I have exactly a month left in France. Today when I woke up Katrin seemed a little reticent and troubled. It was gray and rainy outside. We had a talk. From the balcony we could see the port and there was a big cruise ship standing in the water. I scoped it with the binoculars. In the rain we walked to a nearby patisserie and got breakfast. Back at the apartment we put on some music and started cleaning and packing our things. I started to feel overwhelmed. The act of organizing and packing gradually calmed me down, but I still feel it.

Right now I’m on the train back to Paris (though I won’t be actually posting until later tonight). Train and bus rides are often an occasion to reflect. Somehow, I feel that like the last vacation, this one too has been a kind of dividing post. The landscape to my right outside the window is flat and cultivated, with mountains in the distance. The sky is a light gray color, except just above the mountains, where it is a dark blue. In about five hours I’ll be back.