spirit led herto take me on a three-month
journey through Europe when Iwas nearly 13, and the trip
(02:09):
profoundly influenced my outlookon life.
Our backpacks loaded withcamping gear and clothes and
planning to use my sister Mary'shome, who was stationed in
Augsburg, germany, as a homebase, we set off to explore
Austria, italy, switzerland,germany, england, belgium,
holland and France for threemonths.
Mom's spirited lifestyle ledthe way.
(02:31):
There was the experienceoutside the Hare Krishnas in
Amsterdam, me refusing to comeinside so sure she would be
kidnapped.
Then in Germany, we met a groupof women dancing in the park
flowers in their hair.
It turned out they were in theChildren of God cult, so of
course we went to spend thenight at their commune.
We camped in Austria during astorm, our pup tent soaking us
(02:56):
throughout the night.
In the middle of the night,after the storm passed, we heard
a gang of motorcyclists pull into set up camp.
We were frightened and worriedwhat might happen.
When we awoke, we made friendswith this group of motorcyclists
and shared a breakfast togetherof leftover Jägerschnitzel from
our dinner at a restaurant thenight before and a can of Chef
Boyardee ravioli.
(03:16):
I was nearly 13, and it was thebest meal of my life.
Those three months expanded myawareness in ways I could never
foresee.
It opened my eyes to thedifferent flavors of the world
the Jägerschnitzel and Spätzlewith cabbage in Austria, pommes
Frites served in a paper cupwith mayonnaise in Belgium,
brochen with butter and jam inGermany, and really good strong
(03:39):
coffee.
Everywhere we went, wepurchased URail passes and spent
our time on and off the train.
We slept in youth hostels orcamped, never fearful, except
for that one rainy night inAustria.
After returning home, inspiredby our travels, I studied French
in high school and German incollege.
I fell in love with the arts,people and the celebration of
(04:00):
our differences while findingcommon ground.
Food became a passion, whethercooking, eating, fermenting,
growing, dehydrating or tastingsomething new, and I brought
home with me a desire toexperience the world through
food.
I made my first return toEurope last winter when I took a
Viking Danube river cruise.
It was thrilling, but theexperience was diluted by being
(04:22):
handheld through the adventure.
Although I loved the experienceand the food, it was nothing
like traveling solo.
Now, at 60, I was to embark onmy first solo trip back to
France, a country that hadcaptured my heart many years ago
.
The idea for the trip came afterI was invited to a writing
residency in the countryside ofsouthwestern France.
The facilitator, kathy Gunst,is a James Beard award-winning
(04:44):
chef, npr podcast host andauthor of 16 cookbooks.
It would be an opportunity todevote time to my travel
cookbook idea that I've hadworking on for years, called
Goalable Plates the People weMeet, the Food they Eat and it
would be a way to get a clear onthe direction of the book.
Having this anchor of a grouptrip, which I'll discuss further
(05:06):
in this tip section, allowed meto plan the trip around the
event.
The trip came togethersynchronistically.
Suddenly I'm getting emailsfrom Paris tour guides emails I
get regularly from tourismpeople, but I would normally
ignore it if I didn't have plansto be in Paris.
Now I would, and I respondedeagerly.
I booked every segment of thetrip myself, not necessarily
(05:28):
something I recommend.
If you're uncertain, use atravel agent.
I felt as if I had taken enoughtrips and planned itineraries
that I could handle it myself,and I did, even with a few
snafus that I'll discuss laterso you don't make the same
mistakes.
Working around the dates of thewriting residency, I booked my
airfare, a hotel in Paris, atour in Paris, and purchased
(05:50):
train tickets From Paris.
I would take the train to Agenfor the writing residency.
From there I scheduled threenights in Bordeaux, three nights
in Narbonne and, the climax ofthe trip, a six-night cruise on
a luxury barge hotel on theCanal du Midi.
My sister Lynn made plans totake the cruise with me and we
(06:10):
decided to meet at the trainstation when she arrived.
The itinerary was set and itfelt like a nice balance of solo
and group travel.
I'd be solo in Paris with theother riders in Agen, then solo
in Bordeaux and Narbonne untilmy sister met me for the cruise.
Everything was booked and I wasready to go.
I learned a lot on this trip.
So today I want to share mythree-week journey through
France, reflecting on thehighlights, the connections that
(06:35):
I made and the personal growththat I experienced, from
navigating the bustling streetsof Paris to the peaceful
countryside near Agen, exploringthe rich history of Bordeaux,
immersing myself in the cultureof Narbonne and enjoying a
seride barge cruise along theCanal du Midi.
This trip was a transformativeexperience.
I learned lessons about solotravel, empowerment and the
expanded awareness that comesfrom travel.
I'll also discuss thechallenges I faced, offer tips
(06:57):
for solo travel and shareanecdotes that made this journey
unforgettable.
I got three weeks in France.
The first week I started out twonights in Paris and my plane
was delayed and so I was a daylate to Paris.
So this was all I saw on thetour d'Eiffel my hotel.
So I missed the tour of Parisand one night and a dinner with
(07:22):
the other writers who were goingto be meeting in Agen, and so I
came to the Hotel MontalembertStunning, absolutely stunning.
But I needed to acclimate tosome of the European things.
I mean I had the adapter forthe electricity, you know, for
power, but things I did not know, like their elevator, I just
(07:45):
stood there.
I mean I could not figure thisout for the life of me, um, the
elevator.
When I got in the room Icouldn't figure out how to get
the lights to turn on um thewater.
I couldn't get in so manythings.
I had to just kind of learn asI went.
But but it started in in paris.
So here's that elevator andit's two doors this one you open
and then you're looking at adoor and that's outside of my
(08:08):
hotel.
And this was so.
I was limited on time and I wasgoing to be the next day jumping
on the train to go to thewriting residency.
So directly across from thehotel was this, uh, monoprix,
which is a grocery store, and itwas phenomenal.
I mean the fresh produce andthe sandwiches already made.
Well, I didn't.
(08:31):
I shared them on Facebook but Ididn't bring pictures of that.
So this is my meals in Paris asandwich to go and the croque
monsieur which I had interviewedthe chef about.
So the train ended up kind ofbeing my biggest challenge, and
mostly because of the 100%,because of the language barrier
(08:52):
my French is so bad and so thevery first route I was, I went
to the Paris train station andwhen the taxi got there I said
you know, I'm going to thestation.
He said right there, and it wasa great big building, and so I
went in there and I walked inand said call one, two, three,
four.
And nowhere did my ticket sayanything about a hall.
It just said what train I wasgoing to be on.
(09:15):
And so I just stood there notknowing what to do, and so I
couldn't find an informationdesk.
So I went back outside and Ifound an information desk
outside and I showed thegentleman my ticket and he says
oh, you're on WeGo, which isaround the corner, in the
backside of the building.
And I was like I would havenever found that.
I mean.
So finally found that.
(09:36):
And then I get in there and it'sthis enormous train station
it's nothing like our unionstation here, enormous and all
these tracks.
And I'm standing there lookingup at the board and I can't
figure out what track I go tofor my train.
I just keep looking at it.
And so I go around askingpeople parlez-vous anglais,
parlez-vous anglais?
(09:59):
And kind of in a panic, butluckily I was there like 45
minutes early, you know.
So finally I found a youngcouple and I said and she says
no, and he says oh, we speakenough, you know.
And so they told me that youknow, there's, my train is up
there but they won't show thetrack until about 20 minutes
before it departs.
(10:19):
So, which is great, but thenyou have 20 minutes to go find
that track.
You know, in my mind is what Iwas thinking.
So I just kind of um, I reallywent into panic mode.
I did the fight flight orfreeze which we're going to talk
about here in a minute, and Ijust froze and I just stood
underneath a sign and, no, Ididn't cry.
(10:40):
But well, I should have, Ishould have cried, then somebody
would help me, probably.
But I just stood under the signand one of the other gals who
was going to this residency Ihad Wi-Fi in the station and so
I texted her and she said, well,I'm wearing this.
And I said, no, I'm under thesign, you have to come find me.
And I just no.
So she came and found me andnothing changed.
(11:03):
But having somebody with memade it better, it just made it
easier, because then it showedup 20 minutes before and we went
and walked to the track and weboarded the train.
So it was my problem that I hadon the train that first time so
well, except for being in thewrong building.
So it was raining and it waskind of unique on the trains
(11:25):
there.
Um, they don't, you know, someof them were like two seats
facing two seats, with a table,and some of them were just like
amtrak, where it's seats in arow, that kind of thing.
So they were all different andbut the very first one that I
got on was the seats around thetable and no one spoke with each
(11:49):
other and at first I wasthinking, oh, it's because I
don't speak French, but theyweren't speaking to each other
either.
So I don't know, I thinkAmericans are more chatty is
what I think, because I know onthe trains here everybody's
always like where are you going,where are you from?
You know, and I didn't see thatso much there.
But, and that was kind ofdisappointing, but I snuck that
(12:09):
picture out the window because Iit was obvious they did not
want me taking pictures on thetrain, so that was why I had
very few.
So the train pulled into Agenand we arrived and this was my
week at the writing residency.
So this is Relay de Camont,which is where the residency was
held, and it's owned by KateHill.
(12:30):
She's an American woman whoshe's lived on.
She lived on a barge on thecanal for 25 years.
I mean to me she was mymother's type of lifestyle, you
know.
I mean that just living life.
And so she lived on the bargefor 25 years.
I mean that just living life.
And so she lived on the bargefor 25 years.
And then she renovated thesetwo farmhouses from the 1700s
(12:50):
and put in a bridge connectingthem and created this space for
artists and writers or, you know, whoever wants to come and just
have a retreat, and so sheopened the retreat in the
countryside and it's situatedabout 15 minutes from the Agen
train station and for ourwriting residency, there were
three of us plus the instructor,kathy, and each day we spent
(13:14):
like a two hour workshop on aspecific topic so she would
teach us about, because thetheme was food and memoir,
because she's a food writer, andso we would work on editing or
recipe creation or you know, anddifferent narrative recipes or
versus you know the standardkinds, and it was very
interesting.
And food memoir and whatsurprised me which it shouldn't,
(13:37):
because of the story about mymom.
My mom surprisingly came up alot in my writing that we were
doing and my mom surprisinglycame up a lot in my writing that
we were doing, but surprisingly, my dad also, who passed away
when I was 27, showed up a lotin the writing.
I felt their presence in theroom that I was given to use as
(14:02):
my workspace.
That's the home, and then thisis some of her gardens she has
so many roses, a banana tree,you know.
Oh, it was just phenomenal.
Yeah, yeah, oh, no, you couldjust book.
Yeah, ok, so this was my roomand so this was my workspace.
(14:25):
I had this gorgeous view.
The window just opened up, andI kept saying, well, something,
fly in.
And they're like no, no, no,but gorgeous view, you get the
breeze because there's reallynot much air conditioning in
France, pardon, yes, I mean, itwas fabulous, but my parents
showed up in this room.
I don't know if you can see,but down on the floor, next to
it, are a stack of encyclopedias, and my mom sold encyclopedias
(14:48):
when I was a kid, and so wealways had them prominently
displayed at the end of the hall.
You know our encyclopedias andwhere I learned about puffins
and you know everything, youknow everything, and so to me
that was a big statement havingthose there.
And then next to the bed was astack of books, and the top one
was the last runaway, which itwas kind of a nod to my
(15:10):
turbulent teenage years, but itwas a fitting title to represent
those those years.
So for the writing residency,kate Hill had brought in James
Beard, award-winning author ofthe Mosquito Supper Club, and
she's also a chef of therestaurant of the same name in
New Orleans, melissa Martin.
(15:30):
And so the food that week wasjust unparalleled.
And you know, new Orleans isvery French influenced in their
cooking and her food was just.
I'm just really not evenputting into words how good it
was, but so it was unparalleled.
We visited two farmers' marketsand so then every meal was
focused on what we had purchasedat the market.
We bought a rabbit and webought a duck, and we bought
(15:55):
these strawberries anditty-bitty little artichokes and
the blanche, the whiteasparagus and wild asparagus.
I mean, so all of these foodsare what constituted our meals,
and it was, it was better thanthe Chef Boyardee, I gotta, I
gotta admit that.
