Midgets and Gypsies and Swans........ OH MY!

Midgets and Gypsies and Swans.......OH MY!

@ by Jill O’Neall Ching

Dedicated to Judi, Janet, Sara, Kate, Lissa and all.

A most memorable birthday party.....one I shall never, ever forget~

Part 1, The Leaving

It was a dark and stormy night, not actually, it was a perfect Maui
evening, and I'd anticipated this trip for
months, planned alot of details and had alot of free time worked into the
itinerary, packed too much and asked my husband to drive me to the airport
for my night flight to San Francisco , we left home about 7pm , it was August
27, and I was going to Europe ! Curtis dropped me off at the curb,
continuously asking me if I could handle my large rolly bag myself, I said
sure and put it and my small rolly bag onto the curb and set off toward the
check-in counter, waving goodbye to him.
When you leave Hawaii you must go thru the Agricultural Inspection station
first and all bags are screened for any type of plant or animal material,
we are not allowed to take anything without the proper 'ag stamp' on
it. So I lift my bag onto the belt for the ag inspection and notice my bag
is DARN heavy, oh oh, maybe I've made a mistake in judgment about my bag!
This would prove to be true over the next couple of weeks.
Next stop at the airport is the actual check in counter for United
Airlines, and I told the agent, "I'm listed all the way to Brussels ", this
is code for, I'm a stand-by passenger and I'm really hoping there'll be a
seat open for me on this first of 3 legs half way around the world
please. I gave him my companion pass and he took my big checked bag, oh
goody.... that's gone, and now I am left with my pink rolly backpack bag and my
black bag, containing my purse and travel essentials, this bag and its
contents is to stay at my side for the duration, as it contains my tickets,
my passport, my money, credit cards, medications and all essentials for
travel, so I must hang onto this bag or else! The ramifications are tremendous.
My large checked wheely bag is now on its way to Brussles, where I
hopefully will pick it up 2 days from now, it will only be loaded onto
flights that I make it onto, as the airlines uses positive baggage match for
most passengers, including non-revenue passengers, like myself. I am given
my 'stand-by' check in card, which I will need to give to the agent at the
gate, if my name is called to board, just prior to departure.
So, I've got about 90 minutes til boarding time.....I proceed to security
to go up to the gate for departure. This is where the hand carry baggage is
scanned.
I get thru without 'beeping' and go up the escalator to the gate, it’s a
long walk, but just the first of many to come. I'm a clever traveler or
so I think. I have 'stuff' to occupy myself in my bag and I get my book
out to read, I'm reading a book called Hello from Heaven, about a study
done on folks who have had 'after death communication' with their departed
loved ones, its an interesting read and I forget the slowly ticking clock
for a bit. I use the potty twice as I'm a nervous traveler too, in
addition to being clever and I position myself near the counter where the
'stand-by's' will be called just before departure, if I am extremely lucky I will be given a
seat in First Class, the epitome in non-rev travel.
I'm in luck, I hear my name called and rush up to the counter and am given
the seat, 32D, okay, not first class but we'll see if its ok or not. Please
NOT a middle seat, that's all I ask!
As I board, I'm told to go to secondary security where the guard opens
all my carry-on and even my lunch! Apparently I look like a dangerous type, all non-rev’s
are secondarily screened as it turns out.
As I wait for him to search my belongings I call Curtis and say, I'm ON! I
got a seat, so he knows I'm on my way to San Francisco , leg one is a go!
I get on the plane and at least it is an aisle seat, with a man next to
me, I'm hoping I'll sleep, but then I always hope that. It's a 5 hour
flight, and I settle in for the long flight, I've got my pillow,
headphones, earplugs and all and I try, try to sleep, to no avail, plus the
ride is a bumpy one, apparently it IS a dark and stormy night out there, as
alot of turbulence occurs for most of the flight, but I'm off, I've begun,
I'm on my way to Europe!


Part 2 The Wait

After a long night of flying in a cramped seat in coach, next to a man that
says all of 3 words to me during the entire flight, trying to watch a
movie, avoiding the airline food, and sleeping about 12 and a half seconds
my plane lands in San Francisco at 4am, about 30 minutes early as we have
caught a tail wind. I gather my pink rolly bag (a nice man behind me
actually takes it out of the overhead and gives it to me!) and my black bag, which has not
left my side, we wait for the plane door to open so I can disembark.
As I enter the terminal I immediately find the restroom and take the time
to clean up a bit, brushing my teeth and combing my hair so I don't look
like Phyllis Diller when I see my youngest sister, Judi about 7am. This respite helps me to
perk up magically and I leave the restroom feeling like a new woman, although I have
been awake all night.
Next its time to find something to eat and wait for the girls to find me at
the appropriate gate, I locate the gate where the next plane will take me
on my journey and then notice that NONE of the shops in the terminal are
open at 4am!
Oh Well, I find a place to sit and wait awhile and people watch, making up
stories in my head about where they might be traveling to, today......this
attractive business woman walking past, must be on her way to meet her
clandestine lover for a weekday triste in the City....and so on. What fun I
have making up lives for people I don't know.
Pretty soon the Starbucks opens and I proceed to get a coffee, I have cold
scrambled eggs from home in my cooler so I eat some of those, but they
taste lousy.
I have enough to tide me over, as I'm determined to eat right on this vacation, sticking to
a strict lo-carb diet faithfully.
I pass some time in the Starbucks and then wander around a bit, rolling my
pink strolly and noticing that the wheel sticks quite alot, and I have to keep
yanking it to make it move. Oh no, more trouble with luggage.
There is a place in the terminal I remember from another long layover in San Francisco
where the chairs have no arms and I get the idea I can stretch out if I can
find this area, so I start looking and sure enough its over by a bank of
telephones, I decide, I've got several hours and this is a pretty empty
terminal, I'm going to gather my stuff close to me, and put my feet up, as
flying always causes swelling of my feet. So here I am, dressed up, because
you must wear a dress and nylons to fly on passes (thank goodness for
Judi's passes, this roundtrip is only costing me $680 to Europe from
Hawaii, about one-sixth the regular fare)......but I decide the dress is long and I can figure

a way to stretch out and not look too ridiculous. OH! What relief, my feet off the
ground! I manage to stretch out for at least 30 minutes and rest better
than I did the whole 5 hours of flying. A night with no sleep is no fun.
By now its about 6am and I decide I need to go wait by the gate so we can
get good access to the check in area. Earlier I had also checked in with
the attendant at the customer service and she had given me my standby card
and now I'm ready for the flight from San Francisco to Dulles in Virginia.
A woman I sit next to, opens a conversation with me, she's about my age and
obviously chatty and I think, oh good someone to talk to, we exchange
travel itinerary's and she's from Honolulu, on her way to the East Coast to
visit family. We have quite a talk and she's really impressed with my
ititnerary too. We talk for at least 30 minutes! That's so nice.
As I sit and wait some more I see my neices approaching! YAY!
They are here, Hugs, kisses, yay!
We talk awhile, they tell me about their night in their hotel nearby and I
tell them about my bumpy cramped flight. My wait is over my family is here
and now the real fun can begin!


Part 3 The Fun Begins

It is always so great traveling with Judi, she's easy-going, sweet and
sensitive to everyone's idiosyncrasies, which I have a number of, I'm sure.
When Judi, Sara, and Katie came walking thru the terminal toward where I
was sitting, my heart leapt, now the fun would really begin, no more
sitting alone, waiting for some random stranger to talk to me, my family is here
with me now, the feeling that everything will be ok settled around me and I
was glad.
The first mistake I'd made tho was to check in to customer service before
Judi got there, because now I had an 8C seating priority, rather than the
8A I would have with Judi, and a much greater chance at really good seats
for our flight to Dulles Airport in Virginia, funny I always thought I was
going to Washington D.C but Dulles is actually in Virginia. So we went up
to the gate for our 'better' stand-by cards and they were actually
beginning boarding the big plane already, we only had moments to wait to
find out if we had seats on this plane or not, ANY seats are good, First
Class is especially great. If all the First Class seats were taken by other
non-rev passengers then the next we would hope for would be seats all together
in coach, barring that, then we would of course be grateful for ANY seats anywhere on the
plane!
Just a few moments passed, we waited anxiously, alot of non-rev's were
called and we thought all the First Class seats were taken, and then BOOM!
Brooks and Ching, our names are called and we got the last seats
in Business Class, GREAT! Almost exactly like First Class and Judi and I would be sitting
together, the girls got coach, but at least their seats were
together, and most importantly we're ON the plane, and on our way to Dulles! Yippee!
We find our VERY comfy seats, oh this is WAY better than in the back, and we settle in for
the 5 plus hour flight to the East Coast, I've been traveling
now since 7pm the night before and its good, good, good to have a really
nice seat to sit in, hmmmmmmmmmm. Travelling with Judi is SO nice...........


Part 4 The Long Ride to the Olde World

All travel should be first class, they should just do away with coach and
let people fly the way man was meant to fly, up front, in comfort and
sipping a diet Pepsi with lime. Well I'm pretty tired by now and PLAN on
sleeping on this leg, I just must sleep so I can arrive refreshed and ready
in Brusseles, of course first we must land in Virigina before continuing on,
but hey, eventually we'll get there.
This leg of the trip is sketchy in my mind, I do recall something about
movies and dozzing off and visiting with Judi but not much else really, 5
hours of my life just gone it would seem, but I now I sat in
comfort and relaxed and slept briefly, and I’d missed the deli course that was
brought around after the yummy filet mignon course, see what I mean,
first class is best.
I visited with the girls and stood up for at least 30 minutes, to keep the
juices flowing, its not good to sit for so long on an airplane without
moving, but before long we'd arrived in Virginia and made our way thru a
VERY busy terminal toward our next gate, all in all everything is going
very smoothly. Judi saw a dear old friend from when she worked at this
airport 15 years ago was it?
She got to visit with him awhile and I took a needed rest from the long
walk and pedestrian moving sidewalks that fill this terminal, this place
was sardine can filled with traveling folk, and Judi's friend processed
our stand-by cards for the next leg and said the news is good for the final
leg of our trip and we should arrive in Brussels pretty darn soon, about 6
hours or more of travel.
We waited by the gate where we needed to be and I saw a Thomas Cooke money exchange
and got a great exchange rate on Euro's, I bought $300.00 worth.
The value was approximately 88 cents to the US dollar.
Soon it was time to board again and we did so without incident and once
again we had the big First Class seats, better than business, oh goody, goody.
The Frenchman who became our personal concierge for the flight to Europe
was so kind to us throughout the flight, he took splendid care of us,
bringing us diet coke's and food and goodies. I tried to sleep some more but
couldn't, the flight was fine and I am really enjoying these legs with
Judi........before long really we land in Brussels and get luggage carts, its very
early in the morning again and altho I slept about 7 seconds on this leg
its alright, I feel good and I'm ready to see the Olde World.


Part 5 What's Good about Belgium?

From what I saw of Belgium, which was mainly Brussles, Mons and the E19
highway to Paris, quite alot, thank you. In fact I love Belgium.
Belgium turned out to be a real bonus on this trip and was one of the most
carefree parts of the vaca. When I learned a couple days before
I left Maui that we were planning on landing in Belgium, I looked on the
internet to find out what's good about Belgium in the way of tourist
attractions, and on every website I visited the big news was a place called
the Grande Place, well if they have the audacity to call it grande I
thought, we'd best check it out.
So it was my endeavour to find this place described as a medieval market
square, in the heart of old Brussels. We'd landed early to a deserted airport, it
must have been before 6am and decided we all
wanted to change out of our traveling clothes and into more comfy attire
so we found a bathroom and took our wheely carts with all our luggage into
the ladies room to change, which of course meant searching thru our bags to
find appropriate clothing, as we began a MAN followed us into the restroom
(a theme that would continue later in other venues) and he was the bathroom
attendant there early in the morning to clean, we were obviously in his way
and he in ours but neither of us stopped doing what we needed to do, thusly
the 4 of us changed clothes while he cleaned every stall. Weird.
Eventually we were all done changing and we proceeded to Europecar where
Judi had reserved a car for us to drive to Paris, I figured I'd help with
the 165 miles drive but since they only had stick shifts that was out, so
it would be Judi doing all the driving, as I simply cannot drive a stick,
we had good luck when they said the cost would be 50 Euros less because the
car belonged in Paris and needed to be returned there, so the one way extra
charge did not apply, we found the car in the car park, and a cutie named
Manuel showed Judi how to drive this French Renault.
As we took off she noticed an ! exclamation mark on the dashboard but it
disappeared when she put the parking brake off so we were on our way. The
very helpful attendant at the agency had showed us how to find the Grande
Place on their drive guide and so we felt confident to begin our drive.
We drove past where NATO is located, but didn't notice the building and
then headed into downtown Brussels, following signs that said CityCentre,
there were lots of such signs and we kept turning left and right and Judi
negotiated all the silly roundabouts, I'd heard tell of, yes they are
confounding. Eventually after some time and turning around, and both Sara
and myself trying to interpret the map and watching for the signs, we
actually found the Grande Place. WOW!
It is really, really grande, they certainly named it correctly, actually it
took my breathe away like no other place ever has that was manmade, this
huge square is completely surrounded by buildings that rival any in Paris,
I could not tell what they contained , as we parked, illegally in the front
of the Police station and peeled out of la Renault for a better look see.
I think I gasped. There were chandeliers inside the buildings that were lit
at 8am, there were people on balconies and elaborate, intricate statues and
saints and eagles soaring on roofs and golden statuary adorning buildings
and it was truly awesome this very grande medieval square.
I believe some were business, some part of the government and some private
residences, but that was hard to tell as there were few signs, the only one
I saw was for the police.
We took some photos and looked around and then decided we needed to go, I
noticed a lady policeperson approaching as we loaded ourselves back into
the car, and we drove around the square before departing down an alley way
of sorts and we stopped and bought some little souvenirs, I bought some
postcards of the Grande Place, some of those cards show the cobblestones
covered with flowers, as they carpet the huge, 500 square foot or more area
with flowers on special occasions, a stunning sight that must be, and I was
not disappointed with our first 'attraction' as it were.
Sara told us she needed to have a Belgium waffle so we looked at the map,
Judi said she wanted to get on the road to Paris, as she had a long drive
and so we compromised and decided we would find Sara's waffle in the town
of Mons, Belgium on the way to Paris, just before the French border. I
decide all this on the fly and prayed the whole way to Mons that there will
really be a waffle there for Sara.
So now we needed to find the highway to Paris, and after stopping at a
store that looked suspiciously like a 7/11 and buying coffee and getting
directions we headed off in the direction we were told, we see ahead
another amazing looking building and we took photos of it also, I believe
it was the Basilique of Brussels we drove around the roundabout, and
narrowly missed an oncoming speeding tiny little car that would of hit us
if I'd not screamed CAR!
It was a near miss, but once again fortune shined upon us and we were fine,
a bit shook up but fine....... those roundabouts are insane.
We find the E19 and sigh because except the fact that all the signs are in
French, the road looks alot like Hwy 99 heading toward Florin Rd. to me, I
had no idea how fast we were going but it seemed fast and I get a little
nervous so I wore my seatbelt.......the scenery was pleasant and pretty
soon we were in rural countryside, rolly hills and so on, it was a foggy
like day but it was distant fog and the visibility was fine.
After an hour or so of driving we came to Mons and got off the highway and
I immediately saw a sign that said Grande Place! HUH?
Is there a Grande Place in every town in Belgium, we had to see.....we
found this square without much trouble and altho it was large and filled
with old 300-400 year old buildings they were not as magnificent as the
ones in Brussles, we got lucky and found a parking place and walked around
until we found a place that sells waffles, it was a BAR.
Hmmmmm.......the girls had their waffles and we took more photos, they were
nice to us at this bar and we took off again, got onto the E19 with no
trouble and headed toward Paris, now the signs changed and all said
destination Paris, at the French border NO ONE stopped us even for a second
and the girls went in search of a stamp for their passports but none were
to be had!
Apparently they will let anyone into France.
The road trip continues and finally we come into Paris, we drive right on
past Charles DeGaulle Aeroport and into Paris proper, I interpret the map
and determine we need to head toward La Defense and we find the area we
need, but somehow we drive past it and suddenly we are headed toward, NO
PLEASE NO, the 28 lane, intersection, insanity that comprises the Arc de
Triomphe roundabout!
We are in this mess of cars, circling round and round the Arc,
and they are all honking and sort of screaming
and saying things in French and we are just trying to get out of this mess and
eventually we do so but every second I am just waiting for some idiot to
plow right into us! Bonjour and Welcome to Paris! Oh my GOD I think, I am
getting out of this car and never getting into it again! That is if I'm not
killed first. Well, the real craziness only lasts a few minutes, albeit
indelibly inked on my personal hard drive forever, all of us in that car will not
soon forget that roller coaster ride, it was actually the closest I would
get to the ARC!
So we get back onto Avenue Charles DeGaulle and even eventually find the
apartment Judi rented for all of us, and now what to do with the car, this
is now the most important problem as apparently there is not one parking
place left in the area of Paris we are in, oh boy. Judi lets us off with all
the bags and the key to the apartment and attempts to find a place to park
the car, drives around a few times and we decide to take the bags into the
apartment and after all this we are now trying to transport
luggage and so on, and guess what? I cannot lift my stupid big wheely bag, this is
bad cause I am traveling with a bag I cannot handle, and were it not for
Sara and Kate I would just have to leave it there on the corner I guess.
There is a small winding staircase up to our apartment too! Well, we get
into the apartment and I fall into the bed, I pick the bed in the room with
2 double beds, as the room with the queen has a bed so low I'm afraid I'll
strain myself getting out of it, anyway I am exhausted and I have to rest
awhile but alas we have arrived, enjoyed Belgium and are now in Paris and
everything is wonderful !
I am determined to enjoy my trip.


Part 6, Welcome to the Most Beautiful City on Earth, at Least on the Outside

After relaxing for a few minutes on my new bed I got up to explore the
apartment, with the rest of our gang. Judi'd found a weird parking place,
but didn't know the cost of it, and that could be alot
but for the moment we were together in our Paris apartment, checking out
the funny washing machine and reading the note that the dryer is broken, we
like the look of the place, it is old and has long tall French windows, the
decor was interesting too, paintings by a J.C. Pleau and decor of a sort
not seen in most American homes, kind of bad 60's French kitsch I would deem it.
Before long Janet, who’d arrived by plane in Paris, called from her bed and breakfast
place and said she would be there in 5 minutes, we told her she would not be able to get
into our apartment so in a few minutes we would all go downstairs and find her and then
we'd go to the grocery together. So we did go downstairs, and we waited.
For an hour, we kept thinking, well some of us should walk to the market
and get a head start and eventually that's what Sara and I did, we walked
the short block to Mono Prix, the French version of a super market and
perused the aisles of very different fare, with pricing in 2 currencies,
both Euros and Francs, I didn't know that til I asked a lady who was
shopping about the eggs and she very cordially responded to my pat opening,
"Bonjour Madama, Excuze-moi, s'il vous plait....eh.....combien?" This
became my mantra, Good Morning Ma'am, excuse me please, ah...how much is this? As I
point to whatever. I met the nicest French people asking the price of
something.
I found out which price to look at on the tags and we selected the world's
tiniest chicken, some brocolli, bad strawberries, eggs at 24 cents each,
great cheeses that were so cheap and lots of other goodies. Eventually Judi
came to find us, saying Janet never did come and that she would finish the
shopping, so I gave her some money and walked back to the apartment as I
was very tired and my right leg was throbbing, actually I limped back and
after much attempts at opening the courtyard door was able to open it, go
up the stairs and I began opening the door to the apt. when Judi and Sara
came back. The front door to our flat would not open.
We all tried, as we sat with lots of groceries, scattered on the floor all around us, each in
turn attempting to open the door, with the odd key, a key of a circular
shape with grooves in it, it simply would not open for any of us.

