Strolling…

It was not hard for us to fit into the French way of strolling neighborhoods, pausing for a bite, and sitting in small parks with great views. (Proud to say the outrageous eating I did for two weeks had no negative effects due to the walk, walk, walking also involved.) The first full day we needed to be over in the 5th Arrondissement for our Untours orientation. We started early so we could walk the area and see some sights.
I kept my eyes upward and kept snapping pictures because I was awed by the architecture

We came to Place St. Michel (if there is going to be a student demonstration this is where it will start and locals rose up against Nazis here, commemorated under the dragons) where there is this magnificent fontaine

We did like that they were blowing bubble in our honor (rather than throwing cobblestones)

We walked on toward the Il de la Cite trying to remember to check the red man and green man signs and the zebra stripe crossings (must have been successful because we made it back home)

Discovering bridges and The Seine

(have decided for the next trip a goal will be to walk over every bridge)
We wanted lunch in the Place Dauphine behind the Palais de Justice and here I take a small diversion. We arrived in Paris the day after their Presidential election and in a few weeks they would have more elections so there were some interesting things revolving around the election to see. Lots of activity with press and police at the back side of the Palais

And one of the first chocolate shop windows I looked in (sorry about the glare from the glass) had this wonderful piece in chocolate…a large square, maybe 18 x 18, that looked like a die on top and on its sides had chocolate portraits of Hollande

And Sarkozy

Hollande won and we found our Place Dauphin

A lovely square

We ate right there…

White asparagus and beef salad for him and avocado and shrimp salad for me…

And we looked at this (a ProHDR app shot)

And realized we wouldn’t mind living up at the top in one of these buildings (if there was an elevator)
Enjoyed the blooms on these trees

We walked out the end of the square and saw Henry IV

Down the other side of the island we passed by the Conciergerie Prison where you waited for the guillotine

We passed a demonstration with white flags and whistles blowing

After visiting the big sight of the day, we rested in yet another park with this view (another ProHDR app shot)

I will show you pictures of that big sight in the next post.

I am going to visit…

Terry and I will be off to Paris in a few weeks and in the process of researching what to see and what to do (and what to eat?) I came across the work of photographer Eugene Atget (1857-1927). This put me in mind that while I am there I really should take some black and white photos in homage to the time, the place, the artist. I have never taken many black and whites because my soul enjoys color so much, but I think it will be a challenge to try. I have been experimenting lately so I will have decided what apps to use before I get there. I do not want to fumble around once I am there. I am wondering if to take black and white your brain has to think in black and white? Or is your brain needing to be more conscious of light and how it falls? Decisions to be made…take photos in color and then process them after the fact into black and white? (Snapseed app)…take with an app that is strictly b and w (Monochromia app) which allows some adjustment after the fact…or just be spontaneous and use Hipstamatic app, because, after all, how much time is there to process pictures when there is so much chocolate to eat?
Samples so far…
Hipstamatic app with Helga Viking lens and Black Keys super grain film…

These I took from the passenger seat of the car as it was driving. With the same combination of lens and film, but I felt they needed some brightening so they went into Snapseed for slight fiddling…

This was Hipstamatic with James M lens and Rock BW-11 film…

This processing is by Noir app

These photos started as color photos but with Snapseed app they have become b and w many months later…

I don’t want to duplicate Eugene Atget, I just want to enjoy the taking of some black and white photos with some confidence while I experience Paris for the first time. If you have suggestions, I would love to hear them.
As Eugene Atget said, ” A good photograph is like a good hound dog, dumb, but eloquent.”

(My sweet dog is not really dumb, but she is eloquent!)

Pienza and The English Patient…

Pienza…ahh, Pienza…you swept me away…the smallest of the towns we visited and maybe my favorite…because I could see myself there in a small artisan shop in an ancient building (inviting all my friends to come visit, of course…will you?)…working on art, chatting with customers. Long meals, lovely days…but first the lay of the land…

The most important order of business was the morning cappuccino, but when I saw this chocolate fountain I was quickly seduced in another direction…

Then to the church (which allowed pictures) and the town museum (which did not). This church has foundation problems, but being a true Californian I thought about earthquakes a lot while I was inside…and wouldn’t you know the day we got home two above 4.0 quakes happened on faults near our house…yikes…

The cracks…

The above is a glass insert put in to measure amount of movement.
Best of all were the alter boys getting ready for service…looked about sixth grade age

The stroll to find lunch in a cafe with three tables and many wine bottles and tasty sandwiches.

