Travel at 40: Option 4 - France

France pretty much goes without saying. I’ve already been to France four times. Not a single one of those experiences was enough time to see and do all there is to see and do. So I can easily go back. There are huge areas of the country that I’ve yet to see and experience.

Paris, of course, is one of my favorite places on Earth. I wouldn’t go to Paris to stay there but it’s a likely place to land and start the trip off in. From there I could take a train to anywhere. And what better place to overcome jet lag than the city of cafes, sidewalks and delightful pastries?

Normandy is supposed to be beautiful and haunting. Its history is profound, even if there might not be a lot of it remaining. I suspect most of the history that can be experienced there is related to WWII, which would still be worth seeing. It would also allow me the opportunity to see Mont Saint Michel, which would be an incredible experience of its own.

Northern France could also lead back into Belgium, which I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing again. Perhaps I would rent a car for that.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in parts of Southwestern France (Bordeaux, Carcassonne, Toulouse, to name just a few locations) and I’ve traveled in Southeastern France as far as Marseille. Montpelier is one of my favorite places, and Nimes was incredible both times I got to visit there, but I probably wouldn’t go to either on this particular trip. Continuing east there’s the French Riviera and cities such as Nice and Cannes for the ritzy beaches or Lyon and Avignon for the history. A week in this part of France would not be nearly enough but I could certainly see a lot of sights and perhaps even take a day trip into Italy for a meal.

Then there’s Central France, a huge region of wine country, river valleys and historic little towns that I’ve never seen. I fantasize about renting a bike somewhere and just riding through the countryside, visiting villages and vineyards and burning off calories so that I can eat and drink to my heart’s content.

Okay, truth be told, riding a bike through any of France sounds like a sublime experience. I’m not sure how easy it would be, however, without using one of the many very expensive but convenient tour companies for just that sort of thing. And, of course, I haven’t actually ridden on a bike outdoors in years so that might be a pretty ill-conceived notion. But it’s long been a dream of mine to cycle from village to village and experience all the intervening miles between.

Finally, there’s the French Alps, which I’ve also always longed to see, though I suspect I would have to drive most of it to properly enjoy it. All the photos I’ve seen of that region are just heartbreakingly beautiful, and such a trip would certainly include Switzerland at some point as well. Two birds with one stone. Going there would also be convenient in that I don’t have altitude problems, whereas Jade often does. It’s easier to take a solitary trip to somewhere that’s not easy for her to go, at least on my guilty conscience.

So a trip to France has tremendous possibilities, especially in fall when the harvest is in full swing. The wine would flow and I'd sample much in the way of bread and cheese and meat. Which would be just fine if I figured out how to spend a fair amount of the trip traveling by bike. Or if that doesn't work out, walking between train trips would serve almost as well.

Either way, there's so much yet to see and do in France that it automatically becomes an enchanting option.

Rest in Peace

Several years ago, I believe on the advice of Jade, I started reading the Livejournal of jaylake. He was a science fiction author who had a full time day job and somehow managed to not only accomplish both but write at great length on LJ.

I never got around to reading any of his novels and only took the time to read a couple of his short stories but I always enjoyed his blogging. He had a pretty regular regime of posting links to interesting, infuriating and important stories, as well as posting interesting thoughts about religion, politics, writing, and memories of his experiences as the son of a U.S. ambassador. His posts were often fascinating and at times highly amusing and I enjoyed reading his thoughts very much.

Not very long after I began reading his LJ, Jay was diagnosed with cancer. His struggle with it became a regular blogging point and was both heartbreaking and inspiring. For more than 6 long years he struggled against the disease, only to succumb to it today after undergoing an agonizing and debilitating treatment in the name of science.

I never had the opportunity to meet Jay and all I know of him was gleaned from his thoughts and experiences as conveyed here on Livejournal and more recently on his own blog when LJ started proving unreliable for his posts. Nevertheless, he made his struggles, fears, anger and overall experience with cancer come to life so well with his words that I now feel as though I shared in every success and failure as deeply as I might have with a relative. I knew for a long time that this day would come, especially as his condition worsened these last few days and weeks.

Still, it is heartbreaking. For all his bravery in telling his story, his fear and depression at his shortened lifespan were quite evident and made as real as a secondhand observer can know it. To see all that was taken from him in the course of his battle against the disease, only to succumb in the end without some miraculous recovery was both sobering and painful. His struggles now are over and its left to his family to go on without his presence from this point forward. But that doesn't bring me any sort of solace. I feel a deep sense of compassion and heartache for his daughter, who is just on the cusp of adulthood. I ache for his partner, who was at his side all these months and had to witness the decline so much more closely than anyone else.

Most of all, though, I feel a tremendous sense of sorrow for Jay. He wrote with such appreciation for his gift and the rewards of his hard work and expressed such anger over its loss. Through his entries I experienced his despair at the loss of his fiction writing, the increasing failures of his body and mind. His last entry, as written presumably by himself alone, was on April 24th. For a man who spent so much of his time putting words and thoughts to the computer to share throughout the internet, it seems a particular cruelty for his voice to be silenced for so long.

His death today is just a scant few days short of his 50th year. It's too soon. Both his parents have outlived him. There are so many words that will forever remain unwritten. So many experiences he will never have and his daughter and partner will never share.

Life can be so cruel and cancer is such a fucking bastard of a disease. How terrible a betrayal, to have your own body conspire against you. It just isn't right.

So in the end, I can only add these final words, spoken and written so often by Jay himself. There's no way the written word can fully convey my disgust and hatred and loathing but as I type the words I assure my readers that such are most definitely my intent.

Fuck cancer.