We started to get frustrated each one at a time and then altogether, we sat on the stairs
that went up and just looked at the door and then across the hall another
door slowly opened and a very old woman peeped out at us. Old, and French and
without a syllabyl of English I might add. Hmmmmm...... Bonjour Madame, je
suis americain (like she couldn't tell). Le door she is stuck, boy now we
are searching, she inches her way out and approaches, tiptoeing around the
eggs and bottles of water and bad strawberries.....and puts herself in
front of le stuck door.
Judi gladly hands her the key and we wait and I think, if this old French
lady gets this door open I will just crack up. I'm truly exhausted now,
utterly so and just want my bed, yearn for my bed, must have my bed. After
several attempts, and at least 5 minutes.....Voila she is OPEN!
Le door unstuck. We profusely thank Madame. We slump into the apartment and I
collapse on the bed, unable to help with the unpacking or preparing of le diner, we are
all hungry but that's too bad, I am unable to help, I hear alot of action in the kitchen and
after awhile make my way into it and
sit down and proceed to eat everything they hand me, without knowing I ate
most of the chicken from the World's tiniest, Judi got hardly ANY!
I eat cheese and I forget what else and then go to take a much needed
shower, change into my nightgown as I am going NO where except to bed and Janet rings
us and we find out she didn't know you cannot Hail ! a cab on
the streets of Paris very easily and she'd tired walking to our place, but
it was not close at all. She apologized for making us wait and was very
sorry, and wanted to come over to our place in a bit.
We said great, see you later, we're not going anywhere except to see about
the car. Judi decided to call about le stuck door and called the number
that came with the door key and a note that said “in case we needed help”.

Awhile later a very French gentleman, Jean Claude Pleau, really bad painter and
apartment owner in denial showed up at
our expensively rented apartment. I was sitting in the big bedroom watching French tv,
with my back to the
door, and I could hear Jean Claude telling
Judi repeatedly there is nothing wrong with his door.
Hmmmmm....... hadn't we just spent an hour in the hallway?
Or am I crazy?
He showed her the French technique for door opening and walked down the 10 foot
hallway and looked into the big bedroom, he was obviously looking to see who was in the
apartment. He said again there is nothing wrong with the
door, I turned around and said, "It took us an hour to open it". He became
visibly huffy, and said, "OH I come over here, you say there is something
wrong, there is nothing wrong, now I am leaving, goodbye" He left without
telling us about the dryer, Judi had other things she wanted to talk to
this guy about and he just walked out, but he wasn't done yet, oh no.
He just had to be really insulting in a way ONLY the French can be.
Apparently Mr. Jean Claude goes downstairs to where Sara was outside
waiting for Janet again and Jean Claude gives her a real earful when he sees she has a key
to his apartment.
So while Judi and I are trying to figure out what just happened.....he is
'ripping' Sara a new one as she put it when moments later her and Janet
come upstairs. This idiot has asked Sara, are you in my apartment, well who
was the rude fat woman on the bed in inappropriate clothing? Apparently its
a sin to be fat and in a nightgown IN a bedroom,
in an apartment in France, or maybe the sin is stating the obvious that his door is not
user friendly and we need the help of a very old woman who cannot communicate with us
to open it! He is in denial about the doors into his apartment!
Sara is aghast and visibly upset at this interchange with Mr. French Man and comes to tell
us about it, over and over again, and now I am really
insulted, how dare he talk this way about me to my niece?
Bonjour Madame and by the way Fuck you. This is shocking behaviour in my
personal opinion, I mean NO one in my long life has EVER spoken to me or
about me in this way that I have EVER been aware of, I have to come all the way to France
to be this insulted! The French are simply idiots.
At this point I am not having any fun and just want to go to bed. But I
stay up and visit with Janet and she and Judi decide to go out and deal
with the car parking problem, so pretty soon I do go to bed, and sleep
fitfully. Bonsoir all, tomorrow will certainly be a better day than the
last few hours we've spent, I think to myself as I doze off. A bientot.

Part 7 Paris, the City of Surprises

Morning in the city of lights........ummmmmm.........the anticipation is
palapable, I've never really seen most of Paris, when I was here previously on a trip I took

alone after my Mother passed away I only spent two days here on my way to Greece.
I can hardly wait to
get started, so I'm up early, fixing breakfast for everyone and ready for a
day of surprises, let come what may. We were going to just live in Paris
for the week, like anyone, that was what Judi wanted and I would try to
help that happen.
The night before we'd settled on an agenda for the following day, first
we're to return the car to the Charles DeGaulle aeroport because its just
too much trouble parking it, and we won't need it in the city anyway, with
their excellent transportation systems. Judi and Janet had managed to move
the car to Janet's area and found a legal side street space for it for the
night after I'd gone to bed and she needed to retrieve it so we could get
rid of it. Janet didn't want to accompany us to the aeroport so we picked a
meeting place at noon directly under the middle of the Eiffel Tower, this plan seemed
simple enough.
After our yummy breakfast we piled into the car, that I was never going to
get into again, and headed toward the aeroport, stopping for petrol along
the way and once again getting directions, all in French mind you.
Many lovely sights were along the way and lots of frenchy looking things
but we wanted to see the really big city sights so we needed to keep
moving, we found the freeway, hooray and knew that the aeroport was only
about 20 miles away, from there we could take the mass transit system that
Paris is famous for, it was good to be getting started.
We found the place to return the car, we are really good at finding places
apparently and parked it, but the office was closed, I figured lets go to
the terminal so we went upstairs and found the office, I had to sit again,
as my leg was hurting, Judi waited in a long line to be serviced. We got
thru that to find another line for using the elevator to the trains, this
one even slower as the elevators were filled with people, I'd say each line
was at least 30 minutes. Finally we made it outside to the shuttle area for
the tram ride to the train station, and went into the station to buy our
train passes for the 7 days we'd be in Paris, they cost 70 euros each. Judi
showed me how to use the pass, you put one end thru the machine and pick it
up again after you pass thru the turnstile, easy enough.
Now we boarded a train to take us to the metro which would take us to le
Tour Eiffel.
It was getting really late by this time, well after 1pm, we were very late
to meet Janet but we wanted to go there anyway so on we pressed, we took
bets if she would be there or not, I believe Judi said she would be and I
said no she wouldn't.
After this train ride, I remember the adorable French baby sitting just
behind us on her Daddy's lap who smiled and cooed at us the whole ride,
this was a rather long ride from the outskirts into the city, then we
transfered, going up and down stairs to the metro and then got off the
metro near the Eiffel Tower about 4 blocks away, we turned a corner and Ha!
There was Janet! She was about 2 blocks from the tower and had by now been
waiting 2 hours as it was 2pm, but she was leaving as we got there. We were
certainly lucky to find one another and we walked closer to the tower,
which dwarfed all the other buildings nearby, and could be seen for blocks
around, I took a picture from several blocks away where the trees encircled
the tower and it is the loveliest of the many I took in Paris. Judi found
'our' artist Burnett and admired a beautiful painting of the Arc at sunset
and showed it to us, we even 'met' the artist and Judi wanted a photo of
him, but he would not allow it. What is it about frenchmen?
I found a public toilet and paid 40 cents to pee, in a pretty disgusting
outhouse right on the sidewalk, but when you got to, you got to, and we
walked closer to the tower, when we finally got to the huge square where it
sits the magnificence of it was really very beautiful, and so massive,
taking up the space of many city blocks.
Judi and Janet both wanted to call their respective men, Janet wanted to
call Dave in Honolulu and Judi wanted to call Jacques in Paris and so
they went to the phones to attempt to use them and I found a bench near the
trees where I could watch and look at the tower, then Judi wanted to use
the potty and hadn't made her call yet, these french phones are not easy to use, and
so I moved over under the tower itself and sat under the tower, I took
photos, watched Katie feed the pigeons and waited and it was lovely, we
spent quite a bit of time there and I totally enjoyed sitting there under
le Tour Eiffel, I will never forget this carefree part of our trip.
Mostly cause it was the last time I felt really carefree. To sit idly
under the Eiffel Tower on a lovely Fall day, what problems or surprises
could possibly be ahead?
I anticipated pure heaven from here on out.
Well, I'm not perfect.


Part 8 Rewind to last Night so Today Makes Sense for a Moment


A vital conversation occurred last night to set up what happens on the
Eiffel Tower day, so let's rewind a moment to last evening so that the
events of the day make more sense, once we leave the Tower area.
After dinner last night Judi called the man who had been so rude to us all
in our apartment about his malfunctioning doors that don't work right to discuss with him
the other things she wanted to tell him, before he so rudely departed.
So we all held our breath while she called him to say, Hey that's not right
and don't do it again, and by the way, what's up with the dryer? She was
much more cordial than this, at least at first. She first talked to the
other man, and said, are you coming to fix the dryer? and to let them know
that she didn't appreciate him upsetting her daughter and she didn't want
that to happen again. When this man could not help her, she said yes she
would talk to Jean Claude again, he got on the phone and she told him she
did not want him talking to her daughter in such a manner again, that she
is only 17 and if he wants to be angry at someone he should call her only,
that her daughter was distraught and that he should say he would not do
that again if he comes over to fix the dryer in the morning as the note
said he would.
Well this guy would not admit he had upset Sara, in fact he said she was
talking to him about it, and that she was fine, Judi said when she came
upstairs she was VERY upset and she didn't want that to happen again, so
she wanted his assurance he would not upset her again, which he would not
give. This stalemate continued for several minutes on the phone and I was
amazed at how patient Judi continued to be with this creep on the phone, she
just kept saying, “Do Not Upset my Daughter”, and she said if you come to fix
the dryer just do that and nothing else. Eventually the conversation ended,
but not before Judi demanded he not bother Sara again and not before Jean
Claude invited us to LEAVE, since we are 'trouble makers' Judi said we
would but we want a full refund so we can go rent another place, he said,
there is nothing wrong with the apt. so no refund. All in all it was a very
tense talk which left us with little assurances, a very upsetting conversation for sure.

So next Judi tried to call the
folks in New Jersey, I believe who are the airline agents that rented the
place to her and left a message for them.
So we were worried this creep was coming back, the next day, and we all
said we didn't want to be around if he did, I think I said, well I am not
leaving any valuables here tomorrow because I don't trust this guy a bit now.
Which meant I would be carrying my $2000 traveling money (for the next
month~cash and travelers checks) and all my tickets and my passport. Better
to carry it than leave it to get stolen, right?
Sara didn't want to be around when Mr. Man came by either, we all said, NO
we don't want to be there! So we all decided to be gone and to take our
valuables with us as we spent the day sightseeing in Paris.
Fast forward sitting under the Eiffel Tower the next day about 3:30pm by
now, to Paris the City of Surprises...........finally my sisters talked
with their respective gentlemen after buying the proper phone cards at the
tourist office at one of the kiosk's and Judi made a date to meet Jacques
at 79 Champs-Elysees that evening at 10pm, OK we all said.......everyone
was hungry so we got food from the snack bar (I got coffee) and sat at
another place to look up at the tower. I'd been able to sit in 3 completely
different vantage points to see the Tower for several hours now and that was great!

What a lovely afternoon it was. I completely enjoyed this visit to the
Eiffel Tower and was so grateful to just sit for a long time while Judi and Janet
made calls and then ate, it was simply sublime.
At one point a beggar woman with a baby came by and asked for money,
no we said, and then the same baby was carried by a child to the second
place we were sitting and we said no, I watched closely, following the
child ......as the beggar child carried the little chubby baby over to her
mother and I watched the mother hit her older daughter as she had gotten NO
money from the whole row of tourists she'd approached, individually, on the
bench where we sat......the mother actually hit her daughter for not
begging properly! She was furious at her, screaming in a language, not French.
This was pretty shocking but I didn't really think anything of it, just how
sad, they were sad, very dirty, wore rags and looked Eastern block in
nationality. How terrible. What a awful way to live, I am so lucky to be a
tourist here enjoying the view.
Soon everyone finished eating and we left this area and went to find the
RER to Notre Dame, our next site to visit. The RER being one easy mode of
transport, with the Metro being the other main city mode to get around this
very busy city.
We took the RER to a Metro station and got onto a wrong train, it happens,
it can be confusing to make your way around, so we got onto another train,
I believe it was going to Cite' if I am not mistaken, it doesn't much
matter. As we were getting onto one of these trains Janet hollers across the station a
warning to Judi
she should wear her backpack on her front because of THIEVES! in the
trains, well if there were any thieves around they could surely hear her announce our
presence.
Judi said adamantly NO she wanted to ‘not live in fear’ and she
would wear her backpack how she wanted to, and that was that!
It seemed like just one train later we were on a VERY busy commuter
train and packed into a crowd of people, all of whom had tired faces, so many
unsmiling faces really, and so busy there were no seats at all, it was rush hour
by now, the train was very crowded with many people.

We were headed toward
Notre Dame........when all of a sudden a group of 4 or 5 young girls rushed
up to us all in a bunch, they were all short, just 9 to 11 years old at the
most, and they had long dark hair and big doe-eyes and they wore glitter
Paris touristyt-shirts, in fact they looked like tourists, just like us.

These girls looked charming
really, and I said HI....as the one girls' face was literally inches from
my own face. I had to say HI, I was compelled to, as she was just a breath
away from my body.......when she didn't answer me I looked away, thinking,
how rude, why didn't she say Hi back?
Next thing I remember, Judi asked me the time and she was talking to
another of the girls that surrounded us, only seconds had passed, I said,
its 5, and Judi held up 5 fingers......I get it now, I think to myself,
they don't speak English and they are late and they need the time.....just
then a woman behind the girls separated from us by 2 or 3 standing people
said, Look-out, look out for these girls.....I looked at her and said, HUH?
I didn't understand...the train was stopping now......the French woman who
was trying to help us was saying, PICKPOCKETS...watch out for these, I look
down at my bag, I have it tightly under my armpit, the zipper directly
under my thumb that is hooked around the bag strap, inches from my chin, my
bag is fine, it is right there, no one is in it, no one could get it
without me knowing....this takes a mere second to KNOW in my mind that my
bag is safe, .....the door to the train was open, they slide out the
door....the train starts, Janet asks Judi, why is your backpack open Judi???
Oh my god Judi, her bag! We have all our money with us, because we could
not leave it in the apartment, because of idiotic and threatening Jean Claude.

I look around for Judi.......
Judi is now seated in a chair that has become open on the train, she is a step or two
away from me, she looks up at me, her backpack on her lap....."They got my
wallet" she said, I think I said What? What? She has the backpack open, I
can see into it from where I stand, grasping the pole, and the wallet is
gone, it is empty in the top of her backpack...."They got me she said"
she's smiling, a weird little ironic smile, she knows for certain........her new wallet that
Janet had made her buy on the cruise they'd taken 2 weeks before was gone, ALL her
money in it.
Sara starts to cry, loudly, she's wailing really, she's aware of what this
loss means....it means the end of their trip perhaps. We get off the train
at the next stop, I am not sure which stop it is, we sit on a box like
structure, its lemon yellow color, not really a seat but we sit there anyway, its
a hard plastic seat, not a seat at all really, I’m ultra aware of this seat and my
surroundings.....we huddle together, around one
another, in a posture of protection, we are so shocked, all so stunned. Our
group has been penetrated and one of us is harmed, so we all are.



Sara wailing, us trying to quiet her, she screams, "that is all the money
we had, we had very little and that was ALL of it". I realize this could
mean the end of their trip. Janet keeps saying, it'll be alright, I say
"well, not if they have NO money to replace this money it won't be, that's
all they have!" It was about 700 Euros, just under $700.....most of their spending
money was in that wallet. I look at Janet to see if she understands this
fact. She immediately says, "I'll give you the money Judi and you can pay
me back whenever you can, we'll go get it right now".
Now I start to cry at Janet's generosity......it will be ok, Janet will help Judi, Janet
says, "it's only MONEY!" Sara is still crying loudly so I tell her, "Janet is going to give your
Mom the money, we can stay, don't worry, I know you are upset but Janet will help
your Mom". Sara calms down but now I am crying because I am so touched by
Janet's immediate help in this crisis, I feel so very grateful to Janet.
As I am softly weeping I see three gendarmes walking by, I stop them, can't
they see we are upset? I say "Hey! We were robbed! Pickpockets!"
One bends down, "who, who was robbed?" I point to Judi, he says, you? I
say yes, he says you too, you ? I say, "NO just her, he looks at my tears
and asks you? I said, "no mon soeur.....pickpocket", they command, "you must
make deposition, come with us" ....we stand up and follow the policemen
thru the Metro station, it is a large Metro station...we walk for about 10
minutes, I hold tightly onto my bag, not listening to the conversation that
Judi and Janet are having with the police, I hold onto my bag, filled with
all my travel money and the first creeping feelings wash over me, feelings of not wanting

to be here in Paris occur to me.... and then we are in a Police station that is actually IN

the Metro station.
We all walk into the Police and sit in their chairs, there are photos on
the walls.....all photos of thieves. We look at them and instantly find the
photo of the ringleader girl, this girl moments before who stole from us.
"That's her!" We all exclaim to the officers, We know this one....the police say,
"huh?' we respond, how is that?
The police explain in broken English, that the children
in Paris that are thieves are from Yugoslavia and other countries from the
Eastern block who cannot be jailed, "no jails for children", so they get
away with robbery, this girl for instance has "1000 robberies" to her
credit, other photos of other children, looking alot like her are plastered
on the Police walls also........well I am dumbfounded and now filling with
dread....how can we be safe on the Metro if these children are running
rampant, I keep my dread to myself, I don’t want to trouble my family.

As I clutch my bag, right there in the police station I think about all
this, what does this mean, what is this about? This question would be
discussed later as well, and realizations would come to fruition in the
following days.
A policeman finally comes out to talk to us about the robbery and take our
statement......a big blondish man with plain clothes, he's obviously a
detective.....leans on the counter, arms folded in front of him and leans
in, facing le americains.... and says to us......"Who was rob...bed?" Rob
... bed.....funny, very funny.

We all point to Judi and he says ‘come with
me’...she goes, in a few minutes she is back. The report is made, we can go.
I don't want to leave the relative protection of the police station. I
clutch my bag, no choice, gotta go, would really like to take the VERY cute
policeman with as a personal body guard but we are off on our own, I clutch
my bag. Tightly.
I want to go back to the apartment, but am out-voted and I will certainly
not leave the group so we head toward Notre Dame, its all a blur to me, all
but the faces on the Metro, which I peruse with intensity now, who are the
thieves?
I clutch my bag, so tight my hands hurt, my fingers ache, I lessen
up on the grip. I don't talk, I don't listen, it takes all my concentration
to watch every single person on the Metro and to walk..... I follow the
group and stare at the faces as they pass by, I now really begin to notice
the non-smiling faces, very few smiles, no smiles. Just people walking,
fast, I watch how they hold their bags, most have there hands right on the
bag openings, I concentrate, they are doing what I have been doing all day,
as I carried all my money, protecting their valuables, they all know. They
all know what I now know and what everyone in my group now knows, we are
not safe. We must be cautious.
It's very, very scary to look at the non-smiling faces, to scrutinize these faces, their body
language, they are
all saying, leave me alone, get away. They know. I know. I must clutch my
bag tightly. We were surprised but now we know, we walk, and then we get
back on another damned French train.

Part 9 WE are the Fighting Irish at Notre Dame

As we ride the train toward Notre Dame, the dynamics of the group are
already changing, something happens when folks are violated and we are no
exception, I am declaring that we become the fighting Irish at Notre Dame,
in Paris this day, no one else will get the best of us again.
The train stops, its time to walk thru the crowd toward the stairs.
Climb more stairs, one at a time, the end is right up there, I can make it,
I think.....and then
walk thru the pretty streets, really everything is pretty as I look around,
but its hard to see the beauty, when the heart is hardening. Past another
block, I can see the right edge of the cathedral ahead, this is the
destination of the moment, Notre Dame.
The crowd on the street lessens, I stop and take a photo of the group, they
are ahead of me, and are across the street and I can get the whole
cathedral in a photo with them, a nice photo to remember the moment. Each
moment retrievable as they are etched on my permanent hard
drive.
As I walk across the street I say to our group who is paused there on the
sidewalk, I'm going ahead, and I walk past toward the edifice, I am really
aiming for the benches, so I can sit and gaze at another lovely structure.
Later someone will tell me that the reason the French surrendered to the
Nazi's so quickly during WWII is simply because they did not want their
buildings bombed, they would rather suffer under Nazi rule than see the
destruction of their monuments, well, it would seem that they even care
more for their buildings than they do for their own people, let alone a
bunch of tourists who come to visit. It's an interesting realization when I
hear this fact, later at home.
The second I sit down to look up at the Cathedral a child approaches with a scribbled
card in his hand,
the child is holding it out and saying can you help me? I holler at this
boy, 'get away from me, I've already been robbed once today, GO away', he
backs up and I see him immediately approach the rest of my family, who're
coming up the stairs toward the edifice, I stand up and holler at least
100' toward them, DON'T Talk to HIM!
My sister yells at the kid to get away! I hear later they use this card
racket to get you to open your wallet, then step close to you so they can
rob you, this is number 2 in a row, I clutch my bag full of money, they'll
have to kill me to get it I think to myself.
Then I wonder if it will come to that and if I would really let them kill
me, I sit back down on the bench and become aware there are lots of other
tourists around me, they are not even looking, apparently this is
commonplace behaviour. GEEZ! They must do this with every single person
they think is a tourist at Notre Dame, can't they put a policeman here to
help the unsuspecting? How many were victims today? Not us again, not today.

