day trips

It is often the case that our self-conceptions haven’t yet caught up with reality, and in some important instances this probably leads to unnecessary lifelong complexes.

But then there are less important cases in which the same mechanism is interesting to observe and not very harmful. For many years Paris was the only part of France I knew (just as Istanbul is still the only part of Turkey I know). Yesterday I had drinks with a friend, and was complaining that I’ve never really seen much of France outside of Paris.

Then I added: “There are just a few exceptions.” And by the time I was done listing the “exceptions,” my friend was chuckling at me because I’ve seen practically the whole of France now without realizing it. It sneaked up on me.

Well, almost no one’s actually seen the whole of France, but I’ve seen most of the notable cities by now. Avignon and Nantes seem to be two of the more important lacunae, and I will try to fill them on this trip.