Recap of the last few days

Dec 29th
12:45PM
We’re on Mediterranean time today. I’m supposed to drive Morgane, Zoe, and Gabriel to Bretagne today. The time of departure was intended for 11AM but as 1PM quickly approaches, we’re still at Zoe’s apartment. I’m in no rush. I just would have preferred a few more hours of sleep.
Yesterday was spent wandering Paris—at times in the right direction and on two occasions lost. I had separated from Morgane and Zoe around 11AM to take some bags back to the flat so they wouldn’t have to heft them around all day. After my successful trip back to the apartment I went back out to meet them for lunch. My problems began the minute I stepped out onto the sidewalk: I started walking in the wrong direction. Several things could have helped me: 1) A Map (this New Year I might resolve to carry one with me at all times while I’m in Paris) 2) Sense (or perhaps a lack of egocentric stubbornness). I should have started backtracking the second I realized I was heading in the wrong direction 3) The sun (if the sun ever poked its head through the clouds I might have been able to triangulate my position and figure out which way to go after I neglected to back track). Any of these would have been beneficial and rescued me from the inevitable phone call. Instead I opted to listen to my well fed navigational ego, thinking I could figure out the right way through improvisation and most importantly without backtracking. Eventually I ended up much worse off than when I began, so I made the phone call. Since I was at a metro stop Morgane was able to tell me which lines to take to meet them at a new location for lunch. This worked out well for me. For now on I’ll forsake the roads in favor of the metro since I seem to be able to navigate it. The incident has probably left me better off than before. I got to experience Paris without my chaperone. I also learned a valuable lesson, “there’s nothing wrong with back-tracking.” I was even able to put it into use. When I started walking in the wrong direction later in the afternoon I back tracked with great success.

Zoe and Morgane hosted a dinner party Friday night for family and friends. It was a rather large affair (the picture to the left is from the loft looking down at the table). Since Finney and McCall (my friends from Austin that are currently living in Paris) I got to practice my English. We three, along with Mark (Emmanuelle’s boyfriend…..E=M’s sister), were able to set up an Anglophone perimeter for most of the night to defend ourselves against the mass of Gauls.
The party ran past 2AM (the Subway doesn’t run past 2Am on Fri/Sat nights) so Morgane and I took a cab back into the city and were in bed by 3AM. This of course leads me back to the 11AM departure time and my final lesson of the day—if the rest of the country is on Mediterranean time, I should fall back asleep and join them.

Dec 30th
5:00PM

Located in the northwestern most reaches of France, Bretagne is the birthplace of impressionism. In the French mindset it seems to hold a place akin to our own conception of the northwest. The region is quite damp and experiences light rains throughout the year. In Bretagne, the sun’s presence is always in combat with cloud cover. That interaction between light and shadow is perhaps what first attracted people like Gauguin and Van Gogh to the region.

We are staying in a castle near Pont Aven (sorry the map image isn't great) overlooking an inlet that leads out to the Atlantic Ocean. The castle was purchased by about 13 years ago (I think) by the man who, as far as I can gather, invented the two way pager (I was also told he had the patent on DSL in France as well). Michel (owner) refitted everything in the castle with modern conveniences. Somewhere along the way the balance between old and new seems to have been lost, giving the castle a sterile, unlived in feel somewhat akin a hospital. The outer walls seemed to have been heavily power washed which leaves the walls to seem like a construction of this century as opposed to the 16th. I don’t want to split hairs: getting to stay in a castle is an exciting first for me. As a history lover, I regret the loss of unique identity the castle had in place of what it’s become. One would think a better balance could have been reached.