Newark Airport and The Flight to Paris Business Class Seat and a glass of Champagne or sparkling wine upon boarding, followed up with another and another and… well one thing led to conversation with my new seat mate, a married man on his way to work. This man, however, was very different than Claus, the American Executive on the previous flight from San Diego to New York was, friendly but not… flirty.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo ensure the safety of our passengers,\u201d droned on the Stewardess in the bored tones of stewardesses everywhere, and then she switched to FRENCH and it was marvelous smooth sounds and rolling words, soothing to my brain, I sipped my bubbles and thought, \u201cI don\u2019t understand what she\u2019s saying, but I dig it.\u201d I realized that the French language was as promised, better. Sexier.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t remember what he said to me but I am certain that he and not I started our conversation. He asked lots of questions. One or two Bubblies into the flight, I was feeling open enough to answer his many questions and having conducted an informal interview of Claus, in his black running attire, on the first leg of the flight from monstrously bright and ever-sunny Southern California, to the perpetually charming and mysterious OLD WORLD, I felt I owed the universe to subject myself to questioning with the same easy going grace that Claus demonstrated, hours before.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst trip to France?\u201d he asked me. \u201cNo, actually, this is to be my first trip to Paris but, I\u2019ve been to France before. I visited the South, Cote d’ Azure and St. Tropez.\u201d He smiled and said, \u201cIt is nice in Nice, but what is truly lovely is Biarritz.\u201d He went on, \u201cIt is where the tourists do not go and it is just as fine, the dining is divine!\u201d He looked convinced, certain. I promised myself that I\u2019d look into his statement. I had my notebook on my lap, so I was going to make myself a note, but I wasn\u2019t sure how to spell, \u201cBiarritz,\u201d so I asked him to write in my journal.<\/p>\n
He took my pen, looking at it said, \u201cWhat a nice pen!\u201d Then he wrote in my book, commenting, \u201cWhat very excellent paper!\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d I agreed with him. \u201cI bought this diary years ago, and it is a treasure to me. \u00a0I saved it for this trip. \u00a0The paper is handmade Japanese rag with threads of gold tossed in for good measure.\u201d At that he laughed and he asked me, \u201cSo… what do you do?\u201d \u201cI write.\u201d I said. \u201cActually, I blog. I\u2019ve got a blog. It is called, “Talkinggrid.\u201d He positively snickered at that one. \u201cWhat do you write about?\u201d This is, the obvious question, I answer this one a lot, but only recently (thanks to the note worthy contemporary artist\u00a0Nobel Sounds <\/a>of San Diego) I have a set answer for this common question. \u201cWell,\u201d I said with a sip and feeling rather important, I was giving an interview, after all<\/em>, \u201cI write about culture, life… food, art history, art… and spirituality. In other words, I\u2019m a Cultural Commentator!\u201d \u00a0He looked at me like he did not know what I was talking about, so I said, \u201cI recently wrote about Othello, and the actor Blair Underwood\u2019s smashing performance in the Bard\u2019s best tale,\u201d or something like that. Now<\/em>, he was impressed.<\/p>\n