La Bella Bambina

The people that we have met so far on the trip have been so kind, and have really added to our enjoyment. This morning on our way to Paris was a perfect example. We flew into Beauvais on an early morning flight and had to take a shuttle bus into Paris. The trip is a little over an hour; and we happened to sit behind an Italian family on holiday. There was a little girl sitting right in front of me, and I saw her eyeing me through the crack between the seats. I smiled and she must have decided that I was okay because she started talking to me. She told me about how she was studying English in school, and that today was her 9th birthday. With her limited English vocabulary she grilled me for the next 40 minutes, wanting to know what State I was from, had I been to the Grand Canyon, did I have any pets, did I have a car or a motorcycle, etc.? When we ran into a language barrier she would just use hand gestures until I understood, and when her mother tried to tell her that I wasn’t understanding her Italian, she wasn’t the least bit deterred. She just nodded and insisted that I would get it eventually. When we finally arrived in Paris, she was so disappointed to see us walk the other direction. She called for me to wait as we grabbed our bags, and walked over to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Ciao, Sara; my bella Americano.” she said. It was lovely, and such a great way to start the second week of our journey.