Right after I last blogged, Andy (Garcia, you recall) asked if he could get on the elevator with us in the hotel, or if he should wait for the next one. We begged him to join us, and I stood touching arms with him from the 3rd floor to the lobby! Clark chatted him up (and down) and promised to look into the traffic problems in Los Angeles for him. He (Andy)was on his way to a screening, and he smelled really good. Pretty fun.
We spent the next day traveling by train to St. Malo, France, where we boarded the ferry for Guernsey Island. It was a 3-hour trip over, arriving at 10 p.m. John had to get up early and return on the 8 a.m. ferry going back, since had a dinner to attend in Nantes Sunday evening. He basically just escorted me over and went back in the dark….what a guy!
I went to church in Guernsey. There were 7 others besides me. I met a cute Portuguese girl there who is on a 12-month contract as a nurse. She had a car, and she and her roommate took me all over the island. We visited a museum in a tunnel dug by the slaves during the German occupation, which is documented in the novel, “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.” The book is what piqued my interest in Guernsey, and I loved being there at the site of the events that were described. The people on Guernsey hadn’t heard of the book, with the exception of a 17-year-old boy inthe branch who spent last summer working at the Nauvoo pageant. He remembered hearing about “the potato peelings book,” but hadn’t read it. I wanted to leave them my copy, but Clark was reading it by then and wanted to finish it.
I started back to France (Guernsey is English) yesterday. At St. Malo I took a bus ride out to a small harbor so I could view Mt. St. Michel from a distance. Then after two train changes, I was surprised to see John waiting for me at the Nantes station. He took a chance I’d be on that train, met me, and off we went to a river cruise dinner with his group. I didn’t even get to change clothes.
So today is my one day in Nantes. I’m probably going to spend it doing laundry and taking it easy. We’re having a great time, but the days are long when dinner lasts until midnight.
On a serious note, Jim Smith has prostrate cancer. He was scheduled for surgery yesterday, but they postponed it because of a clotting problem. So, along with Laurie’s sister’s family, remember Uncle Jim in your prayers.
Love,
Mom