Fin

Well, I've been back in the States for about 36 hours or so now, which brings my lovely international blogging to a close for now at least. I hope all of you enjoyed my adventures, I know I did! Hopefully Ill talk to and or see most of you very soon!

Ciao!

Up in the Mountains

For our last full day out, Helen and I rented a car for the day and instead of staying coastal, we headed up into the mountains. The views were spectacular. By the time we started to head back down and out, we had made it pretty far into the Maritime Alpes area. Here's some sneak peeks!

Pro Time!

Just got word that one of my drawings (this pretty one to the left here) has SOLD!! Some wonderful lady bought it for her daughter and will be coming to pick it up on Friday afternoon (after I have already relocated to the airport terminal probably). But still great news to receive. I feel like a pro now. :-D

Portanier Studio visit

This morning, we were able to meander down the hill where we had an appointment for a meet and greet at the studio of Gilbert Portanier. Both him and his wife were extremely nice and we were able to tour both his personal gallery and studio space (which was room upon room). He has been a potter for about sixty years now and the space and work was pretty incredible.

Molto Bene

Yesterday we hopped back on the train into Italy, this time to a town called Imperia. We had to get our last fill of Italia before our time on the Cote d'Azur comes to an end.

Another beautiful day on the water, just a tad windy. It wasn't quite as beachy of season in Italy yet as it seems to have gotten to in France, but the influx of people for the Cannes Film Festival might be to blame for that as well.

Talk about making you feel small. This church was quite impressive, inside and out.

What's a trip to Italy without a little food porn, Spaghetti with pomodoro, pesto, pancetta, yummmm. Oh and some fresh calamari, lightly fried on the side. Finished the day off with gelato of course.

Ambitious adventures

Bright and early yesterday morning, we hopped a bus to train to a tram to a bus up a mountain to La Turbie to see Trophy of the Alps (apparently only 1 of 2 Roman Trophy monuments left in the world). It was pretty spectacular to see it and learn the history of it.

Helen fell in the abyss! It was a bit foggy, but apparently on a clear day you can see a good amount of the coast and further into the hills and mountain, but as you can see there wasnt too much of a view except the fog.

I was going to feed them, but I figured it wasnt the same as a petting zoo.

We had climbed up the hill via the town of Nice, but we decided to take the descent route into Monaco. Unfortunately, it was not only Sunday, but it was also the weekend of one of the Grand Prix races so a good portion of the town was closed off to traffic. We did get some good sneak peeks at the racers and the racecars a couple times though, which was pretty cool. I started to pull out he camera through the stair crack, but the security guard didnt seem to be a fan of that plan.

We managed to maneuver away from the chaos and down to the coast. Still amazing as ever though.

We finished the day off with some crepes in Nice and some wandering around the old town area. We did actually make it successfully on to a train home that night, by the way.

Climbing Nice

So the day after the "stuck in Nice and had to take a taxi" night, we returned to Nice with a better check-up on the train schedule. It was a GORGEOUS day and I was cringing about the fact that I did not bring my bathing suit because the water looked like a bathtub. (SIDE NOTE: I did go swimming the following day which was an even NICEr day than the previous so worth the wait).

Anyways, we saw some stairs leading up a hill and ended up touring a Chateau/old fortress thing with a view of Nice and Ville France. Consisted of lots of stairs, great views, a little park, a waterfall, cafe, more scenic touring, etc, etc. We rewarded our trek with gelato afterwards.

TA-DAH!

So we did it! Our gallery opened on Saturday morning with a great turnout! We had a beautiful 80 degree and sunny day. The show came out fantastic and the collaboration of all of our work in the same space played off each other nicely. Had some wine, made some new friends, good conversation and beautiful weather. All in all a successful day! Eight drawings of mine were shown in this gallery and the ninth drawing is hanging in the second gallery near the AIR Vallauris office.

Good Karma, Good People

So Helen and I went off another adventure and took the train to the main area of Nice for the evening, we had a nice stroll on the boardwalk, ate some dinner, found some nightlife, ate some ice cream and headed back to the train station. We discovered much to our dismay that there was not another train back towards Vallauris until 5am!!! We had sworn there was at least two more that night to come still.

So what did we do?

Well, we got in a car with a stranger. After promises of free candy and puppies we told the taxi driver where we needed to go knowing we would still have a hike home. It turned out we were bit short in the cash area which we informed him immediately. He waved it off and proceeded to drop us off where we asked for the amount we did have. We started our trek home and within 5 minutes he pulled up next to us having realized we still had a good walk in the dark ahead of us and told us to get back in.

