Windmills in the Water and Mowing the Lawn

I’m crap on planes. They make me nauseous, and nothing productive gets done.  The actual traveling part of going abroad, or going anywhere really, has proven itself time and time again to be my least favourite. 

For my flight from Grand Rapids to Marseilles, I was required to take a commuter plane from Grand Rapids to Detroit, a commercial jet to Amsterdam and another commuter into Marseilles, where I was greeted by Paul and Miriam.  Small commuter planes are the worst, and I spent most of those flights with my eyes closed or my head on my knees.  Normally the larger planes are better.

Not this one.

Much of the eight hour flight was spent praying that I wouldn’t throw up and about five minutes thinking I was really going to.  Almost all of the flight attendants recognized me by the end of the flight. The most fortunate thing about the flight to Amsterdam is that I had no one sitting beside me.  The unaccompanied minor who originally occupied the seat was moved so that he might sit by himself.  Where the kid was moved to, I’m not sure, but it meant I got to lay down a bit when I got tired instead of having to sleep awkwardly while sitting straight.  While no one ever sleeps fantastically on an airplane, I probably received a much better night of sleep and more than I would have otherwise.

Despite my issues of motion sickness, one of my favourite things about flying is being able to look out the window and see the world below. My heart nearly skipped a beat when the pilot said we would be flying over Shannon airport (Which is the airport I flew into when I went to Ireland).  I probably wasn’t awake for that portion of the flight though.

Flying into Amsterdam was beautiful though.  As we flew over the water, I noticed that beside the boats there were small fields of wind turbines.  It’s nice to see clean energy sources being utilized. I’ve often thought it would be a good idea to put turbines out in Lake Michigan.  Lots of people think they’re ugly; I don’t mind them. However, putting them out in the lake would mean no one has to look at them. Plus, it’s windier out there anyway. 

Thursday marks my second day in Crestet which is near Vaison La Romaine.  My journey from Grand Rapids to Marseilles was long, but it is surprising that I am not more jet lagged.  I arrived yesterday at 12:20 local time and then it was a ninety minute drive back into Vaison. 

The French countryside here is amazing.  Hills and mountains creep up toward the sky with old villages nestled into the rock.  It’s right in the middle of wine country, so grapes grow in Provence like corn does in Michigan. Everywhere you turn there’s a vineyard.  However, I think grape vines are more aesthetically pleasing than corn is, so I don’t mind.

Yesterday is sort of a blur; however, lunch consisted of bread from the boulangerie.  I had pain au chocolat for lunch yesterday and again for breakfast this morning. It’s flaky and delicious, and I think you can get it sometimes at Schulers at home, though I’m sure it isn’t the same.

There was a lot of touring the house, meeting the dogs (whose names I can’t remember at the moment or even know how to type), and settling in my room.  I managed to stay up until eleven without much effort, but when I did go to sleep, I fell asleep quickly and slept until almost nine am local time.  I’ll try to start getting up earlier tomorrow.

After breakfast this morning, Paul, Miriam and I headed into Vaison la Romaine. Paul had a few errands to run and so I got to walk around town for about an hour.  There are quite a few shops as well as places to get ice cream or chocolat, and of course, restaurants. I only recognized a small part of the town from the time I spent here with my family when I was eleven.  It will be nice to maybe go to the market next week.

Today, I was put to work and started helping out around the house. Paul has hurt his left hand and can’t do many things that require both hands, such as driving or in this case, pushing a lawn mower.  So it was my job to mow the lawn.  Which, of course, I was happy to do. 

Man was it hard.  Their mower is electric to start and very hard to push.  The main lawn was easy as it simply consisted of grass.  However, there is a patch that they mow near the vineyard which largely consists of very tall weeds.  Pushing the mower through that was certainly a workout.

I’ve gotten quite a bit sun already, but I’ve been given a bottle of sunscreen, which I must remember to wear religiously.  It’s hot here in Crestet and the sun is constant.