Backtrack to England...

Here's a bit of a surprise: Johnny and I spent a mere four or five hours in London, and found that we were quite satisfied with that amount. Our stay was henceforth spent in the English countryside, mainly in the home of our hosts, in a small village called Chilton, where instant visions of Jane Austen novels spring to mind, and there is always someone offering you tea.

We also visited Oxford, which is as beautiful as you would expect and which stirs up irrational desires to pursue a master's degree in theology and philosophy... Our last day in England we were joined by Petra -Johnny's friend and our lovely host, along with her parents- and the three of us visited the luthier who designed Johnny's Manouche guitar in the old spa town of Cheltenham. After our guide conjured up some Guiness and Petra and I did a bit of shopping while the musicians wrangled with guitars, it was back to the village for dinner at the local pub.

The next day we set out for Paris, but that is another story altogether...


Quaint countryside home where we were most welcome


Johnny shakes it down at the luthier's


England? Ireland? Guiness Ad?

Ps.

Next time you are in Paris, leaning out your window with an iron-wrought railing, looking out over the sunset-lit Parisiennes as they meander down cobblestone streets, you absolutely must do the following:
Play 'Travelin Light' by Billie Holiday, drink a glass of Beaujolais, and smoke a Gauloises Blonde.* Trust me.

*(and yes, mom, I'm sorry, that is a cigarette... I'm on vacation, and I'm in Paris! Love you :)

Bonjour Francia!

Some truths about travel abroad in Europe:

-the public transportation is amazing, and not to be trifled with
-the English countryside provides a picturesque view and sublime hospitality
-there is at least one Very Rude person in Paris. so rude, in fact, I was compelled to describe her with words I try to avoid
-rudeness is not a quality posessed by all of France, however. our subleters could not be more kind.
-foreign keyboards live up to the former adjective in many ways
-it is now time for food, drink and merriment... more from me when we are settled

Ciao lovlies!

And we're off...

Tomorrow the beauty of physics will carry my love and I over thousands of miles of land and sea, back into the history and the future of our world... More tantalizing tidbits to follow...