(16:15):
So, so every meal, you know, wehad a rabbit with prune stew
and we had a duck, shepherd'spie and delicate tiny artichokes
fried in garlic and oil, or thestrawberry galette she made us
with the crust that came from acooking demonstration, so the
week was spent with plenty oftime relaxing in the gardens,
meals outdoors, trips to thevarious towns and even a prune
(16:36):
farm, and learning the art offood and memoir writing.
It's a great experience.
Okay, so this is my room, mybed.
Next to it is where I have thebook about the last runaway, and
this is all of us on the firstnight cooking together.
That's Kate Hill.
She's the owner of the home,and it was just charming.
(16:58):
I mean so much.
So then we went to the farmer'smarket.
This was the close marketnearby and everyone, even though
this was a small market.
There's several cheese vendorsand several meat vendors.
Those artichokes, I dream aboutthose.
And the strawberries, yes, sosome of the meals that we had
(17:26):
that strawberry galette, thatwas just.
And this was a prosciutto orham wrapped around in endive and
with a gratin, so oh, so good.
There was the duck shepherd'spie.
This is.
Was Kate teaching us how to eatartichokes or not artichokes,
asparagus, and so first, that'san asparagus soup.
(17:47):
That was just amazing.
So then she came out and shesaid okay, you need to prop the
plate up, so put a forkunderneath it so that your plate
is tilted, and then you pouroil and vinegar and salt and
pepper to your taste, and thenyou dip it in with your fingers
and you eat it, and then youdrink the soup out of the cup
instead of using a spoon, youknow.
So you're eating the asparagusand drinking it.
(18:08):
It was unparalleled.
And this is Melissa, who wasthe chef from New Orleans, and
she gave us a class on pie crust, and some of you don't know
that I tried to make thatstrawberry galette and it did
not turn out, and so, but we,the three of us, watched her
(18:30):
make this pie dough and thepoint was we were all supposed
to write a recipe based on whatwe saw, and we had three totally
different recipes, and so itwas really interesting.
Look at how we you know how theimportance of testing recipes
before you try to bring them toa talk.
So, okay, this was.
(18:54):
I got to check the name of thetown.
Oh yes, narak Narak.
We went here for anotherfarmer's market.
This was the Saturday market,and I've never seen such a large
farmer's market.
It starts down below the river.
You see the river there.
It starts down below withflowers, and then, as you walk
(19:17):
up through all these windingstreets.
It goes from like ornamentalthings and blouses and jewelry,
and then it goes to produce andthen it goes to cooked foods and
I've never seen anything.
We spent probably four hourswandering, it was just and then
stopped and had coffeeafterwards and one of those oh,
(19:37):
I shouldn't even say it becauseI'm going to get the name wrong
Carcassonne.
Rebecca, you're a pastry person.
I don't know, it's some pastrythat Bordeaux is known for and I
didn't like it.
So I didn't put much effortinto learning the name.
But we sampled those and hadcoffee and it was just a
fabulous day.
So this is that farmer's market.
(19:58):
So just a few pictures fromthat, pictures from that.
So the streets and, you know,the buildings, just everything,
the antiquity of all thebuildings, it was just so
fascinating.
So this is where we started,below with the flowers.
(20:21):
Yes, he's like why are youtaking a picture?
We, oh, we had these oystersone night.
Okay, so this guy he was.
So we were kind of on our ownto get something for lunch.
So he had a plat du jour and itwas this pulled pork and
grilled zucchini and mashedpotatoes.
I can't tell you, I mean justit was fabulous.
(20:42):
So he, let me take his picture.
And he smiled.
And the bread, oh my gosh.
You know baguettes everymorning and every meal, and that
was in the alley.
So our last night, kate grilled, wood-fired these oysters, so
they were not raw but they werewarm.
(21:03):
I mean, they weren't cooked,you know like, oh, they were so
good, so good.
That was our.
There they are.
So this was our, our finaldinner before we left.
And that's our group.
Eating outdoors nothing like it.
Okay, back to the train.
Eating outdoors, nothing likeit.
(21:25):
Okay, back to the train.
So this will be my second timeon the train.
And, um, kayla, one of theother gals, she, she was going
to Bordeaux and then to Paris,and I was going to Bordeaux to
spend three nights, and so wewent together to the train
station.
So that kind of helped seeingthe signs and by this point I
swear it was just.
I was better, but it still wasnice having somebody with me.
(21:47):
I don't know why being lostwith someone is better than
being lost by yourself.
So this was in the front wherethe, the restrooms were, and,
and the restrooms were evenfascinating.
I should, should have takenpictures of that.
I mean, it was like you push abutton like an elevator and it
opens up.
I mean, it was totallyautomated.
(22:08):
The toilet flushes on its ownand the hand things, everything
is automatic.
And then you stand there and go.
How do I get out?
I mean because there's no door.
And finally you find the buttonyou got to push to get out.
But these tracks were somethingthat just kind of confused me,
(22:30):
because they're like speed bumpsand I guess they want you not
to go very fast with yourluggage, but it seems weird
because they really make it hardto get your luggage through.
So so that was that.
And then I took a picture ofthis, even though it didn't have
much food left in it, because Iwas fascinated by these fresh
food vending machines.
We found one that was sushi,which just kind of seemed gross,
but like this one I don't know,it wasn't this one.
(22:53):
Another one I saw just had abasket of kiwi.
I'm like who buys a basket ofkiwi at the train station?
But you got kiwi to eat on thetrain, I guess.
But you know this one's gotwine and some sandwiches and
things.
But I just loved that they hadfresh produce at the train.
You know, fresh food and wine.
There we were waiting for thetrain and that's Kayla.
(23:19):
She is a brilliant writer, ohmy gosh, inside the train
station.
No, this is one is one.
Oops, I put that in the wrongplace.
Um, so we, so we ended agent.
So now, the first train I was,it was seats, you know, with a
table.
And now this one, it's seats ina row, and I was unsure about
(23:43):
how to know when I was supposedto get off of the train, because
they don't announce anything inEnglish.
I mean, it's, it's, you know,the airports, there's signs in
English, but the train stations,you're on your own.
And so when they announce it,they don't just say Narbonne,
you know.
And then I'm like oh okay, thisis my stop.
They talk for about fiveminutes and I have no idea what
(24:10):
they're saying.
Right, and so in my tips I'lltalk about this.
But something that became veryvaluable was a friend had, ahead
of time, had me download theapp for the train system and I
did not know it.
But I could pull that up and itshowed me where I was on the
route.
So then I knew when to get offCause.
Otherwise the first couple oftimes I just would show my
ticket and say you see, you seethey're like, yeah, so that was
(24:32):
that experience.
Okay, so in Bordeaux, another.
This is a five-star hotel,absolutely stunning.
I've never seen this kind ofservice that they they give
there, but, um, it's uh, villa'sFolk is what it's called, and,
um, I arrived that afternoonfrom the train and I went on a
(24:55):
walking tour to discover thecity, and it's a very walkable
city.
Look at this room.
Oh my gosh, it was just andsame thing with the windows,
just okay.
So this is the walking tour.
Jill's eating it and I learnedhow to make these later, um, but
I guess like a cream puff iswhat I would.
(25:16):
I don't remember the actualname for them, but um, so this
walking tour she took me tofirst off, bordeaux is very
walkable, but we went around todiscover the heart of the city,
which is the city center, thesoul of the city, which is the
cathedral, and then the breadthof the city, which is the harbor
(25:36):
.
So it's a gorgeous city.
I really love it.
Yeah, yeah, this was the one whomade fun of my English.
I would say I don't put in thatlittle twang and she'd tell me
words.
So the tram system there it is.
So, in addition to being verywalkable.
(25:57):
The tram goes everywhere.
You can either jump on you know, can buy a single pass, or you
can get like I had a 48-hourpass, so it didn't matter if I
goofed and got off in the wrongplace because I could just jump
back on and so I really utilizedthat to get around a lot.
There's the cathedral, so justthese buildings, and she talked
(26:20):
a lot about, which was just aninteresting point to me, these
buildings and she talked a lotabout, which was just an
interesting point to me of Idon't know if it's a mayor or
president or I'm sorry that Idon't know that, but whoever it
was is instigating more greenthings and so you know, all
these city areas people areallowed to put to grow things on
the wall somehow, you know, butuh, the green, but so he
(26:42):
totally the harbor area, whichis about what we're about to, is
it was like an industrial areabefore he said she said it was
just parking spots and andfactories, you know.
So they just completely redidit and now it's this they, in
some artists, installed thismirror of water and then they
(27:04):
put in these gardens that you'regoing to see, that, um, they're
foraging gardens, I meanflowers and and things like that
, but you can forage forzucchini and I mean, just take
it.
And to me that just made mehappy, you know.
So there's the mirror, thewater mirror, yeah, and this is
(27:26):
the garden where people, youknow, hang out and pick things
and somebody's dancing, and thenso it's right on the water and
there's boats, that that samepass, that 48-hour pass, I could
use the boat to get to placesas well.
So then that night a friend ofmine we grew up together, our
(27:51):
mothers were best friends formany, many years, and her mother
passed as well just recently,mk, and so her daughter is
living in Holland part of thetime but also has a place in
France, and so it just turnedout that she was taking her
husband to Bordeaux, to theairport, and so she said let's
meet, and so we met and haddinner and it was just very nice
(28:12):
.
And City DuVernay I don't putmuch on here, but it's a great
museum.
I just was kind of museumfatigued on this particular day
because it's out of order.
But there's this other big tourI went on right before that.
But I definitely recommendgoing, but don't have it be your
activity that day.
(28:33):
So this was the one that woreme out was we went to with the
tour guide and it was a group ofus, and that was also.
I think, what really enhancedthis particular aspect for me
was I was with other travelersand, you know, there was a
couple from Hawaii, there was acouple let's see A couple from
Hawaii, a young man I think.
(28:55):
He said he was 21 or 22.
That was just doing the realbackpacking through Europe thing
, you know, and he just kepteating constantly.
I mean, he would pull thingsout of his backpack, he was
constantly eating.
I wish I could do that.
So him.
And then there was a young womanfrom oh gosh, was it Vietnam or
(29:16):
Korea?
No, I think it was Korea, buther English was much better than
my French.
But she just said you know, Isaid what brought you here, and
she said I quit my job and camehere for five weeks.
I mean, I love people like that.
You know what I mean it.
Just, it was so fabulous to getto spend a day with this group
of people.
So that's who we're on on thistour.
(29:37):
And this was, oh, that's ourgroup.
That is a young guy.
Yeah, yes, oh, oh, we have totalk about this bad experience.
Oh well, that um, not badexperience, but learning a
lesson.
(29:57):
So another thing I'm going totalk about is the importance of
having a working phone overthere.
And I did not.
And so I did eventually get aSIM card, but when I was at the
writing residency I didn't see apoint because everybody I was
talking to was there and so, andI had wifi, but I just couldn't
Uber or you know, google mapsor things like that, or the
(30:19):
translator.
I downloaded the translator sothat it could, I could put in a
word and it would tell it to me,but I couldn't take a picture
of something and it tell me whatit said without internet.
So I went to eat by myself inBordeaux and I had seen on the
menu.
I recognized it was pizza andit was truffle and I was just
(30:39):
like that's what I want.
So I went in and when hebrought me the menu he said
here's tonight's menu, and thatwasn't on the menu.
So I'm looking at these thingsgoing, I don't know what
anything is.
And so at one point Irecognized salmon.
I'm like, oh, salmon.
And I says salmon.
He says yeah, but he said butit's very petite, you're going
to want to get something elseand I said that's fine.
(31:04):
And so the other shrimp, andthey were delicious, but the
salmon was raw and it's notsomething I would have ordered
on purpose.
So tip is get that phone thingworking before you go.
Eat by yourself, cause I I putit on the bread and ate though,
cause I wasn't going to miss it,and it actually was very good,
but I just wouldn't have orderedraw.
And so these are some of thefoods in Bordeaux and Narbonne.
So then the train to Narbonne.
(31:26):
So by this point I was prettycomfortable.
I knew how to look and see whenthe train was coming and I knew
to look at the app to see whenI got there.
And the only kind of trial onthis particular train was that
I'm racing.
My problem is because I didcoach instead of first class.
