May 23, 2017
I just returned from a wonderful week visiting my cousins in Chasse sur Rhone, France. I flew out of JFK on May 22nd and arrived in Paris the next morning. Charles de Gaulle Airport is HUGE and I followed signs, correspondences de vols, to successfully find the connecting flight to Lyon. An hour later, I landed at Antoine de Saint-Exupery Airport. I thought it was very appropriate that the airport was named after the pilot and author of Le Petit Prince who was born in Lyon in 1900.
My cousins, Claudine and Astrig happily greeted me at the airport and we drove to their house in Chasse sur Rhone. Chasse is a small village, located 30 kilometers south of Lyon. “Chasse” takes its name from the abundance of game in the forested hills which were used as hunting grounds for centuries by French nobility. Now the hills above my cousins’ house have been cleared to grow grapes to make the famous French wine of the region.
Claudine and Astrig are my age and I’ve corresponded with them since we were young. We exchanged transatlantic letters in the “old days” but now communicate via email. Their father was my grandmother’s brother; siblings whose parents were killed and the children separated after the 1915 Turkish genocide of 1.5 million Armenians. I feel like I’m one of their sisters when we’re together. We laugh, have fun, catch up on family gossip, and enjoy each other’s company, communicating in a melange of French, English and Armenian.
One afternoon we stopped by to see their brother, Jo Jo, at his home in a nearby village, St-Genis-Laval. Below is a photo of fresh almonds from Claudine and Astrig’s tree. They will be ripe and ready to eat in September
Fresh walnuts also from a huge tree on the property.
We also visited a cousin who ran a flower shop out of their home. We all pitched in to make bouquets for the French Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 28th. The family sells flowers in several outdoor markets in Lyon and Vienne.
The last time I saw Claudine and Astrig was in 2010 when we went to Anatolia, eastern Turkey, together to visit the Armenian villages of our parents and grandparents. Before that, my cousins visited us in New York in 2000. The time between our visits was too long and overdue. Now, it was fantastic to see my wonderful cousins again!
