We awakened to the aroma of grilled cheese, which was called a snack. A short time later, our plane landed in Amsterdam. We tried to move quickly, because we had to get to the gate of our next plane, from Amsterdam to Lyon. Of course, the the gate we needed  was on the other side of the airport, and it seemed that we were walking for miles to get there, but eventually we reached the gate. I spent some time  on line chatting with a woman from Oyster Bay who was planning to go hiking in France. Soon we boarded. Thankfully, the flight was short, because there was turbulence for the entire duration of the flight.

When we landed, we  were very pleased to see Jose-Maria  waiting for us. He thanked us for going all the way to France for our reunion, and we thanked him for welcoming us. He drove us to their home in Savoie, where Agnès was waiting for us. What a delight to see her!

Even after not seeing each other for years, when they do get together Nick and Jose-Maria pick up where they left off. When we arrived, Jose-Maria showed Nick some tech projects he had been working on.

I notice a piece of Egyptian art in the living room. It was Willam the blue hippo, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We have one in our living room too.

We were ready for a nap. Here’s the view from our bedroom window.

Later, Agnès took us on a tour of the gardens, which had many kinds trees. I’m not kidding! There were oak, maple, plum, fig, and walnut trees, and perhaps more varieties. There was an herb garden that contained basil, sage, and rosemary. There were shrubs of all kinds, the names of which I don’t know. In addition to the gardens, we were struck by the peacefulness  we felt there. There were no  sounds of planes flying overhead, no lawns being mowed, no leaves being blown, just serenity. Jose-Maria told us that the temperature had reached 100 degrees the day before we arrived, but thankfully, this day it was in the high eighties.

I  have neglected to explain that both Jose-Maria and Agnès are fluent in English as well as Italian. Our lack of being able to speak any language other than English is embarrassing. I had been working on Italian for months, but I  had trouble remembering verb conjugations.

Jose-Maria had told us that because we’d be eating out in Italy, we would eat in  while we were at their home. Agnès said that a neighbor had brought over some recently harvested zucchini, and she turned it into a delicious quiche that she served with stewed chicken.  And there was fresh watermelon for dessert. What a lovely and healthful meal, and a great way to begin our time together!

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