The very nice gentleman who drove that taxi dropped us off in Vallauris for no further charge, knowing he had already cleaned us out. Bottomline, there are still good people out there and I guess good karma does exist. Merci beaucoup, Monsieur!

Sneak Peek Time

Hey Folks, now is the time you have all been waiting for. The first is showing how all of the drawings will be framed for the gallery. Note some of the photos are cropped details of the drawing, but all are the same 30x40cm standard European size. More photos to come soon. ENJOY!

Side Notes

So the gallery show will open this coming Saturday, 12 May. I will have successfully finished 10 drawings for the series by the end of the day. I am currently in the editing of the photos process and will spend tomorrow and Thursday framing and prepping for the show. I know some of you are wanting to see what my artsy side has been up to while I've been here so I will be posting some sneak peeks soon as well photos from the show over the weekend.

Parisian Adventures (part two)

Notre Dame left me literally speechless, but considering they wanted silence during your visit inside, it worked out pretty well. It amazes me the detail in the architecture that they achieved 850 years ago, but you would never see something like this done modern time.

Side view of Notre Dame from across the river. Still Whoa.

Climbed the Arche de Triumphe on Saturday evening (right before it started pouring rain thankfully). On my way back out and down Av. de Champs Elysees I also got to see them marching up to the arch in preparation for the parade on Tuesday to celebrate the WWII victory day. There was a marching band and soldiers shooting off rifles. Not too shabby.

The trip up to the top of the Arch is all stairs. The main part up the column winds around in a tight spiral. Got a bit dizzy after about 10 rounds.

One of the stereotypical views from the top. Gotta love it though. there are 12 other streets that lead off as well. What a view. As we all know I'm way too impatient for the line for the Eiffel Tower though so this was my better choice.

Best Falafel everrrrr. The La Marais neighborhood was really great to wander around in. Lots of quaint little places, a couple parks, another Picasso museum, patisseries galore!

I also stumbled into a GIGANTIC outdoor market next to the Bastille Monument. They had pretty much everything from goat cheese, meat, veggies/fruits, pizza, more falafel, chinese food, clothing, jewelry, souvenirs, etc.

PARIS &$%!@

So I took about 300 photos during my 48 hours in Paris, but I won't subject you to all of that and will stick to the main highlights I know some of you are anxiously awaiting (cough, Shannon).

I spent my Friday afternoon getting my bearings of the area. I wandered down to the Concorde (amazing), the Tulieries (beautiful), the Louvre courtyards (spectacular), the Musee d'Armees, and....

....DUN DUN DUN the Eiffel Tower (when it actually hit me that I was really IN Paris). I got a bit of a tourguide into the not touristy Montmarte area at night, which was a much needed break.

Sacre Coure was pretty freaking unbelievable, but holy crap tourists. The architecture just blew my mind, it was incredible. I was glad this was the first stop on Saturday morning, by the time I left it was swarming. About 5 living statues were floating around too. That got a bit confusing a couple of times.

This is the gate to the Palais de Justis. Whoa. I gotta say that's the thing about these places in Paris, no holds barred. Gold and gold plated!

More to come. I'll fill you in with the rest of the pictures tonight or something. It's gorgeous here today so we're heading to Cannes to enjoy the sunshine and pick up a couple things. Ciao!

Food Porn: Parisian Style

I decided the food I ate this weekend required it's own post separate from my tourist scenic photos. So watch for those as well, but in the meantime be jealous of the epic nomming.

Dinner in Montmarte on Friday night = delicious salad called "Week-end A Rome" = Bliss

I ATE ESCARGO! (KARIN ATE SNAILS!) It's true, it happened. I ate the poor snails. They were covered in pesto and butter and were actually quite tasty. Pure protein apparently. Next step, frog legs......still up for debate though.

Lunch on Saturday occurred adjacent to the Notre Dame at this adorable Cafe. Cappucino and a "Croque Madame", plus a very friendly Norwegian couple for chatting.

Saturday night dinner = Creperie!! Empanada Crepe for dinner, and Apple Flambee Style Crepe for dessert.

Parisian Macarons! Kat, be jealous. These were lemon and by far the best. There were window displays full of them all over La Marais. I was in heaven.

Lunday before my train on Sunday involved Falafel at apparently the best falafel place in Paris (and was by far the best falafel I've ever eaten). There were lines down the street for both seating and take-away, but definitely worth it.