It’s great when you get to travel to new parts of the world and explore the location, the food and the culture. It’s even better when you get to reconnect with old friends and explore it with them. That’s what we did last week, and we have several more adventures coming up. Believe or not, over the next 8 weeks, we will be lucky enough to meet with old friends in Nice France, Naples Italy, Vidauban France, Brittany France, Tel Aviv Israel and Transylvania Romania. But before we get too far out in the future, let’s talk about out most recent reunion.
We’ve been planning this surprise for several months, and working very hard to keep it secret, so it was kind of a relief 
when we strolled into the Metropolitan cafe in Nice to surprise our friend Tom for his birthday. He had no idea we were even in France, and we spent the next several days exploring Nice and the surrounding towns.
Listed below are just some random thoughts; in no particular order:
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- We typically stay in AirBnB apartments; this gives us the advantage of having a kitchen and regular living space. As easy as it is to forget, we are not actually on summer vacation, this is our normal life. And just like most peoples regular lives, we eat a lot of
meals at home, we watch TV some evenings, we do laundry, we take naps and we clean the house. Having said that:
- every flat has a limited assortment of cooking stuff – it’s always interesting to see what kitchen tools are supplied in each place (this is why Bonnie travels with her knife set!)
- just going to the grocery store is an experience in itself. It is different in every country and everything has a different name.
- we try and plan at least one “adventure” every day, this might be visiting a museum, exploring a beach we haven’t to been to before, looking at boats in a marina or visiting a local fish and/or vegetable market.
- Of course we eat out from time to time (like everyone does) and we revel in the experience.
- We usually do not rent (or hire as they say in Europe) a car, but since the
friends we met in Nice had one already, we got do do a couple of amazing day trips.
- One day we left Nice and drove to Monaco, it was just few days before the Gran Prix, so we actually drove (kind of by accident) a section of the race course. Pretty darn cool.
- That same day, we drove by Cannes, but the film festival was wrapping up so we figured we missed out on seeing most of the big stars. George really wanted to go see the premier of “Rocket Man” especially since Sir Elton John was on hand for the event.
- Another day we drove up to the Verdun region, we had lunch in Sainte Croix du Verdun on the shore of the lake, the view was stunning.
- If you are a fan of oysters, and other shellfish, then Southern France is the
place to be (although our friends in Brittany tell us we will be in oyster heaven when we get there.) We had oysters with dinner at home twice and once again at an amazing shellfish lunch.
- If you are still learning to love oysters, or even if you are a fan already: give George’s oyster preparation below a try.
- We typically stay in AirBnB apartments; this gives us the advantage of having a kitchen and regular living space. As easy as it is to forget, we are not actually on summer vacation, this is our normal life. And just like most peoples regular lives, we eat a lot of
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“Oysters Orleans”
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- Shuck 1 dozen very fresh medium sized oysters, putting the oysters and the juice into a medium glass bowl.
- Clean the bottom half of the shells, put into a plastic bag and pop into the freezer to chill.
- To the bowl of oysters and juice add: 1 tablespoon on white sugar, 1.5 ounces (25 mils) of white vinegar, 2 small spring onions (green tops of the whites) chopped fine, ½ of a green bell pepper chopped fine, 1 0z fresh lime juice (30 mils), and 4 or 5 dashes or Tabasco. Stir together ingredients a cover bowl with cling wrap and place in fridge for at least two hours (overnight is even better).
- Just prior to serving, arrange shells on a large platter (using coarse salt to help balance shells). Place one oyster into each shell and then divide the rest of the mixture every between the dozen.
- Serve with chilled white wine or prosecco and bask in the adoration of your guest.
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We lucked out and met one of the locals, a delightful non-poet and musician by the name of David Dixon. When he is not actively busking, hosting open mike nights or writing sharp little sonnets, David is a bartender at the best spot in Lagos for Mexican food,
David turned us on to several local events including a music festival at the cultural center in Barao de Sao Joao (about 15 minute Uber ride from Lagos). At this festival we were introduced to the music of 
Castle which was built by the Moors in the 8th century. The town itself if divided by a large shipping canal that cuts the area diagonally. Most the residential area, old town, city hall and grotto beaches on are the Northwest side, while the major marina, ship yards and the largest public beach is on the Southeast side.
almost all painted bright white with blue or green accents. The local language is Portuguese, and while almost no one speaks Spanish, many can muddle along in English. The distinction between Spanish and Portuguese is important since both Bonnie and I are pretty comfortable in Spanish, but we had each forgotten the Portuguese we learned while living in Brazil. One certainly wants to try and speak the local language, and since they sound similar the inclination is to ‘fake it’ by speaking Spanish. However, with all the similarities, they are different enough to be difficult. Orange juice, for instance in Spanish to jugo de naranja and in Portuguese it is suco a laranja.
sea. This means there can be some pretty steep walks back up the hills to return from town or the beaches. The town in the old city is what you would expect to find in a European tourist area, jammed with small bars, coffee shops and trinket vendors. Kiosks line the boardwalk along the canal and small restaurants fight for space on the waterfront.
One delightful thing we have found is the quality of the live music presented by buskers in the street. Unlike many areas that shun traveling bards, Lagos encourages it and has it organized. Buskers are required to present their address and a photo once a year, they are also required to go in on Fridays and get a permit for performances the following week. We are told that the enforcement of these requirements for newcomers is pretty loose, and a first time cry of “gosh I didn’t know” will get you a slap on the hand and an explanation of the rules.
beaches, starting with Batata do Praia (Potato beach) are harder to get to, smaller and surrounded by sheer walls of ancient rock. The waterline of the beach has more shells, stones and rocks than Meia Praia, but the views are amazing, Many of grotto beaches are interconnected by small passage through the stone cliffs.
