Chapter 98, Tour de France

     As I promised to all my new friends, I kept writing to them. It took a few weeks to arrive or to get a reply and the stamps weren’t cheap, but It felt good receiving a response.

 

    “Now we must remember!” Said Moshe our group leader. “We will be representing our town Netanya and even more important we will be representing Israel. They will put us in 3 stars plus hotels, so I don’t want to see anyone wiping their hands on the curtains. They will supply us with fresh towels daily. Mr. Sacuto who you met will take care of us, he will pay us daily for our meals and expenses. Tomorrow we will be on our way. You met the new band member they are in charge of their equipment and we will be responsible for our costumes. 

See you tomorrow right here. We will take a bus to the airport and another bus will be waiting for us at the airport outside of Paris.

    October seventh,1979 at 10:00 in the morning we landed in Charles de Gaulle and were picked up for the short trip to Paris. We were looking forward to unloading our luggage and site see Paris. We have a day full of rehearsal the next day and our first show in Theatre De Paris. We should be there for two weeks performing every night, before going on a tour around France. As the bus stopped at the side of a narrow street blocking half of it, I was sure we were lost. There was no big fancy hotel or even a clean street. We walked out of the bus and were directed by Mr. Sacuto’s son into a lobby of what looked by the sign above the door a half star hotel Eden. I didn’t even know such listing existed. We were handed keys and were sent upstairs to unload our stuff. Nehemiah and I were to be roommates for this location. 

 

    The room was small with one queen size bed and - ready for this? A bidet. Remember the “don’t wipe your hands on the window treatment?” Well, I tried to open the shades to look at the street when a cloud of dust hit me in the face. Oh, one more thing, the bathrooms were shared bathrooms at the end of the hall. I didn’t even try to unpack, I took my stuff and walked downstairs. I sat at the lobby and waited for Moshe and Aharon the Manager of our trip – the one the city appointed.

 

    “What are you doing here? asked Moshe as everyone was coming down the stairs complaining about the rooms.

 “I am not moving from here and will not go to my room until you get us the three-star hotel you have promised.”

The man at the reception desk came and started to tell us that we can’t gather in the lobby and that we should move back to our rooms or out. He first tried to yell in French. Since no one except me spoke French which he didn’t know, and he didn’t get the response from us, he tried in English which wasn’t much better until the son of Mr. Sacuto showed up. I told him that I am not moving from here and will not perform until we get another hotel. As I was translating what I said to everyone Iris came running down yelling.

 “Someone stole my purse with all my money. I am glad we gave the passports to Giora for safe keeping.” Giora was one of the dancers and also being an officer in the military. he was our security officer for the trip.

 “Call the police,” I told the person from the front desk.

 “I can’t do that.” 

 “We will go on our own,” said Iris.

 

    Moshe and the manager were arguing with the son of Mr. Sacuto while I left with Iris and Giora to the police station. Now as we were walking toward the police station I realized where we were. Pigalle, the infamous street of Paris. Next to almost every door stood a woman or what looked like a woman half naked or dressed in lingerie. They were calling at us as we walked next to them. Some politely whispered if we were interested in some fun and some were totally rude, promising us that we would have more fun with them than with Iris. Lucky for Iris she didn’t understand a word they said. At the police station we gave a statement and by the time we got back to the hotel the bus was there again waiting to take us to a better hotel. By that time, I realized that I was hungry. It was early in afternoon and I didn’t have lunch yet. I dropped my luggage at the slightly better hotel; two stars with bathrooms in each room and a lot cleaner than the brothel we were put in. 

 

    “Rone?” I asked on the phone.

 “Yes, who is it?

 “It is Nanou,” I said in French, only my family calls me Nanou. “I am the son of your cousin Eli Tibi. I promised my dad to call all his cousins here once I get to Paris. You are the first I am calling.”

 “Did you have lunch yet?” 

 “No, we just arrived, and I didn’t even have a chance to think about food.”

 “Come over here I just closed the restaurant for the afternoon break.” He gave me the address and the directions of how to get there.

 

 Rone Berebi was my Dad’s cousin who moved to France when they all left Tunisia in the 1950s. Dad had a few other cousins living in Paris, I planned on calling them later. His restaurant was in a Jewish neighborhood amongst other North African restaurants. Rone was very happy to see me, the last time we met was a few years back when he came to Israel for a visit. I offered him a guest pass to our show. He sat me on one of his tables and ordered the kitchen to serve me his specialty, couscous.