(31:48):
You know, my car would be likenumber 14, which is all the way
down at the end.
So I'm racing down to the end.
Well, I get to my car.
No, it was D, so it was 10.
So it was car 10, seat 200 andsomething.
And I look at the sign and itsays car 10, but it seats 100 to
150.
You know, I'm making up numbers, but mine was not there and it
was the very last car, and so Isaw someone standing outside and
(32:11):
I said, I said car D's, but myseat, you know, and he was like
huh.
And finally he says he says oh,it's all fucked up.
He said and I'm like wait aminute, you were acting like you
couldn't understand a word.
I was saying I'm trying tospeak to you in French and he
says it's all messed up.
He said you just go in and sitanywhere.
Well, there was only one seatleft, so I was very grateful for
(32:34):
that.
So I got a seat, but other thanthat, I was getting more
comfortable on the train on thethird time, and the train on the
third time, and you know thevineyards everywhere you go,
seeing the grapes, it was justokay.
Another nice hotel I really wasspoiled on this trip and I was
hosted.
(32:55):
I was hosted at all thedestinations.
This was Chateau Capitoule andit was set up on a hill just
outside of Norbonne.
So by this point I'm inNorbonne and just outside of
town, up on a hill overlooking,where you can see the Pyrenees
in the background and then thevineyards as far as you can see.
(33:16):
It was stunning and they hadtaken this castle, which because
chateau means castle and it'snormally associated with a
vineyard.
But they had taken this castlejust a couple years ago,
renovated it and turned it intoeight rooms and then built 44
villas I mean villas with thetheir own private pools and very
(33:40):
, very nice.
But I was staying in the castle,which, when it comes to luggage
, I had my backpack and I had tocarry on luggage.
I thought I was doing prettywell keeping it down to just
carry on bag and a backpack.
Gorgeous, what's that?
Stone Marble stairs, gorgeousspiral marble stairs carrying
(34:10):
this thing trying to get up it.
But it was beautiful and I wasup on the second floor, just
stunning, but the picturesaren't the best because, yes, so
I stayed there for one nightand this is the pool that
everyone can use and theyinstalled these olive trees to
eventually be shade.
And then I toured their vineyardand they use their winery and
(34:32):
they use stop, they use concreteinstead of barrels for the wine
and she said it's modern butit's ancient.
She said it's the ancient wayit was originally done, but they
quit doing that and then nowthey're starting to do it again
and so that's why they do thatGreat wine and I had a wonderful
(34:53):
dinner with the tourism personthere.
So then the next day I wasdriven back into Narbonne and
checked into Hotel Mosaic, whichwas kind of a boutique-y, small
, very, very fun, fun place.
But I went on a walking tour inNarbonne and it was a Roman
city.
It was the first, it was likeParis of the times, it was the
(35:15):
first Roman city that was builtand it's all been buried or
destroyed and so they have veryfew actual artifacts left from
that.
But that road that I showed inthe very beginning was the
original road that wouldtransport the wine and supplies
and things.
And then this was the old castleand the new castle and I mean,
(35:39):
it was just I can't even wrap myhead around how the historical
importance.
And then so this is modern artin this old castle courtyard.
And then this I don't rememberthe details but I took a picture
of it anyways it's do you knowwhat the animal is anyone?
I guessed it was like a.
(36:03):
I thought it was a hyena, butit's, it's a wolf, it's a
she-wolf, and I can't rememberwhich country it was, but they
donated it to them because itrepresented um, suckling the
babies.
You know the she-wolf, the?
I think so.
Yes, but that's who gave thisto them.
(36:24):
Yeah, to represent thatconnection.
So the baby's suckling on ashe-wolf, I just love it.
Yes, and these courtyards, Imean just gardens.
Is that a castle?
(36:45):
I think that was a church, oh,and so here we're coming to this
market.
You know, I love food things.
So this is the covered marketthat they have, and they were
voted the best market in Francelast year.
It was phenomenal, I mean.
So it's completely indoors,probably the size of Costco.
(37:06):
I mean, you know, is what I'mguessing?
But just everything you couldever want.
And this, this guy, we ended upeating at this restaurant and
it's shown right there and I'lltell you when we get to the
picture of him, but anything youpossibly want.
And actually, on the, on thecruise, our chef came and we
(37:29):
went with him shopping, for wehad a seafood buffet.
Oh, this is, um, oh, my gosh, Iwas on the lookout for it
everywhere, everywhere I went.
Now, all the words went into myhead, it'll come back to me,
(37:50):
but it's this bean dish and it'svery regional Cassoulet, thank
you, thank you.
Yes, so it's like duck andsausage and pork cooked in these
white beans, so it's kind ofsoupy, but then they bake it so
long that it gets crispy on topand break through.
That it was amazing.
(38:12):
So when I saw this at thatmarket I said, oh, I want to try
this.
And they said, well, on thecruise you're going to get a
chance.
So I want to do.
I told my sister, hi, mary,that I want to recreate it here.
And she said, well, you know,you got to get duck.
And I said, well, no, I don'tlike the duck, I'm just going to
make it the way I like, becauseit was just something.
(38:32):
I want to try to see if I canrecreate it in our version.
So this guy at the market, he'sa former rugby player and it's
just this big theatrical sceneof you know.
So around him are these meatbutchers and so he offers duck
(38:54):
and beef and something, andhorse and I should have said it
like that and horse, and sosomebody orders something and
he'll call out for what,whichever meat it is, and they
will throw him, you know.
So it's this big, big ordeal,but it was fun and he's cute, he
was, he was very fun, but hispersonality, you know, I'm just,
(39:19):
you know, screaming for it andlet's see, oh, so this was the
abbey.
So we went to this abbey andfor me it was just fascinating
to learn about, you know, in the12th century, the monks, and
there were laymen, I think iswhat he called them, but
(39:39):
basically they were like onestep above being homeless.
I mean, they worked for free,they stayed there, they could
not speak to the monks and theycouldn't, you know, but they had
shelter, you know, because thisis back in the 12th century
when, you know, it was veryimportant to have water and
shelter and food and things likethat.
(40:00):
So they did all the work.
But it was just fascinating atthis Abbey to learn.
And again, another gorgeouscourtyard and the Rose garden.
Love the Rose garden.
And actually it was supposed torain all the time and it rained
(40:31):
a few times, which I'm going toget to a story about the rain.
Um, no, I think we already didthe vineyard in the vineyard.
Um, that city that we went tothis was in narbonne.
I got my first taste of beingon the canal.
We just did a very short kindof a touristy barge tour.
But on the weather, who was it?
(40:53):
I can't remember.
Oh, yes, we commented when wewent to the vineyard that day
and we went to that ancient cityand Carcassonne was the name of
the city and we had commentedoh, we've got lucky, because it
just seems to rain every timewe're in the car.
And oh, we've got so lucky andwe get to the city and it's a
downpour and it's the onlydownpour that we had the whole
(41:14):
time I was there, because itwould normally just sprinkle a
little bit and then be gone.
Um, so we all huddled in theinto the alcove of a door and
just stood there, I meandrenched.
I have a coat that I'm throwingaway, that it's not a raincoat,
it's a wind jacker or maybeit's water resistant, but it's
not.
I was soaked and freezing, butsame thing, it passed, and then
it was a beautiful day.
(41:35):
So we did, we had really greatweather.
And then this is hotel ormosaic in Norbonne, which was
the boutique one.
So then my sister finallyarrives.
This is the end of week two.
She came in and I've beeneating such great food, but I
(41:56):
was kind of craving either ahamburger or pizza, something
you know what I mean, the rabbitand the duck, and everything
was phenomenal and things I'dnever tried before, but I just
wanted something, you know, andso I was, and my sister, if she
watches this, might be a littlebit picky eater.
So I thought this would be safebet we can go have pizza.
It was right across from thetrain station, so we met and it
was delicious.
And my other sister, mary, hadsaid well, you know, I knew it
(42:20):
was four fromage, I knew it wasfour cheeses, but I did not know
what the cheeses were.
So but I know there was blueand I'm sure there was
mozzarella and I know there wasum goat cheese and something
else, but it was delicious, itwas one of my favorite meals.
Was that pizza?
Okay, so then we are waitingfor, uh the them to pick us up
(42:40):
for the canal midi.
So this was our home for thenext that last week of the trip.
It was stunning.
We were in samai it was thename of the town where we
started.
They picked us up in our bun,drove us to samai and we got on
um.
They had a champagne receptionas soon as you get on the boat,
and then we had a chance to gowalk and see this bookstore,
(43:01):
which I'm not sure why.
I was fascinated with it, butit was just fascinating
bookstore, even though I don'tunderstand any things.
But so we turned that and thengot back on.
We spent that first nightdocked there.
This was our rooms and I did notshare this on social media.
They were tiny.
People think I'm exaggeratingwhen I say there was this much
(43:23):
space to shimmy out of, you know, between the, between our beds,
and my sister and I just kindof made a pact that we would
each sleep with our backs toeach other, so you know.
But there's cubbies up top.
Each of the beds had a thingthat pulled out.
There was a little side dresserthat you don't see and a very
(43:45):
small closet.
So you actually are able to,you know, and they take your
luggage out, you unpack and itworked.
I mean, it really was moreworkable than you would think,
being that size, and I got kindof comfortable.
I ended up seeing it like acocoon.
She, you know other people arelike oh, I'll just stay up top
all the time.
I'm like, I kind of like beingthere.
So, maybe because I was tiredafter a couple weeks, it was
(44:13):
nice to just relax.
A tiny little shower, oh, Idon't know why.
I was fascinated with thebathroom, but it was very small,
okay.
So so you, you come on thisbarge.
It only holds eight guests.
So four cabins for passengers,the crews up front, oh, still
(44:36):
going.
So it holds eight guests, butit turned out that they had only
booked six, but one of thecouples canceled at the last
minute, so there were just fourof us.
We had five crew to fourpassengers.
It was very intimate experience, four passengers.
It was very intimate anexperience and it was just
amazing.
Um, so you come in up on thisdeck and then you go down, and
(44:59):
so there's that where that couchwas, um, and a bar area, and
then a dining table, and thenyou go down a little hall to the
cabins, but, but that's it,that's the ship, the barge.
And so here we were setting off,and each day they would put up
what our activities were.
That day that was when we weregoing to Carcassonne and then
(45:21):
lunch, and then they tell youwhere we're cruising to, and
then wine tasting that night,and then dinner, and these
dinners, never in my life did Ithink we would say please don't
bring so much food.
But it was actually the othercouple that was with us that
finally said can you bringsmaller portions or something,
because we were, you know, lunch, breakfast was a buffet kind of
(45:43):
thing of mostly fruits andyogurt and baguettes, so it was
pretty light.
But then lunch and dinner, bothwere just course, after course,
and they were small plates, butit was still.
You know, after you eat thethree courses, then you have the
cheese plate and then you havedessert.
I mean, it was just a huge meal.
So they asked for smallerportions.
(46:04):
But I was kind of disappointedbecause our chef, chef Jean, he
is a very talented pastry chefand so he started giving us half
desserts and I was like wait,wait, wait, I'm kidding.
So one of our excursions was togo to oh.
(46:31):
Go to oh.
It's the largest walled city inEurope, or at least existing.
Can't remember the name, but mysister.
So we went here and we walkedaround.
Basically it's lots of shoppingand interesting things, but
it's just so interesting to see,looking out, there was a
(47:01):
cathedral in there.
Okay, so then these meals, andthis is just an example of you
know what we would have.
But but oh, it was fabulous,just fabulous.
And every night they set thetable with different.
(47:21):
It was funny that for such asmall space they had the most
elaborate dinnerware, I mean,and every evening, you know,
daisy was our hostess.
She would, you know, present uswith the wine and the cheese
and some of the meals we hadthere, I mean duck, I mean quail
legs, things I've never tastedbefore.
It was just amazing.
And that's chef laura, excuseme, captain laurent.
(47:44):
And so then we started goingthrough the locks, and the locks
are this fascinating process of.
Has anyone been through locks?
Yeah, have you?
Actually I think you have.
Oh, ooh, so they, you know theyhave to come in, and our barge
was actually too large for someof the locks, so it's very he
(48:05):
has to be perfectly timed andaimed to get in there.
