Then one day we rise and after coffee and a heaping plate of eggs are swept into the car and up the road towards Paris. We drive through lashing rain and arrive in time to meet Parisien friends of Alice and David's for a classically French lunch, with four delectable courses and a barrage of good manners. They are fascinating people, and very cosmopolitan Parisiens, and though we understand little of the conversation, we enjoy the plunge into yet another aspect of France. We then drive to Rue St. Julien-le-Pauvre, where we bid a fond farewell to Alice and David and greet Whitney and Savannah for another evening romp around the Marais neighborhood, home to wonderful vintage clothing and a real feel of Paris. And then we tear ourselves away from them as well and board a subway, then a bus, then a plane, and then a taxi driven by an angry Spaniard and we arrive in downtown Valencia at 1:00AM. And there after a long stretch of travel, we are met by the wonderful Mary Stubbs. Being reunited with her is inexpressably enjoyable, and despite the long hours of travel that have brought us each from our respective distant lands, we are filled with energy and happiness and anticipation for a week spent on the Mediterrannean. Nothing can compare to meeting her here, late at night and far from home, in a strange new city, when so much and so little has changed, in the middle of this strange and spectacular year. This may be a first for Gap Yah's, and it is a good one.