Paris Day 1

7 December 2013

Today was a full day. We got a typical Askins late start this morning, because we had an equally typical Askins late finish last night. We finally went to sleep about 1:30AM, I got out of bed about 10:30AM. There are no windows in our Paris flat, so it’s hard to get any natural cues to wake up.

Susan found the apartment on CityCozy.com. Cozy is the word. That place took tiny to a new level. You could eat breakfast, eschew last night's dinner (the first "S"), shower, shave and sleep in one spot. We rested standing up, zombie style. That's the downside. The upside was it was only 90€/night and was in the middle of Montmartre, about 200 meters from a Metro stop and 500 meters from some incredible edibles in the Abessess area of Montmartre. SCORE! Really it was cool looking and hip. But not hips, because it wasn't that big. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Katherine has been dying to order 4 croissants. This is the direct result of studying French in Spain, so score one for the terrible parents, who wanted their kids to learn another language and experience different cultures. She and I left together on a hunt for breakfast. We took a left on our street and then a quick right up some stairs that emptied us onto a busy little street full of bakeries, delis and restaurants in the Abessess section of Montmartre. Both of us were like kids in a candy store. We bought food at three different shops, and Katherine did all the ordering. At the bakers’, she ordered croissants, pain du raisin, pain du pomme, and something chocalat. We got a café au lait at another stop and fresh squeezed jus orange at a third place. Tres magnifique!

After a great little breakfast in our flat, we all headed out to Musee d’Orsay. 

This is the red-headed stepchild to the Louvre, which gets all the press. I have to say, however, that I was very impressed with the place. It is a converted rail station, and is beautiful in its own right. They house an incredible collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works, with such heavyweights as Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Cessanne. The Impressionists are my favorite artists. Their art is like eye-candy. It is awe-inspiring to stand in front of an original piece and to discern the brush strokes of the master. You can literally get within about 12 inches of the painting. One thing that was interesting to me was the amount of work many of these artists did together. Paris was an artists’ hotbed for a long time. I’m not sure where that place is now, but one day we’ll have a big museum dedicated to it.

We also visited Musée de l'Orangerie Les Nymphéas, which houses Monet’s magnum opus, Water Lilies. He donated these huge panels to celebrate victory over Germany in World War I. They are set in two adjoining ovular rooms that reminded him of the symbol for infinity. The effect is the feeling of being immersed in the pond amongst the willows and water lilies. The panels are immense, measuring 2 meters by 4 meters each. To make it even more incredible, Monet had double cataracts. He was almost blind. He was totally immersed in his passion, and we are the fortunate beneficiaries.

My favorite pieces of art are the sculptures. Sculpture, to me, is the art form that most closely resembles the work of God. In Genesis, it says,

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

The Hebrew word for “created” is akin to fashioned or formed. God was the original sculptor.

Rodin, Degas and Bourdelle all had some impressive pieces. The best of show was Hercules by Bourdelle. He is wedged between two rocks, pulling back a huge bow. Every muscle is in tension. The shape of his face and the snarl on his lips are like an arrow, poised for flight. I did not like Rodin as much, because he seemed to overemphasize the limbs, making his works look out of proportion. But what do I know? I just read a nice article talking about Rodin.

It seems he would purposefully manipulate the anatomy of a body, to give the impression of movement. Very fascinating stuff. I grew to appreciate sculpture by listening to Willard Jacobs talk about the pieces he had made. Watching him craft busts of my niece and my daughter were incredible. He would literally build up the head from the skull outward, adding layers of clay muscle and tissue. The technical aspect of art is just as interesting as the creative side. It's really the only part of art that I can grasp, since I have no natural talent for it. 

Susan knew so much about each painter from teaching the pre-school art program at Sandhills Classical Christian School. I am continually amazed at her depth and breadth of knowledge. She kept chiming in little facts about the artists and paintings.

After we finished Orangerie, we walked along the Champs Élysées all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. We were all a little googly-eyed by all the stores and lights. 

The girls have been talking about the Eiffel Tower for weeks, and they finally got a good look at it from the Arc. Every hour, it starts twinkling for about 5 minutes, and we got to watch that from the Arc as well.

We finally headed home and hunted down the first restaurant we could find. We exited the Pigalle Metro stop, which is closest to our flat. It is also smack dab in the middle of the Sex in the City district. There is a venue for every stripe. We did find a bar that looked okay and ended up having an incredible meal. Everything works out.

It was an enchanted day.

Cartagena

24 November, 13

A big part of living in Spain is the ability to travel across Europe. Every available weekend we are trying to take a trip somewhere, even if it's only around the corner.

Yesterday we took a flier and looked for a twisty road into the mountains around us. We ended up climbing Carrascoy y El Valle in our little Nissan Micra. I should say we ended up climbing the mountain in our friends' Nissan Micra, which is even better. There wasn't a street per se; more like a road less traveled. Most of the way up, I had to drive in first gear, and that was almost not enough. On a few of the switchbacks, I had to back up and turn more sharply to get up to the next level. Then on the way down, I had to dodge, straddle or pass across big ruts in the road. After we finally got back onto a real road, we stopped at the nearest gas station restaurant and had a surprisingly good meal. I ate some kind of rabbit thing with garlic and potatoes. I think it's called Conejo al Salmorejo. There is no Spanish fast food. Other cultures have come in to try to fill that space, but the Spanish people are mostly resistant to the allure of poorly made, homogenized, fat-laden, chemically preserved, mass-processed food. They are so behind the times.

We had already planned a trip today to Cartagena with Julio and his family. Cartagena was founded around 227 BC, which makes it pretty old, even by Spanish standards. It has been an important port city for much of that time. Several different empires have left their marks--Roman, Goth, Visigoth, and a whole host of North African Muslim kingdoms.

Cartagena is only about 45 minutes away from La Alberca and is part of the region of Murcia. This is a touchy subject for the people of Cartagena, who want to be autonomous or else be the chief city in Murcia. They call Murcianos "barrigas verdes" or green bellies, because Murcia is an agricultural center. Murcianos call Cartageneros, "aladroques", which is basically a crapfish, due to their coastal locale. 

We toured a few maritime museums. Julio was very proud of the "first submarine" in history, which was invented by a Spanish guy in the 1880's. I had to inform him that the CSS Hunley predated his country's submarine by twenty years. He was disabused but handled it well. The Spanish version did have a working torpedo, so that was significant. 

After visiting the museums, we met up with some of Julio and Toñi's friends, who are from Cartagena. We are here to have a robust cultural exchange, so I am constantly looking for opportunities to engage in conversation with the natives. We walked into a bar to get something to eat, and I told Lola, their friend, that I really loved to eat fish. This made her really happy, since Cartagena is known for its seafood. I told her I especially liked "aladroques" and that I heard Cartagena was famous for them. She looked at me. Then she looked at Julio. Then she commenced to dog-cussin' both of us. I am not sure of every word spoken, but I am fairly certain most of them would not make it past a TV censor back in the States. That was fun. After she calmed down, we all had a big laugh. Cultural exchange. Check.

We also got to see a magnificent Roman amphitheater that is still used today. It seats about 6,000 people. I was having a good time imagining the Cartagena premier of Oedipus Rex or some other Greek tragedy. I got Julio to quote a little Cervantes, but he wouldn't belt it out like a Roman or Greek actor. Stage fright.