"On the second day I was in Texas. I was travelling through the part where the flat-footed, bilious, frog-sticker-toting Baptist biscuit-eaters live... the sky was all hot brass by day and black velvet by night, and coca cola is all a man needs to live on." ~All the King's Men~
By Robert Penn Warren
You're probably familiar with this quote by now, but if not, I find that again and again it pops into my thoughts at appropriate times. Like, for instance, yesterday after 24 hours of travel, touching down in Houston where I felt an odd mixture of sheer joy and absolute horrified revulsion. Who wouldn't after the past two months with some of the most beautiful people on earth, on the most expensive and pretentious continent on earth? Into Texas, land of the Big, the Fast, the Now. I've never been happier to see a Subway Sandwich shop in my life but I've also never hated packs of traveling cheerleaders more.
But now I'm home where everything is noisy, news is free and the cheese tastes like paper but it's still damn fine.
I've discovered that in reality, I am absolutely in love with Charles De Gaulle airport where, once you find your way (and if you speak even a modicum of french) you find that everything smells good, there's lots of sunshine, the seats are comfortable and though the security guards hit on you, as they do inevitably in every airport while they're sifting through your neatly-packed undercrackers and asking you to please remove your shoes, they're deeply interested in getting you on the right plane. I like that. But then, I like airports.
In short, home is nice, still where I left it. Cats, etc.
Remember, the day your grandmother takes you to the movies for the first time in years is a great day. Remember to tell her that that was a really nice thing and that you've missed her company. Not everyone's grandmother takes them to the movies.
I think I remember seeing a Subway sandwich place on the Rue de Bethune...or somewhere close????
ReplyDeleteHF
There's one right off of the plaza where the museum and the palace are but I refuse to go to American Restaurants in France. It's like working in a bench factory and then going to six-flags and only trying out the benches. That was the dumbest simile I have EVER come up with.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, you're right. And the zoo was really cool.