New York to Washington to France (tc)

Since we first got here I've been wanting to get some photos posted from the early part of our trip. With much delay and no fanfare here they are:

The view from the top of the Empire State.

We flew from Seattle to New York where we stayed with Daniel and Deborah, old friends from our Iowa years. They moved east from Iowa about the time we moved west, and like us they seem to have found what they were looking for. They live on 34th street, just "down the road" from the Empire State Building, and at night from the roof of their apartment we could see it just 5 blocks or so from us. From their apartment windows we could see the Chrysler Building. Deborah took us on tours of Manhattan on foot, she had learned well that New Yorker skill of knowing just when the walk light was going to change, seeming to step off the curb in the very millisecond that the change occured. Try as I might my attempts were usually too early, leaving me running back to the curb, just dodging the still flowing traffic, arriving on the same curb I just left only to meet the sidewalk crowd now begining their skilled crossing. I have discovered why I don't live in a city. I would not survive.


Deborah showing us the Grand Central Station.

After the guided tours by Deborah we ventured onto the subway, bus, and ferries. The bus was the favorite, above ground and able to see all the sights we're so familiar with and yet sights that seem so exotic: Greenwich Village, Grand Central Station, Penn Station, Madison Square Garden.. and on and on.


Molly at the MoMA.


A really big statue in NY Harbor.

From New York we took a bus down to Washington D.C., a 4 or 5 hour trip on a bus that had a TV playing videos while we drove. Something about that just galls me. The idea that a drive of a couple hundred miles has nothing interesting enough to keep a passenger from being bored is annoying to me. But more than annoying, this attitude worries me when I think about the American connection to the natural world. We have given up the dream of a new world, ever west to open lands, now all we have is 17 inch diagonal screen and the hope for good programing. The other aspect of the movie: not only was I going to have a movie talking to me, unavoidable in the confines of the bus, but the movie wasn't even my choice! We watched the Fischer King with Robin Williams... I looked for meaning in the story as we crossed New Jersey headed south.


Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool

In Washington we stayed with my nephew and his wife, Tom & Saba. This was great, near to the Washington Mall, and a metro stop took us downtown every day. We got to see another nephew and his family (Brett & Diane) who had moved to D.C. about the same time we came to visit. We saw the usual monuments, monumental in every sense of the word: Lincoln's, Washington's, and Jefferson's Memorials mean far more than their sum. Since childhood we've owned these as our common heritage. The Vietnam memorial always brings tears to my eyes, and reading FDR's words made us even more ashamed of Bush, I didn't really think that was even possible. He lives a mile away and knows the meaning of these words less than , .. well, less than he should. I am afraid that the world will pay for his ignorance for years to come.

Throughout our time on the east coast it was REALLY hot!


A hot day on the National Mall.


A hottie on the National Mall.


Pennsylvania Avenue



Renee practices tai chi, Dylan is amazed

After D.C. we took the bus (and movie) back to NYC for a flight out to Paris. Since Molly and Dylan have been young we've talked about Paris, we had worked them into a frenzy about the streets, the food, the views, and we all had a blast. Our time in Paris was framed around Molly and Dylan, there are certain things a person hears about Paris and we wanted them to see these: the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the Louvre. Certainly there are better places, and certainly the depth of feeling at many places other than these standard sights is often best, but then again, at a party one usually begins with the usual greetings.


Night time in the City of Lights




Notre Dame flying buttresses



Lunch on the Seine, near Notre Dame.

From Paris we took the train to Coligny, Erik, and Herve, and their families. We met the Trochus in 1987 while hitch-hiking in Wales, then stayed with them and their parents on several occasions after that. Erik even came to visit us in 1990 in Fort Collins. While in Coligny we were treated like family, and could not have enjoyed ourself more. We were given a home of our own, overlooking the valley of La Bresse.

The Trochu family home in Coligny, given over to us for our stay



Erik & Nadine after a late dinner out the day we arrived

Card games with Mathilde at Erik and Nadine's house

The evenings were cool and the black sky was clothed in stars. The crickets chirping through the night and the sheep bleating in the mornings, large sycamore trees overarching the narrow stone drive, this was la France profond, the France of my dreams.

Evening at Herve and Michelle's summer home near Coligny

Dinners lasted hours, conversation never stopped, nor did the best food and wine one can imagine.

Herve's family, their youngest had gone to bed as we talked past midnight


The French Countryside: like no other.

And we were never subjected to a movie while the beautiful countryside waited outside the window. We've always enjoyed the Trochu's view of life, and while they love France like no other, they also are great fans of America, still not forgetting our sacrifices from WWII.

From Coligny we had one more family to visit, in La Vialle Montmorin, a small village near Clermont Ferrand. We met Pierre, Emese, and their kids when we were in Fort Collins in 1985, and then stayed with them in 1987 & 1988 on multiple occasions while we were in Europe. We enjoyed our time with them again, and once again we were moved by the incredibly warm reception.


Pierre and Renee


Mattieu, Renee, and Pierre, and an ice cold beer

If you have seen Pierre walking the hillsides near his home, and heard his exclamations both profane and profound, you're a lucky person.