So you get in this, basically acage, and then they start
lowering the water and so youcan see we're up above the water
, so the water down there islower, so we're up above.
So we get in this cage and thenthey start lowering the water
and it brings us down and theyopen the gate and we pass
(48:25):
through.
So we went through a few locks,but the most fascinating one
was the staircase of seven thatwe went through at the very end
and this was just, you know,going under.
And then, when our Friday nightthey brought in a jazz
musicians and we had champagneon the deck and it was just, it
was fun.
That was the jazz night I wasat, I was having fun.
(48:50):
So and then one excursion wewent truffle hunting.
Well, we didn't really doanything, but the dog did, um,
and it really it wasn'ttechnically truffle season, so
she had just kind of buried somejust to show us the whole
process.
And this, this puppy, he'sthree and so he's not a pro yet.
So he would sometimes kind ofdig it up and eat it, or, when
(49:13):
he wasn't supposed to, or he'ddig it up and it'd be over here
and he still did, you know.
But he, she said he'd be anexpert in probably the next year
or two, but it was, it was.
It was interesting to watch.
And well, that's what theyfound is that the pigs, um, want
to eat them, you know, andthat's the main reason, yeah,
(49:37):
and the dogs, you can train them.
So she gave him treats everytime so that he would not eat
the trouble.
And it's also an olive farm,and so she showed us these
hundreds of year old olive trees.
And then we had lunch there ohmy gosh, it was this anchovies
and a salad, and this burratawith the tomato.
(50:00):
I mean just, we could not get abad meal.
I mean it was just fabulous.
And there's the cassoulet.
I finally got to try it.
I had been looking for iteverywhere and it turned out
that not Rick Stein.
Rick Steve writes well.
Rick Stein had some kind of aFrance travel show that he did,
(50:24):
and he was on the Anjodi, whichwas our barge, and he filmed it
on that, and so he talks a lotabout the Kesele as well, which
was kind of interesting.
There's my sister relaxing inthe hot tub and it was.
The pace was just amazing,because you're in the
countryside mostly, you know,and it's so.
It's not really like on theDanube River cruise.
(50:46):
You're going through lots ofcities, you know, and we did, we
stayed in, we docked in somecities, but on the very next to
last night we were just out inthe middle of nowhere, I mean
just out in the country, youknow, and it was just.
But so the atmosphere was sopeaceful and relaxing.
It was just definitely what Ineeded.
(51:09):
And here we were getting readyto go through the longest canal
tunnel.
It was fun, isn't that fun?
And again, he has to be very,you know, good driver.
So now we came to these locks.
So it's the staircase of sevenlocks and so it steps down, and
so it takes about 45 minutes.
(51:30):
I thought I stopped it.
It takes about 45 minutes toget through each one lock at a
time, to get all the way down tothe bottom.
So it was a very interestingmorning.
Oh, there we are.
That was the night before wewere going to go down the locks.
We went and checked them out,and so here we were.
You can see, we're at the verytop of it getting ready to go
(51:55):
down.
So then we went to another cityagain.
It was just, you know, a bigshopping district, but this
particular one they're known fortheir doors, and so I've got
some pictures of some of theshutters and doors that were
just amazing.
And this is the night that wejust were parked in the middle
of nowhere.
We had just some horses outthere.
(52:17):
So this is when.
So we're at the very end.
We're coming to Marseille,which is like in a harbor, or
they called it Lagoon of theMediterraneaniterranean.
So we've been on the canal thiswhole time, and this is where
it merges the salt and the freshwater.
Um, so we're.
You can see, we've got, we'rein the canal, but we've got
(52:39):
water on both sides of us.
Oops, there's the entrance tothe canal de midi, which we had
been on the whole time, and wecame out into this, this lagoon.
Oh, it's gorgeous, okay.
And then our last night we wentto a vermouth distiller and
(53:02):
learned their process of agingthe wine out in the barrels and
then going in and making it, andit's actually I think it's home
by Jim Beam now or something.
So then our last night we hadthe captain's dinner and Captain
Laurent, oh.
But we had a cooking lessonwith, with the chef.
(53:25):
First we learned to make thesepuff pastries that I'm not gonna
make again.
Um, it's just not, I don't havea.
You know this, pastries andbaking aren't my thing.
I like to cook.
I mean, I'm gonna makecassoulet, but I'm not gonna
make the pastries.
So here's he had filled themwith hummus and topped them with
(53:48):
the eggs you know, fish eggs.
So that was our crit.
We made those, yeah, and it wasfun in his tiny little galley
having that demonstration.
And then the captain pours thechampagne.
The last night, this was ourcrew.
They were just amazing, yeah.
And so we started in SMAI andended in Marseille.
(54:11):
That was it, okay.
So I didn't even expect that togo as long as I did.
So I have a few tips ifanybody's curious, but otherwise
we can just do questions.
But okay, I just didn't want tokeep you if you were done, okay
(54:39):
.
So, like I mentioned, you know,part of the time I was with a
group and part of the time I wassolo, and my biggest suggestion
is start with a group just toget acclimated.
You know, I mean because itsounds so scary to just go by
yourself, and I don't think Iwould have ever planned this
trip if I didn't have that groupthing to work around.
(54:59):
You know, for myself, I was inColorado once and I was at the
train station and I met a woman.
She was a retired schoolteacher and she retired and
lived off of her retirement, butthen she would teach online
courses and save every penny ofwhatever she got from the online
courses to take these reallybig trips and she would go to
(55:22):
Russia and she went to Thailandand by herself on these trips.
But her tip was she said shestarts with a group, so she'll
sign up for a group tour.
That's like 10 days, but thenwhen it's over she extends it
for two weeks.
So she's on her own, but shefeels more comfortable after
getting there and getting kindof used to getting around and
(55:43):
figuring things out.
So I'd love that tip.
So start with a group.
Utilize a travel agent or havesomeone look over your plans, if
not Someone who's experiencedwith wherever you're going to,
you know.
So I have a friend who lookedover mine and he just he saved
me.
I mean, he's the one thatsuggested I download the train
(56:06):
app, which other people hadn't.
They just printed out theirtickets and so if I hadn't had
that app, I wouldn't have beenable to see where we were at
when we were going.
Make sure you have cellularservice before you go.
Another of his suggestions waspull up Google Maps or Google
Earth or whatever you want, andreally dig into the destination
and figure out how to get around.
(56:26):
I mean, you can see where thetram or the bus or the, you can
find all these things relativeto the train and the hotel and
things like that, and it reallyhelps to go in feeling kind of
familiar with the city byresearching it ahead of time.
Take the next step and what thisdoes.
(56:47):
This has been my motto foryears.
I just say take the next step.
And what this does?
This has been my motto foryears.
I just say take the next step.
And what it does is it stopsthat fight or freeze.
And see, in Paris, I froze, Ijust I'm not moving.
And so I forgot to say take the.
I didn't know what the nextstep was, because that was the
problem.
But normally it's take the nextstep, and so mine is I'm with
(57:11):
the right people in the rightplace at the right time.
Oh, that's good too.
That is good, but for mine, inthat particular reference.
So my last big goof with thetrain was that, um, I purchased
my sister and i's tickets to gofrom Narbonne back to Paris
after the end of the cruise, andshe had been first class the
(57:33):
whole way, but I booked it andso it was not a direct train.
I knew we were going to have aconnection.
We were going to have to getoff the train and get on another
one.
But at this point I'm a pro, Iknow where to look at the sign,
now, you know.
And so I wasn't really worriedabout that.
But when I was in Narbonne thetourism person I just showed her
(57:54):
my ticket because I said maybeI should upgrade to first class
because my sister's been onfirst class and she might be
more comfortable.
So she looks at it and she saysdid you know that you have a
connection?
And I said yeah.
And she said did you know it'sat another station?
And I said yeah, and she saiddid you know it's at another
station?
I had no idea, and so that wasa big one that I got lucky that
(58:14):
she saw that and so.
But then so we had one hour andthe thing is I didn't comment,
but on the canal we noticed thatthey take from 12 to 1 off, and
so if we came up to a lock, thelock keeper was at lunch, and
so if we had to wait till oneo'clock before they would let
you through.
And so if we came up to a lock,the lock keeper was at lunch,
and so we had to wait till oneo'clock before they would let
you through.
And so it's the same thing withthe taxis.
And so somebody said if it'sbetween 12 and one, you're not
(58:35):
going to be able to get a taxi.
And they said well, you takethis bus and this tram and this,
and I was like, no, I cannot Onthe spur going to figure that
out.
So it turned out we, our train,got there right at one.
So we walked up to the taxis.
There weren't any taxi driversavailable, but finally there was
one who was coming back fromlunch, so he zipped us and we
(58:58):
had an hour to get in.
You know, it would have taken,I think, 45 minutes if we'd
taken the bus and the tram andthings that people said oh no,
it's real easy, you can just getthere.
But he got us there, we plentyof time, it was fine.
But when we were worried aboutit, my sister was saying what
are we going to do?
And I said we'll just take thenext step.
If we miss the train, we'lljust get on the next one, I mean
.
And so to me it's that logicalof all I could do is what I
(59:20):
could do, and so you know.
So preparing for me that's a,that's a biggie, because then I
know what the next step is.
So make sure you have cellservice again, research the
destination and I already talkedabout that and pack lighter
(59:42):
than I did, even though Ithought I was packing light.
If I had to do it again, Iprobably would try to just go
with a backpack only.
But my biggest obstacle was itwas three weeks and I had two
different environments.
The writing residency was verycasual and laid back, whereas I
thought I was going to need more, dressier things for the cruise
.
So I'm trying to bring.
You know, I brought, I brought,I think, nine outfits, but
(01:00:04):
there was no washing service, soI needed to have as many
outfits as I was going to need.
Clean when I got on the cruiseis what I so I really felt like
I needed to bring as much.
But if I ever had to do it again, I would try to do just a
backpack, because every trainstation you go down the stairs
and you go up the stairs and andit's.
It's a lot of lugging with theluggage, not the backpack.
Backpack didn't hurt me until Itook it off.
(01:00:30):
It was carrying the luggage.
So okay, oh, and prepare lasttip prepare for the time change
and jet lag.
They say it takes one day forevery hour of time change.
For me, I found that I sleepwell the first few nights
because I'm exhausted from thetravel, but then I would wake up
often just because my body issaying what the heck, you know.
But I'm still sleeping andadjusting.
But so the first three days arekind of foggy and by five, day
(01:00:52):
five I felt adapted.
So if you know, I lost that daythat I would have had to get
acclimated.
I would have had more time if Ihad to do it over before I did
the writing residency, because Iwas sitting there in this fog
at first, you know, but by theend of it I was back.
So just allow time for theadjustment.
(01:01:14):
So it is said that wherever yougo becomes a part of you.
Somehow.
Travel is truly life-changing.
It changes your perspective.
It opens you to new cultures,food and adventure.
Then there's the empowermentthat comes from knowing you can
take care of yourself and thejoy of connecting with others
along the way.
You bring all of these giftshome with you.
I want to thank all of you forbeing here and again.
(01:01:36):
Mona for putting this togetherand doing the hard part that I
could not have done, and Rebeccafor bringing those delicious
financiers.
I'm still guessing.
Oh, I did.
I said financier.
See, I can't.
I'm still guessing.
Oh, I did, I said financier,financy.
I can see I stumbled overcertain words Fini, okay, fini.
So thank you all so much, andif you have any questions, I'll
(01:01:58):
answer them, if I can.
Thank you.
Welcome to Global Journeys with Jill Dutton, the
podcast where we embark on ajourney through culture and
place, one fascinating story ata time.
I'm your host, jill Dutton, anavid traveler and writer,
passionate about exploring theworld and uncovering the unique
tales of the people I encounteralong the way.
Along the way, join me as wedelve into the heart of
(00:23):
destinations, offering aninsider's perspective through
the captivating narratives ofindividuals who shape their
communities.
Whether it's chatting with adistillery owner crafting
artisanal spirits, an anglercasting lines in remote waters
or a chef mastering the flavorsof a region, each episode offers
a glimpse into their world andexpertise.
(00:45):
Stick around till the end ofeach episode to discover more
about my travels and writingadventures.
In the meantime, get ready tobe inspired, enlightened and
transported to distant lands onGlobal Journeys with Jill Dutton
.
