Day 01-02 – To Provence via CDG

We met our group early in Edinburgh, as they wanted easy transportation to the airport. Most were headed home, while we were traveling to Provence for our next workshop. Traveling means little time for blogs, thus combining Days One and Two.

Everything went well, and we found we actually had quite nice seats on the Air France commuter line. And no one was in the middle! Hooray!

Going through customs wasn’t too bad. In any event, there isn’t much you can do about it unless you opt for the fast pass passport, or whatever the official name for it is. We didn’t have time, so we stood in the cattle car line.

The bags made it, so we were happy and headed off to the car-rental. We had arranged for two Passat wagons that would give our group plenty of room, but there was one honker of a Mercedes van awaiting us. Yes, it did hold the required number of passengers we needed, but it was definitely more expensive than our original, two-car rental. With some negotiation in French, I got them to give us the original price, or very close to it. I wasn’t going to quibble over a few Europs.

We finally got out of the airport (CDG in Paris) around 1:30, a bit later than we had planned, but with the mixup in rentals …

Traffic was beastly getting out of the city, and we weren’t even in the city. Two hours to drive 55 kilometers. Ugh! Once out of the traffic and well on our way, Arnie and I agreed that we were so glad we ended up in one van rather than two cars. Trying to keep track of one another in snarly traffic would have been a zoo, and Arnie is not as good with the French signage as I am. This way, he could help navigate with the help of HAL and Mildred. HAL, some of you know, is our own Garmin. Mildred is our in-car GPS. Since she had a British voice, we cannot call her something French like Sophie.

Françoise and Pierre were preparing a welcome dinner for us. Originally, had things gone as planned, we would have gotten to the Mas (old farm) around 9:00. As things were looking, however, it appeared as though we would not get there until 10:30 or so. And we were so looking forward to one of Françoise’s wonderful meals.

Neither of our phones worked. We dialed carefully according to Verizon’s directions. They forgot one wee little critical element. We were supposed to dial the plus sign first. Fine. We were tired, and the only plus sign we saw was next to the person. I thought that was to add another contact. The plus sign they were referring to is the imperceptible one under the zero. So, I dialed the zero plus sign along with the number. Still no go. Ahhh, Verizon told me when I called back on Skype that you have to hold down the zero for the plus sign to come up. Thanks, Verizon.

But along the road, we had no Skype, and no meals to call Françoise and Pierre to let them know of our later arrival.

We pulled into one of those rest stops along the A-6, and I accosted a nice-looking couple, asking then if they were French, which, of course, they were. I explained our plight, saying we had just arrived in France and neither of our phones worked. They very kindly called the Mas for us, and I was able to report our revised arrival time. Just something light, I asked. Something simple.

The traffic moved along quite well, so we were able to shave off quite a bit of time. Françoise and Pierre greeted us warmly with the tradition (in these parts) left-right baiser (kiss on the cheeks). We had some rosé with a little strawberry flavor. It was not too sweet as one might expect, as we prefer dry wines, but we always love these, or the white one infused with peach. Delicious! Then, a salad with cheese and Cavaillon melon. Superbe! (You find French words sprinkled around in this blog series). The Cavaillon melons are famous for their lovely flavor. We were happy, stayed up and chatted with our hosts and caught up a bit.

Françoise and Pierre also had lunch with us. It is not their habit to take meals with guests, but there were only the four of us, and we get along so well, we are not just clients, we are friends.

The top photo shows Françoise preparing a lovely salad of the usual plus black olives, local cheeses, Herbes Provençal…

The one to the right shows a typical table that Pierre and Françoise set. The prerequisite wine, the pain (bread), the beautiful Provençal linens, and of course, the delicious salad.

We enjoyed relaxing (Françoise had barely returned from a trip to the U.S. herself), when a car drove in, and the first of our group arrived. They sat with us, and it was great to welcome back old friends, Larry and Dot, and greet one new one, Pat. They joined us for wine, but not lunch, as they had already had a full lunch of crèpes driving up from Marseilles.

We had gotten e-mails that one of our participants, Dee, had gotten delayed in Maimi because of bad weather. She wasn’t sure she would be able to catch the TGV (Train Grande Vitesse, or super-fast train). As it turned out, she did, but there were lots of e-mails sent, messages left on her mobile, in hopes that she would find out we would be at the station. Meanwhile, alumni Mike and Cathy had been in Avignon for several days and took the bus over to the train station to help look for Dee.

As it turned out, her train was VERY late, so phone calls flew back and forth between le Mas and us, trying to find out if there had been any messages from Dee. We at least knew she had made the train. Since we didn’t know what Dee looked like, we looked for someone who looked somewhat lost. Mike, Cathy, and Arnie, who had made contact, worked as a team, but no Dee. Finally, they came to the Honker Van and we loaded up their luggage and sat in the car for a bit. Finally, I saw someone who looked somewhat lost, carrying a backpack and dragging a suitcase. She also looked American (it’s the shirts and patterns we wear compared to the Europeans).

“Quick, Arnie, I think that may be Dorothy!” At that point, with two Dorothys, we had not yet figured out how we would differentiate them.

It was, and we returned to the Mas. As we sat out on the terrace with welcome wine, everyone got to know one another. The light got better and better, and some of our group grabbed cameras, in spite of being sleep deprived.

I showed them the huge chess set with the light beyond. It was better a few minutes earlier, but I was helping them.

Next: the start of the workshop and the arrival of our missing participant who will be driving from his home in Verona. Yes, he is Italian.

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