 

    Well, as thankful as I was it really didn’t even come close to my mom’s cooking, and you already know I don’t like her cooking. I said goodbye to Rone and walked back to our hotel trying to navigate my way around. I arrived at the hotel and went right to bed. We had an early morning rehearsal planned for the next day and the events of that day didn’t help much.

 

    Seven AM was our wakeup call. We were introduced to the theatre and ran an hour warm up. We were twelve couples, a few of the dancers were new for our group. Some of them were brought from other towns just so we can have a big enough company. One of the new members was the niece of Mr. Sacuto, Michal. Talking about keeping the family busines, she was our new warmup master. She also received some solo parts together with Tzvika or Moshe. I felt bad for Tzvika; I don’t think she was familiar with hygiene practice. I for example, took a shower before and after a show. The first one was so I will not offend my partner or the rest of the company with body odor and the second to wash all the sweat after the performance.

 

    We had a few other new dancers Yossi’s friend Micha who came all the way from Tiberias. Sarah from Rehovot who danced with another company with Moshe in the past. Asher, also from Rehovot, was the same height as me, looked very much like Nehemiah and was very ticklish. If I would tickle myself next to him, he would not stop laughing. Our band included Yizhar the accordionist, Sha’ul the Trumpet player, an electric guitar player and a drummer who both used to play with the dead bass player who used to work for my Dad. And our darbuka player Sami. He was the best darbuka player I knew and has been working with our group for many years. He is the one who introduced the guitarist and the drummer to Moshe.

 

    As we were rehearsing the crew of the theatre set up and focus the lights for us. Before noon we were finished, and it was time for our other performers of our tour to set the sound and practice. Tzvika invited me for lunch with his extended family. From there we took a long walk down Champs-Elysees. I took some pictures with the used camera I bought just before we left Israel. For dinner we stopped at Mc Donald’s for a burger, and from there to a convenient store to buy some stamps and straight to my room; I had many letters to write.

 

    Again, a 7:00AM call and rehearsal. That night was going to be our first performance in Paris, only for special dignitaries and invited guests. The show started with a medley of famous Israeli music performed by our band behind closed curtain. As soon as the curtains opened, we ran in, partners from both sides of the stage forming two circles onto a rondo with lines exchanging places by the front lines backing up and then back line moving forward under the raised hands of the lines in front, to the song “Hava Netze BeMahol” – let’s come out with a dance. That lead to a partners’ combination with nice lifts of the girls and back onto a circle of the boys holding hands and the girls sitting on the arms of the boys forming a spinning flower. A few other circle combinations lead us out on both sides of the stage. A solo of the darbuka played by Sami gave us time to change for a Yemenite costume.

 The men were wearing long gallabiyahs and a small hat wrapped with a scarf. The women dressed in black hooded dress decorated with needle work and beads. Men on one side and women on the other side changing places on the stage and never dancing together. The women danced a more subdued part while the men were jumping and even hanging on each other. Ever since the destruction of the Temple in Roman days the Jews were avoiding playing musical instruments. The Yemenite Jews kept that tradition for two thousand years, playing only with anything but musical instruments. Things like Buttles, kyes, tin cans and more. The men or women would sing while the others dance. Most of the songs were expressing the love and yearning for the return to Israel, the holy land.

 

    Sha’ul played a popular classic Israeli melody solo with his trumpet, while we were changing for the fishermen dance. We had nets for shirts and short Bermuda pants. The girls were wearing blue dresses and danced holding baskets. We were fishing fish and the girls were gathering them. Tzvika danced with Rachel and Michal a silly Love triangle dance while five of us boys changed to Russian black costume for a very fast dance from the Balkan region.

 

    Tova a veteran of the Airforce Entertainment Troup sang a few popular Israeli songs. She was a pretty girl with very dark brown hair down to her shoulders. She kept to herself most of the time. We ended the first part of our show with a Hasidic dance which required a quick change of costumes in the middle of the dance. The women started a Shabat dance wearing long blue dresses. Blessing the candles and offering hallah while the men were wearing black Hasidic outfits, dancing in place as if praying. And suddenly we would come out dressed in shiny silver and furry hats with the girls dressed in white wedding dresses. The dance gets faster and more upbeat finishing with me on the top of Tzvika’s shoulders.

