Take the kayak to Paris, turn right at Limoges, get on the donkey, take that four blocks . . .

so, no one ever warns you that in order to get TO the perfect places on earth,
you have to pass through alot of other places,
and take lots of drugs to make the time and the planes and the cars
and the rickshaws tolerable.

so while tim and i were able to sleep most of the twelve hours from sf to paris,
we then met lauren and hollis and my mother at charles de gaulle:


how chic is my boy?
how chic is that airport terminal?
of course, maman had not exactly mentioned
that the plane from paris to limoges
was the one from the flintstones.
you know,
the one where they strap people to the back of a pterodactyl
and then launch
with a giant rubber band?


but the view?
oh.
the.
view.


it was amazing to SEE MY SISTER.
i LOVE MY SISTER!


and my inevitably insanely glamourous mother,
jane:


i mean,
exit plane, strike pose . . .
where do you think i get it all from?


then a one hour drive through the countryside
to the chestnut tree lined drive of our home for the week,
the chateau de vilars:


thank god there wasn't a donkey at the end of that drive
to take us up some mountain to our rooms.

i would not have made it.