Frog Blog

school is still closed, so i'm taking advantage of my free 30 mintues of internet a day at the local library. it's a lovely place-- all modern and glass-- with a fabulous view of the cathedral. i'm here checking out some books and enjoying a sunny day (er, indoors).

returned from the south of france tuesday evening. had a blast. H met up with me for half of it so i had a good mix of alone time and buddy time. the weather was good mostly, but hot enough one day that i was sweating in the sun at a beach full of topless bathers (most of which i wish had put their tops back on). i didn't have my suit so i swealtered in jeans and a black shirt. it was fabulous.

i can safely say that being on a put-put milk run train watching the ocean and small villages built into the mountainside is one of my top three favorite things to do of all time. i could be on that train all day and not get bored. it's cheap, beautiful, calming and puts everything into perspective. reminds me of the beauty of this world.

the people in the south are so, so, so nice. so much nicer than up here. on the tgv from antibes to paris, i ended up sitting across from a big group of people on their way to some reunion-- they got on in aix-en-provence and were all in the late 60s, early 70s. they offered me traditional provence cookies and were so friendly. they soon spied my english magazines and one of them told me "thank you" after i threw something away for her-- in english. i said, "you're welcome" and we struck up a conversation in french. about 15 people listened in, polite and attentive, at my terrible french, then asked me a million questions and told me where they'd visited in america. so sweet.

the flip side was on the train to home from paris-- i struck up a conversation, in english, with a guy in my car from montreal. a woman, all laced up and business, came in half way through our conversation and absolutely glared at us the whole time we were talking. scowling! it made me so unnerved that i stopped talking. she got off with me in my town. sometimes i feel like i live in a pocket of rich snobby mean people. oh well. at least i get free internet.