Sunday, April 4, 2010

Visit #4

My brother's in town! People come to visit me as dependably as the bakers find an excuse to make something tasty (see below). Visits from family and friends are exciting on all counts. Seeing cool peeps is always a good time when you're far away. Not only because a person can get lonely all the way on the other side of the ocean, but because as exciting and foreign as France may be, I didn't get a chance to notice every exciting and foreign detail before becoming adjusted to the ways of the French world. Having a visitor opens my eyes to things before my eyes that I had never seen before. It also gives me excuses to go hiking along the calanques of Cassis, which are gorgeous and new every time.

Culinarily gifted brothers are also handy to have around when you need to impress French people. For example, on Friday, I gave a presentation at a small organization, and Cyrus provided the refreshments. The presentation went over fine, but it was my bro's salsa that I caught someone eating with a spoon. One of the attendees was heard saying, clearly impressed, "All the Americans speak French!" Bah oui.

I took Cyrus to the market today, my favorite Sunday morning activity. He got to meet the friendly cheese lady (who made sure he tasted all the cheeses), the friendly vegetable dudes, and the woman who has strange and elaborate opinions. We had some quality basking in the sun time, and some quality wandering-around-Marseille time, and we're headed to Barcelona on Wednesday, for all the adventure that entails.

3 comments:

  1. This all sounds so lovely. Can we have a hiking and salsa extravaganza back home in NH in June?! Enjoy Barcelona! Have never been...

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  2. Hiking and salsa extravaganza? I'm so there! Add Barcelona to the North-western Mediterranean AH tour for next winter, I think.

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