Sketching and other interesting encounters...

This entry is a collage of things I have posted on Facebook, and I'm including this for my friends who are not members. 

Sketching Mania:

I always take a sketchbook and art supplies on trips and end up never touching them... not so on this trip.  I hooked up with a Sketching Group on Meetup.com, and have caught the bug!  Here are a few adventures I've had recently:

One Sunday I went along with Bob on a photo shoot with his photography Meetup group at the famous Pere La Chaise Cemetary. While we were waiting for everyone to show up, I decided to sketch.  I did a quick sketch of a man sitting waiting for a tour group.  I just finished the sketch when he got up to join his group.  I continued sketching until I realized he was standing behind me looking at my drawing.  In French I told him what he already realized,  and he smiled and laughed.  I then asked if he would like it.  He again smiled and took it!  I also gave a quick sketch I did of one of the women in the photo group as they were waiting for the event to begin.  She was thrilled, and even asked me to sign it!

In anticipation of a meetup to sketch on the Paris Metro with students from a Parisian Art School, I did some sketching on a train ride we took to visit a town about 30 minutes, I decided to practice...  The first is Bob zoning out with his headphones.  I've done a few sketches of Bob and he's tired of my sketches which mostly make him look a little ape like.  So on the way back to Paris I sketched a very colorful older lady sitting a ways away...

One of my favorite Meetup experiences was sketching on the metro with about 35 other people (art students, other students, Israelis, Brazilians, English, Americans, Chinese students, Russians, etc.) it was an amazing day.  It started with Bob taking my hand and leading me to the Art School which was several blocks from the nearest metro... With my inability to navigate on my own, I really appreciated his help! 

We went out in small groups in the morning, returned to the art school for lunch, went back out in different groups in the afternoon, and returned at 4 for wine and snacks and sharing.  I have found a new passion!  I just wish I had done this when we first arrived in Paris... Oh well there's one more month and lots of metro rides in the meantime.  I bought a small sketchbook and now I'm always busy as we ride here and there on the metro!

The best encounter of the day was had by a young English woman I went out with.  She sat next to a man and wife who noticed her sketching.  He told her that his wife is an artist who sees dead people and sketches them, and that he hears dead people... They were Americans! 

Here are a few of my better sketches:

Paris, like all other large cities is not the most outwardly friendly or welcoming place. People rarely if ever smile at you or even look at you on e street or metro.  So when I learned about an event called  "the Worlds Biggest Eye Contact Experiment" on Facebook, I signed up and went! It took place at The Place de République, a very busy, large square in Paris.  It was a very amazing experience that transcended language and culture.  Most of the attendees were young people, but there were a few of us people "of a certain age".  It was very loosely organized, so I just sat down in a chalk drawn circle on the pavement with a cushion in front of me, and immediately someone sat down in front of me for some eye contact.  Sometimes we spoke, sometimes not.  As soon as one person left, another sat down.  I was surprised at the intensity of the eye contact, and that most people stayed for several minutes.  We hugged, shook hands, nodded, and  talked about how important acknowledging others with eye contact is.  I spoke to students, teachers, and an Art dealer.  I was there for over two hours in the cold and drizzle, but hardly noticed the time pass.  

i"m so glad I participated in this.  But mostly I'm glad I live in Sequim, where most people meet my eye as I walk down the street and even greet me!

I didn't have time to take photos, but here are few posted on the event FB page:

You never know what will happen as you wander around the streets here. We have had so many interesting encounters, but one of my Favorite happened in the Monmartre when our good friends Marco and Sara were visiting. While waiting for Marco  and Sära to finish looking inside a small shop, this young German gal walked up and asked us if she could have a hug.  It was part of a wedding dare.  Of course she was encircled by girlfriends.  This brought back memories of Annika's wedding and the fun videos shown at her wedding reception of "dares" that her friends sent out to many of us who were there...