Welcome.
This week's episode of GlobalJourneys with Jill Dutton is a
little different than mostepisodes.
(01:05):
I had just returned fromspending three weeks in France
when I ran into a friend at thelocal library.
She suggested that I hold atravel log at the library so
others could experience the tripthrough my eyes.
My friend, mona Raglow,volunteered to record the event
in person so that others couldlisten to it later.
(01:26):
The following recording is fromthe in-person event.
Three Weeks in France, atravelogue.
I was 12 years old, standingalone on a street corner at
(01:49):
night in Amsterdam, while Iwaited outside, too terrified to
go in, my mother was inside,learning about the Hare Krishnas
we had met at the airport.
My mother was always curiousabout people and culture and she
believed in experiencing lifeto the fullest.
This adventurous spirit led herto take me on a three-month
journey through Europe when Iwas nearly 13, and the trip
(02:09):
profoundly influenced my outlookon life.
Our backpacks loaded withcamping gear and clothes and
planning to use my sister Mary'shome, who was stationed in
Augsburg, germany, as a homebase, we set off to explore
Austria, italy, switzerland,germany, england, belgium,
holland and France for threemonths.
Mom's spirited lifestyle ledthe way.
(02:31):
There was the experienceoutside the Hare Krishnas in
Amsterdam, me refusing to comeinside so sure she would be
kidnapped.
Then in Germany, we met a groupof women dancing in the park
flowers in their hair.
It turned out they were in theChildren of God cult, so of
course we went to spend thenight at their commune.
We camped in Austria during astorm, our pup tent soaking us
(02:56):
throughout the night.
In the middle of the night,after the storm passed, we heard
a gang of motorcyclists pull into set up camp.
We were frightened and worriedwhat might happen.
When we awoke, we made friendswith this group of motorcyclists
and shared a breakfast togetherof leftover Jägerschnitzel from
our dinner at a restaurant thenight before and a can of Chef
Boyardee ravioli.
(03:16):
I was nearly 13, and it was thebest meal of my life.
Those three months expanded myawareness in ways I could never
foresee.
It opened my eyes to thedifferent flavors of the world
the Jägerschnitzel and Spätzlewith cabbage in Austria, pommes
Frites served in a paper cupwith mayonnaise in Belgium,
brochen with butter and jam inGermany, and really good strong
(03:39):
coffee.
Everywhere we went, wepurchased URail passes and spent
our time on and off the train.
We slept in youth hostels orcamped, never fearful, except
for that one rainy night inAustria.
After returning home, inspiredby our travels, I studied French
in high school and German incollege.
I fell in love with the arts,people and the celebration of
(04:00):
our differences while findingcommon ground.
Food became a passion, whethercooking, eating, fermenting,
growing, dehydrating or tastingsomething new, and I brought
home with me a desire toexperience the world through
food.
I made my first return toEurope last winter when I took a
Viking Danube river cruise.
It was thrilling, but theexperience was diluted by being
(04:22):
handheld through the adventure.
Although I loved the experienceand the food, it was nothing
like traveling solo.
Now, at 60, I was to embark onmy first solo trip back to
France, a country that hadcaptured my heart many years ago
.
The idea for the trip came afterI was invited to a writing
residency in the countryside ofsouthwestern France.
The facilitator, kathy Gunst,is a James Beard award-winning
(04:44):
chef, npr podcast host andauthor of 16 cookbooks.
It would be an opportunity todevote time to my travel
cookbook idea that I've hadworking on for years, called
Goalable Plates the People weMeet, the Food they Eat and it
would be a way to get a clear onthe direction of the book.
Having this anchor of a grouptrip, which I'll discuss further
(05:06):
in this tip section, allowed meto plan the trip around the
event.
The trip came togethersynchronistically.
Suddenly I'm getting emailsfrom Paris tour guides emails I
get regularly from tourismpeople, but I would normally
ignore it if I didn't have plansto be in Paris.
Now I would, and I respondedeagerly.
I booked every segment of thetrip myself, not necessarily
(05:28):
something I recommend.
If you're uncertain, use atravel agent.
I felt as if I had taken enoughtrips and planned itineraries
that I could handle it myself,and I did, even with a few
snafus that I'll discuss laterso you don't make the same
mistakes.
Working around the dates of thewriting residency, I booked my
airfare, a hotel in Paris, atour in Paris, and purchased
(05:50):
train tickets From Paris.
I would take the train to Agenfor the writing residency.
From there I scheduled threenights in Bordeaux, three nights
in Narbonne and, the climax ofthe trip, a six-night cruise on
a luxury barge hotel on theCanal du Midi.
My sister Lynn made plans totake the cruise with me and we
(06:10):
decided to meet at the trainstation when she arrived.
The itinerary was set and itfelt like a nice balance of solo
and group travel.
I'd be solo in Paris with theother riders in Agen, then solo
in Bordeaux and Narbonne untilmy sister met me for the cruise.
Everything was booked and I wasready to go.
I learned a lot on this trip.
So today I want to share mythree-week journey through
France, reflecting on thehighlights, the connections that
(06:35):
I made and the personal growththat I experienced, from
navigating the bustling streetsof Paris to the peaceful
countryside near Agen, exploringthe rich history of Bordeaux,
immersing myself in the cultureof Narbonne and enjoying a
seride barge cruise along theCanal du Midi.
This trip was a transformativeexperience.
I learned lessons about solotravel, empowerment and the
expanded awareness that comesfrom travel.
I'll also discuss thechallenges I faced, offer tips
(06:57):
for solo travel and shareanecdotes that made this journey
unforgettable.
I got three weeks in France.
The first week I started out twonights in Paris and my plane
was delayed and so I was a daylate to Paris.
So this was all I saw on thetour d'Eiffel my hotel.
So I missed the tour of Parisand one night and a dinner with
(07:22):
the other writers who were goingto be meeting in Agen, and so I
came to the Hotel MontalembertStunning, absolutely stunning.
But I needed to acclimate tosome of the European things.
I mean I had the adapter forthe electricity, you know, for
power, but things I did not know, like their elevator, I just
(07:45):
stood there.
I mean I could not figure thisout for the life of me, um, the
elevator.
When I got in the room Icouldn't figure out how to get
the lights to turn on um thewater.
I couldn't get in so manythings.
I had to just kind of learn asI went.
But but it started in in paris.
So here's that elevator andit's two doors this one you open
and then you're looking at adoor and that's outside of my
(08:08):
hotel.
And this was so.
I was limited on time and I wasgoing to be the next day jumping
on the train to go to thewriting residency.
So directly across from thehotel was this, uh, monoprix,
which is a grocery store, and itwas phenomenal.
I mean the fresh produce andthe sandwiches already made.
Well, I didn't.
(08:31):
I shared them on Facebook but Ididn't bring pictures of that.
So this is my meals in Paris asandwich to go and the croque
monsieur which I had interviewedthe chef about.
So the train ended up kind ofbeing my biggest challenge, and
mostly because of the 100%,because of the language barrier
(08:52):
my French is so bad and so thevery first route I was, I went
to the Paris train station andwhen the taxi got there I said
you know, I'm going to thestation.
He said right there, and it wasa great big building, and so I
went in there and I walked inand said call one, two, three,
four.
And nowhere did my ticket sayanything about a hall.
It just said what train I wasgoing to be on.
(09:15):
And so I just stood there notknowing what to do, and so I
couldn't find an informationdesk.
So I went back outside and Ifound an information desk
outside and I showed thegentleman my ticket and he says
oh, you're on WeGo, which isaround the corner, in the
backside of the building.
And I was like I would havenever found that.
I mean.
So finally found that.
(09:36):
And then I get in there and it'sthis enormous train station
it's nothing like our unionstation here, enormous and all
these tracks.
And I'm standing there lookingup at the board and I can't
figure out what track I go tofor my train.
I just keep looking at it.
And so I go around askingpeople parlez-vous anglais,
parlez-vous anglais?
(09:59):
And kind of in a panic, butluckily I was there like 45
minutes early, you know.
So finally I found a youngcouple and I said and she says
no, and he says oh, we speakenough, you know.
And so they told me that youknow, there's, my train is up
there but they won't show thetrack until about 20 minutes
before it departs.
(10:19):
So, which is great, but thenyou have 20 minutes to go find
that track.
You know, in my mind is what Iwas thinking.
So I just kind of um, I reallywent into panic mode.
I did the fight flight orfreeze which we're going to talk
about here in a minute, and Ijust froze and I just stood
underneath a sign and, no, Ididn't cry.
(10:40):
But well, I should have, Ishould have cried, then somebody
would help me, probably.
But I just stood under the signand one of the other gals who
was going to this residency Ihad Wi-Fi in the station and so
I texted her and she said, well,I'm wearing this.
And I said, no, I'm under thesign, you have to come find me.
And I just no.
So she came and found me andnothing changed.
(11:03):
But having somebody with memade it better, it just made it
easier, because then it showedup 20 minutes before and we went
and walked to the track and weboarded the train.
So it was my problem that I hadon the train that first time so
well, except for being in thewrong building.
So it was raining and it waskind of unique on the trains
(11:25):
there.
Um, they don't, you know, someof them were like two seats
facing two seats, with a table,and some of them were just like
amtrak, where it's seats in arow, that kind of thing.
So they were all different andbut the very first one that I
got on was the seats around thetable and no one spoke with each
(11:49):
other and at first I wasthinking, oh, it's because I
don't speak French, but theyweren't speaking to each other
either.
So I don't know, I thinkAmericans are more chatty is
what I think, because I know onthe trains here everybody's
always like where are you going,where are you from?
You know, and I didn't see thatso much there.
But, and that was kind ofdisappointing, but I snuck that
(12:09):
picture out the window because Iit was obvious they did not
want me taking pictures on thetrain, so that was why I had
very few.
So the train pulled into Agenand we arrived and this was my
week at the writing residency.
So this is Relay de Camont,which is where the residency was
held, and it's owned by KateHill.
(12:30):
She's an American woman whoshe's lived on.
She lived on a barge on thecanal for 25 years.
I mean to me she was mymother's type of lifestyle, you
know.
I mean that just living life.
And so she lived on the bargefor 25 years.
I mean that just living life.
And so she lived on the bargefor 25 years.
And then she renovated thesetwo farmhouses from the 1700s
(12:50):
and put in a bridge connectingthem and created this space for
artists and writers or, you know, whoever wants to come and just
have a retreat, and so sheopened the retreat in the
countryside and it's situatedabout 15 minutes from the Agen
train station and for ourwriting residency, there were
three of us plus the instructor,kathy, and each day we spent
(13:14):
like a two hour workshop on aspecific topic so she would
teach us about, because thetheme was food and memoir,
because she's a food writer, andso we would work on editing or
recipe creation or you know, anddifferent narrative recipes or
versus you know the standardkinds, and it was very
interesting.
And food memoir and whatsurprised me which it shouldn't,
(13:37):
because of the story about mymom.
My mom surprisingly came up alot in my writing that we were
doing and my mom surprisinglycame up a lot in my writing that
we were doing, but surprisingly, my dad also, who passed away
when I was 27, showed up a lotin the writing.
I felt their presence in theroom that I was given to use as
(14:02):
my workspace.
That's the home, and then thisis some of her gardens she has
so many roses, a banana tree,you know.
Oh, it was just phenomenal.
Yeah, yeah, oh, no, you couldjust book.
Yeah, ok, so this was my roomand so this was my workspace.
(14:25):
I had this gorgeous view.
The window just opened up, andI kept saying, well, something,
fly in.
And they're like no, no, no,but gorgeous view, you get the
breeze because there's reallynot much air conditioning in
France, pardon, yes, I mean, itwas fabulous, but my parents
showed up in this room.
I don't know if you can see,but down on the floor, next to
it, are a stack of encyclopedias, and my mom sold encyclopedias
(14:48):
when I was a kid, and so wealways had them prominently
displayed at the end of the hall.
You know our encyclopedias andwhere I learned about puffins
and you know everything, youknow everything, and so to me
that was a big statement havingthose there.
And then next to the bed was astack of books, and the top one
was the last runaway, which itwas kind of a nod to my
(15:10):
turbulent teenage years, but itwas a fitting title to represent
those those years.