Looking for artisans

We found a potter

A fabric artist

And a watercolorist…her bookmark/business card and some delightful watercolors I bought…they are 2″x2″ and now so many miles away, they make my heart skip when I look at them…

On our way back down the road from Pienza we opted to explore a dirt road that takes you to a monastery named Sant’ Anna In Camprena. It was the setting for the Italian part of the movie The English Patient and I figured that it was the closest I would ever get to Ralph Fiennes. (Since we have been home we rented the movie to watch again and were amazed at how young the actors looked. Luckily we were alone while we watched because we kept yelling out things like…I stood next to that cypress…we were right next to that wall…remember those crosses…)
This is where Juliette Binoche met Willem Defoe for the first time…

My driver noticing that we couldn’t go inside because it was 2:00 and it was closed from 12-3:00 in the fashion of the country. Love the colors of this facade…

You may note black dots in many of my pictures. These are Jackdaws similar to our crows and always flying around the towers we saw in Italy. (From Wikipedia)

Random impressions…

Truth be told, this was not Terry’s first visit to Florence. More than forty years ago he spent his junior year of college in Switzerland and during the break between sessions he traveled for a few days to Florence and slept on the floor of someone’s apartment. It was three months after the flood of ’66 and when he mentioned it on this trip he was invariably asked if he had been a “mud angel”. (The swarm of students that arrived to help with the clean-up.) Art work is still being restored and like our fires and earthquakes in California, the flood seared the collective consciousness. This is the entry of our apartment with a plaque well above Terry’s head on the wall. These plaques are on many walls in buildings throughout the city indicating how high the water rose on that fateful day.

Random shots of things that I liked on the trip.

Ribollita

Barrista

Brides in Florence and Siena

Alter boys in Pienza

Cats at Boboli and turtles in Siena

Fish in the Oltrarno and crows in a fresco

The market

Polizia

Terry at our doorway in Florence. You can see the size of the sidewalk and to the right just out range is a line of scooters, small cars, and bicycles ready to whiz by.

When we left Florence, Terry had his Audi (since returning home he makes sound effects for his Civic when we go up hills) but I found my heart’s desire on the streets of Orvieto.

A Fiat 500 with the colors of the Italian flag on its rag top and tricked out by Gucci. Heaven…
And for your listening pleasure…

Piazza del Duomo…

As you walk the streets of Florence you can be surprised by this type of view

where the Duomo looms up over you suddenly. Each time that happened I was struck by my original awe. The Piazza del Duomo contains the Basilica, the Baptistry of Saint John, and the Campanile di Giotta.

The Baptistry is octagonal and was built between 1059 and 1128 making it one of the oldest buildings in the city.
Inside, a mosaic dome

And mosaic marble floors

The tomb of Anti pope John XXIII

And I spy with my little eye a black and white checkerboard, I love this wall…

And, of course, the doors

And just where are the photos from inside the Duomo? As you get near the end of your stay you begin to realize how many sights you haven’t seen yet. The day we went to the Baptistry, we had already been to the Museum of the Medici Chapels, marbled paper with Gianni, seen the Museo l’Opera del Duomo and had our reservations at the Academia for 12:30. We thought we could fit the Duomo in before the reservation, but when we got to the Duomo the line looked so long we didn’t think we would have much time inside even if we got to the front of it. So we implemented Plan B.

Repair to a nearby cafe and sip a cappuccino or hot chocolate and rest your weary feet and knees. The hot chocolate is quite something…and I know someday we will return to see all the things we missed…

Wrap-up…

I wish I had read a little more history before I went to Portland, because I would have been on the look-out for particular landmarks. Especially, I would have taken a picture of the Benson Bubbler fountains dotted around where we were walking. I thought they were a new feature, but actually the city started to place them back in 1917 from a gift from a local citizen (Mr. Benson) who was hoping to keep his loggers out of saloons at lunch time. They merrily bubble continuously (they are now set with timers to turn them off late at night and early morning) and are four bowls of continuous flow, bubbling along. Wish I hadn’t missed that picture. I did get these fountains, though, around the Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Bronze fountains around a Federal Courthouse reflecting the natural history of the area.

Of course, old buildings and new convention centers.

Had to take one shot from within the MaxTrain because it is such a fine system of public transit (and they refer to their senior citizens as “Honored Citizens”—now, that is a really nice place!)

Then it was time to fly home

Happy to have such good friends and old-time roomies to meet in far-off places to see beautiful cities and catch up on old times and children. Story after story and laugh after laugh. Lovely days, girls…see you next year.

Onward to Jacksonville…

Heading away from Salem toward Jacksonville, Oregon, we actually could see the top of Mt. Shasta. Developed out of the gold rush of 1851, the town is a National Historic Landmark. Over 100 buildings are on the National Register.

We drove the 15 miles over to Ashland for a taste of the lithia water and to see The Pirates of Penzance. It was an incredible production with creative staging, wonderful singing and an a free bluegrass concert before-hand.

Back in Jacksonville, we stayed in the McCully House Inn that had a beautiful garden of peonies. I wouldn’t have minded staying there longer (but I said that about every place on this trip).

Over by the Jacksonville County Courthouse, there was a statue honoring the Pony Express and directly across the street a coffee shop called The Pony Espresso. It made us realize we should have been collecting the wonderfully clever names of coffee spots we had seen throughout the trip.