?ont St ?ichel, or in English: Mont St. Michel

I started typing this blog on my bluetooth keyboard and quickly realized there was no "m", instead I had a "?"...  My wonderfully techno savy husband figured out the problem:  I had switched my iPad to the French keyboard just before connecting to bluetooth, and it transferred over... I was ready to type this whole blog without the M and with a ? in it's place... wonder how many of you could have read it...

O.K., on to Mont St Michel and St Malo...  Bob and I have never signed up for an overnight bus tour, but when the Meetup.com group offered one at a budget price, we jumped on it.  Besides, we had met some really nice people on Meetup walks, etc. so why not? According to our Meetup website, there were only 17 other folks going, so we were sure to make some friends and have a great time.

Because our destination was a 4 hour bus ride away and we were visiting two very historic places, we had to meet the bus sharply at 6:30 a.m. in front of the Opera Garnier!  We arrived there about 15 minutes early and were surprised to see a large group of mostly young, 20 something women and just a few young men.  We were to be the "grand parents" of the group!  The other thing we noticed was that there were way more than 17 people!  Turns out, it was a conglomerate tour with 55 people.  No problem!  We stowed our luggage and hopped on the bus.  

Our tour guides were French, but Sylvie, the leader, gave excellent translations into English after each announcement in very easy for me to understand French.  This was a real bonus, since I don't really get to  hear much French spoken right to me, except at the bakery and in stores or cafes. 

Here are our able guides:

Mont St Michel is an Abby on a small island on the Normandy coast. About 25 monks live in the Abby, but it receives about 3 million visitors a year! As we walked onto the island from the bus and made our way up the Main Street at the base of the Abby, it felt like all 3 million were there that day!  Since Gallo Roman times it has been a strategically important site and very secure because the the 46 foot tides that rush in each day cutting it off from the mainland.  As the tide comes in, it not only pours over the sand, it also rushes under the surface creating a quicksand that can trap those unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  We were warned to not even think about going onto the tidal flat because of the danger.  (More on that later). We thoroughly enjoyed the audio tour as we wandered through this amazing structure that also served as a prison at times in its history. We were there on a beautiful day with blue skies and beautiful long vistas across the tidal area.  Our only regret was that we were not staying the night on the island to see the tide rush in and enjoy the city without all those pesky tourists.

Mont St Michel:

We enjoyed our sack lunches after the bus dropped us off at the foot of the town, and while eating lunch our new friend Barbara and I struck up a conversation with a Pilgrim named Ben.  Yes, St Michel has long been a pilgrimage destination.  Ben definitely looked the part, and regaled us with a list of other pilgrimages he has done, including two or three times walking the Camino de Santiago!

A Pilgrim named Ben, and some new friends we made on the trip:

After a few hours wandering through this fortified city/Abby, we walked across the bridge to board the bus.  I was enjoying a conversation with one of the guides and lost track of Bob.  Next thing I know he comes up behind us, covered in mud from his hands to his toes!  The wind caught his new hat and blew it onto the mudflat... Having just bought it to replace the one he lost in the London airport the previous weekend, he took a few steps out on the sand and started to sink!  He managed to extricate himself without damaging his camera, but he was a mess!  Using wet wipes and napkins we managed to tidy him enough to board the bus.  Fortunately, when the wet sand dried it was pretty easy to brush off, which was good since he didn't have extra jeans for the rest of the trip!  I managed to get a photo of his shoes the next day, but the rest is up to your imagination.

Bob before his mishap, looking like the confident photograher/ his shoes after:

We went on from there to the enchanting seaside, walled city of St Malo. Being a budget trip, we stayed at an Ibis hotel.  Each room had a double bed with a bunk bed above. (Think Motel 6 only cleaner). Being the only married couple on the tour we had a room to ourselves.  However, our new friends Barbara and Sophie (we all had just met on the bus) were not keen on sleeping in the same bed together in their room with another stranger.  So, Bob and I invited Sophie to sleep in the bunk above our bed!

We were on our own for dinner so Barbara, Sophie, Bob and I took a cab into the old town. We wandered around for some time trying to find a likely dinner spot. Then, when we were becoming a bit frustrated, Sophie who is French Canadian, asked a nice looking couple on the street for a restaurant recommendation.  The man lit up and in rapid fire French told of a restaurant nearby.  All I understood were the enthusiastic "Très, très bons" (very, very goods) he peppered the description with.  They walked us a couple of blocks to the place and spoke to the owner who obviously knew and liked them.  There wasn't a table available for another hour, so we managed to find a cute little cider bar not far away (this after being sent out of another  bar because all we wanted was to have a few drinks!). It pays to wander and look!  The "cidre" and the man who ran the bar were wonderful!  The restaurant was just what we hoped and the food there was amazing.  I just love the "happy little accidents" that are such an important part of travel.

Our delicious meals in St. Malo: Dinner,cidre, & the famous Breton Crepes for Lunch

The next day we spent the first part of the day with a guided tour of St Malo. For us English speakers our guide, Coco, was an English woman who had lived in St Malo for years. She made the city and its history come alive.  I could have spent the rest of the day with her hearing about this fascinating city.  Here are some highlights:  The people of St Malo are called Maloins, and they consider themselves neither French or of Brittany.  Their economy boomed in the early days because of Privateers, who would attack enemy warships of king during wars and profit from the bounty they got.  St Malo is a walled city which for a thousand years had a curfew at 10 p.m. when the gates were locked.  Anyone unlucky enough to be late returning, would be eaten by attack dogs released to  guard  the city. Thisended  after the son of the mayor was late, and killed by the dogs. All young men were taught to sail starting at the age of 10.  They were famous worldwide for their sailing ability.  It was a wonderful tour and i can highly recommend a visit to both St Malo and Mont St Michel to anyone traveling in France.  

Sailing classes, an old fort in the bay, and a tribute to a famous Privateer

Some candid shots of our guide, Coco and St. Malo

Living in Paris is never dull

We have been going nonstop for the past two and a half weeks and having more fun and adventures than two people deserve.  Following is a photo diary of the people and things we've seen and done, with a bit of narrative 

It just so happened that two wonderful couples we met on our travels were in Paris at the same time. Sylvie and Alan are from Vancouver island BC. We meet up with them every year at Yellowpoint lodge in April. We met Marla and Allan while taking a rest at a bar on the camino de Santiago in Spain. Since both have been on the camino, we knew they would get along famously and they did! In fact, Sylvie and Marla are both OR nurses. We shared a wonderful lunch of crepes and lively conversation, as well as a stroll through the Marais and a stop at the Orangerie to feast our eyes on Monet's incredible water lilies. A few days prior Sylvie &Alan served us a very French lunch in their cozy apartment overlooking the Seine on the Isle de St Louis. 

Top left: Marla & Allan. Top right: Sylvie & Alan

You never know what you might see along the way...

A few days later Marco & Sara came for a week long visit. We pretty much walked and metro'd the whole of Paris. They especially enjoyed spending time in the Louvre and the Orsay. It was Marcos first visit to large art museums... He saw the best!  We enjoyed being with them, laughing, discussing all sorts of things, eating Peruvian and Ethiopian food and after a particularly long day having Angelina's hot chocolate, the best anywhere!  They will be getting married next June so Bob was thrilled that they wanted to spend one day doing a couples photo shoot. What a fun and photogenic couple!  

In the metro...

"American Marco" & fun at the Hard Rock Cafe & Bob can style a hat!

