On 6/8/04 7:03 AM Bill McIntyre at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote.
Bill and Berndt- One cannot condemn a whole nation or culture on a few irrationals. I have to deal with this kind of ignorance and prejudice everyday in the Criminal Justice System here in Indiana, USA. When my wife, my two youngest daughters and I bicycled to Mexico and back in 1973 (a 2400mi trek) we noticed the rural peoples were much different than the city folks. The so called campasinos and peasants were so hospitable and helpful but in the cities one must be truly wary and protective. This is the same in our USA where in rural areas one finds a much different experience than in, say, NY. Nice to hear you guys are out there on you bikes still. I'm 74 now and do well to get in approx. 5-10mi daily, along with playing tennis and a few other activities but long trips are out of the question now -arthritus etc. regards, doug >berndt wrote: > >>I just returned from a week in Avignon and three days in Paris (19-29 >>May) and can report we were not hassled in any way for being Americans. > >That's good to hear. Thanks. > >>Are you going to be biking at Le Baux? We saw numerous cyclists tackling >>the mountain. > >Not this time, but we rode up there on a previous 3 week cycling trip 10 >years ago, and it happens to be connected with one of the best >experiences we've ever had with people. We had asked the guy collecting >money for the parking lot to watch our bikes, and while we were locking >them up, a French woman noticed this odd sight of middle aged Americans >on bikes and came up and introduced herself. It turned out she lived >outside of Aix. We said we were going back through there on the way back >to Nice, and she invited us to a party she was throwing for her sister's >50th birthday. So a few day later, there we were, with about 50 of her >French friends and relatives, standing in their back yard eating and >drinking with a distant view of Marseilles, and pinching ourselves to >make sure it wasn't just a dream. > >So much for the unfriendly French. > >Bill > >___________________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
