Note: I thought the train was about 3 hours…when Jonathan reminded me it was 5 and a half, he suddenly got this “oh shit” look, because I hate, hate, HATE long distance travel (except planes).  Luckily, I was fine!  Plus I was on my best honeymoon behavior.

Francis and Jon picked us up to ferry us to their lovely little vacation house in the Pyrenees.  They live in a village of about 40 full-time residents called “Buzan” in what is referred to as the “Midi-Pyrenees” (I have no idea what that means).    We dropped our stuff, had a little wine and cheese and then headed off to a restaurant in nearby Lorp Sentaraille, called La Petit Maison.  The food was very posh, delicious, I mean REALLY delicious, and the lovely server had worked for 20 years with Gordon Ramsey.  So he knew English.  He also liked Ramsey, so, good, I guess!

The next morning, as we are leisurely rolling out of bed, Francis gets a phone call from his good friend Ian, who is in the area.  We all decide to meet at Saint Bertrand de Comminges which is a beautiful cathedral in another part of the Pyrenees.  It is mostly known for it’s intricately carved choir stalls.  We then went to Saint Jean de Valcabrere.  Although it was a rather gray and rainy day, it was still a great outing.

The next day, we found a little dog on our doorstep.  She looked well cared for, so she must have belonged to someone, and she had a phone number on her collar.  We called the number and left a message.  Later on, we went for a hike/walk and the dog accompanied us.  I named her Molly.  That evening, we realized she would need to sleep somewhere, so we placed some blankets and food in their woodshed and locked her in (she was barking insanely).

Today we work up and let her out.  It was raining really hard, so we made her some warm food.  About mid-day we received a phone call.  Francis had realized, after calling the phone number several times, that her owner said she was out of town until Jan 5.  Turns out, the owner (mayor of a small local town) had placed her in the care of someone who lived a little deeper into the mountains here in Buzan.  She thought we took the dog (whose name, it turns out, was Peta).  She kept insisting the dog would have come home, when Francis finally got it across to her that the dog sat outside the house all day yesterday and most of today, she finally realized we had not kidnapped her.  She wasn’t terribly grateful, but, then again, this wasn’t her dog.

Anyhow, it has been so lovely here in the Pyrenees.  Relaxing and fun.  Jon works for the BBC and is a member of BAFTA, so we have also watched a ton of screeners for BAFTA, several movies which are currently in the theater.  Yay!

Where to start?  We arrived via the TGV from Stuttgart.  If you wonder what the TGV is, go here.  Super fast train.  We got to our apartment, which I had found via vrbo.com.  It was small, really small, aroudn 125 square feet, but within those walls was all we needed.  A bed, a kitchen and a functioning bathroom as well as a washing machine (although it functioned intermittently).

We got in, dropped our stuff, and immediately went out.  Our first order of business was to walk up to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur to see the view of Paris. Sadly, Paris was a bit under the fog, but still really pretty.  Then, being New Yorkers, we decided to walk to the Opera, where we took a tour, and then further along to Notre Dame.  I think we walked about 4 miles, which always seems easy, but isn’t always.  Anyhow, it wore us out to sleep for the next day.

The next day we first went to the Arc de Triomphe (this time we sensibly took the Metro).  A quick set of photos and we were back in the bowels of the Metro on the way to Saint Sulpice.  The next thing on our agenda was to find the “best” croissants in Paris.  We first stopped at a little place called “Bread and Roses” and then walked into the 14th Arrondisement to find “Des Gateaux et du Pain” (or something like that).  The first place was not only lovely, but the people were kind and attentive.  The second place was like walking into a Christian Louboutin shop when everyone knows you can’t POSSIBLY afford to be there: snobby and obnoxious.  We bought some croissants anyway, and some truffles for some friends, but then high tailed it out of there away from the bitchy shop people.  Along the way we found the Louis Pasteur museum, which we were too late to enter and put it on the list for the next day.  We then headed to the Catacombs, but the wait was long enough that we wouldn’t have time to get in.  Fail.  We decided to then go to this lovely little market we had heard of behind the Pantheon, so we went by the Pantheon and then to the market.  The market was one long tourist trap with a bunch of small, overpriced restaurants.  Ah well, can’t win them all.  We headed home and shopped on our own lovely street, Rue des Martyrs, which even had a write up in the NYTimes.  We bought some pork (which may even be better than The Piggery), some veggies and yummy crusty bread.  Jonathan made dinner at home and it was just lovely.

