Tractors take to the Streets of Paris

The French are known for taking to the streets to protest anything and everything that dissatisfies them. I consider this a function of any democracy, if something doesn't work for the people then the people publicly, and en mass, show their point of view. La grève, the strike, is a French institution used almost weekly, although it seems more like daily, in Paris. Transportation, medical services, educators, garbage workers, and more have all had strikes since I've been in France. Today, over 2000 tractors descended on the country's capital driven by grain farmers from all French regions. They tied up traffic for over 12 hours as they drove slowly through the city, flying flags and shooting off fireworks to bring attention to their cause.

Saint-Germain-en-Laye

The weather in Paris has been great for over 2 weeks so yesterday we decided to put a bunch of stuff into the day pack and to head out of Paris for the countryside. The RER is a system of trains that runs through Paris' subway, connecting the suburbs to the city. We walked over to Gare du Lyon from our apartment, bought 2 R/T tickets for less than 10 euros each, and went out to the small town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye 19 km from the heart of Paris. The town is known for its château and attached gardens that were particular favorites of King Louis XIV. We actually exited the RER below ground and came up right across the street from the castle which creates a dramatic entrance to the town. By the time we arrived we were ready for lunch so immediately found a terrace restaurant where we ate a salad before heading back to the grounds of the castle. It was really too pretty to be indoors so we postponed the visit to the château for another time and went straight into the gardens. The castle and grounds sit along a high plateau overlooking a long valley stretching all the way to Paris. As a matter of fact, from there we could see the Eiffel Tower with the towering contemporary buildings of La Defense in the foreground. We first walked through the château's large gardens and then continued into a connecting forest for a long walk. Afterwards, we sat at a café in the gardens and had a drink while we played cards in the sunshine. It was really so easy to get away from the city to enjoy nature and a lovely historic setting.

Exhibition at UNESCO

Paris is home to UNESCO and I have a colleague from the States who works there in the Intangible Cultural Heritage section. Last Wednesday evening, I attended the opening of an exhibit they brought from the States that showcases some of the National Heritage Fellows. These are people who have been selected because of their outstanding talents as traditional artists. The exhibit was produced by Documentary Arts in Texas and consists of 46 larger than life-size photographs of artists and short bios about them. It was done in cooperation with Flemish Belgium interests so dignitaries from that country spoke at the opening. Then Cajun fiddler, Michael Doucet, who came from Louisiana, gave a demo of his fiddling style. Afterwards, the Belgium government sponsored the very nice reception complete with Belgium beers and chocolates.

The next evening Michael Doucet had a concert after the viewing of a documentary film on Texas fiddling styles by Alan Governar of Documentary Arts. That night I left my apartment in plenty of time to get there but unfortunately I forgot to take my invitation with me. The previous evening no one had even looked at it so I didn't really think it would matter. Wrong! That night UNESCO was mobbed with people, which I thought was amazing. I wondered how many people would come out to see a Cajun fiddler? After going through the security screening, I had to wait in line to get into the concert hall. I did notice that a woman was checking tickets so I arranged French words in my mind preparing to convince her that I was worthy of entering. However, she was not interested in any of my excuses for not having a ticket and told me that under no circumstances could I enter without one. At that point another woman came over and even tried to intervene on my behalf for the first woman would hear nothing of it, I had to have a ticket, period! So, I went back out to the foyer, outside of security, and convinced the person at the information desk that I should be allowed in. She gave me a copy of an invitation, then I went back through security, cued up again and finally got past the ogre. The hall was large and at that point I was ushered to the second level where I quickly found a place to light.

By this time it was already after 6:30pm which should have been the starting time. So, I sat there for another 30 minutes wondering why it hadn't started yet. The woman next to me asked the time...it was 7:05 and I commented that it was very late in starting. But she told me it was supposed to start at 7pm. Finally, dignitaries gathered on stage and started speaking. At first, I thought it was a bit odd that one of the persons spoke Italian but I love to listen to Italian so I wasn't thinking about much. Then the second and third persons also made comments in Italian which really seemed odd. It finally occurred to me that the grand piano on stage was going to be played by an Italian artist! I was in the wrong place!!! Quietly, I got up and left, exiting outside the door past the ogre. In the lit hallway I found a flier for the concert I was supposed to be attending. By the time I got to the right place in the building, it was 7:40, I had completely missed the showing of the film and Michael only had only 2 tune left to play. When I left into the dark of night I truly felt in many ways in-the-dark.

London & the Euro Star

After all the horrible things that happened in the tunnel between France and England over the last winter holidays, I had great reservations about taking the Euro Star to London. But a friend invited us to spend the long Easter weekend in London so we decided to go by Euro Star since one can go from the heart of Paris to the heart of London in 2.5 hours! We didn't have to bother getting to and from the airports, etc. I also had worried that going under the English Channel would last a long time but in fact it was only about 10 minutes, far less than the time it takes me in the subway to get to class, so I didn't really have time to think much about it. Pretty amazing actually!

Our first day, we had tickets to see a performance of Handel's full Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall, opened in 1871. Our seats were on the first row behind the chorus, which were absolutely fabulous. There was a full orchestra and at least 200 voices so the sound was incredible. We got to watch the conductor and were facing the audience so had a grand view of the hall. It lasted about 2.5 hours and,keeping with tradition, everyone stood for the Halleluiah chorus. Magnificent! On the way back to the house where we were staying we stopped in for about an hour to see some of the Albert and Victoria Museum. The day was cool and rainy....typical for London.

The second day we joined our friends to do some tourist things. First we went to the Portobello Road Market, which was a zoo and we tired of it quickly so ended up in a pub for lunch. Then we went to St. Paul's church, which was closed. We walked a lot in the area and saw the big wheel and some historic buildings.