Photo shoot & Bob enjoys a Pisco sour at a Peruvian Cafe

I almost forgot about the evening we  we all went our separate ways. Marco and Sara to the Eiffel Tower, Bob on an evening photo shoot, and I went to a sketching event for Nuit Blanche (white night), a night of art installations all over Paris.  I was sketching young people posing in hip hop and double Dutch jump rope poses. From there I hopped the metro to Barbara's apartment in the classy area near the Tuilleries. I met some of her French friends and we spent the evening drinking champagne, wine, and Lillet and eating delicious charcuterie, cheese,  oIives and bread. We talked about all things French, American, family and even a bit of politics.  An amazing evening which didn't end for me until 1 am!  I only got a couple of photos, but the memories will last forever. 

The day after Marco and Sara left we met our new friend Barbara from SF for a falafel lunch and a stroll thru the Marais. The day morphed into wine time, shopping, and finally a delicious dinner of beef Bourgogne. We wandered through about 4 arrondissements and had lots of laughs and probably more wine and beer than we should have and got home at about 10pm!

 

Top: Wine at Les Philosophe in the Marais

Bottom: Bouef Borgougne and chocolate soufflé  in the Odeon

Chartres en Lumiere

A little over an hour out of Paris is the town of Chartres. It's a rather small city with a very large cathedral containing the most original medieval stained glass of any cathedral. Ten years ago we visited for the day and told ourselves that should we ever visit again we should spend the night.  Just by chance, someone in Bob's photo Meetup group mentioned that in the evenings the town is transformed by projection machines that illuminate the cathedral, bridges, and miscellaneous buildings all over the old part of the city.  We imagined a rainbow of colors projected on the buildings, but nothing like we experienced that evening!  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here you go:  I've juxtaposed the daylight versions with the illuminated ones to show you how amazing it was.

Three sides of the cathedral were illuminated. I only took photos of one side, but you get the idea.  

I can't begin to understand how this technology works, it was totally enchanting to watch.  What my photos don't show is that each illumination was not static, but ever changing for a period of minutes, as though it was animated.  I tried to illustrate this in the photo above of one side of the cathedral.  

We arrived in Chartres late afternoon, and Bob had a miserable cold!  We had already booked our Air BnB so Bob just forced himself to keep moving.  The illumination didn't start until 10 pm, so we checked into our BnB and then went to a nearby pizza takeout, which turned out to be excellent!  We ate by the river facing the red structure and bridge in the top photo, not realizing they would be totally transformed in a few hours.  We did wonder about the big ugly boxes on stilts in the river across from the structures...

At 10 we headed out to see what was going on and were totally enchanted!  We wandered through the streets until 1 am, like children who are visiting Disneyland for the first time!  You would think there would be crowds of people, but there were very few!  At one point I had a nice long conversation with a couple from Belgium, who happened to be staying in a BnB a few miles outside of Chartres and had come into town for dinner.  They didn't even know about the illumination until they began walking around after dinner.  They had been to the beach that day and we're still in their rather lightweight beach attire on a chilly evening.  But they loved it!

The young man who owned the Air BnB we stayed in (for only €40) was a professional athlete in a sport called Handball, but not what you're probably thinking.  It's kind of a cross between basketball and soccer, played on a grassy field. It's very popular in Germany.  I highly recommend Air BnB, we have met so. Any wonderful hosts this way. It's so much more interesting than staying in a hotel!

Here's a photo of our delicious French petite dejeuner (breakfast):

Why Do I Love to Travel?

When Bob and I arrived in Paris back in August, it was hot, we were jet lagged, and the sheer mass of humanity swarming around us was a bit much for two "Sequimites", used to our quiet little retirement community!  All of a sudden I realized that all of those French classes with Miriam, didn't mean I could talk fluently with the locals, or even understand a few sentences from our taxi driver!  The thought occurrred to me: "What have we done?  Why did we think living in Paris for 3 months was a good idea?"  

Well, here's why it was a brilliant idea:  The people you meet and the adventures you have are what make travel such an enriching experience!  At least for me, that's the reason I travel. Oh yes, you see beautiful buildings, dramatic scenery, great art, eat delicious and unusual food, drink good wine, etc. etc. but it always comes back to the people.  

