France and France Telecom

SO.

I just got back from France, as in am sitting in O'Hare for what may be a two hour layover but what will probably be a five hour layover thanks to the infinite wisdom of United Airlines, and can finally post again. France was beautiful and wonderful and amazing and filled with much eating and hiking, which are really my two favorite things that aren't baseball or puppies.

We spent most of the trip at our friend Rita's farm in the Dordogne, which is very green and lush with beautiful hikes, lovely little stone villages, and lots of foie gras. Most days we cooked the food we picked up at the great little outdoor markets. This would be after our death-by-ten-mile-hike afternoons and potentially our watch-Julie-get-tortured-by-a-tiny-British-yoga-instructor early evenings. Dinner seldom ended before midnight and never ran fewer than three courses. We ate scallops with the roe still attached (far superior to any other scallops, and apparently unattainable in the States); fava beans prepared two ways, both delicious; salt cod brandade which would make Delfina weep; rabbit prepared two ways (sense a trend?), both wascally, both also delicious; and about fifty pounds of this salty black licorice which could convert even the most strident black-licorice-objector.

This became an even more French vacation when we were cruelly deprived of internet by the wise people of France Telecom, who felt that keeping the DSL up and running and/or repairing it in any timely manner was not in anyone's best interest. I imagine a surly repairman in his little cottage sipping Bordeaux and sneering at a work order. The reality is going for a week without internet did not lead to the end of the world. A bigger issue was no pictures, since my camera has not been replaced yet.

It's very strange to me that at the end of this trip, I am flying back to the OC (hopefully soon) instead of to Philly. I left a bit earlier than most people, but in my week of radio silence, the rest of the Philly I knew fell away and now we are scattered as we will be for the rest of our lives, save for reunion weekends.