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Issue #256, Oct 11-12, 2024, Languedoc to Catalonia: Denver, Colorado to Pezenas, France
Saturday, October 11-12, 2024. Pezenas, France. This trip was organized and offered by Road Scholar, titled, "From Languedoc to Catalonia Through the Pyrenees: A Cross-Border Discovery" and was 14 days long. This entry describes our flight over, and the first day exploring.
Jonathan and his mom, Judy Machen, 5am, Doubletree hotel, Denver
It all started with a meal at Effrain’s in Boulder with Paige, Phoenix, Patty, Mom and Michael, back on October 10; Paige then drove us to the Doubletree hotel in Denver, only seven minutes from the airport. Unfortunately, I kept Mom awake on that first night with some snoring, which surprised both of us, so she started off with a lack of sleep.
We were up at 4am and took a very early-morning shuttle to the airport, where we talked to our first stranger of the trip: a man who was traveling to Peru for his brother-in-law’s funeral. He seemed a bit paranoid, and told us he always traveled with a concealed carry weapon.
Flying over the Mississippi river
We made our Denver-to-Atlanta connection with no problems, but were dismayed to discover that we were not assigned seats next to each other on the jumbo Air France jet (that holds 10 people per row).
Flying past Atlanta
Mom was five seats ahead of me, thankfully, on an aisle seat, whereas I was squeezed into the window seat next to a French couple who were interested in wine and sleeping.
As always, an international flight is an exercise in comfortless sleeplessness. I spent much of my waking attention reading ‘America 2.0’, a manuscript by Erez Asher, a treatise suggesting that American needs to 'upgrade its operating system' to meet the challenges that humanity, and the planet, faces at this time.
Well, my operating system is now about helping Mom enjoy this overseas trip that she has dreamed about making ever since Dad died. It’s actually her 24th such Road Scholar adventure.
Mom at Charles De Gaulle airport
It’s been a travel whirlwind to get to this small town in the Mediterranean countryside with Mom. It took three flights to get here.
To reach Pezenas, we needed to make one last flight from Paris to Montpelier, which included a journey through an entirely different terminal, going through customs and taking shuttles and buses, and so on, to the final, much smaller plane from a terminal with rose, yellow and blue-tinted windows.
We had sunshine for a few moments, but then the skies were quickly obscured by fog. We soon rose above the cloud cover and made the one-hour flight to this sunny Mediterranean area.
Suddenly it was noon, France time, and we were feeling sleepy, having been awake since that morning at the Doubletree hotel.
La Distellerie, Pezenas
Tribute to Moliere
After arriving at the airport, we were picked up by Fran Valle de Tarazaga, a 56-year-old, genial, bearded archaeologist from Balbo, Spain, who will be leading the trip. He personally accompanied Mom and I to our hotel!
We are comfortably situated in the hotel ‘La Distillerie’, close to the city center, connected by a bridge that goes over a dry walkway, to a place that celebrates Molière, the French playwright, with a network of closely situated buildings connected by narrow alleyways.
Our room was on the ground floor and opened to a patio. While Mom fell asleep on the frumpy couch, I went outside and walked around the center of town, enthralled with our new surroundings, but after making a big loop around the town square quickly came back to retrieve her, so we could both stroll the streets for a few hours, before our orientation started.
Rachel Vanier with her shop, Terre et Senteurs
We had a nice time, slowly exploring the shops and restaurants. At one art gallery, Mom had an impromptu conversation in French with the proprietor, who smoked a cigarette while we talked. We bought some biscuits for €10 in another spot; and then in a place that sold ceramic hockey-puck shaped pellets for aromatherapy oils, we bought a gift for Patty, again having a stilted but spirited conversation with the proprietor.
Everyone wearing a name tag in our group is also assigned with the number of road scholar trips they have made.
Streets and doors, Pezenas
For me, this is my first Road Scholar trip. So far, it seems similar to the Sierra Club trip I took to China in 2013, but with more people (there are 18 in this group).
Our dinner brought our whole group together: mostly retired folks from America, whom we will be getting to know quite soon!
One of our trip, a man from Santa Fe, Stephen Snyder, arrived at the hotel during dinner. His plane had been diverted for mechanical reasons, but he made it, and was soon welcomed into the fold.
