France and Spain, May, 2013

I flew Air France to Paris, took a fast train from CDG airport to Bordeaux, picked up a rental car there, drove east a few hours to Aquitane and Perigord districts for a few days.  I continued southeast to Arles, Aix-en-Provence, and Avignon in Provence.  Later I drove on high speed toll roads to Girona, Spain, followed by Barcelona, and back on the toll Roads to Zaragozza, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Biarritz and then back to Bordeaux to return the car.  From there I took a really fast train - which operated at a fixed speed of nearly 100 MPH non-top to Paris where I spent a few days before returning home/
I will start with a few of my favourite photos.
The baby shots from from the old town in Bilbao.

I was crossing a plaza of an evening in Bilbao when I came upon a drama that had been going on some time. Some teens had been playing with a soccer ball when a young dog joined in, seized the ball, and kept it.  At times, there were four human teens pulling on the dog and the ball, and several others of all ages offering advice from the sidelines.  The ball was fatally wounded in the action.  The kids pulled on the ball, which translated into Dog as "Bite harder."  Someone phoned Mama who came and told the dog to release the ball and as things became far less amusing after that, I took my leave.

The girl is the dog's mistress, the tall, plaid jacketed boy is the ball's master, and at the bottom, the fine shoes and square purse indicate the very stern arrival of Mama on the scene.  This is from a series of 18 photos.

Paris

Paris seemed routine this trip as I had been there so many previous times.  I did enjoy several of the meals I had at nice restaurants.  I came to like Confit and several other traditional dishes.  I also like to drink Armanac.  It is quite expensive - about $13. a shot - but when on vacation...  One day, I sat at a sidewalk cafe (Lutece actually) and consumed an unforgettable Lemon tarte  with Armanac instead of coffee.  They went so well together I would like to have done it daily.  Some little places on the sidewalks make great crepes.  One made the finest lemon crepe you could imagine.
I am sure you read that smoking is no longer allowed in French restaurants and cafes, and that many French swore they would not obey that wretched interference in their lives. I only saw one quite arrogant jerk smoking indoors.  Now smokers occupy the sidewalk tables..  Most cafes have the overhead heaters, so non-smokers seem to go inside and the balance go outside in every kind of weather.
The City is massively crowded compared with the many times I was there from 1964 forward.  I had never seen a line up for the Notre Dame - which is still free entrance - but the line was huge.  Even the man who went in and shot himself dead at the altar had to wait in line to get in.

I always stay on the Left Bank, and this time I was close to the Luxembourg gardens. I had to change hotels several times because bookings were so heavy.  There was a cardiologists convention starting the day before I left, and there seemed to be not a room available in the city.  Well, I noticed the newly renovated Intercontinental had rooms at $1,000 per night with a three night minimum.  The Raffles did have very large standard rooms at $1,500 a night.  I asked Raffles in Singapore who stays in those rooms, as I have asked at other high-end hotels occasionally.  They always say that it is almost always government employees.  Trip advisor lists 1,800 hotels in Paris and many are still  not on the internet, so I think there are many more.  Most are small, but it takes a lot of people to fill all of them.
I had not been to the Louvre, Pompidou, d'Orsay, and Jeu de Paume for a long time.  Despite the huge crowds and long line to get in, I really was thrilled to see so many great paintings again.  I had a short list of several works I especially wanted to see, and some questions.
While I was detaining a v. helpful couple of people at the information desk, I asked them how many people they admit to the Louvre.  They average 26,000 a day, 10 million a year, and one-third of all people who visit Paris, also visit the Louvre.

Note face of dog behind glass of red wine.

My other enquiry was about the looting habits of Napoleon Bonaparte.  I had read that he told his men to take every possible thing back to Paris including all art and sculptures from Italy.  I wondered if any had been returned.  A curator said that the French government returned everything possible at the beginning of the 19th C.  Well, except for one painting; they Veronese, Wedding at Cana (water into wine routine) stayed in Paris.  It is massive 24 x 32'  and weighs 1.5 tons.

 We are driven to wonder how it was transported with horse wagons when it was looted.  In fact, the French cut it in half and stitched back together in Paris.  Then the Louvre went through a massive renovation in the 80s and when Cana was being re-hung in the early 90s, a support came loose and the immense painting crashed to the floor ripping holes in four places.

Reducing such a massive image down to this size makes it quite insensible, but you get the idea - that there is a lot of painting on this sheet of canvas.  I was surprised to see puppy dogs (alive) on the table in addition to the many dogs on the floor.  Did JC turn water into wine and guests into puppies?  Has this aspect been forgotten in our religious teachings?

When I first went to Paris Les Halles was the grand market in the city centre.  It was a massive jumble of butchers hanging dead creatures from hooks, tons of fruit and vegetables, baked goods, spices and almost anything related to food consumption, plus the famous whores, all next to one of the grandest churches in Paris; the 16th C. St. Eustache.

