People keep asking me if I'm packed for our trip to France on Monday. The answer is no, not yet. I do have a couple of small piles of things that will go into the luggage like an umbrella. The long range forecast shows rain everyday, so I'll be taking a rain hat instead of a sun hat. Hmmm, maybe I won't take that swimsuit. . .

We're taking the inaugural flight on Air France out of Seattle to Paris, which should be great fun. It's about nine hours on an A330. I've got the iPod video loaded up with movies, French language course and music, so I'll stay entertained. Once we hit CDG in Paris we have a short turn for a domestic flight to Toulouse where we'll pick up the Grail Tour led by Dr. Chet Snow and William Henry. Then it's off to Couiza at a restored Renaissance castle now hotel, ranging out each day to visit points of interest such as Rennes le Chateau, Montsegur and across the Languedoc. Then we'll make our way back north to Paris. It's a smallish tour of about thirty people so it should be comfortable and fun. I refuse to obsess about not knowing much French. Once I figure out how the language works and listen a bit, I should be able to get by on my previous romance language training. I remember having a dream once where I was speaking French. It was very strange because it was like I was awake and translating from English to French words and having no problems. Yet, now if I actively work at it, I tend to worry about irregular verb conjugation and adjective placement, not to mention the incomprehensible pronunciation. Ah well, learn something new everyday and stay young in every way.

I'm getting a camcorder to shoot an exciting video diary that I intend to post on my site. I promise to edit everything to bearable for any viewer. I won't post again to MMMLog until the 21st--just letting the MMMLog hecklers out there know that even though this is a research trip for my current project, I consider myself vacationing from blogging. Wish us bon voyage!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmelinda