France with a Friend

Gino surprised me this year with a trip to France for New Year's. He said I glow when I travel. I don't want to glow when I travel, I want to glow all of the time. We travelled around and stayed with a friend there, which was a great way to feel the local culture and save money. We started in the city of Orleans, and then moved to the mountains of central France and then the medieval old towns of southern France. Gino and I finished alone in Paris. It was really cold, which worked to our advantage as far as eliminating lines in museums during a low tourist season.

Before going I had a sense that french people snubbed travellers, an opinon formed from a few bad apples I met in a previous experience. But this trip set me straight. Everyone was so generous and really tried hard to communicate in English with us. I always can appreciate when people go out of their way to try and speak English, even though it's not easy for them. Our friend along with all of his friends would try to include us in every conversation.

Also recently, my friend from Japan, Hiroyuki, started living with us. We've been having great weekends, but on the weekdays I would really like to find something for him to become involved with. Any ideas?