Saturday, October 11-12, 2024. Pezenas, France. This trip was organized and offered by Road Scholar, titled, "From Languedoc to Catalonia Through the Pyrenees: A Cross-Border Discovery" and was 14 days long. This entry describes our flight over, and the first day exploring.
Jonathan and his mom, Judy Machen, 5am, Doubletree hotel, Denver
It all started with a meal at Effrain’s in Boulder with Paige, Phoenix, Patty, Mom and Michael, back on October 10; Paige then drove us to the Doubletree hotel in Denver, only seven minutes from the airport. Unfortunately, I kept Mom awake on that first night with some snoring, which surprised both of us, so she started off with a lack of sleep.
We were up at 4am and took a very early-morning shuttle to the airport, where we talked to our first stranger of the trip: a man who was traveling to Peru for his brother-in-law’s funeral. He seemed a bit paranoid, and told us he always traveled with a concealed carry weapon.
Flying over the Mississippi river
We made our Denver-to-Atlanta connection with no problems, but were dismayed to discover that we were not assigned seats next to each other on the jumbo Air France jet (that holds 10 people per row).
Flying past Atlanta
Mom was five seats ahead of me, thankfully, on an aisle seat, whereas I was squeezed into the window seat next to a French couple who were interested in wine and sleeping.
As always, an international flight is an exercise in comfortless sleeplessness. I spent much of my waking attention reading ‘America 2.0’, a manuscript by Erez Asher, a treatise suggesting that American needs to 'upgrade its operating system' to meet the challenges that humanity, and the planet, faces at this time.
Well, my operating system is now about helping Mom enjoy this overseas trip that she has dreamed about making ever since Dad died. It’s actually her 24th such Road Scholar adventure.
Mom at Charles De Gaulle airport
It’s been a travel whirlwind to get to this small town in the Mediterranean countryside with Mom. It took three flights to get here.
To reach Pezenas, we needed to make one last flight from Paris to Montpelier, which included a journey through an entirely different terminal, going through customs and taking shuttles and buses, and so on, to the final, much smaller plane from a terminal with rose, yellow and blue-tinted windows.
We had sunshine for a few moments, but then the skies were quickly obscured by fog. We soon rose above the cloud cover and made the one-hour flight to this sunny Mediterranean area.
Suddenly it was noon, France time, and we were feeling sleepy, having been awake since that morning at the Doubletree hotel.
La Distellerie, Pezenas
Tribute to Moliere
After arriving at the airport, we were picked up by Fran Valle de Tarazaga, a 56-year-old, genial, bearded archaeologist from Balbo, Spain, who will be leading the trip. He personally accompanied Mom and I to our hotel!
We are comfortably situated in the hotel ‘La Distillerie’, close to the city center, connected by a bridge that goes over a dry walkway, to a place that celebrates Molière, the French playwright, with a network of closely situated buildings connected by narrow alleyways.
Our room was on the ground floor and opened to a patio. While Mom fell asleep on the frumpy couch, I went outside and walked around the center of town, enthralled with our new surroundings, but after making a big loop around the town square quickly came back to retrieve her, so we could both stroll the streets for a few hours, before our orientation started.
Rachel Vanier with her shop, Terre et Senteurs
We had a nice time, slowly exploring the shops and restaurants. At one art gallery, Mom had an impromptu conversation in French with the proprietor, who smoked a cigarette while we talked. We bought some biscuits for €10 in another spot; and then in a place that sold ceramic hockey-puck shaped pellets for aromatherapy oils, we bought a gift for Patty, again having a stilted but spirited conversation with the proprietor.
Everyone wearing a name tag in our group is also assigned with the number of road scholar trips they have made.
Streets and doors, Pezenas
For me, this is my first Road Scholar trip. So far, it seems similar to the Sierra Club trip I took to China in 2013, but with more people (there are 18 in this group).
Our dinner brought our whole group together: mostly retired folks from America, whom we will be getting to know quite soon!
One of our trip, a man from Santa Fe, Stephen Snyder, arrived at the hotel during dinner. His plane had been diverted for mechanical reasons, but he made it, and was soon welcomed into the fold.
solo/group kukai
drawing/writing/photography
jonathan machen
drawing/writing/photography
jonathan machen