we never made our final leg of the petit Tour de France.
instead, we rode in the front seat of the van driven by an adorable french universite student working for the bike tour company with our bikes and belongings in the back.
gina woke up not feeling well - i believe the heat and physical demands were the culprit.
after my petit dejuner with spotty, which was quite good,
i continued to read jess walter's 'beautiful ruins', a novel i picked up at JFK, in our hotel room while waiting for the van to take us back to avignon. and gina rested.
around noon, i was sandwiched between the young driver and my sister. the driver and i made small talk in frenglish (?). at first glance, he looks like your ordinary college student - cargos, a&f polo, aviators, boy next door features...but the french accent completely transformed him. all of a sudden, he became charming with just the right amount of coy and seemingly totally unaware of these qualities, which made him more desirable. the whole french thing is really working for these frenchmen.
[back at the bike shop, we return our gear. had this been our ride, gina probably wouldn't be ailing right now. and i wouldnt have crazy tan lines.]
our bus ticket to barcelona is for 7:30 pm.
and we are scheduled to arrive in barcelona at 2:40 am.
mm, it will be uninteresting and a bit uncomfortable, i imagine.
in the meantime, we have perched ourselves on a bench in a shaded courtyard.
well, i am encloved by our belongings and gina is spread out on the bench with her head resting on my right thigh, occasionally rubbing her tummy in the hopes of relieving the knotted nausea.
oh and this awesome lunchtime treat:
seriously...the sandwiches in these shops are super-tasty.
simple, fresh, and easy on the wallet.
way to go, france!
on the last chapter of beautiful ruins,
i read this:
be present.
something my friend karen spoke to me about on the day before departing for paris.
'be present' has been traveling with me since.
an appropriate and gentle reminder to shoo the thoughts away and soak in where i am.
...
and where am i now, at 2:33 am?
in my barcelona hostel after a much needed shower!!
i feel like a nueva mujer.
but traveling between two foreign languages is discombobulating...
my Romance languages are all jumbled between francais, espanol, and even a little italiano.
i feel like beautiful ruins after sitting stagnantly for hours, cooking under the avignon sun being coated with dust from the courtyard against my clammy skin
then having to sit stagnantly again for hours on a bus with a dude behind me sleeping on his half-full water bottle that kept crinkling under his weight being jostled by the bus and some person way up front who kept spritzing perfume for god knows what reason...
pero estamos en barcelona y estoy cansada...
and really,
"isn't it enough to be [adventuring together in Europe with my sister]?"
[beautiful ruins, p. 337]
buenas noches..
besos
xx
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