GOODBYE AND THANK YOU

It has been eight days since I left California. I have just started re-adjusting to the European time. I think this time my body refused to readapt to Europe :-)))

Despite a very difficult (unexpected) beginning, I can say that my trip to California was one of the best trips and even the best times of my life. I may not have seen the Grand Canyon or Hollywood, but I have had better experiences: I have met wonderful people who comforted me, helped me, spent much of their time with me, opened their houses to me, a perfect stranger. I am proud of being their friend now and I do hope I will see them again.

Thank you very much to Ed Ward, who introduced me to his Californian friends. Without his intervention, I would have really felt lost in San Francisco.

Thank you to Louis la Vache who showed me a lot of beautiful places in and around San Francisco. He took me to Stanford University and Filoli, among other marvels. Thank you to all the very nice people I met at his church.

Thank you to Tiffany, John, Cathy, Phil, Rémy, and to all the great people I met at the Green Tortoise.

A huge thank you to Earl and Giselle (designer Giselle Shepatin), from Berkeley, who did not know me from Adam (ni d'Eve ni d'Adam as we say here) but generously opened their house to me. I will never forget what they did for me. They did more for me than they will ever know: they helped me reconcile with myself and with life.

Thank you so much to Ron and his wife Joan who invited me for dinner several times and with whom I had a wonderful walk through the streets of the City of Berkeley. Ron spent a whole day showing me the campus of Berkeley, which he perfectly knows.

I was happy to meet my friend Beverly, whom I had not met in ten years.

Several other people had offered to help me. I did not have the time or the opportunity to meet them. That will be for my next trip. Thank you thank you to all of them.

I have a few regrets: I could not meet with Wanda or with Stuart. In a near future, I hope......

Pardon my English. :-)

Je voulais remercier tous les Américains qui m'ont aidée à surmonter le stress de mon arrivée en Californie (eh oui, le début a été difficile, et au milieu de centaines de gens accueillants et formidables, j'ai rencontré deux personnes, un homme puis une femme, de moins bonne compagnie). Je vais garder un souvenir émerveillé de ce séjour en Californie et je vais vivre avec l'espoir de revoir bientôt tous mes nouveaux amis.

J'ai pris la photo à Berkeley, quelques jours avant mon départ. Un magasin venait de fermer ses portes. Dans le coeur, on voit Ron. Je ne l'ai pas "encadré" volontairement. Je pourrais faire un montage incluant tous les noms cités plus haut dans ce coeur. J'ai laissé une partie du mien là-bas.