The next day, we saw the California coast again and the day after we arrived home to our waiting beasts.

All was well with the world…

Salem in two parts…

Some parts of our trip were well planned and structured. The friends and relatives we visited helped define what we would do. Some days, however, were serendipitous. Salem we chose for a night’s stop because it was a good stopping point between Seattle and Jacksonville (that would be an access point so we could get to a play in Ashland) and we had little idea for structuring our time there until we arrived. We were an hour early for check-in for our night’s abode so we located it to orient ourselves. By looking at a map we found we were close to an art gallery on the Willamette University campus.

When we walked in, I was completely blown away. A special exhibit called Americana by Ross Palmer Beecher was hung on the walls. Shazaam…unfortunately they did not allow pictures so I can only link you to the gallery site, try to describe the art, and urge you to investigate. So what was it? Full sized quilts with some of my favorite patterns, log cabin and wedding ring, that on closer inspection were actually made out of metal. All recycled from the artist’s dumpster-diving. Log cabin quilt out of olive oil tins. I am loving it. Little tiny punched holes, little tiny wire thread hand-sewn. Delicious! My picture is of the postcard that advertises the show. The quilt is made of tin, wagon, and lunch box. Hope you can see the stitching. It was a great show-I could have stayed there for hours, but enjoyed watching the video about the artist surrounded by her work. It is funny how Terry always disappears and I find him sitting on a bench playing Sudoku. Thank goodness for iPhones! Then we needed to go check in.

Our next impulse was to go walk the riverfront park and see the carousel.

Over the Willamette River and to the horses.

A little more Americana on this Independence Day weekend.

The photos in the square format are taken with the Hipstamatic app on the iPhone. Otherwise they are taken with the iPhone native camera and cropped and sharpened in Iris Photo Suite.
One last photo I wanted to play with in Snapseed on the iPad.

iPhone Friday on the road…

We left home at 9:02 this morning (pretty good for us—our goal was 9:00) to head toward Ashland, Oregon to the North. I do not think that in my whole life I have taken the inland passage to Oregon up Highway 5. My memory is of always going up 101 through Crescent City (always famous for the effects the earthquake tsunamis had on it.) So the scenery was new and by the time we arrived at Shasta Lake I kept muttering, “wow…”

The ClassicPan app caught it from a rest stop.

The only uncomfortable thing about the drive was that it was Friday and there were lots of transport trucks on the road.

Hipstamatic app caught the traffic but we kept ahead of the rain blowing into the San Francisco region and saw some snow topped mountains.

I think this was the native camera with no apps from the front seat of the car.

We stopped for afternoon coffee in Dunsmuir, an historic town with a great theater (no longer open). Native camera with Iris Photo Suite cropping and vignetting.

Although I didn’t drink the water I think this refers to the quality of the fishing since they also had this painted wall and a fly shop.

Iris Photo Suite again.

We walked all around Ashland before dinner and found another movie theater.

It was a Friday evening art walk in a very vibrant downtown.

Sculpture:

and copper people:

If you have ever been in my house you would understand how excited I was to see copper people. I’ve put copper on counters, walls, lightfixtures—anywhere I can crinkle it and patina it.

To top it off, there were many historic buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places.

An Episcopal Church.

A library.

And best of all, the Peerless Hotel and Restaurant.

Woodside…

and who was Gerda Isenberg?

For many years we have heard of a California native plant nursery located across the Bay in Woodside, which is near Redwood City and Menlo Park. It always seemed like a long distance to go for garden plants and we never had the time to dedicate an entire day to the excursion. This week, however, we fit it in. Gerda Isenberg was a pioneer in the movement to use native plants in landscapes and she established  Yerba Buena Nursery on her family’s ranch property in the 1960′s. We set out,

crossing the Dumbarton Bridge

and winding through some rural roads until we got to Skyline Road in Woodside. Unfortunately, the sign marking the county road we were to turn down had been temporarily removed and it started to become one of those experiences where you think you mad a wrong turn. It felt like there was no other human life around but finally we came to the entrance to the Nursery.

We were welcomed by a tree (and multiple cats) to the magnificent place.

My photos from yesterday were of the early 1900′s ranch house of the original property. The nursery was entrancing and we stocked up on unique native plants. (A note: yerba buena is one of my all time favorite native plants, it grows well under the shade of the trees in our front yard, the deer do not like it so it is undisturbed, and it makes a nice tea! Our yerba buena plants were planted last year and are doing so well that we didn’t purchase any on our visit to the namesake nursery.)

We did come across the most amazing varieties of monkeyflower. I already have pink, yellow, and orange varieties, but now, tah dah, I have white, apricot, and carnivale (salmon red fading to yellow). We also picked up a purple and a white Douglas iris. And then there was buckwheat…and seaside daisy…checkerbloom…oh, my..It was so worth the trip.

There is even a demonstration garden. If you are not already convinced about native plants, you can walk the paths and see them in use.