Brattleboro Adventure – the Auckland Edition
In which we find ourselves in another part of the world
Samuel de Champlain
Every conversation over here involves some amount of “where are you from?” And while the average Frenchman knows a bit more about American geography than we know about theirs, still few really know anything about Vermont.
So, after saying Northeast, close to Boston, we say it was colonized by French explorer Samuel de Champlain who also gets credit for Québec. Blank stares.
Now I have proof… he really exists!
This is why.
In 2014, I completed a course of advanced studies in France. The curriculum kept me hopping, and in fact I was barley able to keep up. But, through persebeerance I was able to soak up all the required courses and even drink in some of the electives. It’s a heady feeling!
Le Bar à Huîtres
The impact of a pilgrimage lies more in the journey than the destination, and Chuck and I enjoyed the journey sitting around telling our old Paris stories last night.
As to the destination, the well-known Bar à Huîtres, where he has been several times over the years, it was good, but I’ll remember the journey more.
I think you should go there:
—- with your fiancée, because gazing in her eyes you won’t notice the slow service
—- after your first big promotion, because at that moment money is no object, and
—- while on your first foreign vacation, because then you and the people on the street gawking at you will be equally delighted by the giant crustacean platter billowing dry ice smoke.
Will it ever be worth $20 to have a beer and a soda at a sidewalk café in Paris? But will we ever stop doing it?
This is the front window of a shop simply called “Dépannage” which translates literally as un-breaking. Who knows if the old man inside can actually fix anything, but he’s sure willing to give it a try.
Brattleboro Adventure – the Auckland Edition 