We rest a moment and then walk toward the front of Notre Dame, how pretty
it is, the statuary of the saints is incredible, each one perfect and there
are so many, we should go inside, we pose for photos, Judi wears her
backpack on the front of her and says, "Look I'm 9 months pregnant" I take
her picture........the cathedral is closed now, no more admittance, the
hour is late, its evening time, altho very light, the sun is not even ready
to set, why is it so light out?
I look around a few minutes, now I cannot find the group, where have they gone? I lean on
a stump, I better wait here for them, where could they have gone, I look
everywhere none of them are nearby. About 5 minutes go by, will I have to
get back on the train myself? I have a key to the apartment, will I be able
to get the door open, this sure is a pretty building, I should just sit
here and enjoy the view for a moment. Just be patient, Jill. They'll come
back, don't panic, its only been a few......OH there they are, they've gone
across the street for the ice cream they wanted. I remember now, its French
Vanilla....they probably just didn't want to bother me with it, looks
yummy.......OK, I say, I was wondering where you were.
We look at the crappy souvenir stand........ is it time to go yet? Just
about. I believe it was about 8pm by this time, I say Judi...aren't you
going to go meet your Frenchman, we all have high hopes for Judi's date,
I'm so glad she's interested in the opposite sex again, she's way too young
to give up on men entirely. How fun, a date with a man in Paris.......
WE all say Yes its time to go, time to go back to the Metro and get back to
Pont de Neuilly, where our apartment is located.....Janet and the girls and
I decide to have dinner together, we'll find a place near the apartment, I
had seen a Thai place that looked nice.

Judi will go put on the 'dress' and meet her man.......We walk to the Metro, go down the
stairs, find the
right train, and make our way to the yellow line toward La Defense, I'm
aware I am automatically clutching my bag........the zipper right under my
thumb, hooked, tightly, no one can get into my bag without me knowing about
it. They better be ready for fight too, cause this Irishwoman will not give
it up easily.
By this time I am thinking I don't think I want to stay on in the UK after
Judi goes home, lets be realistic.......I can't lift my bag well, my leg is
killing me, what is UP with my right leg, I'd elevated it last evening and
all night long, kept taking lots of advil all day long today and still its
hurting, a lot.
Also now I am afraid someone, everyone is out to rob us, didn't the cop
say ALL American's are TARGETED! Gee do I want to be a target, do I want to
be alone here in Europe? I don't think I want to stay in Europe alone, I
don't think I am up to it. I'm not a kid anymore, what if I need help, what
if something happens to me, no one would even miss me til Sept 30! That's a
month away.
I better think about this, I better be careful, not fear driven, but CAREFUL.
We get on back to Pont de Neuilly, and find the restaurant, say goodbye to
Judi as she continues on down the street, wishing her the best for her
date! We go into a restaurant, and its very French and very empty, the kind
waiter listens as we explain we were rob-bed today. He jokingly
asks us if we have money to pay for our dinner....we laugh, yes we do. We
order a lovely dinner and enjoy it............I don't eat anything bad for
me, I'm doing so well on my food plan, I take joy in that fact. The lamb
is yummy.......its a very nice evening, the place fills up with diner's,
most are French this little neighborhood restaurant is very nice, and very
popular, with the locals, no tourists, a nice ending to a difficult
day.....and we walk on back to the apartment.
We'd gone into a French restaurant, the Thai place was right next door!
Oh
well......

Part 10 Inject Lithium Please, This Bi-Polar Trip Needs It

As Judi is leaving for her Friday night date and I am laying on my bed I
tell Sara, "I am really thinking of going home with you guys after
Ireland." She urges me to reconsider, but my mind is really already made
up. I don't want to stay on alone, I want to go home, I can hardly wait to
get home. This trip has been difficult already and we have 10 days left,
if I were to stay on and feel as miserable as I do now, I would waste so
much money and not enjoy myself, I am certain. I'm going home, I feel
better already, having made this decision. A little later, I call Curtis
and leave a message that we've been robbed and I'm most likely coming home
early, I find out later that for 2 days he tries to reach me and cannot,
and he does not sleep until I call back again the day after tomorrow, so
the results of the "Gypsy's thievery" on our trip have reached as far as Maui.
We talk about this aspect of our trip, we discuss how horrible it must be
to be a child, a foreigner in Paris and made to rob tourists, no wonder
that girl had such a vacant, lost look about her, she's forced into stealing from
strangers to please the adults in her life, its like prostitution really.
We begin to call these stealing children 'gypsies' and absorb the
terminology into our frequent conversations about this incident.
It's hard for me to sleep, this has been an eventful day, with going to the
airport to return the car, finding Janet at le Tour Eiffel, enjoying this
view for hours, being robbed by gypsies, getting a tour of the Police
station, where by the way I got to pee in a wet hole in the ground, in their stinky
public restroom, seeing Notre Dame, becoming aware of every single person
on the Metro, having a nice dinner, seeing Judi off on her first date, and
now realizing I am cutting my vacation short by 3 weeks.
A long day, but I
cannot sleep really, now its been days since I've had a good night sleep,
really since the Sunday before at home, and now it is Thursday. I'm so
exhausted, my leg is elevated, and I try so hard sleep, I doze off and hear
a noise, I think its the door, that must be Judi coming in, I get up to see
and she enters the apartment, leans back against the doors and swoons, her
knees buckle and the joy on her face is clear, she's had a lovely time. I
hope she's used a condom, but find out its the pleasure of a first kiss
that has brought this moment of happiness to her beautiful face. Jacques
was a gentleman, she tells me all about the date, the girls are asleep. I
feel so glad for her, I am having my own moment of vicarious joy. YAY!
They'd met at an 'empty hallway, at 79 Champs-Elysees, it is a meeting
place' this sounded kind of odd to me, but also very French somehow!
They'd then gone to a club where a group from California was playing and
talked about politics and then come back to the apartment where he had
kissed her on our doorstep. A lovely date by all accounts. They made plans
to meet again for her birthday. She'd call later to meet him at the museum
we would go to also.
What a day, from robbery to bliss in one day, inject lithium please, this
trip is bi-polar. This theme would continue, we were either having an
awesome time or something odd or weird or awful was up.
Another mantra of this trip becomes, inject lithium please, along with
Gypsy's! More will follow, as a group we seem to enjoy exaggerating
circumstances and experiences......and this trip is no exception.
Eventually we go to sleep, the plan in the morning for Saturday August 31,
is to go to see the sights, via the bus that is double decker and takes
tourists to all the places worth visiting, first we go to the Office of
Tourisme near the Arc de Triomphe. We get money, Janet reports the theft
from the day before, and we head across the street to get the tourist bus,
I feel safer on this mode, "no gypsies" I say, and we camp out at the top
back of the bus, I take photos of all the spots we pass, we see the Tower
and Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay, the Louvre, Invalides, where Napoleon is
entombed, many war memorials, and beautiful buildings I don't know the
names of, I take a photo of Janet at the Eiffel with her Eiffel Tower
umbrella, she's purchased moments before, which she would later give to
Sam our driver on our last day in Paris, for his wife.
It's a charming photo of Janet.
We get the tour bus at the Arc and the trip takes 2 1/2 hours and is a great
way to see all of Paris, not just Paris underground via Metro, I will
recommend it for tourists. We spend the day sightseeing this way, we talk
of gypsies and men and feelings. Judi and I talk about what happened to her
and how it relates to our family dynamics, causes and effects. Life really.
We stopped for a long while at Gallerie Lafayette where I wait while Janet
shops and I sit and have coffee in a fancy tea cafe with Judi, I only buy
some cheeses. The rotunda of this shopping center is beautiful, this was a
museum in a past life, and is now a center of commerce.
I cannot remember where we had dinner that evening, its simply a blank to
me now, some parts I think I just cannot remember clearly, maybe it will
come to me or I'll call Judi and ask her, because I cannot recall, but this
night I sleep, I remember that. Exhaustion obliterates memory.
We have a plan the next day, September 1, for a visit to Musee d'Orsay,
and then a dinner at Pont de Patin at Cafe Chinois. Also Sara's friend
would be joining us today, from Germany and so Sara and Kate will meet
Lissa at the train station this morning and we would meet up later at
Judi's favorite Chinese restaurant in all Paris.
We start off by going to the Metro, its just Janet, Judi and myself as the
girls are off to meet Lissa at the train......Judi will meet up with
Jacques at Musee d'Orsay, for lunch. Judi and Janet disagree about the
Metro map and Janet hollers at Judi in the train station, saying she had
figured out our route, but Judi wanted to see the map for herself, thank you.
Janet later confronts me on the Metro for not "supporting her", I tell her I cannot
support her screaming at Judi in public and I never will.
They wind up making up on the Metro, after Judi says she is sorry she hurt Janet's
feelings, which I don't really understand at the moment since Janet is the
one who was screaming, its part of the family dynamics, Judi explains
later that no matter what ........she does not want to hurt her loved ones
feelings, which is why she told Janet she was sorry she hurt her
feelings.....so this family dynamics, this bi-polar trip, this look into
'who we are' is very interesting and this actually happened so I am writing it.

I'm upset at the angry exchange between my sisters, but I'm vigilant about my
surroundings on the train, I've changed to a bag that I can carry right in
front of me, I keep my hand on the zipper still........I think we are all
under a lot of strain from the robbery and this strain is manifested in
different ways by each person. Inject lithium please, this trip IS
bi-polar. Because next we go into the most beautiful museum I have ever
been too, Musee d'Orsay, first we go up to the restaurant as we are to meet
Monsieur Jacques, or rather Judi is to meet Jacques, I am walking slowly at this
point, its a long, long walk from the Metro and I am in dire pain.....I
tell Judi and Janet to go ahead, but out of kindness and love Janet stays
and walks slowly with me........how kind, in the end we all meet up near
the museum restaurant, Jacques has gone to the bathroom and we are to meet here,
we find a table and wait....wait...wait.....no Jacques, should we
order? Judi goes off to find him and Janet and I scrutinize all the single
men walking thru the restaurant....could it be him...ah, him?
Oh God I hope that’s not him! We think we spot him, a dark haired man on a
cell phone......when Judi returns we tell her about this sighting and she says yes
that's him, yes, he has glasses so Janet goes off to locate him, as he's
walked thru the restaurant and out the door, out of our view.

Judi and I wonder about this.....Janet returns, she's found Mr. X but he is not Jacques!
And this guy had a big cell phone not a tiny one like Jacques, we never did find
Jacques, but as we sit here in this museum waiting to eat I see Sara, Kate and Lissa walk
into the restaurant!
“SARA!” I scream at her thru the noise of the cafe, everyone looks at me
including Sara!
We've just run into the girls, altho I'd known they were coming here today, I am
surprised they found us....another theme of this trip, finding each other
in a huge Parisian crowd. Remarkable if you think about it.
The girls come over and join us and we all order our soon to be bad meals, I had
something weird, meat and cheese I think, with a salad, not a good meal. I
meet Lissa, she's tall and wears a bandana on her head, an adorable gal, I
think she's 21. A friend of Sara's from the internet, she's spent time with
her in the past. Now our group dynamics are even more interesting, we are 3
women in our 40's, hey I can lie about my age if I want, and 3 young women
from age 16-21. Bi-polar, in an odd way.
Sara shows me what she has hidden in her sweater, it’s the lovely Burnett
painting, that Judi had admired from the day at the Eiffel Tower, its rolled up
and she is 'wearing it' hidden in her arm sleeve, how clever!

So as soon as the meal is over we begin our look at all the wonderful art
in this amazing museum, this monument to the Impressionists.....this collection rivals the
Louvre, and the paintings are so real, they are the paintings I have seen in books, on
cards and all over the internet, they are paintings I fall in love with now.


Janet 'interviews' Judi on her video camera, Judi talks about all the paintings and people
in the crowd gather around them listening to Judi's description of the Monet's.....I walk

on by as I want to enjoy each painting on my own, in the hushed reverence I am feeling,
so many people
and so little noise, in fact the only noise I hear is Janet laughing at
something Judi just said in the previous room. I'm secretly glad I'm off on
my own, I don't want to be the center of attention in this place.
And I see beautiful paintings by the worlds most famous painters, I see
Renoir's, Monet's, Manet's, Gaugin's, Whistler's, Toulouse LaTrec's and so
many others. This is amazing, once again I am breathless, in a good way,
this is a feel good experience I enjoy each second.
I sit where I can in the large rooms, and walk thru the others, standing in
front of the Renoir's the longest time, his model Margot, I love these
paintings, she moves me.........I cannot explain it. Pure emotion.

I'm tired again and need to find a place to sit for awhile, gosh this is really
annoying my leg is really giving me a lot of trouble every day, it seems to never
feel better, I think tomorrow I will just stay in the apartment and not go
anywhere for the day, what a waste, but I don’t think I have any choice at all, my leg is
really killing me. So I go into the big room after a long
walk thru the museum......I let Judi know I am going downstairs where the
bathrooms are less crowded, I'll meet them downstairs....the sculptures are
in the great hall and I want to see them also. So I wait in a really long
line to use the bathroom, after walking down 5 flights of stairs, at least
the UP direction had escalators or I may not of gone upstairs there at all.
I sit dwarfed amongst lovely white sculptures now but I don't really read the names of
the artists, they are wonderful tho, eventually I find Judi and we continue
on, we are going to find the boat ride along the Seine next, so I ask a museum
worker where to find the boat ride, it is down the way then right across
the street, it is called the Batobus, and will take us on a ride on the Seine
so we can see the City by riverboat ride, it is only 10 Euros and we board
after Judi finds a bathroom and comes back, there is no bathroom on the
boat. I'm grateful for a long ride, sitting down, Judi finds us seats in
the very front and we enjoy the view, its lovely. We see all the amazing
spots we've seen before, but from the Seine they are a lovely and different
perspective, a different view. It's a nice way to relax and sightsee and there is
not a gypsy anywhere. We've gone from the hecticness of the lovely museum
to the peacefulness of the watery boat ride and I don't want to get off. I
completely enjoy the boat excursion as I had the bus trip from yesterday,
this is really my speed. Slow. I like slow, I need slow, slow is good.

Sara is the expert at finding the correct Metro connections for us so she
plans the easiest way for us to get to Pont de Patin so we can go to Cafe
Chinois, only 1 change on the Metro, it wouldn't be so bad to ride the Metro,
but there are usually several changes to make, which means alot of stairs each way, and
that what is proving so painful for me, I pity the
handicapped people, no way could they ever use the Metro. I picture thousands of

handicapped Parisians trapped in their flats, with doors that don’t open and I feel sorry

for them all, but mostly myself. The Metro is good for healthy strong people, not for

anyone with mobility issues.

Evening time comes and we get off the Batobus, I miss it already, we get
off at a busy place, close to the Metro tho, I limp along calling, wait
up for me! What a bummer I am, holding everyone back.
When we get to Pont de Patin the restaurant is right at the top of the
Metro stop, very convenient and we go in to order, I've gotten used to
using every bathroom in every place we go, and the cafe is no exception, I
now know where many bathrooms are all over Paris. I should write a book,
‘Le Toilettes de Paris...’
It’s a small cafe and we are given a very nice table........we order lots of
stuff I order something to share the food is great but I am used to larger
portions, however we make do, and the food is very tasty, Judi is very
happy to be at her favorite restaurant and it shows, she is giddy and fun, we start to act
pretty goofy now and laughing and having jokes. We laugh about gypsys,
tramps and thieves, we laugh about everything, we get pretty loud. American loud.
Janet gets upset when we won't all stop enjoying our conversation
and listen to her, she wants to talk about tomorrows plan and we are trying to enjoy our
moment today.

Janet cries and leaves the table and Judi goes after her to the bathroom telling her that
she's worried about her acting this way. Janet tells Judi she expects this from me (Jill)
but not from her.
I wonder what that means to her exactly, it does not seem charitable.
So we are once again at the table, Janet is outside, once again calling Dave on the
phone, the girls and I are inside joking around, Katie takes the wet towel
we are given to politely wash our hands and twists it so she can snap it at her Mother and
hits me instead above the elbow and it smarts brightly and I say quickly without thinking
to my sweet 16 year old niece, "F U sideways.” Only I don’t abbreviate it.
The table erupts in hysterics, we are laughing so hard we are now spectacles in
this restaurant!
I apologize profusely to my niece, I didn't mean to say that to her! I'm
worried Judi will be mad at me now too! OH GOD! How could I say that so
loudly to my niece, did everyone hear me? I a forgiven through continuous laughter.
Everyone there must be so annoyed, it really is time for us to leave, we
pay and get up to go, Janet has not had her 5th espresso of the day yet but we
go outside and our air of frivolity continues when Judi suggests we stand
in front of Janet's phone booth and that Katie and I pretend to be smoking
Lissa's cigarettes, I actually take 2 puffs, Katie poses like a
streetwalker and Janet pokes her head out the french phone booth, tilts her head and
with the oddest expression on her
face. We've obviously gone totally crazy! Judi’s wit is so much like Moms.
Mom would of loved seeing Paris with us, or with her sisters.
When Janet exists the phone booth (I later take a photo of her in a phone
booth in London cause she spent so much time in them thru Europe) we tell her we were
kicked out of the restaurant, so sorry she can't have her 5th expresso! She
thinks we have gone really nuts now as we are all laughing so hard, really
hard, deep down, once in ten year laughing. It's so fun, it's a release!
The most fun I have had.

Next we go on over to the Chinese junk pedi-cab that is tethered to a pole and I sit
there while someone takes my photo, I do not know why we sat there for
several minutes, eventually we get back on the Metro, but the mirth
continues and our spectacle in now mobile, en Metro.
The game becomes to take Sara's belt from her sweater and 'do something
funny with it'.
I hope my turn is last cause the only thing I can think of
is to use it like a stripper would on a pole, the pole being the one on the
Metro and we are not alone on this train. The girls take their turns with
the belt. Sara takes a turn, each one in turn, the Metro fills up......its
time to get off, Janet offers to pay the girls each 10 euros to help her
get back to her b and b, they jump at the chance to earn 10 bucks and Judi
and I go back to the apartment. I call Curtis and he is mad that I haven't
called before, he's been so worried, and hasn't slept in 2 days!
I tell him all about our trip, it’s a blur of goofiness I am afraid, then I go directly to bed.
Later Sara tells me when she gets back that she'd set the oil painting
down on the train and forgotten it, the lovely birthday gift for Judi gone in the
night, Sara is heartbroken ...... mirth and pain, mirth and pain.....pass
that lithium please, this train needs it bad.



Part 11 Redux Rewind

Well, here I am backing up again for a short rewind, because at some
point this day we’d had another run in with thieves on the Metro, we were
boarding a train and going thru the turnstiles, in Neuilly, it had to be after le bus
because Janet had her Eiffel Tower umbrella with her already.
As we began to go thru the turnstiles, Janet noticed a subway gypsy child following me,
into the turnstile with the intention of stealing my bag, and she shooed him away from
me, I was kind of oblivious to this scene that was happening behind my back.
They do this so they can get you stuck in the turnstile (which will not reverse) and then
they grab your bag hard and flee, because you are stuck in the turnstile you cannot back
up to chase the thief, ingenious really of the little bastards. So, Janet saved me from
being rob-bed. Thank you Janet.
At this same Metro entrance Katie was having trouble with her ticket and
could not go thru the turnstile, and Janet observed the same boy follow a random
man into the turnstile and the kid put his hand right in the man’s back pocket, and Janet
lifted her Eiffel Tower umbrella way over her head and screamed at the boy to get the hell
away, now WE are on one side of the turnstile and the man and boy are on the other.

It was quite a sight, very brave of Janet, and Sara and I scurried around the
wall and were losing it, we were no help at all, the boy finally screams
F U at Janet and runs off and the man gets thru the turnstile with his
wallet intact!
WHAT A TRIP WE ARE HAVING!!!
That is no less than four encounters with child thieves, gypsy thieves, in three days in
Paris on the train and at Notre Dame.
So that is the rewind, I’m afraid I am losing some of the memory of this
trip already, as I forgot this interesting episode well, at least its
part of the story now, which I am compiling in emails to my friend, thanks to Vicki who
wanted DETAILS!


