In Paris, upgraded to the upper deck to get us out of those God awful emergency row seats down below.  Very comfortable.  Ahhhhhhhh. Touchdown at 6:15p pm...Boston...7.5 hour flight.

This is a picture from the center of Devil's Bridge looking at a restaurant in the upper right...you can see the patio chairs. The garden below the restaurant is where the chef grows what he serves. Unfortuately for us, it was just after the mid day serving was closed until 5.

The travel books say the Olargue (o LAR gah) is one of France's most picturesque towns.  This stone town built by the Romans certainly has the most cats.  Plus, going from the town hall to the inner parts of the town makes one feel like a mountain goat. May must not be season yet as the town was completely void of people.  It was the 2 hour lunch time, but we met only one shop owner in a one hour exploration of the town. The second picture was a sample of a Rue in the town...that wasn't going up or down. The third picture is from one of the cliffs above the town...looking down at Devil's Bridge...a structure built by the town inhabinants in the 13th century.

....and desert....for 60 Euros!

People who followed a religious practice which the Roman Catholic church believed to be heretical are referred to as Cathers (CAT-tars).  I think they must have been medieval hippies.  They didn't like the feudal system or the role the Church had in society.  Of course the church couldn't take this sitting down. During the Inquisition, the Cathers we're persecuted. There is a trail that follows the Aude river that is associated with the Cathers. Along this route are castles from the 12th century that is connected to this religious group. Best I can tell, some of the Fathers were Lord's who owned these castles and during the Inquisition, they were attacked and the Lord's list their holdings. This castle is in Argues just west of Couiza. The spiral stone stairs between the four floors in the tower are original...The iron railing was added when it was restored. Amazing these stairs are cut by hand and set stop one another...and they still function....who needs engine...

I'm the heart of the city...what was the Roman city...stands the Colosseum...or Arena, as referred to today.  Built by the Romans in the 1st or 2nd century AD, the arena still is used commercially for concerts and bull fights. What do cool. You walk down these narrow streets full of contemporary shops and as you turn the corner, there stands a nearly 2000 year old structure. (First Picture)

(Blogger lost the post associated with the pictures...so again) South of the city of Carcassonne is the small town of Couiza. Just south of Couiza is the Rennes-le-Chateau built on top of a hill. It is associated with the Dan Brown book about alledged, secret Roman Catholic events. The church is a bit strange with the devil holding the baptisamal fountain.  Over the door reads..."Terrible Ici"...(picture in previous post) I'm 1909 a priest came to the small church and without any visible means he purchased land adjacent to the church and began to build the chateau. When he was defrocked...no big deal, he just went next door to his chateau. The myth is that this priest found evidence of Jesus traveling to France and having a family with Magdeline.  Using this info, he blackmailed the church.

Damn Mobile Blogger...it keeps losing my posts....tomorrow! OK...next morning...Let's try this again. Carcassonne is a city the lies between Touloues and where we are staying. Just outside the city is the medieval ruins of Carcassonnne that date back to the Romans. If you google Carcassonne you will get better info than I can provide. In the 12th century it was further fortified with a second wall. In the last of the pictures below you see the higher medieval wall on the right, and a smaller wall on the left with a gravel area between.  The wall on the left is the newer wall...the rampart. Since it is built on a hill, the picture is deceiving. The rampart is probably 30 to 4o feet high...and then the medieval fortress stands behind that...so the gravel walking area is 40 feet above the city below. I'm the early 20th century, a forward thinking gentleman began to restore the medieval fortress and inner city. There are a few private residence, but it mostly it consists of res...

Our female, British accented, GPS took us to Carcossonne using local roads and not the A61 motorway.  What a treat. Two lane roads that pass many vinyards and beautiful wineries...tree lined sections of road where the branches form a canopy over the roadway...quaint small villages.  One had to share the road with bicycle tourista and farm implements....and if you didn't stay the speed limit of 90 km/hour...you would be passed by all manner of vehicles.  Out little VW Gulf passed with the best of them!!!!  Fun.

On the way into Carcassonne, I found this cute little fixer-upper.  Perhaps our next homestead?

