Grand Tour Maine Coast Stone Bracelet

So first an admission. I’m not sure I’ve ever told this to anyone. I’ve never written about this. No one knows about this secrete hidden desire. In the 1800’s the wealthy English would leave Brittan and do a grand tour to the continent and travel from France to Spain to Italy to Switzerland. They would stay for three or four weeks in each of these places at a resort often with a lake surrounded with mountains.

If you’d like to see the place I’ve always imagined staying in Switzerland, see the Bond movie Casino Royal. Toward the end, Bond is recovering in a Swiss resort where the lawn and its wall comes right up to the edge of the lake. The resort is on the eastern shore so in the late afternoon the sun is low in the sky and the air temperature is mid 70’s. There is a light breeze out of the west. A fine chop on the water and the lake waters are a blaze with glittering golden light.

I have a 100% cotton white shirt button down, open collar, tan sport jacket and pants, tan leather loafers – comfortable easy sitting clothes. I imagined a lot of time sitting lakeside. The lady I’m traveling with is easy company. Loves literature, comfortably converses on any topic. Is never in a rush and is happy to sit lakeside with lemonade or a glass of wine.

We do breakfast, lunch and dinner at the resort. An hour or two for each one and a couple of hours between for lakeside sitting. We listen to the sound of waves on the shore, the rise and fall of conversations on the patio and the sound of children at the small beach on the far right.