Its helping me to do this story, the trip deserves to be
remembered. In fact this trip should go down in the annals of our family times.

Part 12 Glamorous Nights, Its As Good As It Gets

It's arrived, the whole reason for this trip, the celebration evening and
following day that would comprise the bulk of Judi's birthday
celebration.......I don't want to forget a minute of this Monday and
Tuesday. I'd made plans for Judi's birthday dinner, and I wanted to be
fresh and lively for a fun evening so I opted to stay at the apartment
during the morning and day of September 2 because I knew if I had a full
day out again, I would not be in good shape for the big night I'd planned.

I was very sad to miss going to the Louvre and to Sacre Coeur and to the Paris Flea Market
which are just some of the places the others went while I was down for the count in the
flat, alone, feeling sorry for myself, my capacity to feel sorry for myself is quite enormous.
But I simply had to rest, to recuperate enough to be able to enjoy the festivities for Judi.

I had high hopes for the birthday evening, but I was not sure the restaurant I'd
picked would be as wonderful as I'd imagined, or been told!

It's always a gamble picking a place to dine and party, especially if you've never been
there before, the whole group is counting on you to make sure the place is
great! That's alot of expectations and pressure!
I was hopeful but worried at the same time, I knew that we'd get all
dressed up, give Judi her presents and then head out on the train to go to
dinner....that was the plan for the evening, everyone else left after
breakfast for their day out in Paris......the young gals were headed for
the Arc and Judi and Janet were going to the Louvre I believe....I propped
myself up in bed with my book, elevated my leg and planned on resting for
hours, a luxury morning, just a little sad.
Not long after they'd left I heard them back at the apartment again, and
they couldn't get in of course, praying didn't even help, the stupid door
down the spiral staircase just would not open normally. But I could hear
them calling me from downstairs and I went to look out the window,
I needed to go and open the door to let them in, ugh, I hate those stairs
and that door.
Sara was sick, had become ill after climbing up the 10 flights of stairs
of the Arc and could not even take photos from there, she laid on the bench
until help arrived, throbbing with cramps, nothing like exertion to bring
on cramps, it happens to lots of women all the time. So Sara had come
back, Lissa and Katie had brought her, stayed only a few moments and were
gone again, Sara would relax at the apartment too.
Later that day we would eat cheese together, I needed a long rest. I took it.
So around 4:30pm all the ladies came back and we began to get ready for our
evening out, we all put on our dress-up clothes, we looked so nice and we
sat around the living room area and Judi opened her gifts, we sang Happy
Birthday! Janet had bought perfume in the shape of the Eiffel Tower for
Judi, and I gave her the sapphire ring in the Eiffel Tower jewelry box and
the sterling Eiffel Tower necklace, it was certainly an Eiffel Tower
birthday for Judi.
Then I pulled out the last gift, the one everyone had worked on, even
people who were not with us......Judi opened her "Tribute Book" containing
photos of her first 40 years, her life, and words, and well-wishes, even
memories from her loved ones from around the world, this book had been a
labor of love for Judi from so many people. I was so pleased when she
looked thru her book, cocked her head and asked, "you got stories from people?" YES!
This book given to Judi, from all the people who love her was something that we
had managed to keep secret from Judi for several months of planning!

There were tributes and memories from all of us, Janet, Sara, Katie, Lissa,
myself, her friends Lori Sacco and Katie from Australia, my friend Vicki
who'd known Judi since 1972 when I worked at the library, from Jean in San
Antonio, and all of us became a part of "Le Celebration en Paris!"
What a rewarding gift to make and give. There was much too much to look at now in
the book, it was time to go to dinner so off we went.
I was so glad I had rested at home, I felt good and was not tired at all, I
had comfortable shoes on so that the walking would not cause discomfort and
we set out on the Metro to Ille. St. Louis, the island on the Seine where
we had reservations at 7pm, I think it was about 6:00pm when we left the
apartment, Sara had determined our quickest and best route for this trip
and we needed to take more than one train as I recall. I remembered to take
the address of the restaurant so that helped.
Off we went, dressed to the 9's (what does that phrase mean?), and we were
all in a great mood anticipating our big evening out, we were all smiles.
On the way Sara took a photo of us crossing a street, on the way to Ille.
St. Louis.
There was no Metro stop on the island so we'd be walking across the bridge
over the Seine, it was several blocks to the restaurant, which we found
easily, I said, "It looks just like the website!" we got there at about
10 minutes before opening, so the gentleman suggested we wait, we'd seen
some interesting shops and so we went outside to the medieval, lovely
cobblestone street to window shop, the stores would be closing in a few
moments but we managed to see a lovely jewelry shop and next door a doll
shop with music boxes that were enchanting too. Janet wanted to buy several
things and said she'd come back to shop later when she had more time.
It was time to go into the restaurant now, named Nos Ancestres Les
Gaullois, it means the ancestors of Gaul, this is a theme restaurant, built
inside what looks like a 15th century dungeon, complete with horned helmets
and swords, and huge ovens where the meats are prepared, we were given the
front table, the one everyone would have to walk by as they enter the
restaurant, we were the first people there. The place had a fantastic
atmosphere and before long a huge, and I do mean huge basket of fresh
vegetables were placed on our table, this was our crudite', and we began
pulling out whole cucumbers, and carrots, and onions and cabbages from this
overly large display of veggies! We were somewhat amazed at the size of
this basket and posed for pictures with these veggies, to the delight of
the proprietors. Several of them snapped our pictures too, we began joking
around and the laughter ensued. WE can be real goofballs when we want to be!
Next we had the 'sausage' course which was an open table laden with salads,
many varieties of sausages and other delicacies that we helped ourselves
too, along with the ample bread served, we managed to get the waiters to
bring lots of "buerre".....or butter, we were always asking for butter, and
ICE!
Apparently there is a shortage of both in the country. We really enjoyed
each course thoroughly and took our time, lingering and laughing too. At one
point the waiter said he'd brought ice and were were supposed to share it,
but there was only one glass of ice to share among 6 people, we obviously
needed more. The evening continued like this, we laughed about the ice
shortage and beurre.....and then we all chose our entrees......steak,
chicken, lamb and other specialties of the house cooked over the open
hearth flame near our table. I'd made my way to the restroom, completely
thru the restaurant which by now was packed with mostly French people, but
also lots of tourists as the price fixe menu was a good bargain at just 33
euros per person, most people enjoyed the open bar too, but we do not
drink, and didn't need it to be giddy anyway. We managed to make toasts
with our water and cola, without any trouble, and toasted Judi's birthday.
Already I could tell this restaurant was a good choice for an evening of
good fun and frivolity and I secretly thanked my Maui customer who had recommended
this as a wonderful place for a celebratory dinner. She said it was fun and
she was right.
Our entree course included with the obligatory way, way overcooked French
vegetables on the side, the veggies are either unwashed and served in a
basket without so much as being cut up or overcooked to the point of goo,
what's up with that??
I noticed a musician had come into the place and he was changing his
guitar strings, I suggested to Janet that he go over and ask him to play
Bon Anniversaire to Judi if he knew the song (this was a song we'd made up
apparently on the boat the day before and sang to Richard on video tape).
She'd tried that earlier on the Metro, when a strolling musician had no
idea what we were asking.....so she said no, you ask him.
I was determined to have this guy sing to Judi so I went up to him and
asked him if he could come to our table and sing Bon Anniversaire...after I
hummed a few bars he got what I meant and when he was ready he came right
to our table. The first song out of his repertoire was a Neil Diamond
tune that Judi knew every word to........she was really enjoying this
song! YAY!
Next he asked 'who's birthday?' we all told him Judi and he
began.......Joyeux Anniversaire......he sang....we got the message and
joined in....we'd had the wrong word but by golly now we had it right, let
the raucousness begin! Oh it did!
We spent the next 45 minutes enjoying the music of this talented and
charming guitarist who stayed right at our table and sang lots of fun songs
while we joined in......he ground out a few Elvis hits, including Jailhouse
Rock and we just were in heaven now, singing loud and with all the
California gusto we could muster, which is plenty.
Oh he sang Hotel California too! His Elvis imitation was well received as
he swiveled his hips with the best of em. Judi got alot of extra special
attention from this fellow, and we asked him his name which was Christian.
The photos of the musical part of our evening show how much Joyeux we all
experienced. We tipped him really well too, I had given him a 20E when I asked him to
sing HB!
The dessert course was next and then on the way out we posed for more
photos, to remember the fun, this was by far the highlight of our trip, the
evening a huge success, we'd been at the restaurant for 3 hours, enjoying
the long courses and the private floor show to boot. The bar tried to send
us all fancy liqueurs but we refused, we really did NOT need any additional
libation, we were high on the experience of the evening, it topped the night at Café
Chinois for pure fun, food and frivolity.
On the way out of the restaurant we were following a large Italian group
who were noticeably attentive to us, in a very fresh manner, but we just
could not be bothered, we walked down the street, posed for photos, enjoyed
the evening air and headed up the road toward the dread train...
it was time to head back to the apartment because the next day we were
going to the countryside.
We all felt very glamorous .....it was quite an evening, my high hopes had
been met and exceeded for a fabulous night out.....WE were definitely the
party at this place, this night, a perfect night and a perfect celebration.
Joyeux Anniversaire Judi, thanks for the perfect reason to celebrate!
As we got into our beds to go to sleep Judi took out her book and read it
all, every word out loud, Curtis called me and I talked to him briefly,
told him what a great night it had been......I was so happy, it just could
not have been any better, what a wonderful night. This night was simply as good
as it ever gets.




Part 13 Gorgeous Days....The French Countryside

It was super going to sleep last night realizing the evening had been such
a complete success, finally our vacation was going as I’d wished and
longed for, now the real turnaround of misfortunes would begin, our trip
was becoming all I could have imagined and even more.
We'd asked Judi what she wanted to do for her birthday, what her dream day
would be, is I think how it was worded. Her planned for birthday dinner, night out was
cancelled, Jacques turned out to be a rude Frenchman who reneiged on the bd invitation
she had
planned from California, but now she was free to spend the day with us, so good for that.

She told us she really wanted to go to Giverny, so we located the train we needed to take
and found we
would take a bus after the train, the ride would be about an hour
altogether from Paris to Giverny.
We knew we had to be on the 11am train so we got an early start, it was
going to be an experience we could all do together, for each of us it was the very first
time.

Giverny is the town where Claude Monet painted his most
famous masterpieces, his Water Lily series..we’d seen them on our trip
to Musee d’Orsay and now we would visit the spot which inspired the artist,
his home and gardens in Giverny (pronouced, Gee-ver-nee).
We would be taking the SNCF train to the town of Vernon and then the
bus would take us out to the country to the little village of Giverny,
which does big tourist business. We went to the big train station by Metro,
which is of course also a train, I have never been on so many trains in my
life. The station was huge and looked a lot like an airport with lots of
shops and restaurants, flower stands and so much more. We found the right
ticket place to buy a ticket to Vernon and then even managed to find the
right train, I stopped at the nicest toilette, where I paid 40 cents to
use their facilities and then we all boarded the train to Vernon, we sat
upstairs so we could see really well, which is also where the smokers sit,
yikes, we were surrounded by smoke the entire trip. These French people
smoke like its healthy for you. I said they are idiots.
So we are enjoying the ride and relaxing and trying not to breathe real
deep and I start to notice the French countryside, which is lovely once we
leave the urbanization called Paris, I prefer nature over monuments any day.

There is a river running alongside
the train and in the distance little towns with old churches, one could
paint a picture just from the sights out the window. So we are riding
along and I see something that looks like ducks in the river and I look
and look and low and behold they are SWANS, actual live, wild swans in the
river, and this amazes me and I try to get the others to look out the
window, but they are talking and eating Madeline’s , we are using seats on both sides of
the aisles, seats that face each other, so our 5 people have 8 seats and the
others are talking, ignoring my request that they drop what they are doing
to look out the window at SWANS! So I keep saying, look there are
swans! Swans! Finally I pretty much scream SWANS!!! And slam my open
palm onto the glass window, SWANS!!!!!!! This gets everyones attention
pretty quickly.....and everyone looks and then laughs, loud, and I realize I am again being
funny without meaning too. I’m so weird sometimes.
Swans would become another laughing mantra of our trip, to be fully
enjoyed on a London street later in the week, courtesy of my adorable
albeit, hilarious niece Katie. Gypsys, swans, inject lithium, bi-polar
trip, door praying, leg limping and more, a list that will stick in my
brain forever most likely.


So we arrive in Vernon, see an amazing and VERY, Medieval old church, with lovely
spires, it dominates the city center and there is the bus that will take
us to Giverny, the cost is 1 euro and 90 cents, this added to the 10 euros
for our train ticket, and today is a bargain so far. Judi notices that the
bus has a drawing of Monet on the side and she poses for a picture there,
and then we are off the bus, and walking along a path toward the tiny village,
we find the restrooms, but our group has gone separate ways for a few
moments, we find each other amidst the flower garden outside the actual
Monet gardens and then we all decide together to eat at an outdoor café.

The French waiter could not of been more rude if following a script, as we
sit down he is throwing the menus down and I say, in my best manner,
Bonjour Monsieur, ca va? which means Good Day Sir, how are you? His
answer is a resounding NO! I suppose he is not very happy to be spending
his life serving tourists, and I feel sorry for his misery. Uh-Huh..dolt.
We all order salads, they are called Claude Monet salads, ok so we are
going to now eat Claude Monet, could they get any more commercial, I thought the US
was the most commercialized place in the world but no....France makes a real effort too?

Katie orders something else, a meat platter, I recall ..after a bit the food comes, I
take some beautiful photos of the group, sans me of course at the white,
outdoor table and we enjoy our meal immensely, I try not to think they spit on our food in
le kitchen. When it comes time to
order dessert I just cannot stand to watch them all eat dessert again and
so Judi and I begin the walk to the gardens and home of Monet, I have stayed on my diet
so far and do not want to break stride now.
We walk right past the entrance which is very obscure, I notice some old doors
that I’d like to photograph and so I do so, with the intention of sending
them to Vicki as I’ve promised them to her, this is not something I’ve
ever photographed and I find myself enjoying and noticing the doors and
rustic windows and I try to photograph in a way that will show their uniqueness.
Once we pay our admission and go in, I see that first we are walking thru
the gift shop, this foundation is certainly marketing their destination
advantageously. Uh-huh.

Next we go into the actual green gardens and the first thing I
notice are the beautiful apple vines that encircle the first plot of
flowers, just wonderful, these apple vines are old, thick and the green
apples look delicious on them, yummy. I resist my urge to pick one and put
it in my pocket.
As we walk toward the water gardens and thru the thousands of blooming
trees, shrubs and hedges that seem to go on and on and on, I am snapping
pictures and then suddenly I am out of film! I pause to put in a new roll
and when I advance the film it makes that hideous rewinding noise that
signals the roll is faulty and has now rewound itself back into the
cartridge, rendering itself completely unusable, and it is my last roll, this is 35 mm film. I
know I simply cannot go to the water garden without film and am grateful
to Judi when she asks what she can do and I plainly tell her I need film
and she can get me a roll, if she would, which means she has to walk all
the way back to the gift shoppe to purchase it, while I sit on the bench
and wait, everyone knows by now that Jill has to sit often and that extra
walking is out of the question, so I am glad to be sitting. Judi
disappears and 2 ladies come to sit beside me on the bench, they are tired
and need a rest too, they are in their 80s I think, eventually their
husbands appear, and I think of my Curtis, 7500 miles away and I miss him and then they
walk off as
Judi arrives with the film and we pray this time it won’t mistakenly
rewind automatically. I don’t know why automatic cameras do that
sometimes but they do and its so frustrating.

So we walk down more stairs and up others and then after another short
walk we see the bridge, the bridge from the paintings, the Japanese
bridge, and we actually walk across it, and we are standing ON the bridge
and looking at the water lily garden, Monet’s painting has just come to life.

It’s lovely, the whole setting, we linger awhile, my camera is operating
correctly and we snap a lot of photos, I plan to take the whole roll
there, and I do. As we walk to the opposite side of the gardens and find a
bench to sit on the sheer splendidness of this setting just builds and builds.
This may be the prettiest garden I have ever seen and its clear that Monet
was inspired appropriately by his garden. We sit for a long time on the
bench and occasionally I stand up to take more photos, and then Janet and
the girls are there and we pose for one magnificent photo near the lily
garden, its one of my favorite from the trip. Finally we have found the
France of our dreams in a little village away from Paris, I am in heaven,
we are all taken with the intense beauty of the setting. I wonder to myself
which is more beautiful, this lovely garden or the paintings which were
inspired by it, it’s a question I’d like to discuss and so I bring up
the subject and everyone has their opinion and some cannot decide but its nice
to hear everyone’s thoughts, we sit on this bench in this water garden and talk.

My thought is that the garden is so beautiful and that Monet has managed somehow to
improve upon the garden itself with his paintings.
When its time to go, Judi and I continue around one side of the garden and
the girls and Janet continue in the direction they were going so we each
see the whole garden, but Judi and I have spent much of this time
together, just the two of us, and to me its very precious.
When we go up to Monet’s house, first we visit the restroom which is separate
from the home and then walk thru the home of Monet, this is also a great
look into the 19th century as the home contains all the furnishings of an
1880's French country home, it is 2 stories and I make myself walk up the
stairs to see all of it, the bedrooms and all, containing lovely old bed quilts
and artwork and a sitting room. My very favorite room of all is the colorful country

kitchen, which is nearly completely covered in blue and
white tile, and decorated with yelloware and yellow porcelain
and featuring a large old, stove, where many wonderful meals must have been
prepared.
I’m on my own now, I’ve walked away from Judi, something had caught my
eye and I have meandered away and am now in the kitchen and I am drawn to the large
old kitchen sink, now mind you I have respected every sign that said
Do Not Touch up to this point, but when I reach the old farm sink I am compelled to
touch it, and I do and it feels wonderful and homey, like it had been touched for a
hundred years by loving hands, it held me there and I felt the love in
that home. I can’t explain it, I think I just wanted to touch someplace
the artist had touched and he would of leaned there to wash his hands and his brushes
I’m certain. This blue tile kitchen was by far my favorite spot in the home.
Then I was done, I had seen it all and so I went outside to sit and wait
for the others, when they did not come I went to the gift shoppe and
bought some prints of Monet artwork, including one of the water lilies and
one of the lady on the lawn in the pink dress, and I bought moderne photos
of the kitchen as we were not allowed to take photos inside the home. I
also bought a 4" hair barette with the little image of a Monet painting, a
woman and child with a red umbrella in a field of yellow wildflowers.
The others met me in the gift shop and found their own treasures too.
After we were done shopping it was time to go back to the bus and then
onto the train for our return trip to Paris, it was a nice train ride, and
we’d walked quite a bit so I just relaxed and thought about what I had
seen in Giverny. We had a bit of time in Vernon but I was satisfied just
sitting and thinking, I did not need any further stimulation, my cup was
full. I decided the French countryside is lovely and I wouldn’t mind
coming back again, especially to visit the Loire Valley one day. The
countryside would be the only place I would like to return to in France.
We needed to find some place for dinner and so Janet said she would pick a
place, she had a book to help her find the perfect restaurant and on the
way back to Paris she read aloud to us about the different places we could
dine. This is what a vacation should be, the most difficult decision of
the day being where to have dinner that evening in Paris, after a wonderful
day in the French countryside. Very Nice.



Part 14 What the Hell is a Cuttlefish?

After the train ride back to Paris, we saw it had rained quite a bit while
we’d been gone and we were all pretty hungry, so we were ready to find
the restaurant Janet had picked out for us at Pont Neuf, which means Point 9,
the name of the boat launch area where our restaurant was anchored at
dock could be found on the tourist map, she had picked a reasonably priced seafood
restaurant
and we were all ready for a really delicious dinner.
The walk was especially long from the Metro and I wasn’t doing very well, I was dragging
one leg you see,
everyone kept asking me if I wanted them to find us a cab and I didn’t
want to be a bother, so I kept limping along, several blocks later I just had to
sit down, Janet and the girls had gone ahead, because I was walking so slow and I sat on
a bus stop bench
while Judi tried to hail a cab, not an easy thing to do on a drizzly Paris
night, after many attempts a cab finally stopped and charged us 5 euros to
go just about 3 blocks, the fucking French. All the family took good care of me.