The home we are staying at in Autignac has no Wi-Fi or cell service.  I will be writing a number of post and during the day, when I can find either service, I will upload the most. Merci Beaucoup

Ah yes, driving in France.  We rented a VW gulf with a TomTom GPS.  We had a problem with the GPS and my Google Maps fighting one another getting out of Toulouse, but eventually we made it to the motorway. 2.5 hours later, going 130 km/h we arrived at the house. Very nice 3 bedroom, typical old French home in the center of the city. The roads are no wider than a driveway in the states... small cars, you have to love em.  We were exhausted from traveling, but we did find the market on the way in.  Wine, cheese and bread for dinner.  We had our full of that day...off to bed.

From Giverny we traveled to Versailles, the site of Louis XIV palace and gardens. My impression: Lou was a small minded man who thought if he built grand surroundings, he himself would be grand. He'll, he even called himself the Sun King...as if he would bring light and enlightenment into the world. In 1661 he took 1000 acres in Versailles that his father and court liked to hunt, and converted the site of a hunting lodge into a grand Palace.  He hired architects, painters, sculptors and other artisans to great a new capitol if France. All of for show (IMO).  He may have thought it splendid, but it reminded me of a 21st century nuevo rich person that instead of building a home with originality and design principles he/she has acquired through the years, copies what he/she has seen elsewhere. Example...there is a statue of Lou that has him dressed as a Roman soldier...as if this were a part of his past.  What at farce...and I'm sure the good people of France new it as a fa...

Train travel is so common in France, it seems...the travelers and rail operators are so laid back...you see loved ones at the train platform seeing their friends and lovers off to the train.  They are allowed to stand by the train, by the window while the passenger is settled in their seat. The passenger behind us was even escorted on the train by her friend at Ausyerlizt this morning Paris...and she just casually left the train before it departed. How civil is that...clean, new cars...and no hassles. 

Mobile Blogger doesn't like pictures or videos on my camera, so I created a link to my drop box file.  Enjoy https://www.dropbox.com/s/v9ftnligz2t7k0x/0509151521%20%281%29.mp4?dl=0 Sorry for the small text.....blogger!$@&#

We boarded a tour bus early Sunday morning to follow two former Parisians out of Paris; King Louis XIV and Claude Monet.  Both left Paris for different reasons...and their departure had different results. Our first stop would be at the restored home, gardens and waterlily pond of Claude Monet.  After the death of his first wife, Monet sought out a more peaceful place to dwell and paint. He found the small town of Giverny in Normandy, France and rented a home there in 1883. He purchased the home a few years later and moved his two sons and six step children (wife #2) to the home. He lived and painted there until his death in 1926. Many of his paintings are of the gardens and ponds. His son Michel eventually came to own the home but was disinterested in keeping the gardens (probably because dad made him weed then as a boy). Upon Michel's death in 1966, the home, garden's and waterlily pond was given to the French Academy of Fine Arts, which is very ironic. It was this same aca...

The excesses of the Roman Catholic church has never sat well with me, but as an archectural building, Notre Dame is one heck of a building.  As I learned today it began its life in early 1100 and took 200 and some odd years to build. As one walked into the oldest part of the cathedral, one understands the political and religious pull the clergy would have on it parishioners.  The size of the building would create the sense of power the clergy lusted for...plus the sheer size made the parishioner feel small and insignificant...just as clergymen would prefer. Before going into Notre Dame, we visted the crypts. Not really a crypt in the sense that people were buried there, but an archiological exhibit of Paris. In 1964 an underground car park was to be built at Notre Dame.  Instead, the found archilogical evidence of Paris from the 1st century. Instead of the car park, they created an exhibit that is now under a plaza in front of the cathedral.  (This plaza was were t...

What could be better? On one side they baked the bread and made sandwichs and small bites of goodness.  On the other side the sold the goodies... jumbo baguette with brie and shaved ham...4,50 Euros. Breakfast!

