Nov. 8, 2007  Snow, here in Michigan.  And the cold weather should start stirring memories of sugar-plums and stuff.  It is stirring Holiday memories, sure enough, but ones in a large city with trains that travel underground and people talk more melodically.  In my younger days, before European environmental standards, the smell of diesel exhaust reminded me of summer mornings in Paris as the city woke up.  Now, all it takes is cold weather to remind me of the weeks that we have spent in the city of lights at the Holidays.  I am hopelessly caught in the embrace of a lover that I can't forget.  And the wait and anticipation is something I adapt to.

Oct 19, 2007  Here we go again!  As of this writing it is mid-October in Michigan and I am working on train reservations to get from Charles de Gaule airport in Paris to Nice.  When we land - some Monday morning in December - we will be taking one of those "real fast trains" to the Cote d'Azur.  Apartments have been booked in both Nice and Paris.  This year, the plan is to go toward the southern part of France for the sun and seafood and wine and countryside and people.  Why are we staying in a place on the harbor in Nice?  Because it seems like a good idea.  That principal drives a lot of our travels.  We will be finishing up in Paris, which has somehow become home to us in the last four years.  We are trying an apartment on the smaller island this time.  The only thing that we are sure of is lunch at the Orsay museum.  It is the best testimony that surroundings and companionship make the meal.