Lissa had come back to locate us and show us where
the boat was, so as we walked down the long walkway to the boat we saw
Janet up ahead, she said she didn’t like the looks of the first place and said
that we should go to the second one, as the chairs looked nicer and the
prices just the same, very reasonable. So I told her, please find out if there
is a restroom and she yelled at me as I was trying to board the boat,
YES! Theres a BATHROOM! Well, I was utterly humiliated.
I said to her, Thanks a lot for yelling that, as a nice young Frenchman, who was just
standing there, not a worker or anything, he extinguished his cigarette and held my arm
as I boarded the boat. So I figured people in some places and stores and such were
helpful in France, but not too many. Now I was both in pain and embarrassed.

The boat had an odd part to it, with steps that went up then down and
Judi was on one side of me and this smoking French youth on the other, he was kind
to do that and I thanked him.
Once on the vessel I found the potty was one floor down a skinny staircase, about the
width of my body,
and the restaurant one floor up, so after 3 more flights of stairs I got to
sit down, boy was I exhausted and in pain, I put my leg up on a chair. When
I saw the menu I said, “Oh its Italian, not seafood”. I was really ready
for seafood and this was not it, I noticed the Mediterranean salad said
cuttlefish, and I pictured Curtis’ dried Hawaiian cuttlefish in my mind, and thought I
can put it on the side I guess and I ordered the price fixe menu of salad
and entre, a steak. I ordered a diet Pepsi too, with ICE please, the
girl later brought the only 2 packets of butter or beurre as we were want
to call it by now, the girls would have to make due with dry bread this
evening. Someone who could market ample supplies of ice and butter in Paris could
make a fortune for sure.
The setting of this waterbound restaurant was so nice, right on the Siene and across
from the Louvre and a lot of boats continuously passing by with their lights
on illuminating the Louvre, with golden light, it was beautiful and very romantic. Not as
romantic as Judi had imagined her birthday dinner being I am sure tho. The
day before she had spoken with Jacques on the telephone and he had told her
that he would not be able to meet her for her birthday dinner afterall,
hence our day together in Giverny and our dinner plans at Pont Neuf, on
board a boat which only had cuttlefish as their seafood and another fish
which Lissa had, I think it was a bass. Our hoped for dinner of lobster
would never materialize, oh well, it was a beautiful place. Jacques was the epitome of

rude when he told Judi there would not be a second date as it was not romantic enough,
what a cad. Really he was just not that into her.
That was not a nice thing to say and he is just one more rude Frenchman by now to we all.
I’m glad she’d had a lovely first date with him but he should really learn some manners,
in my opinion.
So we enjoyed the view for dinner and relaxed in our teak deck chairs and awaited our
dinner, the first course being salad. When it came we all got quiet and dug
in, some of us without looking really closely at what we were eating. I saw
the cuttlefish and took a tiny nip at the white part, these were whole
baby cuttlefish, with tendrils sticking out, about 3-4 long and maybe a delicacy
in France but they looked gross to me, I thought I’d nibble a bit and see
if I liked it but it tasted like nothing really, so I went on to eat the
greens and dried tomatoes, and waited for my steak. Someone mentioned the
cuttlefish and I said, yes, that’s cuttlefish I took a little bite of
mine, Judi said she ate the whole thing in one bite, chewing it down and then
later looked at the second one and did not care for the looks of it at all. No kidding!

That damn cuttlefish would bother her for days! It got stuck in her
intestine and caused her stomach discomfort thru the rest of our trip! And
so add cuttlefish to our mantra of gypsys, swans, bi-polar, knowledge of
the door, lithium, limping, these words were to describe the events as
they occurred in random fashion and without warning.
Anyway, what the hell is a cuttlefish?
We had to think about this and decided it’s a small squid, nothing any of
us wanted to eat, so they all stayed on our salad plates and are probably
being recycled to other Americans even now. Probably the same batch night after night,
yuck.
Once the main course came we ate the meats, although I noticed Judi didn’t
eat much, she was feeling ill I could tell, and when I tried to walk down
the stairs and off the boat I was having a rough time, but we’d found a
closer Metro now and made our way toward it in the drizzly night, passing
the University and the students outside on the bridge, off university property
having outdoor bbqs and socializing with one another right there on the centuries olde
footbridge. Little outdoor gatherings around candles with drinks and food,
an interesting sight, probably debating politics, American that is, we walked by toward
the train station and found a
building that was magnificent and I have no idea what it was, although
since it was across from the University I imagine it being part of a college
so we went on to the train and got home and played pinochle for awhile and
went to bed, exhausted from our travels and experiences. Judi had helped me
so much during the day, getting me a cab and knowing I was not doing well,
I am so grateful for all her help during the trip.
Judi kept talking about the cuttlefish and holding her hand under her
heart, as she had tremendous heartburn, that disgusting cuttlefish was
relentless. She didn’t sleep well that night.
We have one day left in Paris, the gals have a huge list of places they
MUST go to and I know I will never be able to keep up with them, I should
of just gone to the Eiffel Tower or someplace I could sit awhile, but I opt
to stay at the apartment, kind of lonely.
They are up and at it early in the day, September 4, and I am given the
task of finding a decent restaurant for the evening meal, that is my job
and by golly I will do it.
Janet and Judi and the girls head out to the shops we’d seen on Ille. St.
Louis to do some shopping and then onto Sacre Coeur and the Paris flea
market for more shopping. They also want to go up the top of the Eiffel
Tower and back to the Arc. This is so much more than I am able to do, so I
spend the day in bed.
I ask Judi to buy me ten of the souvenir Eiffel Towers key chains to give to my
co-workers, they are about 1 euros each and so I give her a 10 euro. I
don’t do much of anything the whole day and they come back around 5pm to
tell us of their days activities.
When Judi and Janet and the girls enter the apartment, they tell me that
Judi was attacked by a midget, yes a MIDGET, and I missed it. I need details so Judi tells
me what happened. They were at the flea market and Judi needed to find a
bathroom, and so she asked a vendor to show her to one, she followed him
for several blocks and then up a flight of stairs above a restaurant and
once inside he tried to follow her in and he groped her and tried to touch
her body. She yelled loudly at him, NO! and pushed him away, and
somehow got him off her, and then the girls and her hid in the bathroom for awhile
until they thought he was gone. What a lot of drama! Now MIDGETS! Midgets
attacking my sister, okay singular one MIDGET, but still, what is this?
What would make a tiny man think he could just grope someone? Do men think women
going to the bathroom is sexy??
It is simply
incomprehensible, so add the word Midget to our list of weirdness words on
this trip. Midgets and gypsys and swans, oh my!
This trip is one for the annals of time, this trip is just a trip.
Not only did that occur at the flea market but another man also taunted
Lissa in a suggestive manner, and she looked at him a said, shit under her
breathe, well he followed her and said Do Not Say Shit to Me! Or something
like that, she stood right up to him, then he backed off, and then to
finish the drama of the flea market the gals witnessed a man being chased
by other men with a chair and beaten in the street for who knows what?
These men just chased him down and beat him with a chair in broad daylight,
he must have been stealing, but no one knew for certain. So the flea market
is someplace to watch oneself for sure. They tell me this whole story and
we get ready to go out to dinner and then to the Eiffel Tower at night as
that is what I’d really like to see, all illuminated and lovely.
When they came back Janet had a coupon for a restaurant and she wants to go
there its called Hippopotamous, I’d picked another place but she really
wants to go to this one so I agree and call for a reservation at 7pm and we
go to it, its close to the Arc and we find it without trouble, one must
walk THRU a car dealership to go to the entrance and this seems odd to us
but we find the restaurant up the elevator and present ourselves for dinner.
The waitresses show us to a table in the center, which is very cramped for
us, and we ask to sit by the window but we are told that is impossible. We argue with the
waitresses, there is not even anyone in the place it is an early hour, and we really want to
sit there, and we are not given the table until Judi says we will leave if we
are not given it, and so we are seated where we desire. Small victory, that.
But should that sort of encounter really be necessary, the French are such idiots.
Next we order our food and it is pretty disappointing all around, so we do
not leave a tip at all and Janet complains that it is bad, she’s right, it
was bad service, bad food and we are sick of this sort of treatment anyway.
We do not leave any extra tips.
So this has all taken longer than necessary and now Sara and Katie must
take Lissa to the train so she can go back to Germany, they take their
leave now and we are left to find our way to the Eiffel Tower and we get
lost, we wind up heading in the wrong direction and walk at least a mile
longer than necessary and although I have rested today I am not doing well.
Again.
Eventually we arrive at the Tower and it is magnificent, we take pictures
but they do not turn out well and Janet and I sit and wait while Judi tries
to find a bathroom. That’s why I use the bathroom at restaurants.
The Tower illuminated is a spectacle and its wonderful to sit again and
just look at it. Then its time to go and so we return to our apartment
and play a game of pinochle and Katie names our teams the Gypsy's and the
Midgets, then we sleep because in the morning we leave for our day of
travel to Ireland. None of us care about political correctness now.
Lissa has gone, she has been fun and funny to be around, I'm glad to have
met her, and now we are onto Northern Ireland to see our family ancestral
castle, Shane’s Castle is our next destination, and I just wonder what will
happen there. I've given up on having the perfect vacation and I just want to get thru the
next few days alive. Thank you very much.

Part 15 Chunnel, Channel? Seems like a Train to Me

I could hardly wait to leave Paris, and the day had finally arrived! Gee, I
doubt too many stories have begun that way, should I have just LOVED
being here? Maybe in another place, another time, maybe the stars were out
of alignment to travel this first week of September, who knows, but I was
glad to be leaving and could not wait to get packed, in fact I had packed
the night before so I would be ready to leave early.
I got up early and cooked the rest of the eggs, we emptied out the fridge
and began to clean up the apartment, I had cleaned off the messy table in
the dining room and done one load of dishes, Judi had to do the rest and
the girls helped with the bags and with cleaning too, we had to leave this
place as good as we had found it. We all wrote things in the travel log that
stayed in the apartment, I wrote about looking out for kids on the Metro,
maybe the next visitors would read this first and be luckier.
We had a plan, Janet was to get us a cab and we were to meet outside at
8:45am, our train was at 10:19 am to London, and we needed time to get
across town to the Eurostar station. If Janet did not come by 9am we were
to find our own way to the station, find a cab as it were, we dragged all
the many bags to the curbside, me guarding them and sitting upon my large
bag, side end up, while I watched the bags the girls brought down in
shifts, I could still hear Judi cleaning the apartment. She had replaced all
the paper products, we had run out of toilet paper at one point, a real
toilet paper emergency arose with 5 women in one apartment, but she had
replaced it all and we were set to go. I think she’d paid $1900.00 for a week at this flat
and we ran out of toilet paper.
Our destination was the train station to meet the Chunnel Train, why do
they call it chunnel when is goes under the channel? And why is it called
the Eurostar, this train is supposed to go 200 miles an hour, how will that
feel I wonder? Will the scenery be a blur or what? We will find out.
So we are outside by 8:35am all ready and waiting for Janet, shades of our
first day in Paris, right on this curb and waiting, someone says, have not
we done this before? A deja vu right in Paris. The second one I had
experienced on the streets of Paris, the other one had come a week before
when we first went to the Arc, and we had just left the Tourisme office, I
was walking toward the Arc and boom! a total deja vu, I had been right
in the exact spot, exactly looking at that exact view of the Arc, some 23 years
earlier, my BODY had remembered and Boom! it stopped me cold on the Champs-Elysees,

a body memory of
experiencing the same physical moment over again. What a feeling.
Now I was having it again waiting for Janet, sans the euphoria, every car
that sped by on the frontage road, we peered into, I grew very anxious,
not a foreign feeling, now a familiar one, anxiousness has become my norm.
At 8:55am we started looking at cabs, should we hail one of the speeding
cabs? No we will give her til 9am like we had said. She had a vested
interest in being on time too. Traveling in a pack was our best defense. So when
9:05am rolled around we started looking at the cabs, Judi and I glancing
and wondering. Then she was there. Yes! Janet pulls thru again.
A nice looking, tall, dark haired Frenchman alighted from the cab and
virtually took over, he carried all the bags he was definitely in charge,
young, good-looking and French a deadly intoxicating combination, he looked
a lot like a certain Greek man, named Sifis to me from 23 years before too.
A real cutie-patootie. Janet introduced us to Sam, not a very French name
but certainly easy for us americains. We crammed into the small car and
sped away. Sam drove us very quickly thru the streets of Paris, other
cars hurtling forward, meshed into a kind of dangerous dance of no lane lines
and little organization, only truly crazy people can drive on these streets
I have decided.
After at least a 45 minute ride, which was a bargain price of about 45
euros total we arrived at the Gare de Nord train station, this was a huge
station with every mode of transportation available to the tourist. One can
take a train direct to London, or one stop away on the Metro, a
multi-function train station, mini-city in one corner of Paris. We unloaded
our bags, I rolled my bag myself, at least rolling this monstrosity I was
able to handle it. Janet asked Sam, do you have a wife? Would she like
this umbrella? A tip she said, I cannot take it on the plane with me! He
said, yes, merci, he would like the umbrella, and he put it in his cab and
then he graciously (Paris is trying to make up to us)
led us toward the correct place to find the train to
London, it is a good thing too, cause that station was humungous! Good Sam
led us toward the escalator that we would need to ascend in order to get to
the Eurostar ticket office, and we did so immediately. As we walked thru
the gate the ticket taker directed us to a ticket window before she would
let us thru, we must show our passport to the gentleman and also our
tickets. So far so good, we had time and we are in the correct place,
always a plus. After a few moments we made it thru this checkpoint and
entered a lobby area, where a money changing office was located, we all got
burned on the exchange rate at this office, the only time it happened on
our whole trip.
I wanted a cup of coffee so I left my bags with one of the girls and
wandered away in search of coffee and found a young man at a counter
selling coffee and ice cream, and bought a cup and he allowed me to pay in
dollars, which tickled me no end.
Returning with my coffee I heard them announce our train and I told Judi so
when I got back to the bags, and so we headed in the direction of the
correct gate, it was a long walk too our train car, very long and when we
finally made it, we boarded and needed to store our bags, all the bottom
spots were taken and Janet lifted my heavy bag over her head, I do not have
a clue how she managed to lift it, that the thing weighed 80 pounds if it weighed 8
ounces!
We found our seats on this very classy train, and we did not like them a
bit, we were slightly separated, and we scoped out the rest of the train,
finding our favorite seats in the middle and facing one another, there were
6 empty seats here as the train pulled out, next stop was when we arrived at our
destination, London, 2 hours
away so we knew no one else would be getting on the train, the girls sat in
these empty seats, the 2 strangers sitting there paid us no mind, Judi
invited me to come sit with them too. I was nervous at first to do so but
eventually did, the business man sitting across from us engaged us in small
talk, he was an americain expatriate living many years in Paris, talking on
his cell phone, briefcase beside him, a Houston man become French by virtue
of choice apparently, I do not think he liked americains much anymore, no
more than I like the French I will bet. Eventually we drove away the man and the
other woman who was sitting in the other 4 seater, (both alone in these choice seats)
afacing one another now, oh goody we have our 8 seats now for the 5 of us, yippee!
Again we win one.
There were many empty seats on the train and the people we sort of chased
off found other seats easily. We had bought these seats months ago, one would think they
would sell these 8 seats to 5 Americans rather than the singles we were sold, just one
more example of discrimination and rudeness, forget the make up attempt. But we
scored the good seats in the end and they were
perfect for pinochle! We played it most of the way, while we talked of
cuttlefish, and gypsies, rude people and midgets, doors, ailing limbs and happenstance,
the weirdness of our Paris saga.
Pinochles rained on us like they were free, Sara had one dealt to her, and
I had one I did not notice til after the bid, goofy is all I can say, just
goofy. Ghosts of Mom on a train to London. We enjoyed a LONG game of pinochle, and
most of us ate, but I
did not, no salads in the dining car that day. The countryside did speed
by, but not as fast as I thought it would look, although looking over at the
cars, they looked like they were going slow on the E19 and I know they were
doing 70-80 mph, cause we had exactly one week ago at that moment been
traveling on that exact highway in the opposite direction, full of hopes
and oblivious to events to come. What a week. A week like no other, a
birthday reunion like no other.
It did not seem like we were going 183 mph but they said we were, it felt
like a regular train, but the scenery did go by pretty quickly, I did not
look out the window too much on this trip, I was busy talking with the
girls and playing cards and feeling so glad to be leaving Paris. And then
we entered the tunnel that goes under the English Channel, an odd
sensation, this part would last just 20 minutes, I remember the ferry from
23 years ago had taken over 2 hours, this train was certainly efficient and
so comfortable too, I would recommend this to anyone, anytime, if you have
to go to Paris take the Chunnel Train, Channel Train, oh just call it the
Eurostar then everyone will know what you mean, a bargain at just $75.00 one
way, when one buys a BritRail pass also, my BritRail pass that would be
returned for an 85% refund in another week, gone unused, fallout from
gypsys, midget, legs and circumstance. Well, everything happens for a
reason and there must have been a good reason why I was to cut my trip
short, I just have to trust it was the absolute right thing for me to do,
and I do trust that, which is why it only hurts a little. Heck, I was
having a great time on this train and had really enjoyed A LOT of what we
had done so far, who am I to complain? I am just lucky to be here at all!

Part 16 What do Deer Lips Have to Do with Anything?

Writing about the train ride to London, by Eurostar, reminded me of the
deer lips and so I just have to go back to that for a moment.
Sara’s friend Lissa is a really silly, sweet and funny girl, and she was
with us when we went to Giverny two days ago, the gal in the photos
wearing the bandana is Lissa, on the way there she suddenly becomes
the Marissa Tomei character in My Cousin Vinny, with the PERFECT and very
enhanced Brooklyn accent, and slays us all with her rendition of the deer
lip scene from the movie, you must read this to yourself, only with your
accent thickly enunciated, very thickly Brooklynese ready?.....here
goes~
"Imagine, you're wa deer. You're pwwaancing along, ya get thirsty, ya spot a
bwwook. Ya put your little deer lips up to the cold clear water... and BAM.
A fuckin bullet wwips half your head off. Your bwwain is lying on the gwwound
in little bloody pieces. Now I ask ya, ah you going to give a fuck what
kind of pants the son of a bitch who shot you was wearin’?"
So, that is what deer lips have to do with it, those deer lips and Lissa
perfect line delivery, have been stuck in my head since that trip, wow,
what a perfect metaphor for this vacation.
Thanks for the fun Lissa! I will never forget you, dear.
The ride on the train ends as we enter the sprawling city of London,
England, about noon, local time, we have gone thru a time zone and we are
now one hour earlier, then when we left Paris, I suppose the time changed
as we were under the water of the English Channel. I didn't mind going
under the channel, it was interesting to imagine being in a very long
tunnel under the channel, the word they use is chunnel, I think its weird
to make up words but that's what is done, Judi, the linguist says that's
what is done and the dictionary records words after a certain amount of
human usage, hence if you look in the new Webster's you will find the word
DUH. I guess if duh is a word then so is chunnel. I'm just going to call
it Eurostar, ok?
So, we are coming into London now, the train goes very slow, we are coming into
the Waterloo Station and we can see some of the sights, the Thames, Westminster, this
old building, that one. Now we need to find our way off the train, locate
carts for our luggage, at least they are free here in Europe, and then make
our way to the local transportation so we can find our way to Heathrow
Airport.
We must fly to Belfast today, and then get to Randalstown where our
lodgings are located, on this day, September 5, all we will do is travel.
We pile all the luggage together and then wheel out toward Customs, we get
our passport stamps and then continue on our way. No problems. We walk a long ways
and now we are in an area that goes out to the street. I go up to an
Information Counter, I notice yay! everything is in English, what a relief.