On a trip to France 10 years ago, we spent a week doing volunteer work at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern France, near Aix en Provence.  It was such a marvelous experience that we returned the next year for two months and Bob organized several people from Sequim to join us in one week increments to do a large project.  While there, we met a number of young volunteers from other countries.  These young adults were all so wonderful that we put out an open invitation to any of them to come visit us in the U.S.  Annika, from Germany, came to Sequim a few months later and stayed for 3 months.  A few years later she recommended that Jenny, a friend of her sister come to see us.  One thing led to another and over the years we have had six other lovely Germans come to live with us for a month in the summer.  Also from that open invitation, have had two visits from Caroline, a New Zealander.  All of this is to say, that you never know where travel will lead you or how it will impact your life.  We never considered having other people come and live with us, other than for a night or two.  But here we are!  

Back to Paris... So here we are, and because of our previous travel encounters, we are enjoying a stream of visitors throughout our 3 months.  Right off the bat Jenny & her husband Basti came for five days.  Caroline has stopped by two times for a total of about 8 or 9 days.  

Last weekend we flew to London to visit Caroline & Jon whom we met on the Abel Tasman Track in NZ last year!  They not only showed us around the English countryside and London for four days... they let us stay in their home and gave us their bedroom rather than split us up into their daughter's bedrooms! During our whirlwind tour we visited a quaint village and met Fergus the Clydesdale.  He was a very friendly,cordial chap, but I don't think we will invite him to visit us in Sequim!

In a few days we will have lunch with two couples who will be passing thru Paris for a few days.  We know Sylvie and Alan from our yearly anniversary trip to Vancouver Island in British Columbia.  Marla and Alan we met while walking the Camino de Santiago.  (They have just finished riding bikes on the center section of the Camino, and Sylvie in the past walked the entire pilgrimage and she and Alan just did a week of volunteering at an Alberge on the Camino!) We will all meet for lunch on the Isle de St Louis and trade tales of travel adventures!  

Then, a day later Marco & Sara from Germany will arrive for a week's visit.  Followed by Annika, her husband Fabi and five of their friends!  So we have come full circle, back to Annika who started our "foreign exchange program" and opened our hearts to fellow travelers!

Meetup.com

One of the best tips Marilee (who owns the apt. we are living in) gave us is to check out a websiste called Meetup.  It's a site designed to matchup people with similar interests in a city or area.  In our case, Paris.  What a find!  Bob has really enjoyed the photo groups on Meetup, we both enjoy the walking and hiking meetups, and I was able to add a Bootcamp workout to my Paris experience thanks to Meetup!  It's not just a Paris phenomenon, I understand that there are Meetup websites in many large cities throughout the world.  

My first few tries to attend events on Meetup were nonstarters.  I signed up for a Circuit Training class in one of the many lovely Parks, only to have it cancelled a day before.  Even my first Bootcamp meetup was cancelled.  It would have been held in the evening (not my favorite time, as I enjoy having "wine time" around 5 or 6 each evening), and was cancelled because the instructor was having trouble getting back to the city after the August holiday so many Parisians enjoy.  The instructor, Chris, is a British man who married a Parisian and came "kicking and screaming" to Paris (his words).  It turns out that he also teaches classses ourtside of the meetup schedule that are in the morning!  Perfect for me! So now I am a regular Thursday "Bumper and Jumper", as he calls us. I also go on Saturday Mornings.  There are usuallly 8 to 10 others of varying ages and conditioning, so I can easily keep up. I'm sure I'm the oldest in the class, but it feels good  that I don't fall behind!

Since class is held at the Champs de Mars, by the Eiffel Tower, you never know what you'll see or who will see you!  The first Thursday class I attended, we were witness to a "rumble" between rival Roma groups.  They frequent the Eiffel Tower to hit up tourists for money by pretending to be deaf, or asking you to sign a petition and donate $$, or...  These two groups almost came to blows, and there was alot of yelling, and we assume cussing going on!  This Thursday, there was a man dressed all in black with a beret, who was filming himself juggling 5 bright red balls.  He must have done about 15 takes, each ending with a dramatic flourish and a smile.  He looked "oh so French"!  Of course, his backdrop was the Eiffel Tower!  We also have to be very careful about broken glass on the grass from partiers the previous evening. Another good reason for going to a morning rather than evening class!