In 1971, Les Halles was abolished & the huge Chatelet Metro station built underground.  Then it was a park of sorts for many years while a long term destiny was argued about.  Now there is a colossal project by Kool Haus underway to create some new public buildings.

One end of the park was dominated by the Beaubourg or  Pompidou modern art museum, which appears to be a building turned inside out.  The escalators and ventilation  systems and many pipes are all on the exterior of the structure.  In 1977 when it opened, and for some years after, it looked interesting and had some great art shows.  Now, despite the huge crowds it still attracts, it looks drab, worn, and kind of like what Joan Rivers probably looks like upon arising each morning.  Worse, the art collection and shows are hideous.  I am a strong advocate of so-called modern art, but that does not include trash.  I suspect the Beaubourg is flat out of money.  And, in France and Quebec, public operations seem to seldom, or never, hire people for their abilities, but who they know and as a result do many things badly.

In my early days, what is now the Musee d'Orsay, was a boarded up train station along the Seine.  It looked  really kind of frightening as it was so huge and in such terrible condition.  So I was thrilled as others to see it open in '86 as a gallery largely devoted to the impressionists.   It is beautiful inside.  But it is now way too small for the crowds it attracts.  Upstairs, where the galleries are too small and happen to contain some of the most famous artworks in the world, like Monet's Waterlillies, there really is human gridlock.  There was a  lovely cafeteria on the top floor where we could take food on to the roof and sit at a table and look at the River and all of Paris.  But the roof seems to be closed and it is a packed and small table service restaurant with no view at all.  Just to give you an idea of the crowds, I counted 30 women in line for the bathroom on the main floor.

I am not sure I will return to Europe, not so much due to my age or health, but the demands of travel among such crowds. It is impossible to feel the art or history of a place with so much traffic around the viewer, not even to mention the current fad of jumping in front of every object to have your photo taken and then rushing on to the next famous thing to do the same over and over and over again.  This time, it was raining hard much of the time I was there - and all of the time I was in Paris.  It got even worse after I left and there were floods all across central Europe.

Aquitane and Perigueux

I took the train from CDG airport in Paris to Bordeaux.  There I rented a Europcar.  I must mention that I requested a VW, but they gave me whatever a Spanish made VW is.  I was quite amazed by it.  It looked like any other mass produced, fairly boring four door.  But it had a water sensitive windshield.  If the setting was on Automatic, the car decided when to turn on and off the windshield wipers, and at what speed they should function.  Since I was nearly overwhelmed with bad weather from mist to deluge, this came in handy.

The car also had an auto setting for lights.  Some tiny person, I guess, is hiding in the car somewhere worrying about whether it is dark enough to turn on all lights, or maybe even, turn them off now, oops, or maybe back on now.  Of course, being Europe, the car was a manual transmission - which I enjoyed.  But on the panel, there was an indicator which told the driver when to shift up or down and to what gear, to maximize fuel use.  I was surprised at the level of sophistication of such a common car.

Near Bordeaux, there are of course, many vineyards.  But driving east from there, it only took about 80 miles to convert from those to vast, deep, dark and tall forests.  These are not scrappy forests; they are more like the very definition of forest. Simultaneously, there is a huge limestone escarpment, much like we have in Ontario, except for the forestation and castles poking up along the highest ridges and points

There are also cliff-hangers and cliff dwellers and some cave dwellers.  In this region, many cliffsides have homes built right into the.  I can understand how they get electricity into them, but not how they get water or plumbing.  The one below is in Les-Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireul in the Dordogne department.  Pronounced easy.

 This was a wonderful place.  Of course, it was raining but under the cliff it was dry if not warm.  Many of these kinds of buildings dot the countryside and most are just tiny houses slapped on the front of a cave.

It had been my intention - for 25 years actually - to take a hotel in Sarlat (pop. 10,700), the main and most interesting town of the region - rent a bike and cycle in different directions daily.  I had been informed of how friends did this so many years ago and how they enjoyed it.  In the first place, there were no accommodations available near Sarlat,  Second, it was cold and rainy.  Third, the roads were so dreadful narrow and driven so fast, that I could not imagine riding there at all.  I do think my friend was somewhat romantic and exaggerating of what he and his wife did there a couple of trips.

I find it amusing to speak with pretty average people who ride little at home, but then go to Europe, rent a bike solo (no tour company) and then come home chanting loudly about their great bike ride huge distances. Then last year, I found the secret.  I rode several long line trains through Austria, Cz Rep., and Germany, and I did often see great bike paths nears the tracks.  But I also saw a lot of cyclists throwing their bikes on the train when it was windy, wet, or they were tired and wanted to make the next major city by night.  I think a lot of badly under-prepared cyclists seem to explode their adventures by a factor of about 10 when reciting their stories. I do not mind as I admire any attempt to do something that bold and demanding.