 

    The theatre was almost full to capacity and the audience was very accepting. We were all excited, we just performed our first show in a professional theatre as professional dancers.

 

    The intermission was very short, and we were up again right after another medley of Israeli popular music. Debka is a mostly man Arab warrior’s dance. Our version included a part for the women too, and according to our French program they called it a Dance of the Bedouins. While we were changing costume for our next dance, a shadows artist Almoznino performed his musical dancing shadows and impressed the audience with only his two hands a screen and a lightbulb. A happy desert dance was our next number. Fun uplifting partner dance representing the new immigrants who transformed the desert into agricultural haven.

    One more singer was part of our show, a young man also a veteran of a military performing group. Our printed program embellished his bio by adding a paratrooper resume to it. He had a nice baritone voice and sang a few popular Israeli songs and ended with the popular prayer for peace originally recorded by another Israeli singer - Yigal Bashan – Ya’ase Shalom which led to a medley of Israeli circle dances ending with Israel latest Eurovision winner song “Halleluiah” with all of us singing. The audience joined us in song standing and swaying side to side and exploded with applause and cheer.

 

I was the first to hit the showers at the dressing rooms before going to the green room to mingle with some of the guests I never met and walked out with my hair wet to the cool air outside. It was a little after ten in the evening and the day wasn’t dark yet. Something that I wasn’t really expecting but surely welcomed. 

 

    “Tonight, is our official opening night” said Moshe the next day, “there will be reporters and other important people. This show will define our tour. If we get good reports the rest of our trip will be successful.” We were all excited and did a great job, smiling and even singing out loud at the finale. The audience was very generous and gave us another standing ovation even louder than the night before. I think I even heard my name out there in the center.

 

    As soon as we came out, I realized why. A group of smiling familiar faces waited for us at the back door. The group from Le Havre were cheering and clapping their hands for each one of us who walked out of the theatre. Next to the theater was a caffe where most of the crew and some of the artist always gather after or before the show. We invited our visitors to join us for coffee. I promised to host anyone who wants to visit us in Israel. Christen the flute player invited me to visit when she heard I was planning to continue my trip of Europe after our tour. 

 

    The next few performances were not as full despite the good review we received. I had the chance to call some other cousins and meet them. I spoke with Dede Kassabi and asked him if I could join him on his peddling trips. He sold children cloths on a traveling flee market. I wrote letters to Germa and Gerda from Holland telling them about our performances and promised to visit. Saturday night after the show I went with Tzvika to see the movie “Apocalypse Now”. It was odd to see it dubbed in French.

 

    Sunday was Simchat Torah. We had an early performance. I took a walk with our singer Tovah, to get to know each other. We walked next to a Synagogue where we saw people coming out after the service and marching on a demonstration to free the Jews locked in the USSR. They were singing in Hebrew, but I could tell they didn’t understand a word they were saying. The USSR has closed their gates and stopped the Jews from immigrating to Israel. And were supporting the Arab nations surrounding Israel.

 

    “Do you know what my wish is?”

 “What is it?” asked Tova.

 “I would love to perform in Russia Israeli folk dancing. Just to show them how I feel about their hatred of Israel.” 

We kept walking to a small caffe where we sat and talk some more. She was nice and friendly yet kept her distance.

 

    Monday is a dark night around the world, no performance. We spent the day shopping. I went to drop off the films for development and walked to the famous flee market of Paris. I found a fake fury winter coat for the winter I expected to spend in Europe. And then I found what I was hoping to find, something I missed already on this trip. I found a used guitar. A little better than the one I had at home. I bought new strings for it and decided to play every day so I will not forget how. That evening Yael and I went for a long walk, she told me about her nice boyfriend who was waiting for her back at home, they plan to be married within a year now that she finished her military service, and he was about to finish his education. We returned late at night and each went to our rooms to sleep. 

 

    The next seven days we spent performing every evening and during the day touring the city. I got to spend time with almost every one of our company. Every day going to a different location like Montmartre, or Versailles, Eifel Tower, Luxemburg park or the Louver Museum. Most of the time we ate at cheap fast-food places or at my cousin’s. Sha’ul bought an electric fork and soup in a can I would get fresh eggs and French bread. We would heat up the soup with an egg using the electric fork and voila! We had egg-drop soup. 

