France

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Updated: 17 January 2009

My first visit to France was when I was 15, in 1953, on what seemed to me then to be a very adventurous home-to-home exchange. I didn't get on that well with my actual pen-friend, but I did like France and played a lot of tennis during a very sunny three weeks. In spite of some discomfort, homesickness and generally feeling "odd", this is something I have to thank my parents for, especially my mother, for it was the start of a life-long love affair with France. I've visited this wonderful country almost every year since then. And it gave me my livelihood.....

Having coffee in the open air.
Eating in a new restaurant.
Drinking a cool white wine outside on a summer’s evening.
Chatting to the barmaid in French in my hotel.
Sauntering around well-lit streets at night.
Driving into the train to go through the tunnel, then driving off and onto those fast open motorways.

September 2008 - I spent a wonderful week (sunshine all the time!) in Amboise. I had a third floor room in a new Ibis hotel, ideal for writing and relaxing. The restaurant was quite good enough for my needs.

Here are the first two moments of total relaxation and pleasure during my first afternoon - parking my car beside the river Loire, then walking to the town centre for my first glass of cool, dry white wine in a quiet tea-room. Delightful!

October 2008 - My second week was spent in Vendome, the town I lived in for a year during 1961-2. It was a little changed, and improved in many ways, but still brought back vivid memories of a formative part of my life. On the left is the Porte St. Georges, looking as impressive as ever, and on the right a view of the former Lycee Ronsard where I taught English. It has been refurbished as the new Town Hall.