Moving Beyond a Sobering Thought

On the way to the airport, we jokingly considered putting a collar on Bill and turning him into a priest or casting Kris as a nun and saying that our destination was Lourdes. The growing anti-Semitism in France makes Jewish people think twice about vacationing in this part of Europe, where a growing population of fanatical Moslems continue to deface synagogues and declare their hatred of all Jews. Kris and Bill are bonafide Catholics, but David and I would be imposters.

I read Namaste’s recent post about nearly being abducted in East Jerusalem and pictured myself riding around Marseille gagged in the trunk of a car. The good news is that we are not spending most of our French holiday in a city of any sort, so there isn’t a great likelihood that we will experience any feelings of prejudice – at least not about our religious orientation. I have to hope the story of the ugly Frenchman who is intolerant of an American murdering his beautiful language is but a myth.

Earlier we discussed rules for Blogging on the trip. I just thought it would be good to get this out of the way before I possibly offended someone’s sense of privacy. The characters in this story over the next few weeks will be Bill, Kris, David, and of course Barbara. Pictures are allowed.

While we wait to board the plane, everyone is doing predictable things. David is taking pictures and schmoozing with the Norwegian guy who agreed to take our group picture. Bill is doing a crash course in French (book titled 15-minute French). Kris is devouring a book. And guess what – I’m Blogging!

So with Blogging rules established, passports in hand, and a plethora of reading material about Provence, we are ready to board the Lufthansa plane that will take us to Marseille via Frankfurt. We are psyched!