May 1st in France in a national holiday, International labor day and all. While at breakfast, The Great Magnetic Wife asked our waiter what one says on May Day. He didn't seem to understand the question. "Do you wish others a happy May Day?" She asked. "If you would like to," was his response. She inquired further, "how do you celebrate?" "By not working." Maybe he was mad that he had to work on May Day.
We went of to visit cousin Liz in Fontainebleau. Lori and Bruce stayed in Paris. This would have been the third day of long train rides for Bruce (Strasbourg, London, Fontainebleau) and also they probably wanted some alone time. The train ride took less than an hour, Fontainbleau is almost a suburb of Paris. There are people who live there who work in Paris.
Liz met us at the station and took us on a tour of Avon and Fontainebleau. Being a holiday, almost everything was closed, including the very nice bike shop in the photo above, but fortunately a really delightful cheese shop was open and so we stopped for a nice selection of cheeses and meats. We later stopped at an open bakery for some bread. Lunch having been procured, we stopped to pick up some Lily of the Valley, a traditional May Day gift in France, at the stand below.
We made our way back to Liz's house and got the grand tour. It is a charming three-story house plus a basement. Liz's husband, Fredo, and one of her two boys, Luc, soon arrived. Fredo and I smoked Cuban cigars in the back yard and then we all had lunch of the marvelous cheese and meat we got in town.
It was time to tour the grounds of the Chateau de Fontainebleau, next to Versailles, it is the biggest palace in France. It is where Napoleon said his farewell after his defeat at Waterloo. It is about a twenty minute walk from the house. The Chateau was closed, being a holiday, but the grounds were open and they are spectacular. It did rain off and on, sometimes quite hard, during our walk and tour of the grounds, but being from L.A., where we don't get a lot of it, I usually enjoy rain.
Back at the house, we played poker. I won big, but if we were playing with actual money, rather than just chips, I'm sure I wouldn't have played the same way. I bet big and was really quite reckless. So, it didn't make me think I am actually good at poker. I'm sure I'm not.
We called my sister Margaret. Liz and Margaret are quite close, so it was a great deal of fun speaking to her. This is a picture of me on the phone with Margaret.
Finally we got on the train back to Paris, loaded with leftover cheese, meat and bread from lunch. When we got back to the hotel, we had a nice dinner with Bruce and Lori with our leftovers.
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