Keith and Christine would love to hear from you with questions, comments, personal news and any news at all from Australia or wherever you are. We will reply to all emails! Please write to either windlechristine@gmail.com or windle.keith@gmail.com There was a moment of concern when Catherine’s car seemed to be refusing to start, but at last we were off to the station and Catherine was off to work. We had felt so very welcomed by Catherine and her daughters, and it was wonderful to see Myrtille again. We wished her well for her next visit to Australia, when she will be starting a further stage of her life with her Australian boyfriend. Hopefully we will catch up with her closer to home in the not so distant future.
The trip to Paris took most of the morning but, having mastered the rail system on our last visit, it was easy to change trains and in no time we arrived at out destination of the Robinson Station. Our mastery had not included buying the right tickets so when we poked ours into the machine to make the exit gate open, nothing happened. In full sight of the station master’s office, we simply climbed over the barrier and passed our pack over. There was no reaction so I went out of the station to look for Jean. They had just pulled up and it was so lovely to see them. To remind blog readers, we were going to stay with some people we had met briefly on a station and in a train on the last day of our last visit to Paris, earlier this year. We just seemed to take up from where we had left and, remarkably, our French had picked up enough to enable us to really enjoy being together.
Jean and Renée are a remarkable couple in their mid to late sixties, who have a close knit and loving family and who have travelled and lived in different countries for Jean’s work. They lost a young son following time in Cambodia, after returning to Germany with all of their three young children ill. This sadness is always present, as it would be for most parents, but they are still full of stories of their travels to Africa and South America and they have a lot of friends they have met in different parts of the world. Jean is keen to take on more back packing but Renée now prefers to be close to her grandchildren and to holiday closer to home.
Their house is in the suburb of Chatenay Malabry and naturally it has its own chateau, since it would have been separate from Paris once. We drove around on a little tour on our way home. The house is set in a lovely garden with a magnificent magnolia tree providing deep shade at the back and an apple tree giving delicious fruit at the front. Vivid flowers in pots make joyous splashes of colour. Inside there is a vast cellar where Jean has a temperature controlled room for all his boxes of wine, the collection of which is one of his hobbies. Other parts provide extra wardrobe space and there are also boxes and boxes of books on every topic imaginable, as well as fiction. The washing machine occupies another room. Really the French idea of the ‘cave’ is so sensible, enabling you to have a reasonably neat living area and a place to keep all sorts of treasures as well.
Upstairs there are two storeys of living area. We had a beautiful bedroom that a cardinal had once slept in and there was a photo of the Pope in there from that time, when it had been included to make him feel comfortable and at home. Jean and Renée have a very strong faith. They have a way of making you feel very welcome and special, and I am sure that the Cardinal and all their other visitors must have felt it too.
Lunch, and every other meal while we were here, was prepared by Renée, and was what she called ‘grandmother’s food’. She uses the recipes passed down in her family and takes care and pride in creating healthy and delicious meals, with an eye to colour as well. Her father liked to have soup every day, and so that tradition has continued too. She was not at all worried about cooking for vegetarians and provided a range of meat and non-meat options so that we were all happy. One of the things that I have learnt on this trip is that your attitude and how you approach things makes all the difference. For Renée and Jean, cooking and meal times are not just a ‘chore’ and something necessary to be got over. They are a time to celebrate good food, traditions, family, friends and care for each other, as well as a chance to be together and to talk.
We all took a little siesta after lunch, and then set off for the supermarket to buy the last needs for presents and toiletry supplies for our time in Tanzania. We had seen most of the people in photos and heard lots of stories, and consulted with Rosie on appropriate presents, so we had a pretty good idea of what to buy. On the trip home we saw a little more of the older parts of the town, but we all knew that preparation and catching up on some emails and sleep had to be a priority for us.
This evening we took our first malaria tablets, with much laughter about the possible side effects of hair loss and sunburn, things we are prone to anyway and might not be able to blame on the medication. Jean and I had an in depth discussion on geo-politics, not an area that I know much about but one that Jean has put a lot of thought into. It was after midnight when we finally called it a day, having discussed all sorts of topics including the walk we are planning to do, and which Jean has previously done.
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