I make a mistake and tell the woman we need to get to Waterloo Station, she
looks at me a moment and Janet yells over my shoulder "We are AT Waterloo!"
Janet screaming at me, NOT a good feeling.
I visibly flush and say yes I knew that, 'we need to get to Heathrow....there is 5
of us, what do you think would be the cheapest way?'
The kind woman says well perhaps a cab?
We had thought of that, and also of the new London Express, which takes
individuals from Waterloo to Heathrow Airport for 12 pounds sterling, Sara
had used that during the summer and found it very helpful....but since
there are 5 of us.......so I ask the taxi coordinator outside the station,
how much do you think it would cost for a cab and he said about 40 pounds,
so that would be cheaper.
By 20 pounds or so, and since the exchange is about $1.67 for 1 pound it is
quite a savings to take a mini-cab.
As we thank him and head toward the taxi stand, Janet, the control freak,
has already found a
cab for us, is putting her luggage inside and telling us to come on.....
Well, we get into the cab and a nice man leads us thru London, and Sara
asks if we can take the scenic route past Westminster Abbey so Judi can
have a look and we can shoot a photo or two, and he says sure, he's going
to give us the nickle tour, or would that be 5 pence tour.....London style.
We actually see quite a bit even tho we are squished into the mini-cab,
Westminster, Buckingham Palace, we can even see the Palace guards from the
cab, we see several war memorials and Hyde Park as well and then we head
out of town toward Heathrow Airport, our flight is about 3pm but we should
be checked in already, and we need to be on our way. None of us has ever
flown into Northern Ireland and we are not sure what to expect, maybe there
will be armed guard areas, we simply do not know about the security for
arriving in a place that is frought with civil unrest, Janet has queried me
about our lodgings in Randalstown, she sounds concerned about my
plans but I don't let her rattle me, and at one point I tell her, the place is
a lovely b and b and I am sure you will like it there! She obviously does not think I can
pick a b and b, a restaurant or even a cab, she MUST do it all, really annoying.
So it’s a long ride out to Heathrow, it’s a busy afternoon on the streets and
we are cozy and somewhat uncomfortable, but no one is complaining, I see a
University and tell Sara, hey maybe you could come to school here!
Once we get to the airport we find carts and get our luggage out, we pay
the cabbie and then ask another cabbie which way to the British Midlands
terminal, the carrier which will take us to Belfast........not only does he
tell us he walks me across the street to make sure I see the way and shows
me how to take the cart on the walkway that I don't have to carry the bags,
he's really very kind. God what a relief, nice people that actually help
you while you are traveling. A place like home.
So we go into the terminal and get in a line and it’s the wrong line and
then Judi says lets go over here to sales so she can change my return
ticket to match theirs since I am coming back earlier..... Janet
doesn't want to wait so she goes ahead, and gets in the luggage line, which
is moving faster than our line.
Janet and Sara get into a heated argument, about what we do not know yet, and Judi and
I observe from our line at the sales center.
Judi negotiates a change in my ticket, which I pay 50 pounds extra for, but
I have a confirmed seat on the return flight. It is worth the expense to
know I am coming back with Judi and will travel by return with her, as I am
positively certain I am meant to do, otherwise I would be flying without a
seat and could be left in Ireland, and I don't want that anymore, besides I am crippled in
the leg by now anyway.
So as we are finishing Janet is at the luggage and check in counter and has
made it thru to the front and we rush up to give the agent our tickets, she
processes all the tickets and our baggage disappears, and then we need to
find the gate to go to on our way, now that we have our boarding passes. We
wind up going upstairs to the gates and just sitting as we are tired,
Heathrow is huge and classy looking but I've no energy to explore, I wish I had.
When we board our plane and take off for Belfast I'm glad for an aisle
seat, now we are in the air, heading toward my all-time dream destination,
Ireland. I can hardly believe it, I will be landing in Belfast in about an
hour, I have wanted to come here for years, have found out where our family
comes from, which town my ancestors lived in, what my Father's family name
is all about, read about it, researched, studied, compiled, seen photos,
paintings, read stories, talked with inhabitants from this era and 40 years ago and longed
to be there, I am an expert on Shane’s Castle, the
Clannaboy O’Neill manse and property in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
I am in a sense going home to Ireland, all the midgets, and gypsy's and swans and legs
and thieves and pain and apprehension could not keep me from coming to Ireland, I am
really, truly going home, and I would fully grasp this reality when I see
the people of Ireland and see that they are me and I am them. Ireland here
come your finest daughters, your most grateful daughters, here comes your
descendants, here we come, home. We are Irish.

Part 17 Emerald Isles, Both are Home

We are descending now thru the blanket of fluffy white clouds and the land below is
green, patchwork, beside the sea, I'm looking past the strangers to my left
side and my first glimpse, I'm straining to see out the tiny airplane
window my island home away from home, I see Ireland for the first
time. She is flat near the sea, and the fields are green, like the
swatches of land in a quilt, exactly like landing in my beloved Maui. Ireland looks
just like Maui to me, I'm really surprised. I did not expect to look out
the window and see an island that looks so much like Maui, both emerald
green, both patchwork, fields, both right here by the lovely sea. This
view is so familiar.
So we land and we are told we may disembark from the back of the plane and
since we are nearer there we do so. There is a staircase that descends to
the tarmack, its been years since I've walked on a tarmack, usually planes
have jetways directly into terminals, I don't see Sara take my picture as I
walk down the stairs.
We go into the terminal, and this is a small airport, there are folks
waiting on the other side of the windows for their newly arrived loved
ones, our bags will be coming out, the girls are so wonderful always
helping with the bags, I am told to sit right down, Judi has come down with
a terrible blister and is walking on the back of her shoes so we need to
remember to get my mules out of the bag for her so the blister can stop
being irritated any further. I keep telling myself, I'm in Ireland, I am.
I can hardly believe it. I'm a bit apprehensive, I know we need to find a
cab that will take us to Randalstown, we are hoping for a good price for
the ride. We get the mules out for Judi. I need to give her those for the
rest of the trip so that blister will not get worse.
I know that the Lurgan West B and B is in Randalstown. It's after 5pm now
and we need to travel about 20 miles I believe. We find a cabbie and he
agrees to take all of us, I think it was 40 pounds or 45 something like
that, we are once again in a small cab, and traveling and I see no signs of
British troops or civil unrest whatsoever, anywhere. I'm so glad of that,
we did not have to pass thru Customs as Northern Ireland is part of the
United Kingdom, so we can travel about freely and we do so.
Our cabbies name is Albert and I ask him the name of the Hill ahead, but he
doesn't know it, says it hasn't got one, but just like Hawaii, every hill
has a name, however we won't know it today, Albert is not a talkative one
so we just look out the window, we're all tired from a long day of travel,
this is the third cab of the day, after an airplane and a 2 hour train
ride, we are on the edge of exhaustion, and I've not eaten since the eggs
in Paris that morning. I'm famished.
Once we exit the highway, we are near the town of Randalstown, there are
rows of houses, quaint ones with colorful doors and tiny gardens, Albert
shows us the grand entrance of Shane's Castle and we look in awe at our
first look at the manse, we see the bridge over the aqueduct and are now in
the little hamlet of Randalstown looking for Old Straffordhsire Road, and
we find it, and then we find Lurgan West, we pull into the driveway and I
get out, we make arrangements for Albert to fetch us at noon on Saturday
for our return to the airport.
Next we are greeted warmly by Sheila McLaughlin who would be our host for
the next 2 nights. He husband takes charge of our bags, she's got the
special room reserved for me upstairs but I am looking into this lovely
room downstairs, that I can share with Judi, so I don't have to keep
walking up and down the stairs.
Besides I like sharing with Judi and Janet can have the pretty pink doll
room. I'm a tiny bit jealous but I simply do not want to look at another
stairway. I wish I could, but no. I fight the urge to feel sorry for my predicament.
Sheila invites us in for tea, we prefer coffee and she has that also, and
she gives us snacks (I cannot eat them) and we sit in her big dining room
and living room and have a nice break. Finally we have arrived, I can
hardly stand it, I feel very excited.
We decide to walk to town, it is just 1/2 mile away and so we walk down the
walkway, to the end of the road, turn right and grab Katie as she nearly
walks into a speeding car, look to the left and right, as the cars come in
the other lane we all say aloud to each other.
We walk past alot of lovely old homes and peer into a great old cemetery
filled with Irish crosses,
we look for the name O'Neill and don't see any.......we keep walking and
pose for a photo of the town sign "Randalstown". This is a Catholic
cemetery and the O'Neill's have their own on their property I already know,
also our O'Neill's are not Catholic, but I don't want to talk about
religion in Ireland. I say nothing to anyone.
As we get to the shops and restaurant areas we find a place and go in,
Janet calls Dave and we order batter fried mushrooms, and they
are delicious, I eat so many of them as I am so hungry. I have sausage and
meat and other yummy foods too. I really remember the mushrooms, we all eat
and then the others are going to wander about or walk back early I believe,
I stay on and walk back a little later, alone, why did I do that? I forget.
I need to ask Judi.
It becomes evening time and we are all tired and need to go to bed, I must
shower and the tiny shower is barely big enough for me, but I manage. I am
so pleased to be here, our room, I wish I had a photo of our room, it was
filled with beds that had huge comforters and pillows and shams and it
looked so cozy and sweet exactly like I'd imagined, big and fluffy. Janet
is in mine when I am done showering, she is engaged in giving Judi a major
back rub and then its Sara's turn, she says it feels good while she is
having it but later she is very, very sore, and remarks about how sore she is.
Sara and Kate have a darling room upstairs with twin beds too.
Eventually everyone leaves our room and I can go to sleep, I am so tired, I
am so comfortable here, I doze off and look forward to the morning, our
one and only full day in Ireland, I am going to make the most of it for
sure and it turns out to be the best day of my entire vacation, except when
I go to sleep I don't know that yet, I just wish it to be so.

Part 18 Dreams Can Come True

I love waking up when I know the day is going to be special, I get to be a
child again, with that pure joy anticipation of what is going to come, and
this day a dream would come true. That in and of itself is enough, the hope
of a dream coming true is simply enough, and then to have it come true is
just amazing to me, so when I woke on Friday, September 6 I knew that this
was the day I was waiting for and nothing was going to stop be from
experiencing it fully. This place was the reason I traveled 8000 miles.
Breakfast was ready at 8:30am and we all tumbled into the big dining/living
room for our full English breakfast, which is a lot of food. The table was
laden with formal dining service, and cereals, juice, milk, toast, and then
came the hot meal, eggs and sausage and something called rashers which is a
piece of ham with bacon attached, that tasted lovely and potato toast which
I didn't eat, I stuck to my lo-carb plan, so I ate only the meats and the
left-overs that the girls did not want, we all filled up and then it was
time to dress and go for the day.
It was cool out, quite cool actually, perhaps low-60's if I were to guess,
all the reporting was in Celsius and I do not know what the translation
into farenheit would be, but I'm guessing 60's so I wore my long pants, and
2 tops and a jacket, I didn't want to be bothered by the cold. Sheila came
out to advise us as to who to call for transportation and she made the call
for us, we would need the mini-van since there are 5 of us for comfort and
safety.
And we would need to enter our destination, Shane's Castle at a place
called White Gate, not the grand entrance we'd passed by the previous
evening, and it's a good thing she told us that or we'd still be knocking
on the wrong door.
So we were off, Judi and Janet, Sara and Katie and myself, all headed out
to Shane's Castle for the day! Anticipation rocks my World!
My sisters had joined me on this leg of the trip simply to see my
'reaction' at my first sight of the ruins, and they said to 'catch me when
you fall'. I was surely glad they had joined me for this leg of the trip
and am not at all certain I would of gone by myself if they had not planned
on joining me, after our experiences in Paris and my personal difficulty
regarding my leg pain. But this is our fathers family home, we are going to see their Castle
on the Lough.

Shelia had told us we'd need to ride in the cab out of Randlastown on the
road toward Antrim town to reach White Gate, and the cab knew exactly where
to take us, it was about 5 or 6 miles I'd guess to the entrance, which
meant that the grounds of Shane's Castle fronting the town were longer than
5-6 miles, which is quite large, obviously the dominant domicile in this
part of Northern Ireland. I was looking out at all the scenery which was
green and there were homes everywhere and lots of open land too, including
cattle in the fields and horses. Most of what we saw was very well
maintained properties in my opinion. So we were headed East and the huge castle
property was to our right, and then we came upon the modern entrance to the
castle, and there were men standing in the driveway area, the gate, which
was white was open and the caretakers home at the entrance was to our right
as we drove across the driveway on the property at Shane's Castle. I'd said
to the driver 'we have permission from Lord O'Neill to visit today' which
of course we did, I'd called the castle from Maui the summer prior and
spoken with Shane O'Neill, the current heir to the castle, and the son of
Lord Raymond O'Neill. Shane had asked me to write a letter to his father
to 'warn him' of our arrival, and so I did so, here is what I'd written:


July 9, 2002
Dear Sirs,
It was so nice speaking with Shane O'Neill on the phone just now, thank you
so much for your cordiality. I hope this letter finds you healthy.
As mentioned on the telephone my sisters, nieces and I are coming to the UK
and Europe this summer for a holiday, including a few days in Northern
Ireland, this will be our first trip to your country.
We'll be staying at Lurgan West Lodge with Shelia McLaughlin and her
family. Then we'll go up to Coleraine and visit another friend who has a
lodge there, her name is Kay Mullin.
In any case, yes, we would very much like to come by Shane's Castle for a
little bit to see the ruins, and a walk round.
My sister and I have done some genealogy and we research the O'Neill
family. Our father was an O'Neill.
I've spoken with your nephew and cousin Patrick O'Neill from Australia
about the Castle and the family history and some years ago he sent me some
pictures and information about the Castle
We would be very grateful for a short visit and we know the Castle is the
home of Lord O'Neill and is very private and not open to the public.
If you would allow us to see a bit of the grounds and a walk around and
such it would mean so much to us and would definitely be the highlight of
our trip to Northern Ireland. We'll be in France the week prior to coming
to Randalstown for my sister's birthday, then after your country we go on
to London.
We have September 6th set aside as our day to see County Antrim and Shane's
Castle with your permission.
Sincerely,
Jill Ching, Judith Brooks,
Janet Scheffer and young Katie and Sara Brooks
USA


With this letter in hand I hoped we'd have no trouble entering the private
castle property so we could look around at the place our ancestor had
called home in 1730. Hugh O'Neill had changed his name and become Hugh
O'Neall when, as third in line to inherit the manse he'd left Ireland to
find his fortune in the American colonies, via an English Man O'War ship in
1730. Hugh is my 8th great grandfather, and I am a direct descendant of
this family by virtue of my father's birthfather Charles O'Neall. This
intriguing chapter in our family history is worth remembering, and I will
attempt to be succinct.
My father William Glen O'Neall Baker was the second of four born in
LaGrande, Oregon to Charles O'Neall and Edith Patten, but when she wanted
to move to Sacramento with her father and mother, Charles attempted to go
with his young family, but he returned to Oregon and lived out his days
near his own mother, never knowing his children, their children or his dozens of direct
descendants, at this point we had counted 36 I believe, there are more now of course,
including dozens of great great grandchildren.
In fact Charles was somewhat aware of his children. There were a few photos of Dad and
his siblings, we would
eventually find these photos in his and his mothers’ photo album, generously given to us
by Charles' second wife's (Mamie was her name) niece, Joan Primm,
eight years after his death when my sister Judi and I went in search of
Joan's grandfather Walter Primm, a lifelong friend of our own grandpa Charles,
Walter being the informant on Charles' death certificate from 1987. When my
sister, my Aunt Pat and Judi's mother-in-law Fran Brooks took me along on
this, my first 'genealogy trek' of 1995, little did I know this very
personal quest to find out who my birth grandfather was, would lead me to
today's trek to Northern Ireland and our ancestral castle. It was destiny.
So many things had to fall into perfect synchronicity to led us to Shane's
Castle, this could not be mere coincidence, this had to be destiny, this
had to be meant to be, I am convinced, and I believe we had help on this journey, help
from William Elijah O’Neall and others, spirits of The O’Neall guiding our journey, guiding
me.
After the Oregon trek I became
obsessively interested in genealogy, I wanted to find out who my many
ancestors were, and the internet was a good beginning place, Judi had been
'doing genealogy' for years and I knew about our ancestry via my great
grandmother, Minnie Wentworth Patten, now I wanted to find out about my
O'Neall ancestry so I began making queries on the World Wide Web. We had
also located Marilyn O'Neall in Silverton, Oregon who gave me information
she'd collected on several generations of the O'Neall's, once I had these 4
or 5 generations I placed requests for information on the internet and I
was told to look for a book called
"Hugh O'Neall, His Irish Ancestors and American Descendants" by Wesley
Dicks, when I received a copy on microfilm from the LDS in Salt Lake City I
copied all 200 pages at my local library and lo and behold found my
connection to Hugh O'Neall of Shane's Castle. This book included some of
the same 5 generations Marilyn had given me from her personal research, I'd
made the connection.
The book is a wonderful historical slice of life of pre-American Revolution
life, Hugh's six sons had fought with George Washington and Daniel Webster,
joined ranks with all sides of loyalty during the 1776 war and had carved
out a life in the South Carolina landscape, they'd owned and released
slaves by 1840 and our direct ancestors even served in the first Indiana
legislature.
Charles O'Neall's grandfather, John, had been among the men to capture
Jefferson Davis, in a dress, during the Civil War.
So if I hadn't gone on the gen trek, I wouldn't of bought a
computer, become an Internet junkie, found the O'Neall book, done the
research, which led me to the Castle which we were on our way to this day.
It was all such a gift. Other interesting dynamics happened also, Carl came
to live with us after I went on the Oregon trip, and he just now went to
Oklahoma to live with his birthparents now seven years later, and now that
the trip to Shane's Castle is completed. Beginnings and endings, dreams
coming true, finding our grandfather, the one no one wanted us to look for
and then discovering our own heritage in the process. If we had looked for
Charles when Dad was alive he would not of appreciated it, his own belief
was that his father had abandonded him, his Mother's belief was even more
vile toward her first husband, now that I know more of the story, its very
possible that Charles' mother Martha Riley O'Neall, had been instrumental
in causing havoc in Charles and Edith's lives, Dad's first cousin John
O'Neall felt that was so, as she had ruined his own parents marriage.
And since I believe in an afterlife, was it our own Dad that led us to
Charles his father, are they together in the afterlife, conducting and
communicating with us, to find our ancestry and our castle, I believe in
afterlife communication, and have been aware that I have been on the 'right
track' for years in my genealogy quests, is it all just research or is
something helping me?
And what about our ancestor Hugh and his connection to Shane's Castle, what
of that controversy?
Shouldn't that 65,000 acres have gone to him at the death of his brother?
He may not of left Ireland at all if he'd known he'd actually inherit, his 3 brothers all had
to die for him to be eligible. The odds were he would never inherit so he went in search of
his fortune in the New World, in 1730, not yet even the United States.
in 1850 when his descendant, Judge John Belton O'Neall wrote to the castle regarding
inheritance rights why was his letter ignored, I've a copy of that very
letter, the castle was then inherited by a sister, who married an
Englishman who changed his name to O'Neill and was given a lordship instead
of locating the official male heirs. Did we think we could walk up to
Shane's Castle and tell Lordy, 'Hi we're home, we’ve come to take over?' No
but we could certainly joke about it, maybe, or own brother Jack could be
Lordy, himself, and us all the real Irish Princesses we really are.
All this went thru my mind as we arrive at the ruins of the 15th century
castle, our castle, the one I have dreamed about and thought about for
years, the one I have pictured myself in for years, we alight from the cabbie’s van
and say come back in and hour and a half and get us, please, and we begin
to stroll toward the old walls and I am ahead of my siblings, and I fake a
backward faint into their loving arms, they have come with me, we are here
to claim our emotional inheritance to our ancestral home, our Irish home, I
am filled with emotion and a rush of joy, the kind that used to be so
common when I was young, the now very rare joy-filled moment, pure
gratitude, love and fulfillment. I am actually, in real life, in this
moment, walking toward Shane's Castle, this is not a dream, this is so
much better than a dream, this is so real.