On Easter, we headed out early to go to the Royal Academy of Arts to see the exhibit, The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters. It was really great seeing so many of his works from the period that he spent while living in Arles in southern France. I also enjoyed seeing his letters where he drew miniatures of many of his works. We ate in a small restaurant and then went to the Tate Britain to see an exhibit of Henry Moore's works. I'm really not a huge fan of abstract art but it was nice seeing this exhibit.

Afterwards, we decided to walk back to the place we were staying that took an hour and a half to walk. At the Albert Bridge we took the only photo of the entire trip. The late afternoon sun had just come out and was shining on the bridge. Back to Paris the following day.

Opéra Comique

Last night I accompanied Gabriella to the Opéra Comique for a preview presentation of their coming season. A panel of four people talked about the offerings and a pianist and singers performed a few pieces to wet our appetites. The building itself is something to behold. We sat on the third tier looking out over the stage below and at winged angels in front of us. Human sculpted figures hold up different levels of balconies and gold leafed ornate designs flourish amid classical painted scenes from the 18th century. After the event, they hosted us to hors d'oeuvres and wine. It was a nice, short, but very interesting, evening event. Here's their website

http://www.opera-comique.com/fr/opera-comique-2-2/

Avignon, France

This past weekend I went with a French friend to visit the city of Avignon in Provence. Anyone raised in the Catholic religion will know that the city was the seat of the papacy during part of the 14th century. Of course the papacy was like the government for all of the Catholic world, which at that time included much of Europe. The pope himself was like a king so he lived like one! The Catholic churches with their grandiose sizes, their gold tabernacles, embroidered vestments, chalices, etc., masterpiece artworks, ornate architectures, etc. are testaments to the riches that the pope and clergy amassed over the centuries. Since there was so much constructions to be done in Avignon when the papacy relocated there, many of the best architects, weavers, painters, and sculpture artists, craftspeople, etc. moved there. Consequently, there are many incredible remains from that period, as well as from long before since Avignon has always been important because of its strategic location along the Rhone. The entire old city is surrounded by a Medieval wall punctuated with intermittent ports or entrances. You can see where parts have been repaired but it is in exceptionally good condition, as are most of the monuments. It's easy to see why the city has received the UNESCO World Heritage designation. We spent our three days visiting the Palais des Papes, the Museum du Petit Palais, Pont St. Benezet, and minor churches in the village. On Saturday we walked across the bridge that connects Avignon with Villeneuve des Avignon and explored some of the churches and cloisters. We got there during lunch time and the tower at the foot of the hill was closed so we proceeded up the hill to the small town center where we lucked upon a great little restaurant for lunch, Le Saint André. They are mentioned in one of the Michelin Guides and I have to say they offered a full hot plate that was also delicious for vegetarians, not common in France. After eating we visited an abby then headed to the top of the hill to see the fort that was closing for the afternoon. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see anything but the entrance but it's something to return for in the future since it is also wonderfully preserved. Sunday we did one of the walking tours in Avignon and discovered more wonderful jewels before boarding the TGV, fast train, to return to Paris. In addition to seeing such great sights, I also got 3 great days of French language immersion with my friend Monique!

Arles, France

This past weekend I had the good fortune to be able to visit Arles which is a small town in the southern part of Provence. It sits at the convergence of the large and small Rhone Rivers inland a bit from the northern Mediterranean Sea. I was expecting warm temps since I have an image of the Mediterranean being forever warm, but it was far from that. It's been a very cold and unusual winter so Arles actually had some remnants of snow scattered about. The wind was very strong so I'm sure it felt a lot colder than it was.

Arles is a UNESCO World Heritage site so I spent 2 plus days exploring Roman and Medieval ruins, viewing artwork, and relaxing in the hotel in the heart of the old city. This town has Greek and Roman pasts with the Romans leaving their marble footprints, some of which are not only still visible but still in use today. Julius Cesar is noted as founding Arles as a Roman colony around 46 BC. The city's two most famous Roman ruins are the Roman amphitheatre where they staged the infamous sporting events with wild animals and gladiators and chariot races and the Theatre Antique seen here on the left which was a huge complex for drama. Today, the city hosts bullfights in the amphitheatre, while the Theatre Antique is being restored to some of its previous grandeur with future plans to use it as it once was. Below the Place de la Republique is the enormous Les Cryptoportiques from the 1st century that served as a storage place for agricultural products and wine as well as for other public needs. As I walked under the perfectly formed barrel-shaped ceilings, I couldn't help but to marvel at Roman engineering. There are also remnants of the Roman baths where the entire population, rich and poor, would go to bathe every evening. These are located very close to the Rhone as an obvious source of water. Medieval churches and cloisters seem to be around every corner and the winding, narrow, maze-like streets give one the feel of what life must have been like during the Middle Ages. Much, much later Van Gogh lived here and found inspiration from the light and colors of the town. We ate at the Café de la Nuit that was the subject for one of his famous paintings but none of his original works exist in Arles. The Musée Réattu had some works that Picasso donated that I enjoyed seeing since they were mostly simple, small pieces that aren't normally seen. My favorite museum was the contemporary Musée de l'Arles Antique that holds a huge collection of prehistoric to the VI century artifacts found in the region. They have recently added hundreds of objects to their permanent collection that were brought up from an excavation in the Rhone river. Objects from ship wrecks centuries ago but also things that people took to the river and threw in, sort of like the city garbage dump of everyday things that didn't have any more value or use. The last room of this collection had a magnificent bust of Jules Cesar! A picture is worth a thousand words so check out the city's website for great photos and tons of information. http://www.tourisme.ville-arles.fr/