 

    I tolerated the breakfast they served us at the hotel every day. It wasn’t the Israeli breakfast, but it had that wonderful baguette with small containers of jelly or marmalade, a hard-boiled egg and a few cuts of tomato. Once we felt like spending money and went to a fancy restaurant. I ordered a stake and salad but then was shocked when the salad was a bawl of lettuce. It took me a few times to explain to the waiter that this is not what I call salad. He changed it to Salad Niçoise, it was good but still didn’t really come close to the Israeli salad. Fancy restaurant my butt…

 

    My other culinary surprise was when for the first time I tasted French mustard. I never had mustard before anyway. But to start with that French hot condiment was more like a shock. My nose was on fire, I can swear I felt steam coming out of my ears. I tasted hot food before, it burned my tongue but the feeling in my nose was unexpected. 

 

    The only way you could get pineapple in Israel those days was in a can. I loved it and promised myself that I will buy a fresh one and enjoy it. I got one at the market and brought it to my room. I pulled my fancy hunting knife from my luggage, it went with me everywhere, I pealed the pineapple and sat to eat it. The whole thing, it was again, unexpected, not as sweet as the one in the can and by the time I finished it my mouth felt as if I had little cold sores all over. 

 

    Every day I made sure I sent a letter to one of the friends I promised to keep in touch with. I even called Beate from Germany and Christine from Le Havre.

 

      A good way to get to know people is to be stuck with them in a bus for a few weeks. Let’s start with our spoiled nagging complainer Doron the singer. He had a nice voice and put a nice show singing popular Israeli songs. Within the two weeks singing in Paris, he was contacted by an agent for the Folies Berger. I can’t stop smiling imagining the image of him singing “Adon Olam” a Jewish religious song while topless girls with fringes dancing around him. He was complained practically about everything. About the food, about the rooms, about the stage, about the lighting, and about the fact that we didn’t give him enough respect. What irritated me most was that Yael, yes, the one who was about to get married hung up with him and in fact spent the nights in his room. Oh, did I mention he didn’t have a roommate?

    Well, I lost respect toward Yael, and Ilana, remember her? Ilana my dance partner, the one who spent the night with me while being engaged to someone else. Ilana, I discovered later was a smoker and also suffered from asthma. On our last performance in Paris, she fainted right on stage just before the lift. I managed to pick her up and she woke up as soon as her head was below her body while laying on my shoulder. I managed leading her off the stage as if nothing happened. Now, still being engaged, she spent her free time with the son of Mr. Sacuto, leaving Leah her roommate alone. Leah was a sweet girl; she had a pretty voice and even had a singing part in our Hasidic dance. I liked spending time talking with her.

 

    Sha’ul the Trumpet player became my roommate because Nehemiah found his true love. We got along great, Sha’ul was frugal and knew how to save money. We would go only to markets where we can get nutritious food for less. Like the use of our electric fork and different soup cans. He didn’t buy anything unless it was for food.

 

    Our driver became friendlier with us even when he had hard time talking with us. And even more once he really befriended one of our new members. They spent every moment free together speaking some kind of sign language mixed with English, French, and Hebrew. It was so cute. 

 

    Our next destination was Switzerland two performances, the first at Lausanne and the second in Geneva. The whole way to Lake Geneva on that Monday was a very pretty drive. We left at 11:00 AM. It took some time loading our gear and costume. And of course, our personal luggage that somehow grew. We drove South to Lyon and from there east toward Lac Leman – Lake Geneva. Trees were to changing colors on the mountains on the right and the fields on both sides of the road were bigger than I even seen. We drove on the highspeed highway where you don’t have a limit to the speed you drive except of course for buses, cars were passing us so quickly we couldn’t tell what model they were. After stopping for a few breaks on the way for gas food and bathroom, we arrived in Geneva at 1:00AM. It was late and we were all tired, we didn’t realize how nice that hotel was. A lot better than the two-star hotel we stayed in in Paris. I guess they didn’t have cheap hotels in Geneva. What we didn’t expect was the temperature. It was 32F; something none of us expected. I was glad about my purchase of the winter coat. I didn’t expect using it so early.

