The Silver Screen Oasis

cheers!

Jon:

Opening day in Baltimore and we have rain. Coincidence or ominous prediction of Orioles' season?

movieman1957 wrote:Jon:

Opening day in Baltimore and we have rain. Coincidence or ominous prediction of Orioles' season?

Looking for our 12th "transitional" season in a row this year.

That said, if the weather was predictive of the Os, the day would have started out sunny and rained late in the afternoon.

But you know, I had a great time last year. We've got some younger guys who are having the time of their lives playing ball, and their enthusiasm is infectious even when they're not doing so hot. Late in the season they were bringing up some Triple A guys to let them basically practice, and that was kind of horrible. But Camden Yard is a 15 minute walk for me, upper reserve tix are $15 and are never sold out. As far as i'm concerned there is nothing not to love.

We have (hugely expensive) seats for this afternoon, so I'm really hoping the rain lets up soon.

It's funny -- I don't care a thing about football other than the fact that it messes up traffic around my house (I live four blocks from the stadium). But I can never get enough baseball. it's the best sport on earth.

I haven't followed the mclosely but I have heard enough of spring training to know the pitching is having trouble. We have some good young players and I think that MacPhail is taking more authority the future looks better than it has in awhile. Here's hoping because we due.

You're due? YOU'RE due?? YOU'RE DUE?!?!?!

Talk to me about it in another 100 years.

Go, Cubs, Go. Go, Cubs, Go. Hey, hey, Whadya say, the Cubs are gonna win today. (Or maybe the next day.)

Let's play three!

We're due to have a good season! At least your tream got to the playoffs before things feel apart. The Orioles have had things come to a halt as early as the first week of May. More often than not the Cubs can be, at minimum, interesting.

I don't think that you can be a baseball fan and not have a soft spot for the Cubs. I mean, if you're going to root for an NL team they're as good as any.

The Os are due, but we're in the toughest division in baseball -- facing the Yankees, the Red Sox, and Tampa. At least we can still beat Toronto.

jondaris said

It's funny -- I don't care a thing about football other than the fact that it messes up traffic around my house (I live four blocks from the stadium). But I can never get enough baseball. it's the best sport on earth.

Couldn't agree more. I envy your closeness to Camden Yards. When I lived in Harrsiburg, PA we used to catch a few games there. Beautiful park (and the fans are nicer than those in Philly--Hollis being a notable exception, of course).

Let's go Mets!

We rooint em! 10-5!

Let's go Os!

It's so nice to be back, thanks for the good wishes.

It was certainly an interesting place and I will post some pictures, I just need to get organised.

We stayed at a woodland campsite (pesky ants) and it was so warm I was able to take the kids in the outdoor pool most nights. Notice I said I, Chris preferring to hold the towels at the side. Typical, still I love messing around in the water with kids.

We stayed in between St Tropez (lovely) and Monaco (yuck) at a place called Frejus and spent most of our time going up and down the coast discovering the beaches and places of interest. The beaches are some of the nicest I've seen, ranging from lovely ones for the kids to play in and beautiful rocky and craggy with the waves whipping in at the shore.

Chris really didn't know why I would want to gaze on others riches but he did take me to St Tropez and Monaco. St Tropez had charm and very big boats and lovely looking but very expensive and empty shops and bars. It was nice to wander around. Monaco, we didn't even stop. It's so built up and quite small in area, there's hardly any greenery and very expensive parking. It was crawling with police and I just had the impression that if the kids dropped a candy wrapper I'd be hauled off to jail. I would have liked to have seen the Cathedral. It gave me an even worse impression of the kind of people who live there to evade tax. There's no land to be owned and no trace of individuality at all.

Cannes was really charming and it was getting ready for the film festival. I stood on the red carpet with the kids and got pictures of some of the handprints (Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau and Arletty before I was dragged off). It has some of the most gorgeous Edwardian and Victorian hotels beautiful architecture and opulence.

Nice was nice, lol, a lot larger than I'd expected but I found it very charming, Chris on the other hand didn't. He thinks it was slightly seedy and pointed out my preference for places that in his mind are also seedy (Los Angeles and New Orleans being the others).

These places were just the icing on the cakes. I really loved the Provencal towns, Grimaud, Cogolin, Bormes Les Mimosas and Collbrieries. These are the places I will remember with the most fondness. Give me a Provencal market to wander around, sampling olives, olive oil, sundried tomatoes, fresh baked bread. It is the charm of these towns that have only been marred slightly at the edges by the arrival of supermarkets. The towns look untouched for the most in the last 100 years.

A word of warning to anyone wanting to go, I would highly recommend anyone visiting but avoid high season, we were there in low season and the roads were congested, at high season there are lots of traffic jams.

CCF,

Glad you had a good time in Southern France.

The first time I was in Nice, my wife and I were at at an outdoor café when our waiter grabbed a fork from an empty table, walked over to another café, and proceeded to have a fork fight with another waiter. Obviously not typical, but I may have to agree with your husband. (Later visits to Nice were considerably less eventful, and yes, nice.)

Did you get a chance to visit Bandol? (West Of St. Tropez) When my wife and I lived in Aix, we used to take visitors to Bandol a lot. It has a nice marina (not as big as St. Tropez) and several sand beaches, as well as water-sports. (While the windsurfing looked fun, renting kayaks was more our speed.) Best of all though, is Bandol offers the best wine in the world. Both the rosés and the reds are spectacular (I've never tried the whites, the others are too great).

Have to agree about the time to visit. If possible don't go in late July through August. We had times where it was difficult simply opening our apartment building's door to walk out into the street to get to the market.

You picked an ideal time to go.

Alison,

L.A. and New Orleans are slighty seedy, but that's part of the "charm" and why you want to visit each at least once, but just maybe not live there, LOL! You just let your hair down and go with the flow, especially in New Orleans. I don't know what the latter is like now since the catasrophe. I went there during the eighties and enjoyed it very much, but it is a bit "murky." The history and music are the main draws. That, and the food is pretty special too.

We didn't get to Bandol. I think we got fed up of the coast road once reaching St Tropez, it took us so long. How was Aix, our guide book said it was quite a snobby place, even the students wore ties and they all hated people from Marseilles and tourists. We didn't go as citites never seem to be ideal places for children. I bet the locals love the summer time. How do they avoid all the traffic, do they all ride scooters, dangerously.

You're right Brenda, that seediness that Chris sees is atomosphere to me. He prefers places like San Francisco, I like San Francisco too but I would prefer to see Los Angeles again, whereas Chris wouldn't want to ever go again. But he will, one day.......

charliechaplinfan wrote:
You're right Brenda, that seediness that Chris sees is atomosphere to me. He prefers places like San Francisco, I like San Francisco too but I would prefer to see Los Angeles again, whereas Chris wouldn't want to ever go again. But he will, one day.......

LOL, San Franciso has plenty of "atmosphere" too! I loved it! But I also liked L.A., especially getting to see the footprints and handprints part. My friends and I went to a very unusual restaurant in L.A., and I had a wonderful time! I stayed in San Francisco longer on my trip though, and got to experience more than I did in L.A. The view of the Golden Gate was something I'll never forget! Love to go back some day!

You'll probably get back there a long time before I manage. Here's hoping we both get back there one day.