Day 5_Avignon

Avignon has an interesting history from being an early Celt village (circa 200 B.C.) to Roman development to the Medieval period.  During the Medieval period, the pope (who was French) decided he was unsafe in Italy, that Rome was corrupt, so moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon, France in 1309.  The papacy bought the provincial town and moved everyone and their stuff from Rome.  Construction began soon after on what was to be called the Palais des Papes (Pope's Palace) which the subsequent eight other popes added onto to make an altogether three acre size complex.  (Interesting to note that the Italians demanded a pope in Rome so in the late 1300s, there were two popes:  one in Rome, the other in Avignon.  The ones in Avignon were called the anti-popes and I am not sure how this worked with two guys as the boss.  The papacy moved back to Rome in the early 1400s and no French man has been elected pope since then...)  Palais des Papes is incredibly beautiful, simple, regional in its stone and roof color, and amazingly preserved after so much time and reuse.  I guess all of us should have homes built out of stone.  The audio tour was fantastic with lots of interesting facts for people like me who like trivia, such as the pope was the only person at dinner who could have a knife.

The Pont St. Benezet is a bridge which crosses over the Rhone to Avignon, beginning with a wooden Roman construction in the 400s.  The bridge used to have 22 arches and extend for over 900m (2700 ft.).  An ice storm in the 1600s took out a big chunk of it and now 400 years later, only 3 arches remain.  Nevertheless, the extant bridge is over 600 years old.  The Medieval town of Avignon wrapping around the Palais is romantic and as charming as you can imagine with its higgledy-piggledy spatial layout.  Streets are tight and winding which is a nightmare for cars.  I watched a small truck make a 20 point turn to try to back into an alley.

I walked back to my apartment from the train station, following the main boulevard through town and then along the sea.  I arrived home with a chilled Provencal white wine and a warm baguette.  How French.

The day was beautiful and a highlight for the students and me.  We all split up as each had a varied range of interest in history--some of us needed more time than others.  Some shopped for street art.  Others photographed everything but the kitchen sink.  It's truly a city of old and new as you can see in the slide.

Day 4_Marseille

Marseille is the oldest city in France at 2600 years.  It was originally established by the Greeks in 600
B.C.  As the largest port town, it was the first to receive the Black Plague in 1348 losing 15,000 of its 25,000 member population (remember the Black Plague was brought by rats ((who were on ships) and Marseille has lots of ships).  During this 2600 year period, there has been much construction and deconstruction.  During WW2 Hitler razed over 2000 homes in his attempt to fortify the bay.  The 1950s saw unprecedented growth  and reurbanization in its attempt to rebuild this section of the city.  History like this creates both new and old places in this city.

Today was the first day with my students.  Meeting them in the historic Le Panier district (with some buildings dating to 1100) in this former Medieval village, it felt like the Amazing Race as each group of kids found our meeting place  ("you are the first to arrive....").  Rain, hail, lightning and thunder prevailed in this coastal southern town near such warm icons as St. Tropez (who would have thought hail--we are not in Colorado?) and we hid in the alcoved arches of the Le Vielle Charite, the first building built for the homeless in this city.  We spent the afternoon and early evening visting 3 different parks from different eras:  Parc Longchamps (1869), Parc 26e Centenaire (2004) and Jardin de la Magalone (1880s). All had interesting aspects to contribute to the advance of park design.  One question we raised was:  can a park be successful without grass?  As much as designers attempt to move away from this unsustainable plant in Mediterranean climates, it provides a needed resource for recreation

Our ten hour long day of walking, thinking, (some complaining), and sketching ended in a dinner party at my apartment on the ocean.  We bought fruit, bread, vegetables, pasta, wine, olives, cheese, chocolate and cookies at a tiny market by the apartment and shared the whole, listening to French music and watching the ocean and sun set over the Isle d'If..  I have to admit it's a challenge for me to maintain a professional authority (?) while at the same time allowing for philosophical ideas and moments of serendipity that make a lifetime of memories.

Day 3_Marseille

The TGV train from Paris is a quick three hours to Marseille.  You can watch the landscape drastically change from a lush green (Seattle-like) to the dry landscape this far south (San Luis Obispo-like).  Marseille is a wonderful mix of old and new and feels far less hectic than Paris.  While on the Metro in Paris I counted that you have about 13 seconds from when the doors open to when they close to get off and on the train.  No wonder there is much pushing and "Pardons" to hurry off and on.  In Marseille the quickest thing is the motorscooter rushing along the narrow streets.

I am reading Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo which I have to say is sublime when I can see the character's prison, Chateau d'If, outside my window (see castle structure on the island).  I brought this book because I love reading novels in situ as they make the story more real in my imagination.  This one, written in 1844 - 1845, includes other settings from Paris which are just as meaningful when I was just walking in those neighborhoods yesterday.  By the way, the water here is turquoise and crystal clear.  The water reminds me of Hawaii or the Caribbean and is so different from our dark sea in California.