 

    Sha’ul Yizhar and I walked in the park next to the lake wrapped in our coats and a camera. The trees were colorful with the change of the season and we could see many little fat squirrels approaching us. I bent on my knee, pulled the camera and aimed toward the little squirrel but as soon as I tried to focus, it disappeared. I took my eye off the camera and looked for the little animal. He was sitting on my knee looking to be fed. I never experienced a wild animal so close to me. Not to mention I never saw a squirrel before. And now he was on my knee. No wonder he was so fat. People actually fed him and his other many little friends in that park. I had nothing to feed him, and he left disappointed, I guess. I took some other pictures and we walked back to get ready for the performance.

 

    Lausanne had a large Jewish community. They loved the performance and invited us to a big party where we sang and danced together the rest of the night. It felt nice to represent our country and making a difference for our people in the diaspora. I had a little time to go shopping and bought a ski suit – a blue overall and a blue, red and white jacket. Unfortunately, the relationship between everyone in the company was starting to deteriorate.  Ilana was mad at me for asking her not to smoke before the show, Moshe had an argument with Giora over security, and Sha’ul almost got into a fist fight with Tzvika over some stupid audio cassette. Nehemiah, for a reason no one knows, decided to test the emergency hammer in the back of the bus and shattered the window. The bus driver got a ticket for driving with a cardboard cover over the window. and had to get it fixed as soon as he dropped us off. But what really threw me off was the day after the show in Geneva. We had to perform in La Choux De Fond but when we arrived at the new hotel, I discovered that our room had only one bed. I wasn’t about to share the same bed with Sha’ul and decided not to go in until we were given a different room. There was a swing set at the side of the hotel. I put my luggage next to it pulled out the guitar I bought in Paris and played while swinging until Aharon came out and announced he got me a room with two beds. From that day Sha’ul decided to call me Tova and I called him Shula.

 

    Early the next morning we had to leave onto the prettiest drive I ever took. We drove up and across the Alpes toward the city of Lugano on the Italian Swiss border. I was glad the window was fixed because it was getting colder as we climbed the mountains. The view was breathtaking. I kept taking pictures the whole way.  I was impressed with the way the roads were paved roughly so the cars won’t slide on the ice. The heating light in between tunnels were so surprising to me that I didn’t I almost didn’t feel how the bus was shaken by the strong wind.

 

    We arrived at Lugano by four in the afternoon. It didn’t give us much time to get ready. We didn’t have a hotel booked there; we had a long drive across Northern Italy straight to Marseille right after the show. We rushed to the theatre to get ready. Moshe dropped and almost fainted right after his Hasidic solo. I think that the altitude affected him. He was rushed to the emergency room and was released quickly. The funny part about it was that when he fell of, he was holding his chest on the right side and complained about his heart. While waiting for Moshe to get back we were invited for a little reception of the United Synagogue Youth of Southern Swiss and from there, as soon as Moshe returned from the hospital, we boarded the bus.

 

    This was a long and tiresome trip. We tried falling asleep, I empathized with the driver; he slept in the green room as soon as we arrived at Lugano. Now, he was going to drive through a snowstorm South to the French riviera’s highway and west to Marseille.

 

    We arrived at 10:00AM to a very cheap hotel in an Arab neighborhood, at least it was clean, and we had our own beds and bathrooms. The stage at the Jewish club was too small for big circle dances, we danced only the partners parts with a smaller cast, and I replaced Moshe doing his solo of the Hasidic Dance. I did a terrible job. I almost froze on stage; I wasn’t ready for that part. Moshe decided to let Tzvika Take over for the next shows, smart move! The thing that wasn’t so smart in my opinion was how our tour looked on the map like a yoyo gone wild. Our next performance was back closer to Italy, to Nice – Netanya’s twin city. 

 

    We stopped at a youth hostel for the night in Cannes after a matinée performance. Of course, we protested and were transferred to another hotel. It was Mira’s birthday and we all gathered in my room for a surprise little party. Poor Mira had problems using the bathroom anywhere but her home. She had to go to see a doctor who gave her some medication and to her delight, before her birthday she was able to relive herself. 

 

    What messed up the good mood was a phone call Aharon made to Israel and was informed that the “Netanya News” paper published that the Dance company was having a successful trip but is being treated badly and placed in low class hotels (which was somewhat true). Moshe decided that it was I who leaked it to the paper because of my brother’s contacts. He yelled at me that whole evening.

