Paris.. part one

Fearless Painters 

So I should write about Paris, now that I am home.   Not just because I spent the last two weeks there with some amazing women, but mostly because I will forget.. and it was much too wonderful to ever so that!

So here it is. 

I left Canada eager to get away.  My family is just a little too stressful at times.  I was looking forward to the break. 

My flight went smoothly, travelling with British Airways through Heathrow is a little different than flying with Air Canada through.. well actually, almost anywhere!  I arrived at the Orly Airport right on schedule and with the help of some biker taxi guys, tracked down the keys to the apartment in Saint Germaine de Laye and a cab.  It cost over 100 Euros to get from the airport to where our ‘home’ in the burbs of Paris, but it was money well spent.  A Euro is worth about $1.40 Canadian. 

I am used to short underground tunnels through busy parts of cities.. but the Duplex A86 toll road under Paris is different.   First of all it is 10 K long.  And secondly, it has a really low ceiling, which I’m still not sure how I feel about.  It is a double decker tunnel.. opposite travelling traffic goes either below or above you through the same bore hole.  During construction (from 1999 – 2011) this kept the price down and the road wide.  I expect that without the tunnel, it would have taken a good deal longer, and cost more to go the distance. 

Paula, her mother and sister as well as Colleen, a good friend of hers, flew out of Calgary.  They went with Air Canada and were held up in Montreal, so arrived later than me.. and a bit more worn out.  They flew into the main airport in Paris, Charles de Gaulle Airport, after 11 the same night.  The four or so extra hours gave me enough time to check out the little city of Saint Germaine, our little suburb of Paris, buy a few essentials like coffee and bananas, and have a bit of a rest before all the excitement of the next two weeks. 

On the Hop On.. Hop Off bus in Paris

They settled in fast and by Sunday the girls had figured out the metro and we were checking out the sights of Paris.  Getting off at a stop just a block from the Lourve (unbeknown to us) we hopped on to a ‘Hop on, Hop off” bus.  From the open topped red bus we saw Notre Dame, Arc de Triophe and the Louvre.  We drove by the Eiffle Tower and along the Seine River.  I nearly froze.. it was about two hours later that we ordered French Onion soup, tea and/or hot cholcolate in a great little restaurant right next door to the Shakespeare and Company Bookstore on the Left Bank.  While not the exact place where Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemmingway and James Joyce would meet to talk in years past, as that one closed during the German occupation of Paris, it is the one opened to pay tribute to the lads.  One of the few English Language bookshops in the city, it has been featured in a few movies.. and we would have gone in, but there was a lineup. 

From the Metro to downtown Paris!

We had much too much to do and see to spend any time in line ups, especially an English Language bookshop.. we have a few of those at home.  

Monday morning we were up and painting by 9 in down town Saint Germaine.. just a few blocks from where we were staying.  For five days, we created “Fearless” Contemporary Expressionistic Art.. at least I think that is what they called it.  It was a workshop put on by a Calgary artist, Samantha daSilva.  She is a remarkable young woman and a terrific role model for creating art.  Even I managed to come out of it with a few pieces I really liked.. and a great attitude toward my own ability to create. 

This is getting too long and I have to go out in the sunshine for a kayak.. later!