Part 19 Castles in the Sky

The anticipation built as I walked closer to the actual castle walls, I
just wanted to touch the ancient rock, and put my hands right on the walls. The
first thing I saw was a walkway between old castle walls and then an open
expanse where the old tower stood guard, overlooking the lake beyond, this does
look like a castle in the sky when approaching from the land side of the
property.
I touched the wall, leaned back against the black rock and granite, braced and gathered
myself, where
the cannons stood and looked out over the dark lake, called Lough Neagh,
the largest lough in all of the United Kingdom, it's depth never has been
found. How many have stood here before? Thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands,
all the way back to the 1400's, the first version of the first O’Neill castle, one of the castles
which had burned down, people have stood in this exact spot and
looked at this exact view, some of them my ancestors.
We were all mesmerized by this fact of being in the place, and everyone
sort of went every which way, some taking photos, some soaking in the
experience, some doing both.
We stood for group pictures, we peered inside the Camellia House windows,
we sat upon the rock, leaned upon the ramparts, and walked along the grass, and rock
surface, I bent
down and picked up a piece of new pink quartz granite from the rock walkway, which
had been tended by someone who had raked even lines in the rock in a
symmetrical pattern, I worried about the prints my feet would leave in the
neatly ordered rocks, and slipped a piece of pink quartz into my jeans pocket, I
had to take a bit of the castle home with me. This was new rock, it was
being used to spruce up the terrace portion of the castle, where people
could stroll out, cocktails in hand, wearing floaty tulle and chiffon ballgowns,
the tuxedoed gentry, bored looks on their faces they peer at the lough
beyond, do they wonder about the past too?
Judi wanted Janet to interview me on the video camera, but I didn't offer my
information and she never asked me to speak, when Sara asked me to narrate a
bit for her camera I did, but I felt like my small words could not enhance
an already extraordinary experience, and I did not want to muck things up,
I would rather of kept my thoughts to myself, but I did speak a bit about
what I knew of the place in history.
What is known of Shane's Castle is alot, and it is rare, in that it is
still in the hands of an O'Neill, a lord, a peer to the realm.
We came together for more photos and then walked down ancient curved stairs inside that
old tower, stairs that spiraled down, Judi cleared the way of debris on the steps, not
wanting me to fall and hurt myself on any small rocks......the tower stone
had massive and pointy iron grates inside, with some sort of interior well
room, looking like a dungeon of course, we saw ancient iron pieces inbedded in the
walls of the stone and then we were on the big lawn and walking out to the edge of
the water, I did not feel like walking anymore but the others did so they
went on a walk, some to a shore across just a small part of the actual
lough, where black swans were floating without a care, then took flight, I
did not see these swans, only the photos of them that Sara took, the black swans of
Shane’s Castle.

I sat upon an old wooden bench but I wanted to lay down on the grass, just
put my head down for a minute, put the side of my face and my eyeballs on the grass and
look beyond at my castle and relax on the massive lawn that fronted the castle, I could
not take my eyes off the castle, I sat frozen on the old bench.

Minutes went by and I thought, well I should just do it, I should just lay down here on this nice grass and so I did and I sighed so deeply, melting into the freshly mowed
lawn, the lawn now a giant forest and the castle beyond dwarfed by the forest of lawn in
my minds eye, and rested my head and looked at the castle and wished it were mine,
how different would my life of been if indeed this were my castle and I
could live right there, had lived right here for all my life. I was
building a castle in the sky of course, right before the castle in front of
my own eye. Gee, it was fun to dream that dream, wow it was wonderful to
see this scene.
After a long while the others came back and told me what they'd seen and
where they had walked, thru a beautiful forest alongside the lough, it
sounded wonderful to me, but I did not regret for a moment my time on the
grass looking at my castle and imagining the life of a Lady of the Castle.
We'd seen all of it, walked around every bit of the castle, taken many
photographs and really been here in this place and for this time, we had really
been here. It was time to walk back to where the cabbie would meet us and
so we did, using our last photos and taking my last longing looks over our
shoulders, when we got into the cab and the castle fell away from our sight
I knew I'd left a bit of my heart right there, right on the rock, the grass, the timelessness of
Shane's Castle.


Part 20 Friendly People in an Ancient Land

Humans have inhabited Ireland for thousands of years, the ancient dolmans
attest to that fact, some of the old forts have been carbon dated to before Stonehenge and
the pyramids, so Ireland is of course a very ancient land. When we left the
600 year old ruins of Shane's Castle we drove toward the town of Antrim and
I asked the driver if he could take us to the Antrim Round Tower so we
could see this perfectly intact 10th century fortress, what a beauty she
was, located a bit away from the town center, the driver went around the
tower and parked so we could get out and see the tall structure, these
round towers were built as defense structure and their round shape so
sturdy they hold up well with time, this one is perfectly preserved, and
has stood here for 1000 years.
The Witches Stone, is also intact, a large boulder with two deep holes in
the top, said to have been made by the falling witch, as she was tossed out
of the tower. Wonderful!
After seeing the tower and stone we went to the market square street
area of Antrim, I was looking for 2 things, film and a potty and eventually
after walking entirely thru a shopping center I found both, with Judi
alongside me. All this walking was affecting me again, and I needed to sit,
and we were looking for a place to sit and eat, I went around to the bank
of Ireland and withdrew some pounds as the exchange rate was best at these
atm's and then we set about finding a restaurant, by now I was walking with
Janet, she wanted to go into a little restaurant we passed and so I went in
there was a table in the back.
We ended up going to another restaurant that Judi said we needed to go into called
Ballywick, the girls were waiting there for us, it looked fine to me,
Janet wanted to find an outdoor restaurant, but this is Ireland, it was
sprinkling just a bit and I was certain there were no outdoor restaurants,
and there weren't so we stayed put afterall and had a lovely lunch, Judi
and I both had the salmon which was lovely. Memorable even. Mine was fresh
on a bed of veggies and Judi's was with potatoes and green, yum, our best
meal in days.
I forget what the girls had. This place had gambling games and so Janet
went to play them and we bought the newspaper, as someone had told us that
we had bombed Iraq that morning, and sure enough we had, the headlines
read, American and British Forces Bomb Iraq, a scary thing to read in an
Irish restaurant 20 miles from Belfast, but there it was.
Up and down this trip, one minute bliss and then your country is bombing the supposed
terrorists!
We'd noticed something too, noticed how all the women looked like
us, especially me and Janet, white with light hair and short bodies in the
trunk, with thin straight hips....how all of them had pasty complexion and
light eyes, how you could look over here and see someone who looked just
like Mom and here was Aunt June or Aunt Alice, all these women looked just
like the women in our family. These women were our doubles in many ways,
and we all talked about how THIS is where we get these looks, we really,
really are Irish, all we had to do was open our eyes and see us, we had
indeed returned to our Motherland, and this caused me to feel a great
kinship and a huge connection, MOST of the women we saw looked exactly like
the women in our family, going back generations even Judi and the dark hair, most were
blonde but
some had dark hair too. It was uncanny and felt like we were at home.
Judi's blister on her ankle was troubling her, she said and she didn't want to go
shopping with us on the market square, so she wanted to return to the nice
b and b now, I was not ready to return and neither was Janet and altho I
wondered about keeping up the pace with my sister who likes to travel at
the rate of a quick 50 yard dash I said sure let's go shopping, I figured
I could find places to sit. Judi and the girls went back to Randalstown and
Janet and I stayed and 'did' Antrim Town, and I am surely glad we did. It
was so fun being alone with Janet, she is so nice one on one,
not seeming to need to 'be in charge' so much. We started with taking
photos of the ancient part of the town, where the castle had stood and
where a large 'gate' now guards a garden? Janet went to buy a disposable
camera and take photos of some of what we saw, including the old castle
walls from Antrim castle, now just a couple of walls left at the top of the
square really.
We had a map of the 'historical' part of Antrim and surveyed these sights
from the terraced structure that made up the castle area, it was interesting.
From up there we saw a thrift store and said, lets go in there, so we did.
We walked across the cobblestone square and entered a typical thrift store,
and began to look around, I saw a charming little picture, of dancers and
picked it up, it was interesting, and I put it down again, eventually I
bought 4 blue and white linen napkins, very soft and a lovely framed
watercolor, with a swan and thatched cottage, near water, quite good
sized, about 18" x 12" which I would spend the next several days carrying
around carefully. I think that is all I bought in the thrift store, Oh no,
I also bought a pink pillow cover, for a small throw pillow, my shade of
baby pink and perfect for my sofa at home, it was just the case, no pillow
and so I bought it too, it was 20 pence, or 20 p, and the napkins were also
very inexpensive, as was the picture, I think altogether I spent 4 pounds
on these treasures.
Next we walked down the sidewalk, and I saw a pub, it was time for me to
sit down so I wanted to go inside, it was a very colorful pub, called
Maddens, and we went in and looked around it was filled with men and a few
women, it was a Friday just after noontime. This pub was large and had
lovely big sitting areas with old cushioned couches and smaller booths, I
wanted coffee, and we ordered some and a nice man named Eugene came and
talked to us, he was the owner of Maddens. He'd heard us, we were talking
about finding the 'tourist office' and he came over to tell us where it was
at, quite friendly. I said the place was great and he pointed to a picture
on the wall behind us and said that painting, a mural on the wall was from
the Book of Kells, he said, they'd tried to paint the whole book in his
place but he didn't have enough room, quite tongue in cheek. He said the
book was at Trinity College in Dublin, I didn't tell him I knew that
already. I didn't tell him I'd received numerous materials from Trinity
regarding our ancestral castle we'd just visited that morning, I kept my
mouth shut. We did say we'd gone there to visit that morning and it was
lovely, we told everyone that day we'd gone to Shane's Castle.
After our coffee break we walked down the street, we went inside a shop
that sold picture frames, because it also had family crests in the window,
he did not have an O'Neill crest, but I did see some nice brass bracelets
from Kashmir and bought one for 2 pounds I think it was, its tourquoise
color and very nice. Our next stop was in a shop that specialized in
trophies, and we picked out a lovely 4" silverplated dish in a wooden stand
and had "Happy 40th Judi" engraved on the dish. Something to remember Ireland.
Judi had bought me the most beautiful cross stitch pattern in France, I
forgot to mention it earlier, it is a Renoir painting, to be done in cross
stitch, and I had found at the Gallerie Laffeyette a lovely pink pashmina
shawl, in baby pink.
The plate would be done by 4:30pm so we needed to make sure we were back by
then to pick it up, as he would close his shop then also. Our next shop
was our favorite, jewelry......wow, what fun we had and this is where we
spent the most time too.
I spotted a ring I wanted right away, it was seed pearls and in the shape
of a heart, tiny seed pearls, they reminded me of Vicki and the heart made
me think of leaving my heart at Shane's Castle that morning so I knew I
needed that ring, I think it was just 17 pounds for a lovely 10K English
ring, not bad at all. I scooped it up right away, and made it my own.
Janet said she wanted to buy something 'very Irish' I told her nothing more
Irish in jewelry than claddaghs, and proceeded to tell her about the
Trinity represented in the claddagh, the jeweler interrupted my story I
noticed, just as I'd mentioned the Holy Trinity, he pulled out a sheet of
paper that talks about friendship, love and loyalty being the hallmarks of
the claddagh, which is another way to interpret it, and definitely the
Protestant way of interpreting the claddagh, I sensed a religious thing
going on and definitely did not interrupt the jeweler myself. Obviously this
jeweler did not want the Catholic trinity mentioned in his no doubt Protestant shop and
so I just kept quiet.
In any case Janet eventually purchased everything claddagh, including a
lovely ring for herself, a lovely pendant for herself and earrings for
Jean, all gold and all very nice and a very good price at that, I think she
spent around 70 pounds for all her pieces, I had to find a chair to sit in
as I was tired of standing so long finally, as Janet chose her pieces. This
was fun, picking out jewelry and buying something wonderful, later we would
talk about how the jeweler had cut off half the paper he hands out
regarding the claddagh, obviously the half about the trinity, he was indeed
censoring the meaning of the claddagh to suit his religious beliefs, it
would be the strongest sense of religious defamation I would encounter in
Northern Ireland, but it was clear.

It was funny, go shopping for jewelry, get a lesson in religious freedom.
After our jewelry shop we walked down to the end of the street, where there
were two churches, one each side of the street, I took a photo of one and
looked at the other, where the church had become a discount carpet shop,
hot pink signs of SALE TODAY! adorned the church alcove, heaps of carpet
just inside the vestibule of a very old church, a very odd sight, why
didn't I take a photo of this sight? I don't know.
We had reached the end of the market street area, and needed to cross to
the other side to walk down and back toward the castle wall, where we'd
begun, we did, and Janet went inside a bakery and bought something
delicious looking and I tried not to look at it while she was eating, then
we were inside a deli and looking at the lovely meats and things, and I
bought a Pepsi Light and sat on another bench, my leg tiring now a lot.

Soon we came upon the tourist office, and went inside, a place just for us,
I immediately noticed all the kitchy Irish souvenirs one could buy, and
proceeded to do so, I was on a roll now. I found a lovely Irish cross key
chain. I planted myself on the chair near their desk and hopped up to look
over the souvenirs, I got some postcards too, and the women printed off
some Shane's Castle info for me from their reference book, and I picked up
the free materials on the area that the give to tourists. I brought all
these home with me. Janet had found a free computer and was checking her
email and writing out some crucial ones that needed attention, we talked to
the women who worked there and I was glad to chill out for 45 minutes or
so, not walking was a good thing.
When it was time to leave we said goodbye to the kind ladies and left, only
to walk inside a fabric store where I found a lovely gold bookmark with an
Irish harp adorning it. Janet bought one for Katie too I believe. Now we
were in group of shops that meandered back away from the street, I saw a
sign that said Cornish pasties and if I had found one I most likely would
of eaten it but I never found that shop, instead I found luggage shop and
bought a lovely Italian leather wallet for myself.
It was time to get the plate we'd had engraved for Judi and Janet ran back
across the street to pick it up, while I continued to shop. We were pretty
laden with packages by now, although most of the things I'd managed to buy
were small, save the framed watercolor, that one was going to be tricky to travel with I
could tell.
We decided we were done and went shopping for a cab, we'd found that if we
compared rates we could get a better deal. We found a cab for 5 pounds back
to Randalstown and he even let us off for a quick stop to take photos of
the grand entrance of Shane's Castle, right in the heart of the town,
before driving us back to the b and b. When we got back we found the girls
and Judi taking tea in the dining room and gave Judi her plate and Janet
gave the girls their gifts and we enjoyed our pot of coffee. We would take
a wee nap before it was time to go out to dinner that evening, and Judi
would remain at the b and b, her leg propped up, with a bag of ice on her
very inflamed blister now. Her entire ankle was swollen and obviously
infected. The ice helped but she needed antiseptic, Janet said she would
buy some as Shelia did not have any, which I found odd.
So after our nap and getting ready for dinner, Janet presented us with a
coupon for a discount dinner at a place called Stables in Antrim town, so
she and I and Sara and Katie all piled into yet another cab and headed
toward Stables.
We had dinner and saw there would be a dance there this night,
a disco with oldies music and
Janet was willing to stay for it, although the girls wanted to go back, I gave
them cab fare paid for the dinner and the girls took all their leftovers to Judi who was sick
in bed, with an inflamed blister and swollen ankle.
This was the day I'd felt the healthiest of all, I'd done a lot already but
had paced myself, with lots of long breaks between walks, and 2 naps, one
on the grass and one back at Lurgan West.
I was ready to dance in a real Irish Pub!
We got downstairs and found a table right near the dance floor where 2
other women squished over so we could join them, actually there was plenty
of room at the table. The music was good and the DJ was someone very
popular with the crowd, Robbie something, and we listened and waited for
others to dance so we could join them, when we did we jumped right in and
altho my leg was annoying me I was able to rock out a bit for some tunes, I
forget which ones now. I didn't dance my usual frenzy way, I sort of swayed
and moved my arms and stamped out a beat a bit.
Janet went up to the bar to buy me a cola and her a fake beer, and a patron
at the bar tried to pick her up and ask her why the hell she was drinking
that brand, and where the hell was her boyfriend?
"Where da ‘ell ahs YOUR boyfriend?" says in a thick accent, "Why da’hell ya
drinkin the Klibers?" My guess is that meant the non-alcoholic.
He was funny, and would try to bring us drinks later but we refused them.
He was very, very drunk too. Funny drunk, how Irish can yahs get.
We danced some more, and Janet went to find the potty and when she came
back I saw a scene I'll never forget, it was classic.
The place had become very crowded now, and Janet was only gone a few
minutes, I looked to my right and there she was, about 25' away walking
thru a thick crowd, on the outside of it so I could see all of
her....... and all of a sudden a man was in front of her, he put his two
arms, around her neck and drew his face near hers, he leaned in and was
just about to kiss her mouth when she ducked right under his right arm and
squirmed away from him, in the nick of time it was. It was a great escape,
and she ran up to me and squealed, did you see that? I had seen it all. Fresh Irish guy.
Perfect.
When we got ready to leave we found a closer restroom and went inside, peed
I guess we’d been talking, and as we were leaving a young dark haired girl emerged from
the bathroom and asked where we were from, we said Hawaii, and she
said, "OH you sound so American.." We told her we are American, that
Hawaii is in the United States and she should come there sometimes.....we
said ok. We left and I thought well, ok, we really aren't in Kansas
anymore are we? Everywhere we'd gone people were friendly, in Janet's case a
bit too friendly, we'd had a lovely time of it, we walked out the door and into the night,
found
a cab and got in, it was about 11:30pm and we were tired, Janet wanted to
phone Dave again and the cabbie was kind enough to take us to a phone where
she did call him, on the way back to Lurgan West, our b and b, we told the
cabbie we'd come to see the Castle, our castle today and he said, “Oh what
do I have in my cab then, a couple of blue bloods”, and we laughed. He had a
very, very thick accent tho and when he told Janet that the club we had been
in was VERY rowdy and there would ‘be a fatality there that night for sure,
and that at midnight the local police barracade themselves INSIDE their
barracks’ well Janet was shocked. I'd heard the part about the police
barricading themselves but not the fatality thing at Stables scheduled
for that night, I just wonder how he knew this, apparently Janet thought he
felt this was commonplace at this bar. I found it scary that the police do
not help whatsoever, glad we left when we did.
Anyway, we got back to the b and b and the gate was closed, but not locked
and Sheila let us in, she was very kind about it, we had not woken her up,
but all our gang was asleep. The next day we could sleep in, the cab was
not due til noon. We went to bed and slept, I thought about how all the
friendly people looked just like they were my whole big family and I smiled myself to sleep

that night, in my homeland, in my heart.




Part 21 A Tiny Bit of My Heart

It is true, I feel like I left a bit of my heart in Ireland, right there at
Shane’s Castle that day and I feel that now six weeks after returning from
this saga of a trip. As I have been remembering the events as they occurred
in semi-chronological order I am so glad to now have these memories put down as it were,
for as unprecedented as this trip became, and as bizarre as some of the
occurrences, I am still completely grateful to have had the opportunity to
go on this life changing trip, and would repeat it tomorrow if I could, if
I were ever that lucky. So when Judi agreed we would return next year I
just jumped at the chance, and I cannot wait to see Shane’s Castle again,
if even for just another 90 minutes.
Maybe I will go and knock on Lordys door too.
Back to the chronology we went to sleep and awoke in the morning to
another big breakfast and the morning to relax, I chose to linger long in
bed while Judi and Janet walked to Randalstown to shop. As I packed and
dragged my bags to the curb, we awaited the arrival of Albert the cabbie to
take us back to Belfast City Airport for our short flight to London, where
we would spend the night.
The hour of our departure was upon us, I had spent a lazy morning packing and
reading and eating my full Irish breakfast, yum and watched the rain come
down very steadily, all the protein anyway.