 

     We were given two days break in the French riviera. I got the chance to wash my cloths and we found a place to wash the costumes. That afternoon we went to Monte Carlo to visit the casinos. I had a jacket with me only for that purpose. To make sure I don’t lose all my money I took only 50 Franks with me. I lost 30 and that was enough for me. Moshe won 800 but poor Sha’ul lost every cent he saved. He was hoping to come back home with some money. More than what he made as a diamond cutter. He worked for my Dad now and took a leave of absent for this trip. He was so depressed he locked himself in the room for the rest of our short vacation. 

 

    Saint Tropes where Brigitte Bordeaux suntanned topless in one of her movies was on the way to Toulon, so, of course we stop at that beach just to see the famous spot (as if we were going to see her there) and continued our way. The beach in Netanya is a lot nicer. On the bus I wrote to my parents, Charlotte from Denmark, Beate from Germany, and Gerda from Holland. The Opera of Toulon was a big building with four balconies and a huge stage. The floor was a little tilted forward; it was od getting used to dancing on it. Yet, the performance was received well. We even had audience waiting for us outside. A very hot blond asked me for a kiss, can you believe it? Me? I threw an air kiss to her, I didn’t think I was worthy she was unbelievably pretty, way above my pay grade. Sha’ul was still upset about his losses, so I took him with me on a walk next to the marina and bought him some chips, juice, and of course, ice cream. 

 

    I told you about the zigzags of our trip, right? Next, we had a two-day trip up north to Rouen. This time the driver got to rest like all of us. We stopped at wine county Saint-Remy De Provence. Everyone stayed at the hotel playing spin the buttle. I left when they made Aharon smell Nehemiah’s shoes. I walked to a bar across the street. I sat at the bar and asked for a beer. A man next to me looked at me and shook his head.

 

    “You are not from here,” he said.

 “No, I am on my way North, we just stopped for the night.”

 “You can’t be in wine county and order beer it is sacrilege.” 

 “How would I know? I am just a passenger.”

 “What kind of wine do you like? Red or white?”

 “I am not much of a wine drinker,” I said, “I don’t know the different.”

 “I tell you what,” He said with a smile. “You tell me about your company and where you are from, and I will buy you one of each. You will tell me which one you like better.”

 “Deal!”

 “Dry or sweet?” 

 “Sweet will do, thanks!” We spent the night talking and it was pleasant to realize that not all French people are like the Parisians. For example, the other day when I went to a photo shop to buy a flash for my camera the lady behind the counter referred to me with a smile: “How may I help you Mr.?” and now this lovely person buys me wine, very nice wine. 

 

    Early in the morning we left for Rouen and once we dropped our luggage at the hotel, we continued to a town called Pont Audemer where we gave a nice performance but when I was about to change to the Fishermen Dance, I couldn’t find my net shirt. Moshe went ballistic when he saw me on stage shirtless. We called the last theatre where we performed to find out if I left it there by accident, but they couldn’t find it either. It stayed a mystery even today. After the show I called Catherin, from Le Havre. I promised that the company will be them the next evening.

 

   The City of Rouen has the church where Jan Dark was burnt on the stake. We got to site see a little in town and perform an early matinée. While we were on stage the driver who became very close to our group, disconnected the odometer of the bus so he will not have to report our “out of plan” trip to Le Havre. Frank the leader of the French troupe invited us all to his house. I think he was lucky that not all of us came on that short trip (the musicians and some of the new dancers who didn’t know the group stayed at the hotel). I don’t think I ever was invited to dinner at a French family. This was a special experience. At about 6:00 PM we were invited to the living room for wine, cheese and crackers where we sat and talked about our trip and shared experiences from previous shows. I ate only the crackers and drank some wine. From there we moved to the dining room and sat around a very big table for some meat cold cuts and more wine - many different slices of meat and sausages. Soup was served next; I had a spoon full and didn’t finish. It had too much butter for me. Salad was mostly green leaves with a few pieces of tomato and dressing on the side. The roasted chicken was my favorite with roasted smashed potatoes and asparagus, again cooked with butter. So, I ate only the chicken. I hoped that our host didn’t get insulted. Of course, we had more wine. Fruit came to cleanse the pallet before turning back to the living room for dessert. We sang songs, the French hosts played music. They were really good; two of the boys played with spoons, Christine played the flute and Veronica played the accordion while the rest sang songs. By the time we left it was almost midnight. 

