Apparently, old metal candleholders like this are really rare. They'd descend via the chains you see in the middle, then you could either light or replace (or both) three large candles on each "plate," then you could put it back up where it was.
After I'd taken my 40-something photos (the rest of them, many being artsy can be found on my
Flickr), I hopped back in Madame's car, and we drove off to the troglodyte houses. There wasn't much to take pictures of there, it was just something to drive by and see. The people that lived there were usually wine makers (who also grew grapes on the hill they built the houses out of), then mushroom cultivators. The remains of that old Roman aqueduct were something else, though...

We headed back to the house to have our cup of tea, and we talked a lot about what I'm going to do for work when I'm done with school. I explained that being a screenwriter meant that I'd constantly be looking for a job, find one, work until the project is finished, then be out of a job again and start over. I'd have plenty of spare time to write new films, and to take care of my family. "It'd be good to find a steady job, though." "Yeah, I was thinking about teaching French." "But it's not useful in America, right?" This became the very first time I used si correctly in a conversation. For those of you that think I've now started learning Spanish, here's a mini-lesson. You use si when you're trying to tell someone that they've made an incorrect assumption. We don't have a word for it in English, but we should. Example: If someone's talking to me and says "But you're not 20 years old." That's when I'd use si because I in fact, AM 20 years old, and they've made an incorrect assumption. Back to my conversation with Madame... "Si, there are plenty of people that already speak Spanish and English by the time they start high school, so taking French is a good idea." It'd be a good way for me to keep my skill level in the language up as well.
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Managed to get a picture of the elusive Kemia, too! |
We had an interesting dinner... we started with a vegetable soup for entrée (Madame's husband loved soup), followed by... another entrée? Madame had made a small salad with some shrimp, tomatoes, and dijon mayonnaise that was served alongside oeufs mimosa (what we would call deviled eggs). That was followed by a serving of thinly chopped and sautéed vegetables (basically every veggie she had in the house) for plat principal. Same three cheeses for our cheese course, as usual. We had the last actual pastry from Helmut Newcake (the caramel de beurre salé Religieuse) for dessert with a clementine. We talked a bit about Paris... and racism, oddly enough. Our conversations really run the gamut, don't they?
I think I overate tonight. I went back to my room and felt almost sick to my stomach because of everything I'd had. It's amazing how full a bunch of vegetables can make you feel. I got a chance to talk to my boyfriend for a long time while I was attempting to digest all of that food...
I head back to Paris tomorrow in the late afternoon. I'll be going back to America in less than two weeks, and as my boyfriend put it tonight, I'll be back in his arms two weeks from today. I'll admit, I'm definitely excited to be headed home. I've missed everyone there so much! The more I sit around and think about it, however... the more I realize I'd be much more content if I could snap my fingers and magically have everyone important in my life speak French and live with me in France. Sadly, this isn't the case... yet...
Mais qu'importe l'éternité de la damnation à qui a trouvé dans une seconde l'infini de la jouissance? -Baudelaire. "Le Mauvais Vitrier."