So for the writing residency,kate Hill had brought in James
Beard, award-winning author ofthe Mosquito Supper Club, and
she's also a chef of therestaurant of the same name in
New Orleans, melissa Martin.
(15:30):
And so the food that week wasjust unparalleled.
And you know, new Orleans isvery French influenced in their
cooking and her food was just.
I'm just really not evenputting into words how good it
was, but so it was unparalleled.
We visited two farmers' marketsand so then every meal was
focused on what we had purchasedat the market.
We bought a rabbit and webought a duck, and we bought
(15:55):
these strawberries anditty-bitty little artichokes and
the blanche, the whiteasparagus and wild asparagus.
I mean, so all of these foodsare what constituted our meals,
and it was, it was better thanthe Chef Boyardee, I gotta, I
gotta admit that.
(16:15):
So, so every meal, you know, wehad a rabbit with prune stew
and we had a duck, shepherd'spie and delicate tiny artichokes
fried in garlic and oil, or thestrawberry galette she made us
with the crust that came from acooking demonstration, so the
week was spent with plenty oftime relaxing in the gardens,
meals outdoors, trips to thevarious towns and even a prune
(16:36):
farm, and learning the art offood and memoir writing.
It's a great experience.
Okay, so this is my room, mybed.
Next to it is where I have thebook about the last runaway, and
this is all of us on the firstnight cooking together.
That's Kate Hill.
She's the owner of the home,and it was just charming.
(16:58):
I mean so much.
So then we went to the farmer'smarket.
This was the close marketnearby and everyone, even though
this was a small market.
There's several cheese vendorsand several meat vendors.
Those artichokes, I dream aboutthose.
And the strawberries, yes, sosome of the meals that we had
(17:26):
that strawberry galette, thatwas just.
And this was a prosciutto orham wrapped around in endive and
with a gratin, so oh, so good.
There was the duck shepherd'spie.
This is.
Was Kate teaching us how to eatartichokes or not artichokes,
asparagus, and so first, that'san asparagus soup.
(17:47):
That was just amazing.
So then she came out and shesaid okay, you need to prop the
plate up, so put a forkunderneath it so that your plate
is tilted, and then you pouroil and vinegar and salt and
pepper to your taste, and thenyou dip it in with your fingers
and you eat it, and then youdrink the soup out of the cup
instead of using a spoon, youknow.
So you're eating the asparagusand drinking it.
(18:08):
It was unparalleled.
And this is Melissa, who wasthe chef from New Orleans, and
she gave us a class on pie crust, and some of you don't know
that I tried to make thatstrawberry galette and it did
not turn out, and so, but we,the three of us, watched her
(18:30):
make this pie dough and thepoint was we were all supposed
to write a recipe based on whatwe saw, and we had three totally
different recipes, and so itwas really interesting.
Look at how we you know how theimportance of testing recipes
before you try to bring them toa talk.
So, okay, this was.
(18:54):
I got to check the name of thetown.
Oh yes, narak Narak.
We went here for anotherfarmer's market.
This was the Saturday market,and I've never seen such a large
farmer's market.
It starts down below the river.
You see the river there.
It starts down below withflowers, and then, as you walk
(19:17):
up through all these windingstreets.
It goes from like ornamentalthings and blouses and jewelry,
and then it goes to produce andthen it goes to cooked foods and
I've never seen anything.
We spent probably four hourswandering, it was just and then
stopped and had coffeeafterwards and one of those oh,
(19:37):
I shouldn't even say it becauseI'm going to get the name wrong
Carcassonne.
Rebecca, you're a pastry person.
I don't know, it's some pastrythat Bordeaux is known for and I
didn't like it.
So I didn't put much effortinto learning the name.
But we sampled those and hadcoffee and it was just a
fabulous day.
So this is that farmer's market.
(19:58):
So just a few pictures fromthat, pictures from that.
So the streets and, you know,the buildings, just everything,
the antiquity of all thebuildings, it was just so
fascinating.
So this is where we started,below with the flowers.
(20:21):
Yes, he's like why are youtaking a picture?
We, oh, we had these oystersone night.
Okay, so this guy he was.
So we were kind of on our ownto get something for lunch.
So he had a plat du jour and itwas this pulled pork and
grilled zucchini and mashedpotatoes.
I can't tell you, I mean justit was fabulous.
(20:42):
So he, let me take his picture.
And he smiled.
And the bread, oh my gosh.
You know baguettes everymorning and every meal, and that
was in the alley.
So our last night, kate grilled, wood-fired these oysters, so
they were not raw but they werewarm.
(21:03):
I mean, they weren't cooked,you know like, oh, they were so
good, so good.
That was our.
There they are.
So this was our, our finaldinner before we left.
And that's our group.
Eating outdoors nothing like it.
Okay, back to the train.
Eating outdoors, nothing likeit.
(21:25):
Okay, back to the train.
So this will be my second timeon the train.
And, um, kayla, one of theother gals, she, she was going
to Bordeaux and then to Paris,and I was going to Bordeaux to
spend three nights, and so wewent together to the train
station.
So that kind of helped seeingthe signs and by this point I
swear it was just.
I was better, but it still wasnice having somebody with me.
(21:47):
I don't know why being lostwith someone is better than
being lost by yourself.
So this was in the front wherethe, the restrooms were, and,
and the restrooms were evenfascinating.
I should, should have takenpictures of that.
I mean, it was like you push abutton like an elevator and it
opens up.
I mean, it was totallyautomated.
(22:08):
The toilet flushes on its ownand the hand things, everything
is automatic.
And then you stand there and go.
How do I get out?
I mean because there's no door.
And finally you find the buttonyou got to push to get out.
But these tracks were somethingthat just kind of confused me,
(22:30):
because they're like speed bumpsand I guess they want you not
to go very fast with yourluggage, but it seems weird
because they really make it hardto get your luggage through.
So so that was that.
And then I took a picture ofthis, even though it didn't have
much food left in it, because Iwas fascinated by these fresh
food vending machines.
We found one that was sushi,which just kind of seemed gross,
but like this one I don't know,it wasn't this one.
(22:53):
Another one I saw just had abasket of kiwi.
I'm like who buys a basket ofkiwi at the train station?
But you got kiwi to eat on thetrain, I guess.
But you know this one's gotwine and some sandwiches and
things.
But I just loved that they hadfresh produce at the train.
You know, fresh food and wine.
There we were waiting for thetrain and that's Kayla.
(23:19):
She is a brilliant writer, ohmy gosh, inside the train
station.
No, this is one is one.
Oops, I put that in the wrongplace.
Um, so we, so we ended agent.
So now, the first train I was,it was seats, you know, with a
table.
And now this one, it's seats ina row, and I was unsure about
(23:43):
how to know when I was supposedto get off of the train, because
they don't announce anything inEnglish.
I mean, it's, it's, you know,the airports, there's signs in
English, but the train stations,you're on your own.
And so when they announce it,they don't just say Narbonne,
you know.
And then I'm like oh okay, thisis my stop.
They talk for about fiveminutes and I have no idea what
(24:10):
they're saying.
Right, and so in my tips I'lltalk about this.
But something that became veryvaluable was a friend had, ahead
of time, had me download theapp for the train system and I
did not know it.
But I could pull that up and itshowed me where I was on the
route.
So then I knew when to get offCause.
Otherwise the first couple oftimes I just would show my
ticket and say you see, you seethey're like, yeah, so that was
(24:32):
that experience.
Okay, so in Bordeaux, another.
This is a five-star hotel,absolutely stunning.
I've never seen this kind ofservice that they they give
there, but, um, it's uh, villa'sFolk is what it's called, and,
um, I arrived that afternoonfrom the train and I went on a
(24:55):
walking tour to discover thecity, and it's a very walkable
city.
Look at this room.
Oh my gosh, it was just andsame thing with the windows,
just okay.
So this is the walking tour.
Jill's eating it and I learnedhow to make these later, um, but
I guess like a cream puff iswhat I would.
(25:16):
I don't remember the actualname for them, but um, so this
walking tour she took me tofirst off, bordeaux is very
walkable, but we went around todiscover the heart of the city,
which is the city center, thesoul of the city, which is the
cathedral, and then the breadthof the city, which is the harbor
(25:36):
.
So it's a gorgeous city.
I really love it.
Yeah, yeah, this was the one whomade fun of my English.
I would say I don't put in thatlittle twang and she'd tell me
words.
So the tram system there it is.
So, in addition to being verywalkable.
(25:57):
The tram goes everywhere.
You can either jump on you know, can buy a single pass, or you
can get like I had a 48-hourpass, so it didn't matter if I
goofed and got off in the wrongplace because I could just jump
back on and so I really utilizedthat to get around a lot.
There's the cathedral, so justthese buildings, and she talked
(26:20):
a lot about, which was just aninteresting point to me, these
buildings and she talked a lotabout, which was just an
interesting point to me of Idon't know if it's a mayor or
president or I'm sorry that Idon't know that, but whoever it
was is instigating more greenthings and so you know, all
these city areas people areallowed to put to grow things on
the wall somehow, you know, butuh, the green, but so he
(26:42):
totally the harbor area, whichis about what we're about to, is
it was like an industrial areabefore he said she said it was
just parking spots and andfactories, you know.
So they just completely redidit and now it's this they, in
some artists, installed thismirror of water and then they
(27:04):
put in these gardens that you'regoing to see, that, um, they're
foraging gardens, I meanflowers and and things like that
, but you can forage forzucchini and I mean, just take
it.
And to me that just made mehappy, you know.
So there's the mirror, thewater mirror, yeah, and this is
(27:26):
the garden where people, youknow, hang out and pick things
and somebody's dancing, and thenso it's right on the water and
there's boats, that that samepass, that 48-hour pass, I could
use the boat to get to placesas well.
So then that night a friend ofmine we grew up together, our
(27:51):
mothers were best friends formany, many years, and her mother
passed as well just recently,mk, and so her daughter is
living in Holland part of thetime but also has a place in
France, and so it just turnedout that she was taking her
husband to Bordeaux, to theairport, and so she said let's
meet, and so we met and haddinner and it was just very nice
(28:12):
.
And City DuVernay I don't putmuch on here, but it's a great
museum.
I just was kind of museumfatigued on this particular day
because it's out of order.
But there's this other big tourI went on right before that.
But I definitely recommendgoing, but don't have it be your
activity that day.
(28:33):
So this was the one that woreme out was we went to with the
tour guide and it was a group ofus, and that was also.
I think, what really enhancedthis particular aspect for me
was I was with other travelersand, you know, there was a
couple from Hawaii, there was acouple let's see A couple from
Hawaii, a young man I think.
(28:55):
He said he was 21 or 22.
That was just doing the realbackpacking through Europe thing
, you know, and he just kepteating constantly.
I mean, he would pull thingsout of his backpack, he was
constantly eating.
I wish I could do that.
So him.
And then there was a young womanfrom oh gosh, was it Vietnam or
(29:16):
Korea?
No, I think it was Korea, buther English was much better than
my French.
But she just said you know, Isaid what brought you here, and
she said I quit my job and camehere for five weeks.
I mean, I love people like that.
You know what I mean it.
Just, it was so fabulous to getto spend a day with this group
of people.
So that's who we're on on thistour.
(29:37):
And this was, oh, that's ourgroup.
That is a young guy.
Yeah, yes, oh, oh, we have totalk about this bad experience.
Oh well, that um, not badexperience, but learning a
lesson.
(29:57):
So another thing I'm going totalk about is the importance of
having a working phone overthere.
And I did not.
And so I did eventually get aSIM card, but when I was at the
writing residency I didn't see apoint because everybody I was
talking to was there and so, andI had wifi, but I just couldn't
Uber or you know, google mapsor things like that, or the
(30:19):
translator.
I downloaded the translator sothat it could, I could put in a
word and it would tell it to me,but I couldn't take a picture
of something and it tell me whatit said without internet.
So I went to eat by myself inBordeaux and I had seen on the
menu.
I recognized it was pizza andit was truffle and I was just
(30:39):
like that's what I want.
So I went in and when hebrought me the menu he said
here's tonight's menu, and thatwasn't on the menu.
So I'm looking at these thingsgoing, I don't know what
anything is.
And so at one point Irecognized salmon.
I'm like, oh, salmon.
