Here we go again!

A bird flew over the Cirque de Gavarnie…

It’s been a while, huh?

Who would have thought that as quickly as they announced we’d be able to go outside freely again (albeit with a distance restriction at first), I’d get so derailed in my good lockdown habits? I wouldn’t have. I was so sure things would be “pretty much the same”… just with maybe less queue at the supermarket.

In many ways, it wasn’t so different: I worked from home, theaters and cinemas were closed, there was still a line outside the supermarket… And yet, it was a completely different life from the one we’d had for two months: I saw (tiny) groups of friends each night, my boyfriend went to work and soon enough we were able to get our beers and sausages to go from our favourite neighborhood bar. It wasn’t quite our life from before but it didn’t feel like it was what our lives would be like from now on (it still doesn’t feel that way). It left me a bit confused.

All this to say: this blog fell by the way side as I tried to understand this fragile new world I was re-entering.

But here I am once more, in no small part thanks to the restorative magic of travel.

Because, yes, believe it or not, this summer, I took days off and traveled! Granted we stayed in our little homeland, it was a trip full of discoveries for me (but more on that another day). From the Pyrénées Mountains to the Alps and through Marseille and the Atlantic Coast, our little tour of the South of France was a breath of fresh air and an invaluable source of new energy for me. I don’t think I knew how much I needed it until I got on our first train ride down to Bordeaux at the beginning of August. For a few weeks, I cleared my mind, let go of having a schedule and entered a bubble of blissful freedom. What a treat!

And now I’m back, rested and ready to wrestle with the inevitable craziness headed our way for the rest of 2020: let’s get to it!