Home Again

Ok, it’s not really home; it’s more like a second home.  But it feels good to be back.

We took our usual route from SFO to Zurich because it’s a direct flight and because SwissAir is good with transporting animals.  This was Mica’s first transatlantic flight and she came through like a champ.

We drove straight to Divonne, just over border into France.  We can never wait to get to France.  It also helps that hotels there are half the price of Swiss hotels.

The next morning it was croissants, croissants, and more croissants for breakfast.  My god, they are good.  And lots of coffee to wake us up from jet lag. 

Then we made the long drive south to Provence, which I didn’t find difficult at all this time.  Maybe it was because my broken wrist prevents me from driving.  Val missed no opportunity to remind me that I owe her, big time.

This is the third time that we have rented the same house in St-Remy so we didn’t need a map to find our way.  The owners were there to greet us and it was kisses all around.  Plus they gave us a huge basket of homemade jams and sauces that we can’t wait to dig into.

Next we made the tour of our usual haunts – favorite restaurants and wineries.  Gotta stock up!   It was nice to see familiar faces and catch up on the news (the restaurant down the street was sold, the white wines are great this year but the rosés not so much, etc.)  The lady at one winery asked if we could help her translate a brochure into English, which we were happy to do.

A lot of our time has been spent on logistics – where to kennel Mica when we go to NYC for our nephew’s wedding, how to organize an X-ray and a doctor visit and physical therapy for my wrist.  Not the usual set of “getting started” challenges but interesting in their own way.

Of course, no “getting started” would be complete without seeing our dear friends Sara and Christian.  So the day after we arrived we had a long, delicious lunch at their place.  Mica met Ugo, their 12-year old male bichon, who was very….um…shall we say “excited” to meet this hot young  babe.  We will have to keep an eye on those two.

Finally, with the Stanford women’s basketball team in the March Madness tournament, we’ve spent several breakfasts watching recordings of their games on our iPads.  It’s all just part of this bi-national life we seem to be building.

KVS 

The girls hanging out