Went to the Lemon Festival and then to Monaco with Maddie from the hostel. It was snowing in the south of France (!?)
Had some delicious baguettes, peeked over the wall at some really cool Bollywood themed lemon sculptures (?!)
In Monaco visited the lobby of the famed Monte Carlo casino. Also a terrific auto museum. Maddie knew a lot about the cars and even about the suspension systems on old carriages, which was interesting.
Hung out at the hostel, felt like I was with the fam trying to decide what to get for dinner. Maddie was dog tired but finally overcame her lethargy and we went to a restaurant. Amazing lamb and potatoes :D But Maddie was (actually, not just jokingly) crushed that they didn’t have any Creme Brulee.
Finished Catcher in the Rye today. What a story. It felt really real and vivid, more like a narratization of the author’s experience than any kind of metaphor. I never realized, “catcher in the rye” doesn’t describe a baseball catcher. It described the only kind of job the tortured protagonist could imagine would actually be real and meaningful. Standing in tall rye grass next to a cliff, catching the kids playing in the field when they were about to fall over the cliff. It’s a beautiful image, one that resonates a lot with my days as a homeschool game organizer :)
Skyped with Grace and called it a night!