so in this blog entry i wanted to mention this great show i saw on TV the other day… it was on channel 66 which here is the travel channel… and it is called passport to Europe… it was a visit to Monte Carlo… if i could i would go to Monaco and purchase a home there in a heart beat… some of my best memories form when i was 18-19 were when i was going to school in Cap D’ail….
The people i was fortunate enough to meet were amazing… the scenery spectacular… and just an amazing experience…. i suggest it to anyone who want to learn a foreign language.. go emerce yourself in the county of choice… and if you want to learn French… wow…. no other place could compare….
The school (at the time i attended ( so that was)…. 1984-1985 )…. was up on this hill and there was this great staircase you could take to walk down right to the bakery… patissery…. the smell… of fresh croissants… and these cookies that were smothered with sugar and contained raspberry jam…. oh la la…. then this great restaurant… that had the best spaghetti cabana…..
I can still remember the cobblestone streets where this one pub was located….where Thomas saved me form some old pervert trying to hit on me… HA! the cafe right by the casino…. remarkable hot chocolate…. the stores… the restaurants.. just everything about the experience was so wonderful and great!!!
The walk to the beach… with its small hard stones… the breathtaking beauty of it all…
The Amazing people i got to meet… i will remember them and their kindness and friendship my entire life… it was such a wonderful blend… Thomas and Claes from Sweden…. my roommate Luci from Germany… Beth the only other American girl who was just about my age…Fred also an American with the cutest yet life threatening rides in his scooter…. Heidi from Denmark…..Rosie… from England… Philip… actually from France… think even from Cap Dail….. and a ton of others…
a girl Katy from Australia… her friend Deter…. and Otto…. and Luis and Manuel…. just such a mix of amazing and wonderful people and experiences….
One woman Petra… who actually taught me to knit… ( all the German woman and girls knew how to knit… so of course i thought I would have no problem learning…. HA!…. problem is that Petra left before my sweater was finished… this poor sweater…. or vest for the longest time…. well needless to say… i think i still have it somewhere deep in my closet HA!!!!
Another funny experience… i had my hair in what might have been a little bit longer than a shoulder length bob…. after lessons in french… i thought i had conquered the language barrier… and went into Monaco for a hair cut i would never forget…. did you know the verb for cut was different than that verb for trim…. Hummmm… well it is…. so i came back with a very stylish but very very short haircut.. easy maintenance…. well not exactly… if i had tried to get it to look like i did when i walked out of the salon… probably tons of maintenance… but it never looked as great as that… HA! luckily i had made my friends who seemed to like me for who i was… and not for my hair! HA! ( side note.. its a good
thing that laughter has been a huge part of my entire growing up
experience some days… you just know there is nothing left to do but
laugh… or cry… and I’ve done my share of both…HA! )
another great experience that i had almost forgotten until seeing this show… one particular road trip to St Tropez… HA! you wont believe this but what i remember most… is this cute little pair of plaid wool pants i got there…. yep… still have those as well…. speaking of road trips…. wish i could remember with Beth.. she was my road trip accomplice…. we rented a car for a month and each weekend we would go of on an adventure… we went to Spain … Barcelona… to Switzerland.. and visited some of her friends….. to Italy.. Milan…. shopping of course in Milan…. HA! we even went to Rome where we met these soldiers… who exchanged money for us and took us out to eat….HA! and where else… gosh… everywhere… we had a blast… at least I know i did….. and some of the the funniest stories happened on all the adventures… and that is really what i need to call these trips… Thomas and Claes laughed at me… i had this little pocket sized travel journal… with a map… so we would pick out a destination.. i would guesstimate the distance… you know a thumb or finger so say.. an inch away…. couldn’t be that far right??????HA!!!!! needless to say… Barcelona… we dint have enough funds for lodging or for much food…. HA! i almost had my purse snatched… and gosh… so many other funny stories… nothing bad really happened though… guess some serious guardian angels were taking good care of us….HA!!!!
so much to write about such a wonderful experience…
Another funny experience… renting the car…. well more actually learning to drive the car… a stick shift… and learning or more accurately relearning to drive and park the car on those wonderful streets… up hills… so what is it like to parallel park you might ask??? tricky… very tricky… think i almost gave Thomas a slight heart attack….
See when we moved to the beach condo in 1984… no more boarding school and my mom got us ( meaning my sister and myself… a car.. we decided on something unique… this little Italian sports car… called a lancia… didn’t know anything about it the car… even if it was great car… you know most people choose a car based on so many variables…. had never bought a car before… so guess as girls.. we went on looks…. HA! and it was pretty cute… and unique… just hated not being an individual… not that we wanted to stand out and be obnoxious… or anything… just wanted to have something unique…HA! and as i mentioned before my dad had always recommended European cars… but i think we should have gone with a BMW or Mercedes….. as i recall it had quite a few mechanical problems…. anyway…back to the memory….I knew even less about how to drive a stick shift… so my sister learned… and i didn’t really have a problem not driving that often…. eventually my friend Julie taught me to drive a stick shift… wanting the independence and freedom to go where i wanted and to drive when i wanted… but learning to drive a stick in Monaco… let me tell you…… whole different experience!
Really liked having the car at school in Europe…. so much fun…. hated giving it back after the rental was finished…. but even that turned out pretty nice… saw and spoke with Danny Divto at the Nice airport…. I am not much of a movie star hound…. i think of people as just people…. each with a unique life and unique story…. some are really nice and great … and some are really rotten no matter what they choose to do for a career in their life…. guess that is why it was really nice to have met and befriended Beth… she actually writes scripts… I even once drove her from Vero to the keys where one on her scripts was being made into a movie…. by a German company i believe…. i promise i will get all the facts and insert hem into the blog when i get a chance!
Hey…. now that i think of it… it could have been great for Beth to have returned the car…. actually she should have probably been at the airport… would have been really nice for her to meet and speak with Mr. Devito…. Beth if you were there and ever get to read this.. let me know if you got a chance to talk with him…. ….HA!
We even went to a Dire straights concert right on this soccer field…. If i remember correctly…. Philip or Fred were driving… and one of them almost hit Prince Albert with the car… i remember the music even though i really didn’t know the band all that well it was as always is wonderful to see a live concert… the weather was absolutely perfect… honestly was wonderful and most memorable experience… you just don’t get to repeat memories and experiences like that… i must say the entire adventure was amazing… but then there were quite a few experiences in my life that were amazing…