Globe Corner Blogs

For the past few weeks, whenever I told a friend that I was heading to Paris for a vacation, inevitably they would ask: “so… what are you going to eat there?” Some vegetarian friends warned with horror stories of growling stomachs, scouring the streets for someplace, anyplace, with even just a salad without a sprinkling of ham. I decided to prep as much as I could for our lacto-ovo diets by making notes of veggie-friendly restaurants on my maps of the city.

As a result, my Michelin Paris par Arrondissements atlas looked like the plan of attack of some crazed general. Scrawls of fine-point red sharpie noting cheese shops overwrote  important tourist locations like Notre-Dame. There was a sub-legend with symbols designating the 1970s sprouts-and-tempeh spots from the foodie restaurants who have a “menu au vert.”  Organic and macrobiotic joints were marked with an OM. Wine bars were heavily asterisked, the decided plan of retreat if it came to that.

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Shark through cage floor - photo by Meghan

It was just one shark at first, then three, then five.  When the day was out, we had seen 11 great whites ranging from 7-16 feet in length, their dorsal and tail fins sticking out of the water like the slate-gray triangles you see in movies. The boat picked up speed and the captain tossed a seal-shaped piece of tire-rubber attached to a rope off of the back of the boat.  A shark took it.  Then he threw out another one, and managed to reel it back it – the number of teeth marks imprinted in the thing was astounding.  After witnessing this act, I decided that it was now or never: I volunteered to be the first (and ultimately the only) one to venture off the boat and into the cage.

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For the last many, many weeks, the most traveling I’ve done is walking home from work. Night falls early in Boston, so on my walk the sky is always as black as a sky can be that hangs over a big city.

Nonetheless, the streetlights never fail to illumine some small wonder. A while ago, after it had rained all day, I walked home in a foul mood, staring at the ground. When I looked up to cross the street, I saw the trees glistening. Each branch on every tree was covered in evenly spaced drops of water. The street lights behind them shone through like giant white orbs held aloft by the dripping trees.

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Thomas Jefferson really liked wine. While living in France, he acquired a profound knowledge about wine and amassed an impressive collection of fine wines. Apparently, he didn’t drink all of it though, because in 1985 a Chateau Lafite Bordeaux from 1787 that supposedly belonged to President Jefferson sold for $156,000 at an auction. Benjamin Wallace doesn’t lead us on a journey to exotic lands in The Billionaire’s Vinegar, but guides us through a journey filled with decadent wine tastings through the world of collecting rare wines. Whether the the wines tasted were genuine or forgeries, well,  you will have to read the book. However, if you want to find out more about Benjamin Wallace you can just continue reading.

1. Do you prefer aisle or window? (Please explain.)

Aisle. It’s bad enough to be compacted into a too-small seat in a too-small cabin, but at least in an aisle seat it’s possible to stretch out your legs, when the aisle’s clear, and easier to stand up and walk around the cabin.

2. Now for some general wine questions:

a) Red or white? Do you have a preference and why? Red *and* white (and pink, too, for that matter). It really depends on my mood, the weather, and what I’m eating.

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Shark Sighting - photo by Meghan

It is impossible to be a diver in South Africa and not consider, or know someone who has considered (who in turn forces you to consider), cage diving with great white sharks.  I too considered it.

And there I was, all alone, my chicken friends at home in their warm little beds.  I woke up extra early, it seemed like it was barely dawn, and set out to risk my life. I signed up for a great white shark cage diving trip a half hour or so out of Cape Town, in Hermanus.  I was going to the famed Seal Rock – where hundreds of seals gather, making a rock full of steaks for great whites who have been seen here – and virtually no where else – jumping clear out of the water to snag one.  With sharks this crazy-eyed and hungry, it seemed like the worst place in the world to be dressed in a wetsuit  with a hood, thus looking the most like a seal that I have ever looked in my life.  So what – this was an adventure!

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