Our final day, we decided to go to the Catacombs, since it was really the only other thing we wanted to see.  We were in line for two hours.  I hate lines.  I really do, but this has been on my list for a while.  While in line, Jonathan made friends with a young Chinese kid studying engineering in Germany.  They became Facebook friends, at least until he goes back to China and the government blocks it again.  The catacombs were remarkable.  For all of you that think that we should have seen more museums, let me say this: yes, the Louvre and the Rodin and the D’Orsay are amazing museums.  We had limited time and we wanted to see things that we could not see, at all, in NYC.  There are works of art by Monet and Rodin and Da Vinci in NYC, so we wanted to make sure we would see things that we can’t find in NYC.  Unless I don’t know about it, there aren’t 8 million interestingly arranged bones beneath NYC.  So there.  Anyhow, we then went to Saint Germain des Pres, which is the oldest church in Paris, with the foundations dating to the 8th century.  We also stopped by Bread and Roses again to get croissants and breads to take along with us on the TGV to Toulouse.

Lovely Paris.  Lovely people.  Speaking my high school French was a stretch.  I could speak it, but go so flustered so easily.  Luckily, everyone was so nice (for the record, I have never had a crappy encounter in Paris the several times I have been – I don’t know where that rumor comes from, but everyone has always been so very lovely).  We loved Paris, might even live there one day for 6 months or so.

Well, almost.

Before we had arrived, Carol contracted a terrible, albeit short, stomach flu.  Craig had it the day we arrived.  My poor Jonathan got it Christmas Eve.  Christmas Eve was a day of relaxation and, in my case, a day of waiting around.  We were all sure I’d fall, sure I’d begin the vomiting and fever process.  Luckily, I never succumbed.  I attribute this to the fact that my boss in NYC had a terrible stomach flu before I left, so I must have been exposed to it.  I never got his either and probably have the antibodies.  Or it could be, as someone pointed out, that I have traveled so much that I have seen all the stomach bugs and am my own walking petri-dish.  Whatever the case, Jonathan was only really ill on Christmas Eve, leaving a glorious Christmas Day.

When we woke up, Craig and Carol were already making bacon and eggs and yummy toast.  Jonathan had purchased a perfect Ciabatta on Dec 23^rd at the International Market.  It made delicious toast.  Then Craig and Carol and I (well, mostly Craig and Carol) made Christmas Dinner.  Turkey and green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy.  It was excellent.  The rest of the day was spent by the fire, reading, chatting, exchanging silly YouTube videos, drinking wine – it was just perfect.

The next morning we were all rather surprised I was walking and decided I must have not caught the bug.  Jonathan and Craig went to the Mercedes Benz museum and Carol and I stayed home.  I napped (there was a lot of Proseco and Orange Juice for breakfast) and then did laundry.  The guys got home and Craig grilled us these lovely steaks that he and Carol had dry aged themselves.

We were sad to leave them, this morning.  We have enjoyed their company, as well as the cuddly and furry company of two Siberian cats, this holiday season.  Jonathan’s illness was much easier to handle in the comfortable home of friends.

We are on the TGV off to Paris for a few days.  Jonathan made a list of sights, but I mostly think he wants to eat croissants for 3 days.  Who can blame him?

Craig met us and we took a lovely short train ride to the apartment.  Craig and Carol’s apartment is lovely and homey and has a bathroom worthy of a Dubai 5 star hotel.  Toilet!  Deep bathtub!  Separate shower!  Bidet!  URINAL!  For real!

Here are the first photos!

Stuttgart Market

Suttgart

We took a luxurious 3 hour nap and then Carol took us to the Stuttgart market.  Oh it was so lovely.  We had gleuvien (I have no idea how to spell that), which is warmed wine with some spices.  We ate bratwusrt and little sandwiches.  We wandered and saw gorgeous home made hand crafts, lovely jewelry and scarves.  There was a mens chorus and a carousel and a ferris wheel for the kids.  It was really so lovely

Today we woke up late and I luxuriated in this amazing bath.  Then we hopped over to another little town called Esslingen, which was largely not bombed out in WWII.  It is mostly medieval and also really beautiful.  The market there is more fun, apparently, but was shutting down.  We then came back to Stuttgart and had some good Vietnamese food (yes, for real!) and wandered the market again, but bought some gifts this time.

We also went into this great International Food Hall.  Tomorrow should be laaaaaaazy days!