And I says salmon.
He says yeah, but he said butit's very petite, you're going
to want to get something elseand I said that's fine.
(31:04):
And so the other shrimp, andthey were delicious, but the
salmon was raw and it's notsomething I would have ordered
on purpose.
So tip is get that phone thingworking before you go.
Eat by yourself, cause I I putit on the bread and ate though,
cause I wasn't going to miss it,and it actually was very good,
but I just wouldn't have orderedraw.
And so these are some of thefoods in Bordeaux and Narbonne.
So then the train to Narbonne.
(31:26):
So by this point I was prettycomfortable.
I knew how to look and see whenthe train was coming and I knew
to look at the app to see whenI got there.
And the only kind of trial onthis particular train was that
I'm racing.
My problem is because I didcoach instead of first class.
(31:48):
You know, my car would be likenumber 14, which is all the way
down at the end.
So I'm racing down to the end.
Well, I get to my car.
No, it was D, so it was 10.
So it was car 10, seat 200 andsomething.
And I look at the sign and itsays car 10, but it seats 100 to
150.
You know, I'm making up numbers, but mine was not there and it
was the very last car, and so Isaw someone standing outside and
(32:11):
I said, I said car D's, but myseat, you know, and he was like
huh.
And finally he says he says oh,it's all fucked up.
He said and I'm like wait aminute, you were acting like you
couldn't understand a word.
I was saying I'm trying tospeak to you in French and he
says it's all messed up.
He said you just go in and sitanywhere.
Well, there was only one seatleft, so I was very grateful for
(32:34):
that.
So I got a seat, but other thanthat, I was getting more
comfortable on the train on thethird time, and the train on the
third time, and you know thevineyards everywhere you go,
seeing the grapes, it was justokay.
Another nice hotel I really wasspoiled on this trip and I was
hosted.
(32:55):
I was hosted at all thedestinations.
This was Chateau Capitoule andit was set up on a hill just
outside of Norbonne.
So by this point I'm inNorbonne and just outside of
town, up on a hill overlooking,where you can see the Pyrenees
in the background and then thevineyards as far as you can see.
(33:16):
It was stunning and they hadtaken this castle, which because
chateau means castle and it'snormally associated with a
vineyard.
But they had taken this castlejust a couple years ago,
renovated it and turned it intoeight rooms and then built 44
villas I mean villas with thetheir own private pools and very
(33:40):
, very nice.
But I was staying in the castle,which, when it comes to luggage
, I had my backpack and I had tocarry on luggage.
I thought I was doing prettywell keeping it down to just
carry on bag and a backpack.
Gorgeous, what's that?
Stone Marble stairs, gorgeousspiral marble stairs carrying
(34:10):
this thing trying to get up it.
But it was beautiful and I wasup on the second floor, just
stunning, but the picturesaren't the best because, yes, so
I stayed there for one nightand this is the pool that
everyone can use and theyinstalled these olive trees to
eventually be shade.
And then I toured their vineyardand they use their winery and
(34:32):
they use stop, they use concreteinstead of barrels for the wine
and she said it's modern butit's ancient.
She said it's the ancient wayit was originally done, but they
quit doing that and then nowthey're starting to do it again
and so that's why they do thatGreat wine and I had a wonderful
(34:53):
dinner with the tourism personthere.
So then the next day I wasdriven back into Narbonne and
checked into Hotel Mosaic, whichwas kind of a boutique-y, small
, very, very fun, fun place.
But I went on a walking tour inNarbonne and it was a Roman
city.
It was the first, it was likeParis of the times, it was the
(35:15):
first Roman city that was builtand it's all been buried or
destroyed and so they have veryfew actual artifacts left from
that.
But that road that I showed inthe very beginning was the
original road that wouldtransport the wine and supplies
and things.
And then this was the old castleand the new castle and I mean,
(35:39):
it was just I can't even wrap myhead around how the historical
importance.
And then so this is modern artin this old castle courtyard.
And then this I don't rememberthe details but I took a picture
of it anyways it's do you knowwhat the animal is anyone?
I guessed it was like a.
(36:03):
I thought it was a hyena, butit's, it's a wolf, it's a
she-wolf, and I can't rememberwhich country it was, but they
donated it to them because itrepresented um, suckling the
babies.
You know the she-wolf, the?
I think so.
Yes, but that's who gave thisto them.
(36:24):
Yeah, to represent thatconnection.
So the baby's suckling on ashe-wolf, I just love it.
Yes, and these courtyards, Imean just gardens.
Is that a castle?
(36:45):
I think that was a church, oh,and so here we're coming to this
market.
You know, I love food things.
So this is the covered marketthat they have, and they were
voted the best market in Francelast year.
It was phenomenal, I mean.
So it's completely indoors,probably the size of Costco.
(37:06):
I mean, you know, is what I'mguessing?
But just everything you couldever want.
And this, this guy, we ended upeating at this restaurant and
it's shown right there and I'lltell you when we get to the
picture of him, but anything youpossibly want.
And actually, on the, on thecruise, our chef came and we
(37:29):
went with him shopping, for wehad a seafood buffet.
Oh, this is, um, oh, my gosh, Iwas on the lookout for it
everywhere, everywhere I went.
Now, all the words went into myhead, it'll come back to me,
(37:50):
but it's this bean dish and it'svery regional Cassoulet, thank
you, thank you.
Yes, so it's like duck andsausage and pork cooked in these
white beans, so it's kind ofsoupy, but then they bake it so
long that it gets crispy on topand break through.
That it was amazing.
(38:12):
So when I saw this at thatmarket I said, oh, I want to try
this.
And they said, well, on thecruise you're going to get a
chance.
So I want to do.
I told my sister, hi, mary,that I want to recreate it here.
And she said, well, you know,you got to get duck.
And I said, well, no, I don'tlike the duck, I'm just going to
make it the way I like, becauseit was just something.
(38:32):
I want to try to see if I canrecreate it in our version.
So this guy at the market, he'sa former rugby player and it's
just this big theatrical sceneof you know.
So around him are these meatbutchers and so he offers duck
(38:54):
and beef and something, andhorse and I should have said it
like that and horse, and sosomebody orders something and
he'll call out for what,whichever meat it is, and they
will throw him, you know.
So it's this big, big ordeal,but it was fun and he's cute, he
was, he was very fun, but hispersonality, you know, I'm just,
(39:19):
you know, screaming for it andlet's see, oh, so this was the
abbey.
So we went to this abbey andfor me it was just fascinating
to learn about, you know, in the12th century, the monks, and
there were laymen, I think iswhat he called them, but
(39:39):
basically they were like onestep above being homeless.
I mean, they worked for free,they stayed there, they could
not speak to the monks and theycouldn't, you know, but they had
shelter, you know, because thisis back in the 12th century
when, you know, it was veryimportant to have water and
shelter and food and things likethat.
(40:00):
So they did all the work.
But it was just fascinating atthis Abbey to learn.
And again, another gorgeouscourtyard and the Rose garden.
Love the Rose garden.
And actually it was supposed torain all the time and it rained
(40:31):
a few times, which I'm going toget to a story about the rain.
Um, no, I think we already didthe vineyard in the vineyard.
Um, that city that we went tothis was in narbonne.
I got my first taste of beingon the canal.
We just did a very short kindof a touristy barge tour.
But on the weather, who was it?
(40:53):
I can't remember.
Oh, yes, we commented when wewent to the vineyard that day
and we went to that ancient cityand Carcassonne was the name of
the city and we had commentedoh, we've got lucky, because it
just seems to rain every timewe're in the car.
And oh, we've got so lucky andwe get to the city and it's a
downpour and it's the onlydownpour that we had the whole
(41:14):
time I was there, because itwould normally just sprinkle a
little bit and then be gone.
Um, so we all huddled in theinto the alcove of a door and
just stood there, I meandrenched.
I have a coat that I'm throwingaway, that it's not a raincoat,
it's a wind jacker or maybeit's water resistant, but it's
not.
I was soaked and freezing, butsame thing, it passed, and then
it was a beautiful day.
(41:35):
So we did, we had really greatweather.
And then this is hotel ormosaic in Norbonne, which was
the boutique one.
So then my sister finallyarrives.
This is the end of week two.
She came in and I've beeneating such great food, but I
(41:56):
was kind of craving either ahamburger or pizza, something
you know what I mean, the rabbitand the duck, and everything
was phenomenal and things I'dnever tried before, but I just
wanted something, you know, andso I was, and my sister, if she
watches this, might be a littlebit picky eater.
So I thought this would be safebet we can go have pizza.
It was right across from thetrain station, so we met and it
was delicious.
And my other sister, mary, hadsaid well, you know, I knew it
(42:20):
was four fromage, I knew it wasfour cheeses, but I did not know
what the cheeses were.
So but I know there was blueand I'm sure there was
mozzarella and I know there wasum goat cheese and something
else, but it was delicious, itwas one of my favorite meals.
Was that pizza?
Okay, so then we are waitingfor, uh the them to pick us up
(42:40):
for the canal midi.
So this was our home for thenext that last week of the trip.
It was stunning.
We were in samai it was thename of the town where we
started.
They picked us up in our bun,drove us to samai and we got on
um.
They had a champagne receptionas soon as you get on the boat,
and then we had a chance to gowalk and see this bookstore,
(43:01):
which I'm not sure why.
I was fascinated with it, butit was just fascinating
bookstore, even though I don'tunderstand any things.
But so we turned that and thengot back on.
We spent that first nightdocked there.
This was our rooms and I did notshare this on social media.
They were tiny.
People think I'm exaggeratingwhen I say there was this much
(43:23):
space to shimmy out of, you know, between the, between our beds,
and my sister and I just kindof made a pact that we would
each sleep with our backs toeach other, so you know.
But there's cubbies up top.
Each of the beds had a thingthat pulled out.
There was a little side dresserthat you don't see and a very
(43:45):
small closet.
So you actually are able to,you know, and they take your
luggage out, you unpack and itworked.
I mean, it really was moreworkable than you would think,
being that size, and I got kindof comfortable.
I ended up seeing it like acocoon.
She, you know other people arelike oh, I'll just stay up top
all the time.
I'm like, I kind of like beingthere.
So, maybe because I was tiredafter a couple weeks, it was
(44:13):
nice to just relax.
A tiny little shower, oh, Idon't know why.
I was fascinated with thebathroom, but it was very small,
okay.
So so you, you come on thisbarge.
It only holds eight guests.
So four cabins for passengers,the crews up front, oh, still
(44:36):
going.
So it holds eight guests, butit turned out that they had only
booked six, but one of thecouples canceled at the last
minute, so there were just fourof us.
We had five crew to fourpassengers.
It was very intimate experience, four passengers.
It was very intimate anexperience and it was just
amazing.
Um, so you come in up on thisdeck and then you go down, and
(44:59):
so there's that where that couchwas, um, and a bar area, and
then a dining table, and thenyou go down a little hall to the
cabins, but, but that's it,that's the ship, the barge.
And so here we were setting off,and each day they would put up
what our activities were.
That day that was when we weregoing to Carcassonne and then
(45:21):
lunch, and then they tell youwhere we're cruising to, and
then wine tasting that night,and then dinner, and these
dinners, never in my life did Ithink we would say please don't
bring so much food.
But it was actually the othercouple that was with us that
finally said can you bringsmaller portions or something,
because we were, you know, lunch, breakfast was a buffet kind of
(45:43):
thing of mostly fruits andyogurt and baguettes, so it was
pretty light.
But then lunch and dinner, bothwere just course, after course,
and they were small plates, butit was still.
You know, after you eat thethree courses, then you have the
cheese plate and then you havedessert.
I mean, it was just a huge meal.
So they asked for smallerportions.
(46:04):
But I was kind of disappointedbecause our chef, chef Jean, he
is a very talented pastry chefand so he started giving us half
desserts and I was like wait,wait, wait, I'm kidding.
So one of our excursions was togo to oh.
(46:31):
Go to oh.
It's the largest walled city inEurope, or at least existing.
Can't remember the name, but mysister.
So we went here and we walkedaround.
Basically it's lots of shoppingand interesting things, but
it's just so interesting to see,looking out, there was a
(47:01):
cathedral in there.
Okay, so then these meals, andthis is just an example of you
know what we would have.