Chris has invited Bob to come sometime and take photos, so perhaps next week I'll have more photos to share.  Here's one that Chris snapped of me at the end of class.  I just love the background view!

Other groups I've signed up for on Meetup are French Language and Sketching.  These are not as active of groups as some, but I did manage to get to one of the French Meetups, nevermind that the organizer was a no-show!  Unfortunately, she injured her back the morning we were to meet, but four of us met up at the Cafe at 8:30 a.m. and managed to connect.  It was a friendly group of young women: Kirsten from Minnesota working as an Au Pere for a year; Sandra from Vancouver B.C. here because of her French boyfriend, and Ann from Thailand, here with her husband and 2 yr. old child.  I was quite nervous prior to the meeting, afraid that my "kindergarten" French would humiliate me.  Well, I needn't have worried, the others were only slightly better than me. We talked in English getting to know one another a bit, but when we realized that Sandrine, the leader was going to be absent, we broke into French for the rest of the hour.  It was good practice and we all agred to come again if another meetup was publilshed.  I also joined a French for people of a "certain age" group (aka, over 50)... I will attend my first meeting of this group next Wednesday afternoon, so stay tuned!

Tomorrow is my first Sketching Meetup.  We are to meet at in the Parc del La Villette in the 19th Arrondisment.  There is a very large art installation there and we are to meet "near the huge Monkey in the fountain"!  More on this later....

Endless things to do and see!

Bob and I are overwhelmed with the possiblities of things to do and see here in Paris.  Each day is a new opportunity to discover a new neighborhood, park, market, festival, burst of color, you name it! Our visit here has been greatly enhanced by our Landlady Marilee's recommendation of the website Meetup.com.  It has opened up a number of opportunities to pursue our interests, and take walking tours of the city.  

Last week after we took our good friend Caroline to the train station to continue her holiday in Switzerland with friends, we took off on foot from the Gare du Nord and found ourselves in the Jardin des Plantes, a lovely park/garden that we had visited 10 years ago.  

from there we contined along the Seine, which is always a beautiful walk.  Although Paris is a huge, bustling city, you are never far away from greenery, trees, or the river.

Another day we headed to the Musee D'Orsay, our absolute favorite museum in the entire world, to buy a yearly pass that ourl allow one of us and a guest to visit it and the Orangerie whenever we wanted for only 70 euros!  We have been to Paris on two other occasions, but each of those times the Orangerie was closed. It is the home of Monet's famous water lilies and other priceless art pieces.  We arrived at the Orsay first thingin the morning only to find a HUGE line of people waiting to get in!  We decided to return an hour before closing to purchase our pass.  With time on our hands and a 5 euro set of plastic Petanque balls in our posession, we headed to the Palais Royal to play a game.  There we encountered the most beautiful, colorful Metro entrance in Paris! (see photo collage below). We also happened into a little piece of Azerbeijian, right across from the Palais Royal). 

Later that day, when we returned to buy the pass, the line was non-existant and we were able to get the pass with very little problems.  Since we had an hour before the museum closed, we went through to revisit the Impressionists!  Above you will see a lovely cafe that has been added to the Orsay since our visit 10 years ago!

Another day we stopped by the Orangerie for a quick visit.  There was no line, which surprised us!  As we reached the entrance we discovered the reason: Monet's Water Lillies were not there!  No problem for us... we will be here until November.  We went inside and enjoyed more Impressionis and post Impressionist art! Here are a few of my favorites:

I intended to share some about our Meetup activities in this post, but will save that for the next one.  Stay tuned!