Sarlat is a pretty, medieval town.  Unfortunately the first day I was there, was Market day Saturday/  This means the local opportunists put up booths in what was a useful street and offers their wares.  This is so sensible if, for example, they sell local wares - which the region has in abundance.  But when 80% is more Asian junk and the streets are gridlocked (truly) with humans unable to move forward or back, it is irritating, especially when the skies open up with huge downpours frequently.

But, this is where, in France, truffles come from, and geese reluctantly offer their livers for foie gras not to mention being cooked in their own fat (with potatoes, mushrooms & garlic) to become Confit (too, too wonderful), great garlic soup, windmill crepes, etc   There are many powerful and delicious local drinks of course.  Service is absolutely first class and the presentation if great.  It was the first trip ever for me to eat everything I could from a local area, and it is no wonder that Michelin guides call the Perigord and Quercy one of France's culinary jewels.

I took a hotel in the small town of Perigord and drove around the region to many villages during the days.  It was really wonderful and I managed to work with the rain.

The Dordogne river is what all other rivers want to be - not too big, not too small and run through beautiful landscapes.  This is the Dordogne and you can just spot two canoes on it and a car on the bridge.  The Lot river is also nearby and is also a handsome flow.  I happened to be high up on a castle shooting this 

Provence

One of the most interesting aspects of Provence was arriving there.  I drove the A75 highway south over the Millau Viaduct, which at 890 feet (270 meters) is the highest bridge in the world.

Much as I expected, the view is better from somewhere other than on the deck of the bridge, as you cannot see much while navigating the high speed traffic and curvature of the bridge.  I can say that it has clear plastic-looking panels along the side which initially look like suicide barriers.  But it becomes apparent that they are in fact, wind barriers which must be critically important many days a year to prevent trucks from blowing over and cars from just inconveniently exiting the bridge sideways.

In Provence, I was most interested in Van Gogh's Arles.

Many European cities have been so cleaned up and renovated that they do not relate well to my ideas of French cities and those in other countries.  But Arles in many ways is not radically changed from when Van Gogh lived there.  The grand Rhone flows through in a wide channel.  A lot of the buildings are old and the alleys narrow.

I also visited Aix-en-Provence, Avignon and several other cities along the coast.  Frankly, I was impatient with the whole area.  France is the most visited country in the world receiving 80 million foreigners per year.  How does it feel to be Mr. 69,876,231 ?    I suppose about 30% better than being Mr. 79,999,999. It is all too crowded to feel the emotional connection to history that motivated the traveller in the first place.

Girona

Girona was mainly familiar to me because it is where many of the professional cyclists winter, and also use as their base while riding in the big European racing season.  In fact, the bridge below is the one Lance and his team mates used to meet at evenings when they got together for dinner.

The Old Town of Girona is about seven streets and most handsome.  It is very historical and certainly a tourist destination, but while I was there, there was a creative flower show on.  It provided flowers to artists to make art  with.  This brought extra thousands into the old town and but it was a happy and friendly crowd on a beautiful warm day - one of the few of the entire trip.

One of the odd problems of driving in Euro cities today is that they have smartly adjusted to traffic. In most cities, the right line is reserved for taxis and buses, and heaven help you if you enter that lane. All streets are one ways assuring you will never be able to find your way back to where you were.  That leaves two lanes - usually - for pretty fast traffic.  So you are looking for a hotel, but the few parking spots available are permanently full and there is no where to even slow down.  Worse, you may well have the address of a hotel which is on a pedestrian only street and it requires a full miracle to find those streets and a way to get to them.  Most cities have undermined large areas and made underground parking areas, but of course, you have to know where you are and where you want to go, which is not always possible.
In Girona, the only hotel I could even find, was the Melia and it had a pull off spot right in front. In a world of tiny, minimalist, barren rooms, this was not only the best deal of the trip, but the best deal I think I ever had in a four star.It was a large, quiet and comfortable room with a beautiful bathroom, large buffet breakfast, free internet and parking.  Anywhere else that would have added up to $200++, but it was less than $100 in Girona.

I think I saw this in Girona and probably you should know about it too in case there is a test later.  It is St. Narcissus - Honest, I am not making this up.  I t appears to be his tomb.  He didn't look that cute, but must have been a knock-out at some time - or he thought he was - to get that grand title.

Barcelona

I will be brief as Barcelona is so well known there is not much for me to add.  I did want to see how much progress had been made on Gaudi's Sagrada Familia.  It has come a huge way in the past 40 years, but I suppose there is another 50 years left to complete it.

At the apex of

one of the five peaks on the left side is something like coloured marble balls. I am not sure where they fit in theology or Art nouveau.  The ceiling light is over the altar and probably was a miracle as it was pouring rain all the time I was standing in line outside.