But but oh, it was fabulous,just fabulous.
And every night they set thetable with different.
(47:21):
It was funny that for such asmall space they had the most
elaborate dinnerware, I mean,and every evening, you know,
daisy was our hostess.
She would, you know, present uswith the wine and the cheese
and some of the meals we hadthere, I mean duck, I mean quail
legs, things I've never tastedbefore.
It was just amazing.
And that's chef laura, excuseme, captain laurent.
(47:44):
And so then we started goingthrough the locks, and the locks
are this fascinating process of.
Has anyone been through locks?
Yeah, have you?
Actually I think you have.
Oh, ooh, so they, you know theyhave to come in, and our barge
was actually too large for someof the locks, so it's very he
(48:05):
has to be perfectly timed andaimed to get in there.
So you get in this, basically acage, and then they start
lowering the water and so youcan see we're up above the water
, so the water down there islower, so we're up above.
So we get in this cage and thenthey start lowering the water
and it brings us down and theyopen the gate and we pass
(48:25):
through.
So we went through a few locks,but the most fascinating one
was the staircase of seven thatwe went through at the very end
and this was just, you know,going under.
And then, when our Friday nightthey brought in a jazz
musicians and we had champagneon the deck and it was just, it
was fun.
That was the jazz night I wasat, I was having fun.
(48:50):
So and then one excursion wewent truffle hunting.
Well, we didn't really doanything, but the dog did, um,
and it really it wasn'ttechnically truffle season, so
she had just kind of buried somejust to show us the whole
process.
And this, this puppy, he'sthree and so he's not a pro yet.
So he would sometimes kind ofdig it up and eat it, or, when
(49:13):
he wasn't supposed to, or he'ddig it up and it'd be over here
and he still did, you know.
But he, she said he'd be anexpert in probably the next year
or two, but it was, it was.
It was interesting to watch.
And well, that's what theyfound is that the pigs, um, want
to eat them, you know, andthat's the main reason, yeah,
(49:37):
and the dogs, you can train them.
So she gave him treats everytime so that he would not eat
the trouble.
And it's also an olive farm,and so she showed us these
hundreds of year old olive trees.
And then we had lunch there ohmy gosh, it was this anchovies
and a salad, and this burratawith the tomato.
(50:00):
I mean just, we could not get abad meal.
I mean it was just fabulous.
And there's the cassoulet.
I finally got to try it.
I had been looking for iteverywhere and it turned out
that not Rick Stein.
Rick Steve writes well.
Rick Stein had some kind of aFrance travel show that he did,
(50:24):
and he was on the Anjodi, whichwas our barge, and he filmed it
on that, and so he talks a lotabout the Kesele as well, which
was kind of interesting.
There's my sister relaxing inthe hot tub and it was.
The pace was just amazing,because you're in the
countryside mostly, you know,and it's so.
It's not really like on theDanube River cruise.
(50:46):
You're going through lots ofcities, you know, and we did, we
stayed in, we docked in somecities, but on the very next to
last night we were just out inthe middle of nowhere, I mean
just out in the country, youknow, and it was just.
But so the atmosphere was sopeaceful and relaxing.
It was just definitely what Ineeded.
(51:09):
And here we were getting readyto go through the longest canal
tunnel.
It was fun, isn't that fun?
And again, he has to be very,you know, good driver.
So now we came to these locks.
So it's the staircase of sevenlocks and so it steps down, and
so it takes about 45 minutes.
(51:30):
I thought I stopped it.
It takes about 45 minutes toget through each one lock at a
time, to get all the way down tothe bottom.
So it was a very interestingmorning.
Oh, there we are.
That was the night before wewere going to go down the locks.
We went and checked them out,and so here we were.
You can see, we're at the verytop of it getting ready to go
(51:55):
down.
So then we went to another cityagain.
It was just, you know, a bigshopping district, but this
particular one they're known fortheir doors, and so I've got
some pictures of some of theshutters and doors that were
just amazing.
And this is the night that wejust were parked in the middle
of nowhere.
We had just some horses outthere.
(52:17):
So this is when.
So we're at the very end.
We're coming to Marseille,which is like in a harbor, or
they called it Lagoon of theMediterraneaniterranean.
So we've been on the canal thiswhole time, and this is where
it merges the salt and the freshwater.
Um, so we're.
You can see, we've got, we'rein the canal, but we've got
(52:39):
water on both sides of us.
Oops, there's the entrance tothe canal de midi, which we had
been on the whole time, and wecame out into this, this lagoon.
Oh, it's gorgeous, okay.
And then our last night we wentto a vermouth distiller and
(53:02):
learned their process of agingthe wine out in the barrels and
then going in and making it, andit's actually I think it's home
by Jim Beam now or something.
So then our last night we hadthe captain's dinner and Captain
Laurent, oh.
But we had a cooking lessonwith, with the chef.
(53:25):
First we learned to make thesepuff pastries that I'm not gonna
make again.
Um, it's just not, I don't havea.
You know this, pastries andbaking aren't my thing.
I like to cook.
I mean, I'm gonna makecassoulet, but I'm not gonna
make the pastries.
So here's he had filled themwith hummus and topped them with
(53:48):
the eggs you know, fish eggs.
So that was our crit.
We made those, yeah, and it wasfun in his tiny little galley
having that demonstration.
And then the captain pours thechampagne.
The last night, this was ourcrew.
They were just amazing, yeah.
And so we started in SMAI andended in Marseille.
(54:11):
That was it, okay.
So I didn't even expect that togo as long as I did.
So I have a few tips ifanybody's curious, but otherwise
we can just do questions.
But okay, I just didn't want tokeep you if you were done, okay
(54:39):
.
So, like I mentioned, you know,part of the time I was with a
group and part of the time I wassolo, and my biggest suggestion
is start with a group just toget acclimated.
You know, I mean because itsounds so scary to just go by
yourself, and I don't think Iwould have ever planned this
trip if I didn't have that groupthing to work around.
(54:59):
You know, for myself, I was inColorado once and I was at the
train station and I met a woman.
She was a retired schoolteacher and she retired and
lived off of her retirement, butthen she would teach online
courses and save every penny ofwhatever she got from the online
courses to take these reallybig trips and she would go to
(55:22):
Russia and she went to Thailandand by herself on these trips.
But her tip was she said shestarts with a group, so she'll
sign up for a group tour.
That's like 10 days, but thenwhen it's over she extends it
for two weeks.
So she's on her own, but shefeels more comfortable after
getting there and getting kindof used to getting around and
(55:43):
figuring things out.
So I'd love that tip.
So start with a group.
Utilize a travel agent or havesomeone look over your plans, if
not Someone who's experiencedwith wherever you're going to,
you know.
So I have a friend who lookedover mine and he just he saved
me.
I mean, he's the one thatsuggested I download the train
(56:06):
app, which other people hadn't.
They just printed out theirtickets and so if I hadn't had
that app, I wouldn't have beenable to see where we were at
when we were going.
Make sure you have cellularservice before you go.
Another of his suggestions waspull up Google Maps or Google
Earth or whatever you want, andreally dig into the destination
and figure out how to get around.
(56:26):
I mean, you can see where thetram or the bus or the, you can
find all these things relativeto the train and the hotel and
things like that, and it reallyhelps to go in feeling kind of
familiar with the city byresearching it ahead of time.
Take the next step and what thisdoes.
(56:47):
This has been my motto foryears.
I just say take the next step.
And what this does?
This has been my motto foryears.
I just say take the next step.
And what it does is it stopsthat fight or freeze.
And see, in Paris, I froze, Ijust I'm not moving.
And so I forgot to say take the.
I didn't know what the nextstep was, because that was the
problem.
But normally it's take the nextstep, and so mine is I'm with
(57:11):
the right people in the rightplace at the right time.
Oh, that's good too.
That is good, but for mine, inthat particular reference.
So my last big goof with thetrain was that, um, I purchased
my sister and i's tickets to gofrom Narbonne back to Paris
after the end of the cruise, andshe had been first class the
(57:33):
whole way, but I booked it andso it was not a direct train.
I knew we were going to have aconnection.
We were going to have to getoff the train and get on another
one.
But at this point I'm a pro, Iknow where to look at the sign,
now, you know.
And so I wasn't really worriedabout that.
But when I was in Narbonne thetourism person I just showed her
(57:54):
my ticket because I said maybeI should upgrade to first class
because my sister's been onfirst class and she might be
more comfortable.
So she looks at it and she saysdid you know that you have a
connection?
And I said yeah.
And she said did you know it'sat another station?
And I said yeah, and she saiddid you know it's at another
station?
I had no idea, and so that wasa big one that I got lucky that
(58:14):
she saw that and so.
But then so we had one hour andthe thing is I didn't comment,
but on the canal we noticed thatthey take from 12 to 1 off, and
so if we came up to a lock, thelock keeper was at lunch, and
so if we had to wait till oneo'clock before they would let
you through.
And so if we came up to a lock,the lock keeper was at lunch,
and so we had to wait till oneo'clock before they would let
you through.
And so it's the same thing withthe taxis.
And so somebody said if it'sbetween 12 and one, you're not
(58:35):
going to be able to get a taxi.
And they said well, you takethis bus and this tram and this,
and I was like, no, I cannot Onthe spur going to figure that
out.
So it turned out we, our train,got there right at one.
So we walked up to the taxis.
There weren't any taxi driversavailable, but finally there was
one who was coming back fromlunch, so he zipped us and we
(58:58):
had an hour to get in.
You know, it would have taken,I think, 45 minutes if we'd
taken the bus and the tram andthings that people said oh no,
it's real easy, you can just getthere.
But he got us there, we plentyof time, it was fine.
But when we were worried aboutit, my sister was saying what
are we going to do?
And I said we'll just take thenext step.
If we miss the train, we'lljust get on the next one, I mean
.
And so to me it's that logicalof all I could do is what I
(59:20):
could do, and so you know.
So preparing for me that's a,that's a biggie, because then I
know what the next step is.
So make sure you have cellservice again, research the
destination and I already talkedabout that and pack lighter
(59:42):
than I did, even though Ithought I was packing light.
If I had to do it again, Iprobably would try to just go
with a backpack only.
But my biggest obstacle was itwas three weeks and I had two
different environments.
The writing residency was verycasual and laid back, whereas I
thought I was going to need more, dressier things for the cruise
.
So I'm trying to bring.
You know, I brought, I brought,I think, nine outfits, but
(01:00:04):
there was no washing service, soI needed to have as many
outfits as I was going to need.
Clean when I got on the cruiseis what I so I really felt like
I needed to bring as much.
But if I ever had to do it again, I would try to do just a
backpack, because every trainstation you go down the stairs
and you go up the stairs and andit's.
It's a lot of lugging with theluggage, not the backpack.
Backpack didn't hurt me until Itook it off.
(01:00:30):
It was carrying the luggage.
So okay, oh, and prepare lasttip prepare for the time change
and jet lag.
They say it takes one day forevery hour of time change.
For me, I found that I sleepwell the first few nights
because I'm exhausted from thetravel, but then I would wake up
often just because my body issaying what the heck, you know.
But I'm still sleeping andadjusting.
But so the first three days arekind of foggy and by five, day
(01:00:52):
five I felt adapted.
So if you know, I lost that daythat I would have had to get
acclimated.
I would have had more time if Ihad to do it over before I did
the writing residency, because Iwas sitting there in this fog
at first, you know, but by theend of it I was back.
So just allow time for theadjustment.
(01:01:14):
So it is said that wherever yougo becomes a part of you.
Somehow.
Travel is truly life-changing.
It changes your perspective.
It opens you to new cultures,food and adventure.
Then there's the empowermentthat comes from knowing you can
take care of yourself and thejoy of connecting with others
along the way.
You bring all of these giftshome with you.
I want to thank all of you forbeing here and again.
(01:01:36):
Mona for putting this togetherand doing the hard part that I
could not have done, and Rebeccafor bringing those delicious
financiers.
I'm still guessing.
Oh, I did.
I said financier.
See, I can't.
I'm still guessing.
Oh, I did, I said financier,financy.
I can see I stumbled overcertain words Fini, okay, fini.
So thank you all so much, andif you have any questions, I'll
(01:01:58):
answer them, if I can.
Thank you.
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