Merciful - for the moment at least
VallyP and Koos chillin' in Paris. I really like this pic - just the loveliest people ever. Doesn't Vally look serene?
At dusk on the way back to Gare du Nord. We look happy because we were.
As for the rest, well I haven't even sorted through them yet, but I hope there are some to remind me of the following random highlights:
1. Travelling overnight from Venice to Vienna by Trenitalia in a 6-berth couchette with family and luggage. I defy anyone to do this and resist thinking of the famous stateroom scene in the Marx Brothers' "A Night at the Opera". Just as well we liked each other.
2. James getting his hands on a piano in Vienna, and after playing "straight" for a while to a rapturous audience of a bunch of Austrian schoolgirls and one scholarly-looking elderly gentleman who kept creeping closer to watch him, producing a "smooth lounge version" (wink included) of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water". I have a video grab Sophie took, but it has been classified private. Your loss I'm afraid. We laughed so much we were in pain.
3. Many, many wonderful meals with wines both great and gruesome, clip-clopping though the cobbled streets of Paris with a broken boot heel, Colin and James' continued quest for the ultimate European ale, (it was at "1516" in Vienna, where they brew their own), and New Year's Eve in Rome asking pre-pubescent pyromaniacs for matches to light our fireworks in the square.
And of course a thousand other marvellous things, proving that travel does indeed broaden the mind and delight the senses. However, the most valuable thing I have leaned is this: the absolute and essential rule of winter travel is that you need to give any woman of late-middle to advanced age in a fur coat a wide berth. They are universally appallingly rude and will elbow anyone out of the way as though their lives depended on it. Forget this at your peril.
posted by MargieCM at 1:28 pm
12 Comments:
I love those two pictures, the one of Val and Koos and the other one with the extremely fine ladies. Normally I'm suspicious of concluding anything about the personalities of people from evidence as flimsy as photos, but in this case I think the evidence is quite sufficient to reveal what great people you are. But then again I know more about you, Val and Koos from elsewhere, so I don't know if it counts.
Normally travel accounts completely fail to convey any personality, but not so in this case. With these snippets you managed to perfectly convey how important the moments were *for you* in a way that allows outsiders to relate to the feeling as well. Pre-pubescent pyromaniacs. I rather like the image. :-)
Finally, it's rather funny that you should mention the ladies of mature age in fur coats. They are a familiar sight here in certain 'finer' stores and locales and always seem to carry the air of "we belong here and you are trespassers, because we are finer people than you."
Margie!! What a great snapshot of your travels, and I laughed all over again at your description of James's lounge music performance....and at the fur bedecked 'granny pack' reference. As I mentioned when we were with you, they are just as bad here, and I've often wondered whether it comes in the book of rules about getting old....must find a copy..haha...
Thanks so much for the remaining photos, Magie. I like the one you've published of Koos and I very much too, and think I might print it as the most up to date parent pics for my own offspring. It's a particularly good one of my Koosje.
I'll write again properly soon, but for now, much love to you, Colin and the fab four. They are absolutely terrific, all of them xxx
Welcome Home, Margie!
I'll comment proper after I've eaten my chili dinner.
...and I wish I was there...sigh! Wow for you! A great experience, and a real joy to find real folks, eh?
NEXT:
Visit the garage, with Allen, my neighbor, and my batch of yahoos in my house!
--Dan L.
Vally does look serene!..and the picture of you two together, you both look positivly radiant!
Oh, would loved to have seen James playing the piano..put it on youtube!..
Those women in fur coats-don't wear knickers..thats why the're always in a hurry..it's the draught don't ya know..
Welcome home, Margie!
I think that photo of Val and Koos truly captures them. They are indeed lovely. I can't help but notice how much you and Val look alike in terms of style and joyful elegance.
Gypsy, you made me giggle!
xx
AM
Hello Margie!
Oh wow - what a wonderful trip you had! And you met Koos and Val too!!
How lovely. (yes that's a beautiful shot of Val and Koos too).
I'm happy you had a great time.
Love your dimples, btw!
(I know how shallow but you look so sweet in that pic!).
Gypsy! she's too much.
I bet she's right.
:)
Take care,
Love,
Sue
Hi Margie, so nice to hear from you. been ages!!!
I love the photos, what a great time you all had. and what a fantastic trip.
xox
I appear to have no only misplace my soul, but my profile pic seems to have morphed into a lovely red rectangle.
I can't explain...
So I've had to not only reclaim my soul, but reinvent myself as well!
You all look so lovely and happy. It really must have felt like a reunion of sorts!
I am envious but, of course, happy for all of you.
Hi Margie,
only a short writing today. What two fantastic pics. I love both.
I come back later, because my son need the laptop and I must go. Ha,ha, the kids!!!
Love
Stefan
G-day, Margie (or however you Ozzies say it and I'm probably sounding like a complete dork).
Just to utterly confuse, I've changed my blogger name from "tanstripe" to "aquaseven" because it matches the new Who website name I have and it has a meaning where "tanstripe" did not.
Nice to see you had such a lovely time away...!
Heidi
Hi Margie
You might like to see the pictures of Paris I have on my blog.
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