Today's excitement was no one told me that the clocks had been set forward this weekend.  I stupidly could not understand why the train station's clock was wrong from my watch.  Happened to meander up to the train area to look for my students and realized I had only 10 minutes before the train was going to leave.  How embarrassing would that have been?....Guess that's what happens when you are neither watching TV nor read the paper.

Some neighborhood pictures:

Day 2_Paris

Paris has more than one avant-garde park.  Parc Andre Citroen is located on the site of the former Citroen factory and provides another interesting example of park design. One of the two landscape designers, Gilles Clement, designed 6 different gardens:  all the same scale and form, but each one different, highlighting a different color, planet, and sense.  I have taught about Clement's green or silent garden, but I only understood it from photos. It makes a world of difference to see design in person.  By the way, if you want to see gardens, it is too early in Paris.  Deciduous plants are only beginning to leaf out, with some bulbs not even fully up.  Even Monet's garden at Giverny is still closed for Winter.

Musee du quai Branly had not only an interesting garden, but its front elevation is a green wall.

Eiffel Tower was a madhouse with hundreds of people in line.  With the light rain today, wasn't worth the wait to see cloudy views.

The Musee d'Orsay provided my first bit of French attitude since I arrived.  I was firmly corrected by one of the security guards to begin each query with "Bonjour."  He refused to answer my question until I repeated "Bonjour" after him.  Inside, the Impressionist floor is being renovated.  The paintings are all available to be seen on the first and second floors (or 0 and 1 floors in France), but they are no longer in chronological order.  With an art history background, one of my favorite aspects about this museum was that it showed the evolution of Impressionism and Post-Impression chronologically.  Under the auspice of "making new connections of influences previously unseen," I find the new layout confusing.  Maybe that's just me.  The museum is still one of my favorites as so many of the art history class slides can be seen in person here:  Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cassatt, Pissaro, Rodin...all the big guns.

Couple of other thoughts...My students are here to study architecture, landscape architecture and urban design.  Looking at hardscape, most paving in Paris is permeable such as d.g. and dry-laid stone.  However these surfaces are not altogether ADA (American Disabilities Act) compliant.  It's interesting to note that the only wheelchairs I have seen so far were at the museum.  The paving is one that is not compatible with wheelchairs, so most people use canes and crutches.  Another note:  if you google in France, all the typical sites come up in French like wikipedia, etc.   It takes quite a scroll sometimes to find the same site in English.  Should have been obvious to me, but I never thought about it.

Read an article before I left on an American expatriate who moved to Paris 20 years ago.  She hosts dinner parties at her home each Sunday evening.  I invited myself and met an interesting group of 20 others who were also there for dinner.  In that small group were 2 architects, one who works in Boulder, CO and knew 2 San Luis Obispo architects; a man who lives in Lake Forest Park, a tiny Seattle suburb where we used to live; a man who sees a foreign film each day rather than watch TV;  a former Los Angeles film producer; a retired Herald Press reporter, and the interesting list goes on.  What fun.  As mom always told me, "You better behave as we live in a small world....."

Day 1_Paris

There is a pro to traveling alone:  you travel light and get to see what you want.  Parc de la Villette designed by landscape architect Bernard Tschumi is an avant-garde design using Deconstructionist theory.  Thirty-five follies are spread across the park in a grid organization.  Tschumi's intent was to design  a park that was interactive and each of the cherry red follies has a different way to interact.  The follies are all grid in architectural design, with some having added  features like water for the users to decide how they want to interact with the spaces.

Paris reminds me of San Francisco with its strong diagonals as well as the urban vibe of the people here.  Clothes are subdued in blacks and other neutrals, and everyone (men and women alike) wear scarves.  Kisses are exchanged frequently in this City of Love with old and young lovers oblivious to everyone around them.  There are loads of motorscooters:  saw two grannies jump on one last night which was interesting.

Visited the Pere Lachaise Cemetery and checked out several graves including Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde.  Oscar Wilde's grave was covered with lipstick kisses.  I decided not to add to the grave a la Gum Wall style as it is probably not hygienic.  I've decided that it is easiest to be found in a graveyard if you are on the aisles as this is one crowded place.  Many of the mapped gravesites are for artists:  singers, writers, painters.  How does one choose the grave marker of an artist?  Does it represent their work?  the family's idea of their work?  their essence?

Made a trek through the Cathedral of Notre Dame which was exquisite.  You are supposed to be silent and prayerful, but the many other non-French readers around me were carrying on quite loudly.  The cathedral started construction in the 1100s...Amazing, when everything formally built in California is less than 200 years old.   A walk along the Seine included an exterior visit to the Louvre and looking at the I.M. Pei glass addition, which I have taught, but never seen in person.  It is aligned with the Arc de Triomphe as well as a stolen oblisque.  The route along the Champs Elysees was elegant, but crowded.

Today have mastered how to use the Metro (as all instructions are in French) and am gaining confidence in speaking French.  I can read it, but I have to hope others can understand me....