Dec 14th his murderer goes in front of a judge…again.  This has been dragging on for, well, since he confessed to killing Jeff over $25 last July.  The date Jeff was found was July 18, but he had most likely been murdered on the 17th.  Suddenly, I felt like I was in Criminal Minds, only it wasn’t a tv show, it was real.  For weeks, even months afterwards I couldn’t watch the shows I liked so much, usually because someone ends up killed.  And I still can’t watch anything with swords or knives.  I have to leave the room.

We have a Facebook group where we remember him, chat about him, give one another support.  I am an admin, but I feel so inadequate.  There are people who knew him longer loved him longer than I did, and I cannot even imagine the anguish they feel, since I think about Jeff every day, and I dream about him almost every night.

I suppose it was the way in which he was taken that shakes me to the core, or the fact that I just took for granted he’d be around a while.  It’s not a call you expect to get.

I love you Jeff Norton.  I miss you so much.  I hate that my husband will never meet you, that you’ll never see the work I produce.  I hate that I am closer now to people than I was before because you died.

Happy Birthday, my mentor and my friend.  I still have those images of dinners and parties and show indelibly marked on my brain.  I stare at the picture of you teaching stage combat to the Three Musketeer cast.  I think of you often.  We’re better off for knowing you and worse off for no longer having you around.

Jonathan: Yes.  No.  I don’t remember.  [pause] What the hell are you doing?

Me: The vulcan mind meld to help you remember, or at least extract the memories.

Jonathan: That doesn’t actually work.

Me: Yes it does.

Jonathan: No it doesn’t.  Star Trek was fiction.

Me: It DOES work because I just found out you DIDN’T paint your toenais

Jonathan: So now you just make shit up?

Me: It totally works. Look, I’ll do it on Stewart and ask him to stop putting his paw on my face [mind meld with Stewart]  See!  It worked!  He stopped doing it!

Jonathan: You are completely insane. [pause] Oh for fucks sake, NOW what are you doing?

Me: I just put an idea in your head

Jonathan: Even with TWO hands the VULCAN MIND MELD DOES NOT WORK.  What did you try to put into my head?

Me: If I told you what I put there, we couldn’t see if it was going to work.

Jonathan: [facepalm]

Me: Let’s talk about something else and then you will do the idea I put in your subconcious

Jonathan kisses me.

Me: THAT’S IT!  THAT’S WHAT I TOLD YOUTO DO!  IT WORKS!

Jonathan: We were in bed, it was pretty likely at some point I was going to kiss you and then go to sleep

Me: But I told you to do it NOW!  It works!

Jonathan: You are completely and utterly insane.

I have no idea why we were so ambitious, it was just the two of us, but the food was excellent.  In the middle of the day I called my nephew, Nathaniel.  I miss him terribly and he said, “I’m gonna play with you Sunday” which utterly broke my heart.  He is not going to see me Sunday and my trip I had planned to LA had to be canceled.  I admit, I cried.  I miss him so much.  Then I called my niece, whom I have not spoken to in ages.  She is 20 and a Junior in college, so she has much cooler things to do than talk to me, but we chatted for a long time.  I miss her a bunch too.

I am thankful, this Thanksgiving, that I have family to miss so much.  While being away from them is hard, it is nice to miss them, to have people to miss.  I miss my nephews and niece more than my siblings, probably because I am used to being away form my siblings, but I feel like I am missing so much with my young nephews.  I am missing so much of their lives.  I was lucky to live in the same town as my niece when she was young and in high school, so I feel like we have connected well.

Anyway, I am thankful for my family and my husband, my new family.  I love this holiday.  Now I must go sleep.

When I got sick I asked him where his magic went.  Two words from him, “Grad School.”

Ugh.

It’s true.  I stress WAY more about grad school than it deserves.  I am highly organized, I do all my reading, my paper was one three days before it was due.  But I also worry about work.  I worked in such hostile environments for so long (or if they weren’t hostile, they were SUPER stressful) that I worry about my job ALL THE TIME.  I spend a lot of time thinking I am going to get fired.  I have NO IDEA why they would fire me; I’m damn good at my job and I am not a crook.  I still worry.

Anyway, I worried myself into the worst head cold I have had in three years.  It still lingers.  My professors were so understanding I thought for sure they were joking (I was told NOT to come to class and to get better).  I still have 4 weeks to write 2 huge papers (if I write 4 pages a weekend (per paper) I am golden).

I told Jonathan all of this today.  He said, “How are you going to do it?” (as in, not stress about work, at the very least).

“I don’t know, but I have to”

Those are the 10 things I know about my marriage.

And I still am sorry for being a nutcase, but you knew that when you married me.  Happy 6 months and one day!

Life is good.

And he has to put up with me.