August, 1990 Cap D'Agde, France
I spent the summer of 1990 in a town named Béziers, France. The town was located just 15km from the Mediterranean, and was an ideal setting as my roommate Kent and I loved to take long bicycle trips through the countryside. We helped teach an English class in town, and that is where we met Jean-Claude. Jean-Claude was about 40-ish, and still lived at home with his dad (who was well in to his 70's). Having never married, he didn't strike me as the kind of guy who dated a lot. But he latched onto me and Kent and made it his personal mission to show us as much of southern France as he could.
Well, Jean-Claude took us all over the place in his POS car (that was probably as old as he was). One of the places that he took us was to a rather highbrow affair in Cap D'Agde, a seaside resort town just 30km away from Béziers. It was a rather famous pianist in concert, and he played some of the most beautiful piano music I've heard. The concert was right on the marina, against a backdrop of small boats tethered at the dock. I can't think of a more fantastic scene than the one I drank in for two hours that night, as the sun set over the ocean, leaving a sky of purples and pinks, with boat masts gently swaying in the breeze, and golden lights from the town reflecting onto the harbor.
Many times we simply endured Jean-Claude. But there were times that he showed us some rather amazing things. This one was at the top of the list.
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