Our meeting time was 16h:00 outside notre hôtel dans la Place de l'Horloge, and although I had known Nathalie for such a long time at Sydney Daily Snap, I was apprehensive and even a little timid.
This woman did not suffer fools, neither gladly nor in any fashion.
One would have to mind one's p's and q's !
My fears were put to rest. Nathalie arrived, à pied, at 16h:07 and voila!
She was all there, all smiles and an all-Aussie girl (in the nicest French sort of way).
We all kissed and hugged, - I had long since learned how many times and on how many cheeks one could plant how many kisses and get away with it. If one kissed one's godfather, who only shaved once a month, you could expect four kisses, Ouch!!
But comme un touriste ignorant, a couple more kisses could be slipped in ? ( I would recommend that any of my friends visit France. They are very good at lots of things, there !)
With kissing on temporary hold and a lovely warm afternoon at our disposal we accepted with delight, an invitation to visit Nathalie's home and drinks on her roof-top terrace, just a stone's throw away, along Avignon's belles petites rues.
10 comments:
I love Avignon. It is one of my favorite French cities. I am glad to have been able to see Nathalie, who is a very pretty young woman.
I have read all your other posts, dear M. Benaut, but I am having big problems here in Connecticut, so I don't have the "coeur à écrire beaucoup" for the moment.
How lovely to meet Nathalie, she looks gorgeous though I expected to see her with her hands in the air!
What do you mean, hands in the air Lynn? As in "hands up" because I was held hostage in a hold-up by M.Benaut?
LOL
Ah, kissing friends and relatives is a long standing tradition in France and indeed a tricky one as the number of kisses (and cheeks) varies with regions and families.
It's two kisses in Paris but more often than not three in Avignon, and four in some other places.
Now I had no idea what "to mind your p's and q's" meant so I had to look it up.
This is what I found on answers.com (I'm copying it in for those of your readers who like me are not native English speakers)
This saying means mind your manners. It is a nice way to say Use your table manners, be extra polite, say thank you etc. It means Mind your "pints" and "quarts".This saying was used in England hundreds of years ago. The "barkeeps" would say this to patrons when they were getting out of hand or being "rowdy". Again, it is a nice way to say... Watch your manners.
I can't believe I was that intimidating?!?!?!
Je pense que Lynn se rapportait à ta photo de profil, Nathalie.
En cette photo, tu as tes mains dans l'air et beaucoup de rire à ton joli visage.
Well, I did capture the moment, even if I do say so myself! Ah Avignon, what a beautiful place and time spent with Nathalie was so wonderful. As you are about to see on our tour of Avignon through MB's eyes, it was a splendid couple of days and if you can't wait to see the beautiful view of sunset from Nathalie's terrace, visit her blog because she posted a photo of it very recently!
Je suis si heureux que tu sois d'accord avec moi, Marie.
Avignon est une ville extrêmement jolie.
Mais ne fais aucune erreur, Montpellier a l'énorme charme également !
Marie, il m'inquiète considérablement, pour entendre que tout n'est pas bien en le Connecticut à l'heure actuelle.
Veuille prendre soin de toi-même.
Ah, at last we reach the beautiful Nathalie! And how chic and stylish she looks! Who could resist sneaking extra kisses? Hee hee.
As for suffering fools gladly, Monsieur, you are about as far from a fool as you are from my house.
I've long wondered what camera Nathalie uses to take her amazing photos. Which model of Lumix is she holding?
Bonjour, mon vieux, Dive.
You have a way with words which beg a knighthood, cobber.
(As you are, however, not a Royalist, I shall see to it that I bestow an appropriate honour upon you.)
Cameras:-
If my memory serves me correctly, old son, Nathalie uses a Canon PowerShot G7.
The camera you see in her hand was my Lumix FZ-18.
I'll leave the details for you to sort out !
Yes a Canon G7 powershot is what I use. I'm not sure how I found myself with M.B.'s Lumix in hand ?
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