    They took pictures of us in Reims. The local newspaper wrote a nice article about us. Being the shortest dancer in our group, I was surprised when I saw the pictures in the paper; I looked the tallest. It filled me with pride, I wasn’t just the new guy at the group I was something that catches the eye of the audience and even more, the media.

 

    Reims was in Champaign region and that time of the year was the most colorful time of the year. The trees in Israel didn’t experience that kind of climate change during the year. It was the first time for me to understand why people love the Fall so much. The hills were just breathtaking.

 

    We were invited to a little party so we can taste the Champaign in its birthplace. Our tour was coming to an end soon and I still didn’t have enough gear for my planned trip I wanted to take. In the small town of Cohan, I bought a big backpack with an aluminum back support and a belt. At the city of Trua we stayed at the Park Hotel and were invited to the hotel’s owner for a nice dinner.

 

    From there to Grenoble where the hotel was so fancy it had a TV in the room. Not that we had time to watch TV we were site seeing and I managed to call my parents to make sure they aren’t worried about us after the last paper article.

 

    The zigzag continues; we drove South again to Carcassonne. We had a very nice turnout for the show, and we got to talk with the locals. Interesting, they had a different accent that even I could detect. Almost like the southern accent of the American south. 

 

    The next day we went even further South, almost to Spain to a city called Parpillon. If we didn’t know better, we would think we were in Spain. Most of the people spoke French and Spanish. The building and the town architecture were all Spanish with the Spanish tiles and the warmer weather. Since it was Monday, we had no performance, Ilana and I went to see a movie. I was trying to make up with her after yelling at her for smoking. Well, we were still friends, and I did care for her health. We saw James Bond Moon Wrecker. I wasn’t impressed (it was French dubbed). The next day we performed in a new theatre at that town, and it was well received. Unfortunately, Moshe still was on my case about the paper article. He made me sign a paper where I deny anything to do with it. I was so angry I called Avi my brother to find out more about it. I learned that in fact, it was Moshe’s wife who informed the paper. Maybe because she heard that her husband was having an affair with Tova our singer. You’d think he would apologize…

 

    The drive to Montpellier was one of the prettiest drives we drove on this tour. Mountains on our left full with vivid color of leaves changing colors. On the right we had the view of the Mediterranean Sea. Blue and simply beautiful. I wish I could say the same about the hotel. My room was almost as bad as the first one we encountered. I refused to go in the room until they gave us a better one. I took pictures of the room and threatened Moshe that this time I will be the one who sends the evidence to the newspaper in Netanya.

    The show for a change, was in a huge sport complex. It was a success, we stayed with some of the people for a cup of coffee and I went to bed early. 

   Next day we had another good performance in a town called Saint Etienne next to Lyon, and we all went to bed early because we had to leave at 5:00AM for another long drive back north to Saint Germain above Paris. This performance was a waste, not many people in a small theatre in a bad suburb outside of Paris. From there we drove again, to the Champaign to perform in Hayange outside of Metz. After the performance we were invited to the Town Hall to drink Champaign with the Mayor of the city.

 

    It snowed on the morning of our last Performance in Nancy. That afternoon the theatre received a threatening phone call of a possible terrorists’ attack. We were given the option to back off and not perform. Of course, we didn’t mind performing, Israel is always under threats. The stage was surrounded by police officers as well as around the theatre. We were all in a good mood and were amused by the fact that the stage’s floor was old and actually moving under our feet. We ended our last performance on a good note, singing Osseh Shalom together with the audience

. The following morning, we were driven back to Paris where I was dropped off to go and visit my cousin for my next adventure.

 

***

 

Broccoli Tomato Almandine

 

  Quick easy and healthy French dish. And surprisingly, even kids like it. Usually made with butter, but I like it better with olive oil.

 

Ingredients:

Broccoli

Grape Tomatoes 

Salt

Almonds

Olive Oil

Garlic

 

Blanche the broccoli and let it sit in ice. Sauté the almonds with crushed garlic. Cut the tomatoes in half. Mix all and serve.

 

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