Thoughts Along the Way

REVISED August 17, 2024

My biggest disappointment on this trip is that I have not been able to understand when people speak to me in French. I can speak to people; I just can’t understand when they respond. I knew this was going to be an issue. I just didn’t know how to prepare for it. When we’ve encountered young people who speak English well, they say they learned mostly by watching TV and reading. So now I know. 

I read French pretty well, and I’ve been delighted by the colorful metaphors, often bordering on hyperbole, that the French employ. As in my last blog: “cropping” and “mutilating” Moreau’s ideas and actions. I suspect in translation these do not carry the hyperbole we would attach to it.  But they do add color. 

I’ve also loved French ingenuity. In our trip here in 2000, I loved the little kiosk toilets in the middle of the sidewalk. They’re a lot bigger now, but how great to have a facility readily accessible - for a euro, at least - which does make it problematic for those who can’t even afford that. 

My latest delight is something we saw in one of our Airbnbs. Soap on a magnet that hooks to the wall. You stick the bar of soap onto this magnet and it attaches to a hook screwed into the wall. No more messy soap dishes. 

As far as silly little things that one encounters when traveling, here was my favorite restaurant sign on the Marseille waterfront: “Sandwich Shop & Eggplant. Along the same lines, the French are even ingenious in their advances on cuisine: TacoNaan - tacos made with naan bread!

 Finally, in the middle of our tour of the old city of Bordeaux, we walked past a pest control establishment with evidence of the pests they had exterminated. If you are squeamish at all, especially about rodents, stop here.

The  name of the store translates to "Nowhere Everywhere," which in an old city like Bordeaux, says it all! We never saw rats, but it's likely they are hidden somewhere.