Things are getting real. I’ve got my plane tickets, my train tickets to Bath and Brussels, and excitement is building. I’ve sent a letter to my friend in Chartres asking if I can come visit her, and I’m planning on at least two excursions–one to the beaches of Normandy and one to the châteaux of the Loire. It’s the 70th anniversary of D-Day, and while I won’t be there on the actual June date, I’ll be going when things are still in full swing. I hope we never forget our Greatest Generation; their sacrifice helped end a horrific war.
I’m also thinking about spending a weekend in Angers, where I lived for a year in my twenties. I can get a cheap hotel room in the city center and then just spend the days wandering around visiting old haunts. Jeez, it’s been so long ago that I hope I remember all of them. One, at least, springs to mind immediately: the Bar du Centre. They made the best gallettes and crèpes, and I would go there at the beginning of each month when my check came in. At least I think it was called the Bar du Centre. I just did a quick Internet search and I’m not sure if it’s the same place or not. My memories are a little fuzzy to say the least. But the Hotel du Centre that I remember is still there, and it’s still as much of a flea bag now as it was in the ’80s. I’m of a mixed mind between planning too much and not planning enough. It takes time to plan, and I have to work and take care of my family along with the planning. But I think I’d rather underplan than over-plan and keep a little time for serendipitous exploration.
Summer In Paris 