At about 11:30am I was getting concerned and then Judi
and Janet returned, they had gotten stuck in the rain in a telephone booth,
and had also shopped and bought lovely things, including a sterling
claddagh necklace for Sara. Judi bought a book all about the history of
Randalstown, which she would later slip into my bag, which I found days
later at home much to my surprise. We piled into the cab and readied
ourselves for the 20 mile ride, Judi wanted to stop back in town quickly to
see if a claddagh ring she had seen would fit Katie and if she would want
it, which she did.
A claddagh is a perfect treasure to remember Ireland. I never take mine off.
So we were on our way then, away from Ireland, gosh that was painful, I
felt like crying, I did not want to leave, I said something about it in
the cab, I do not want to go back now and Judi looked at me, and I
teared up, my eyes brimmed over with tears and I felt my heart breaking, I simply
did not want to go. But I could not stay alone, and I would be back next
year.
At the airport we checked in easily in the small terminal, and then walked
toward gate 10, stopping for various needs along the way, when we sat near
the gate, a lady sat and talked to us, mostly she was talking to Judi and
continued to do so until we boarded the plane, a very nice lady going from
her home to London for a short stay. After we had all been seated, I saw her
again, she came toward me, I was on the aisle in front of Judi and Sara who
were behind me, and she was carrying one of Saras bags we had
forgotten it where we had sat, lucky for us she was kind enough to carry Sara’s bag
onto the plane. I sheepishly took the bag from the kind stranger and handed it
to Sara, rolling my eyes, it was a miracle we survived traveling at all.
When we landed in London we got into another cab for the ride to our b and
b near Paddington Station, a place called Ashley House I believe, near
Norfolk Square. The cabbie was a good enough driver, but got turned around
and we had to go round and round to get to the street, it took forever to
check in to the b and b for some reason, I do not know why, but I remember
standing there waiting at the desk an inordinately long amount of time,
why was that? I saw that the proprietor was selling hand woven items from
Wales and I simply had to purchase a double click long coin purse
reminiscent of one Mom had always used, in a lovely red and black woven pattern
and I use it like a wallet everyday.
Janet took a private room and we had to drag our bags, or rather they had
to drag our bags down the stairs, Sara ran to meet her friend at the train
station who had traveled to London from 2 hours away to spend the evening
with us and I bunked with Judi and the girls in a dorm like room, that
was below the street level with the smallest toilet and shower possible, one
could certainly pee and shower at the same time if really pressed for time
in this odd potty/shower stall facility, there were 3 beds in a small room,
2 singles and a double, I took the one by the window which was a stupid
choice as there was a shelf built over 8 inches of the bed and it was next
to the window, which was stuck open, and many people would walk by all
night long on the noisy street immediately outside the window, but I am
getting ahead of myself in my story.
Once we were settled in, it was coming evening time and we needed to find a
place for dinner, once again I had failed to have any lunch and was
famished, not a good way for me to be, so it was time to eat.
We needed to find transportation to Piccadilly Circus and we chose the
doubledecker bus, only cost 1 pound sterling and we headed one way toward
the bus stop and then another, it being rush hour now the streets were
packed with people and so were the buses, we got turned around and headed
back toward the original way, and finally got onto a double decker bus
crammed with people, I clutched my bag tight and looked out the window, the
cityscape was like most other cities, full of shops and and people
everywhere. As we headed down one very busy city street a man came onto the
bus and sat next to me, and outside I heard angry shouting, I looked and
saw many Arab demonstrators, mostly females chanting, How many babies have
you killed today? over and over. Our bus stopped near the demonstrators
and the busriders craned their necks to get a look out the left side of the bus
windows to see who was screaming, this demonstration obviously in response
to the previous days bombings the allied planes had made over Baghdad
military installations. The bus lurched on and I wondered if this ride
would ever end. And I thought, I wish I was back in Ireland, because that
is where I left my heart, this city I cannot relate to, but in Ireland I
felt right at home.
I wrote a little something about Ireland and so here it is:


Ireland Soul Search..... A Banshee Wail ?
Seek no shamrocks, know there is more in the
Land of my soul.
Ancient tales still live today true
Fifty years is not long to the land, but my mind
Come to Ireland to find my soul.
Reunion of hearts, a claddagh is worn
Friendship extended tho strangers unknown
Everywhere there is my Mother, loyally
Precious, this gift she awakens my soul.
Eight generations since Great Grandfather left,
Why he did we can only guess.
O’Neill inheritance went to his Mary instead, our
Red hand is raised, upon the black face
Seeing secrets in my soul.
I stood gazing at Lough Neagh that day,
Shane's Castle her walls, her wailing banshees
Not seen, nor wee folk or deer horns, these tales have been made,
But clear blue sky atop the Tower guarding history.
Canons and camellias at close range know why they,
Moan mysteries to hear the song in my soul.
My wild Irish soul~


Part 22 The Long Way Home

London is a tremendously large city, and when one is traveling above
ground, one can really see how terrifically mundane and dirty it is, I was
struck with the hectic urban nature of this centuries old city.
And I leaned out looking to see something beautiful, I finally gave up when
it was time to get off the double-decker, since I had not come across a
sight worth mentioning. Maybe I was just so tired and I missed Ireland so much already.
We stood across the street from Piccadilly and barely looked at the
monument before crossing the street to walk down toward Leicester Square,
on the hunt for a restaurant now. Judi looked up at a glass enclosed place
called Adams Rib and said that looked nice, but it was too soon in the
search so on we went, trying several places and none to our liking, we
retreated back the way we had gone, on the way I took a photo of Janet
inside a red London telephone booth, smothered with porno flyers, across the
street from a strip club where you could see inside, a whore waited her
first paying customer of the night, a lovely blonde had a blank stare out
the window as we were sitting on a step and we waited for Janet to go
inside one restaurant we had perused, when she came out she said she did not
want to tell us what she had seen inside, on we went. I still do not know
what Janet saw in there. Some deviant sex in progress act I imagine.
After backtracking we came across an odd looking tall plastic contraption,
and were told it was an outdoor urinal for men, so they would not mess up
the street. There was a minimum of privacy (like none) with this sort of triangular
shaped item, it stood 6 feet high, we were right off Piccadilly and yet in a
really unwholesome neighborhood it seemed, maybe we are just lucky we
were not mugged there.



Finally Judi made a decision and we went to Adams Rib, course if we had
gone there first we would of missed so much...hmmmmm up the stairs
and to the perfect table by a window, so nice to be able to actually pick a table
by a window and not have to argue with the waitress about where we are
allowed to sit. The menu looked great and we all ordered food and pretty
soon it came and we were filling our hunger. The conversation was lively
and fun and we all enjoyed the company of Anne, Sara’s friend from out of
London, we looked out the window and watched the people on their way to
where? To see London town I guess.
I had to leave when dessert came, and went downstairs to a junk stand
selling souvenirs and bought a few London items, including a magnet of a
double-decker bus I am looking at right now on my desk. I found a t-shirt
for Curtis that said UK, postcards of course, and a tiny Big Ben, which
we had seen a few days before from the cab on the way to Ireland.
As we had left Ireland earlier in that day I had found a wallet for Curtis
that said Ireland on it, bright green, with a shamrock, not something I
would usually buy but oh well. I had also bought a small vest pin to wear,
which I put on my cream colored Aran Irish sweater, where it is still, it says Northern
Ireland and there is a flag. I forget what else I bought there, but after I
was done shopping in Ireland I had gone to change my Irish notes to English
pound sterling, because I was told that the English shy away from the Irish
notes, a bit of hypocracy to me since they are supposed to spend the same,
but I was advised to do so, and so right next to the money changer in Belfast was the
women’s restroom, so I went in and used the facility which was designed
for disabled patrons. Well I had gotten accustomed to odd pottys by this time
so I simply pulled the cord that hung down, next to the privy and all hell
broke loose. Sirens wailed, people banged on the door, apparently I had
pulled the EMERGENCY cord and they thought some poor disabled person had
fallen in and could not get out, good thing I had locked the door or they
certainly would of gotten an eyeful. GEEZ! When I found the others I asked
if they had heard the alarm and they said yes and I said it was me, I pulled
the wrong string in the loo.

By this time, my latest adventure must of
sounded ordinary, oh yes, setting off emergency alarms in a Belfast Airport, just hoo
hum. That’s small potatoes compared to the week we had had.
Back to the junk stand below Adams Rib in London, and I finished shopping
and waited for the others to come down the stairs. When they did we walked
to Leicester Square, on the way we walked, for some reason directly under
a scaffolding, obviously they were renovating the building here, this being
the theatre district I saw all the marquees of the plays I had considered
buying tickets for, there was The Full Monty just up ahead, huge white
lights beckoning the fun crowd to her doors.
A lot of limos lined this street and Judi and Janet went across to see what
the cost would be to rent a limo to take us to the airport the following
day and as the rest of us waited under the scaffold, Sara and Anne, their
heads together chattering about the latest gossip of their online
community, Katie and I were left there to amuse ourselves and she and I
begun a silly sing-song parody of our whole damn trip, SWANS! was the cry,
Midgets! the retort, SWANS!, no Gypsys the response, SWANS!
Midgets, SWANS!, gypsies!
Midgets and Gypsies and Swans Oh My!
The natural progression, not Dorothy’s... lions and tigers and bears, Oh ! My!
but, our completely unique to this trip and this trip for all time chant. We
became our own street theatre demonstration..uniquely our own, uniquely Baker.
Midgets and Gypsies and Swans Oh My!....
Midgets and Gypsies and Swans Oh My!
Midgets and Gypsies and Swans Oh My!....
Midgets and Gypsies and Swans Oh My!
Midgets and Gypsies and Swans Oh My!....
Midgets and Gypsies and Swans Oh My!
We were OUT OF CONTROL!!!!!!!!!! Here we were on a nighttime London street,
becoming the scene, we were having so much fun, summing up the previous 10
days into one neat little package Midgets and Gypsies and Swans Oh My!
Altogether now, Midgets and Gypsies and Swans Oh My!
By this time we were all doing it, and it was not until we came across an entire
HareKrishna mobile convention which stunned us into silence that we stopped
our chant.
This several minutes of lunacy, fun and frivolity was MY favorite part of London
BY FAR!
Midgets and Gypsies and Swans Oh My!
God I loved it, thank you Katie for your clever, clever soul, I love you!
After the parade of Krishna’s, someone said lets join them and I said NO,
we continued on our trek toward Leicester Square, god knows why. We got
waylaid in a cheap goods Arab shop because I noticed they had tamoshanters,
Curtis had asked me to bring him a tamoshanter from Scotland and since I
Would not get there I thought well, this is your last chance buddy in I
went, a very Middle Eastern salesman came up as I tore thru his hanging
caps I eyeballed one I wanted, a heather grey all-wool number made by some
famous hatmaker from Scotland, a perfect tamoshanter, Kangol I believe.
And I was able to get the price down to 15 pounds sterling which was
5 pounds off the marked price, I just put the money on the counter and said, thats all I
have left take it or leave it, and he took it, I felt like a big time
wheeler-dealer.
We went on down the way toward the Square, which was supposed to be filled
with street performers but it looked like it was full of neer do wells
and religious zealots to me, I grabbed my bag tightly, a thousand, nee
hundreds of people packed the square, Janet eyed a casino and we said, 15
minutes and sat down at a table across from her, and watched our clocks as
we told the waitress we would order something in a minute, we got up and
fetched Janet and she came along since we said we were leaving this seedy
looking place, as we reached the street with traffic again we saw lots of
Police cars and we said, well, we are going to go on back to the room now,
it was getting late and we had to be up about 5am to catch our plane back
to America, Sara said goodbye to Anne, and we walked toward an intersection
and hailed a cab with a driver who was the most talkative one of all up til then and
he took us on a guided tour of all the sights to see between Leicester
Square and Paddington and this cabbie was such fun, he was VERY animated
and funny, with a huge cockney accent, telling us about this and that, I
enjoyed just listening to the sound of his voice he was so entertaining!
When he dropped us off at Paddington we got right into our room, and I took
a shower while Judi and the girls looked for my travel alarm clock.
They never did find it, but it was in the bottom of the case, the part
that was on the ground, underneath the main section they had
searched..because I found it when I got home to Maui, so we slept with
only the knowledge we had to wake up at 5:30am somehow of our own volition!
The front desk had been closed for hours, so no wake up call was possible.
Janet had wanted me to use my cell phone as an alarm clock but I did not
want to turn it on for that purpose.
My eyes popped open the same time as Katie’s and we woke without the use
of an alarm clock afterall.
What a struggle to get up and out of the old hotel, but we made it and
Janet had gone to find us a cab, when we piled into the cab and got off on
our way to Heathrow, the journey home began, our trip was officially ending.
We checked our bags and said goodbye to Janet, her plane was leaving right
away and we needed to wait over an hour to see if we would make the
flight, so we proceeded to find a place to have breakfast. Heathrow is a
magnificent airport and I could not help wanting to look around, there are
so many shops and things to see there, we had an English breakfast at a TGI
Fridays that was open at 6am and when it was time we went to the gates, we
would need to wait for our names to be called because on these legs we did
not have confirmed tickets, as we had on the BMI flights to Ireland, we
were back on United where anything can happen and praying helps.
The plane began boarding, we had listed on the flight to LAX and then for
me onto Maui, and for Judi and the girls onto Sacramento, Sara had been
able to accomplish all this online from our bed and breakfast in Ireland
two days before, since these were the flights with the most seats available
we were patiently waiting for our names to be called, we did not have long
to wait actually and when they were called Judi had a very big, big smile
on her face, she immediately knew what I did not know just yet, we had the
seats that are BEDS! For our long eleven hour flight from London to LAX we
would have the best of the best seats, on the big 777 Boeing, the seats
that completely make into actual beds, Judi told me OH! We got the good
ones, we got the best seats that exist, the creme de la creme of
travel and when I got on the plane and saw our seats for myself and used
the controls, to fully recline my seat, which then attached to another
shelf like seat under my cubby in front of me, well I too was so
happy, NOW THIS IS THE WAY TO FLY!!!! This is real class.
The girls were behind us in business class, also very nice seats, being
under 18 they were not allowed in the front seats, Judi and I were the most
fortunate travelers on Earth apparently. This seat retails for $5,200.00,
one way from London. That meant with all the upgrades we had received I had
managed to fly on seats that would retail for more than $10,000 for under
$700, of course Judi and the girls flew for free. What an amazing thing,
and an amazing gift, thanks Judi!
We settled in, played with the controls and put in our videos, I laid down
to rest awhile and completely relaxed as I never have on an airplane
before, it was simply heaven...the long road home had begun, but our trip
was not over yet, we had hours of travel to go before we were thru, as I
laid on my bed, on the big plane and it roared to life I thought about all
that had happened, all the gypsys and midgets and swans, and castles and
places I had seen, the laughs and the tears and the pain and the hopes
dashed and the memories made and I smiled to myself as I lifted off away we go,
home to Maui, to my other island in another sea.

Part 23 The Final Part of a Long Saga

I had Judi take a photograph of me, as I laid on my bed in ultra-first
class, there are just 12 of these seats as they are inappropriately
called on the 777, they are much more like pods that you live-in
as you travel for hours over sea and land. Let me try to describe it the best I
can, This huge plane has several classes of seats, coach, business and
first-class. Business is like first-class on any other plane, but first on
this plane is superior to any other seat available to the traveler. When
you are allowed into the front of this plane you see for yourself how
truly wonderful the other half live, the half with money to burn that
is, because this level of comfort is simply sublime.
When you get to your seat you see a big overstuffed reclining chair, with
wide arms and a console next to you, like a cubby where you can put your
large purse, briefcase or computer, the top of the cubby closes for an area
akin to a side table next to your recliner. In front of you there is, about
4 ft. away a shelf, as tall as the back of your recliner which is directly in
front of your large personal space, this shelf contains your large pillow,
full size blanket, your personal television and movie screen and 2 shelves
to place your other belongings. This seems like wasted space at first until
you begin you play with your recliner and see what it can do of course
the first thing that happens, is that your personal attendant on the plane
comes to offer you any beverage you like, I choose diet Pepsi most of the
time, that and Evian. When you stow your things and sit down, then you get
to begin playing with your seat, it has a massager in the seat and there
are a dozen buttons to adjust the seat and its reclining ability to any of
a half dozen positions, I simply HAD to make it lay down all the way so I
could put my aching feet up, and so I figured out how to make the seat
completely flat and discovered why its necessary to have the shelf 4 away
from your seat, the bottom of that shelf becomes attached to the 1foot
of your bed, hiding inside the bottom of your recliner, so that they are
attached and create a true single bed, completely flat and on which to
truly sleep, if you are able, I think I did sleep some on this leg of the
flight, because it did not seem like 11 whole hours to me!
You can not exaggerate the comfort of this very expensive seat on an
airplane, unless you are Bill Gates and you travel in your own wide-body
Boeing, there is NO other more comfortable seat on a commercial airplane,
these seats were designed by the employee-owners of United Airlines, who
dreamt up the ULTIMATE seat for traveling and put all the best features
into this seat. And I got to sit there, I finally felt like a real
princess.
Anyway, now I never want to fly in coach again of course, but I will, I
just wont forget my experience traveling from London to LAX, the travel
was more fun than the time in London! We had two delicious meals on the
plane, and all the diet Pepsi I wanted, I watched movies on my personal
movie screen, fell asleep watching movies just like I do at home in my own
bed. It was swell.
Too soon we landed in Los Angeles, I did not want to get off the plane and
deal with my luggage, go thru Customs with all my bags and then wait three
hours for my flight to Maui, but what choice did I have, none.
As soon as we got to LA the gals had to go catch their Sacto flight, so I
was on my own, it was nothing going thru Customs, in fact a local Hawaiian
boy asked me which part of Maui I lived, he was from Nanakuli. Well, I
knew I was home now, oh boy. Relunctant, oh yea, I was supposed to be in
Ireland still. I was missing the rest of my trip, I was longing to be back
in the land of my ancestors and I felt sad.
Waiting for three hours for a flight is not something that is particularly
enjoyable but since there was no choice I tried to make the best of it, LAX
was crowded this day and I was not sure I would even make it onto this
flight. I called Curtis and told him where I was and that I was trying to
get home to him. At least I would have Curtis to come home too. That was
good. Eventually it was time to go up to the gate and hope my name would
be called, there was not one lounge seat near the podium where the agents
call the names for stand-by so I just had to stand and wait for my name to
be called as they boarded the plane from the rear forward.
When a seat came available I sat down in it, holding my black bag with all
my money, tickets etc. in it and carrying my paper bag containing the
fragile framed watercolor from Antrim town, wrapped in my sweater in case I
got cold. I was carrying more than I usually like to carry but oh well,
such is life, I could store it soon enough on the plane, that is if I got
on to the plane, to me it looked like hundreds had already boarded, I would
surely be stuck in a middle seat in coach, next to a crying baby or smelly
guy, ugh. I longed to be back in my pod. When one is in a crowd that is
waiting a certain dynamic emerges, this one shifts to lean on her other
leg, that one whines, others stare waiting for their rows to be called, the
crowd moves like an organism, independent but as a unit with the same goal,
get on the plane.
I pick out the other non-revs, they are so easy to spot, always
well-dressed, standing back away from the podium, waiting, you can almost
see them praying for their seat, if supremely fortunate one of the golden
seats, up front. I see an older gentleman, white haired with an Aloha
shirt, he has the same Management Stand-by card as I hold in my hand, he
looks anxious, as anxious as I feel, which of us will be the lucky one, if
there is a seat left that is, I hear names being called, Fernandez,
Shapiro. I will the agent to say Ching. Please Ching
The old man with the Aloha shirt is called, I think . I bet he got my
seat. The coveted seat, but I am only guessing. I see a short local woman
carrying coffee cups from Starbucks, shes going to drop those cups I
think to myself, she disappears beyond my vision to the left and within a moment
scalding hot, hot coffee is pouring down my back, I jump OUT of my seat,
God-damnit I scream, shes all over herself pleading my forgiveness, but I
am burned, f me what else can happen to me on this trip? Now I smell
like coffee and my back is burned and wet. Good God. The agent has probably
heard me curse and I will get the circle with the dot inside next to my
name, and I will never get on the flight, I will be stuck her, holding my watercolor, smelling
like coffee til I die.
CHING!
I run toward the podium, thank god I am out of this terminal, where
the hell is that lady, I should go tell her, hey be a little more careful
you dumb *ss. I grab my boarding pass, 2B, YAY!!!!!!!!!! I am in
First-Class, God has a sense of humour alright, pass the lithium, in the
space of 30 seconds I need an injection, the trip ends as if to remind me
of its bi-polar nature.
How did I make it into First anyway, I do not know,
but I have to believe that Judi had intervened, somehow, I can now relax
into the next best thing to pod-flying, that is up-front and comfy, a nice
seat all the way home. When I land in Maui, my darling husband is there to
meet me at the curb, I have managed to drag all my bags to the curb and wait
patiently for him and I fall into his arms and into the Volvo and for the
moment am glad I have survived this saga and I am home.
But thoughts would not let me rest
I would spend the next 22 days thinking about where I was supposed to be,
on my journey, Liverpool on September 15th, Scotland the week of the 17th
and so on, it was a sort of torture, I wished it did not know my itinerary
so completely so I could of just forgotten where and when I was supposed to
be somewhere, but that was not how it was, then I was back at work and
longing to be anywhere else, it was just too much. The only thing that
appeased me was the knowledge that next year I would go and finish this
trip. And that Curtis would go with me this time and that we would go to
Scotland, and Liverpool and do London so that I could really see her beauty
and return to Shane’s Castle, to my heart, and then I thought, well, next
year Curtis and I are to renew our marriage vows, for our 10 year
anniversary, and I would surely like to do that in Ireland, when he said
Sure! We can do that I was thrilled, so next year we plan to say I do all
over again, on the beautiful lawn that fronts Shane’s Castle, with flower
petals on the grass and Irish lace in my hair, I will marry my sweetheart
all over again and then finish my lovely trip to a land I now love with all
my heart and soul. Something wonderful to look forward to for a whole year,
I know anticipation is half the fun anyway, and fulfilling the dream this
time will certainly be the goal for the saga of 2003.

I can hardly wait.


@Jill O’Neall Ching

Too many funny moments to select one.

Favorite Sights

Belgium
Paris
Eiffel Tower
Giverny
Notre Dame
London
Belfast
Northern Ireland
County Antrim