I figured out posting with pictures. (one has to select pictures first). The picture with the white some on the background provides a sense of the shadow the Basillica caste on the district. The other picture is of the century old vineyard in the district. Own by a neighboring monestary, the vineyard is only opened twice a year. The make a few gallons of wine from this vineyard, but have been doing this for hundreds of years.

Dali worked and lives for a time in Montemarte. For a few Euros one can visit a museum of his art. I'm not certain, but it might be the largest collection of his assembled.  One walks away with either the opinion he was a genius, or a very tortured soul.

After nearly ten house of sleep, we were ready for our first full day in Paris. We hopped aboard the open air tour bus and rode the bus to Montemarte, the district on a hill crowned by the Basillica of the Sacred Heart. Impressive building. You can learn more about it at this link http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacr%C3%A9-C%C5%93ur,_Paris The neighborhood is known for its life night and the numerous artists of the 19th century that lived and worked in the area.  Artists still display their talents on the streets behind the Basillica. Blogger mobile doesn't allow me to attach pictures to a blog post...or I'm doing something wrong.  Pictures later.

When traveling from the US east to Europe, one needs a game plan.  Ours is always to stay awake as long as we can the first day. We had landed in Paris at 9:30am. The Roussey Bus from the Charles du Gaulle airport is 60 minutes.  It is an express bus from the airport to the Paris Opera (what a magnificent bldg...more on that later). By the time arrived at the Opera building and walked the 5 minutes to the hotel (we didn't know where we were going so it took us 10 minutes) it was 11:30am. The best news was the hotel had upgraded the room and it was available. After a shower and change of clothes, we hopped into a open air, double decker tour bus. We spent the afternoon watching Paris go by from the top deck. I snoozed as we drove the Avenue de Champs-Elleesy. The traffic was horrible...but I did catch a few needed minutes to stay going. My first impression of Paris: "OK, now I get it." The archicture is so beautiful as it is impressive...the connection between archictur...

On domestic US flights the exit aisles are the most sought after seats due to their leg room. I was happy to have been able to reserve two of these seats on our flight from Boston to Paris.  I couldn't have been more disappointed.  First, on this particular jumbo jet, there is no overhead storage above the seats...and none under the seats in front, as you are seated in a bulk head. The exit row has to share the overhead storage with the row behind.  Air France could care less about this fact. They don't give passengers seated in exit rows the courtesy of boarding the flight early to store luggage. Second the seats were the most uncomfortable I have ever been in. I didn't expect that they would recline...for some reason even when the seat would be reclining away..not into the exit area...airlines don't recline these seats.  The seat just was gawd-awful...small, width wise and underpadded. Then the exit row we were seated in was right next to the galley, which was a...

In 1974 I spent $175.00 for a brand new potter's wheel.  It was a lot of money for a college graduate without a high paying job, but I was interested in upgrading from a stand up, homemade treadle wheel that was gifted to me right after high school.  I researched types of wheels.  I looked at buying a kick wheel kit and casting my own fly wheel. But I didn't want to deal with the weight and I was still living in apartments. Creative Industries had the cheapest electric wheel on the market at the time and that tipped the scale. 40+ years later, five relocations and hundreds and hundreds pounds of clay, the wheel looked like this. The wheel has been a real work horse.  The only maintenance I have done on this wheel for the past 40 years is a little cleaning and greasing the wheel bearing's through the zerk fitting. When the photo was taken I was deep into making. There was one problem with this wheel that was a constant; the splash pan.  It was merely a hor...

NCECA (pronounced (n-SEE-ka) is an annual conference primarily targeted for ceramic art educators. It also attracts the attention of people within all strata of the "clay community".  The last NCECA that I attended was in Baltimore a number of years ago.  Due to work schedules and other responsibilities, this year I could only attend for one day, Friday, March 27th. My first impression was, "wow. there are a lot of students and young people that are in, or entering the clay art profession and/or clay community."  I attributed this thought to the fact that Providence, RI is within an hours drive of Boston and within that radius there are hundreds of colleges and universities.  Plus, the ceramic art culture is comparitively strong in the Northeast of the US. There are a few "program tracks", but I would categorize the two main tracks as academic (lectures on art history, education, criticism, etc) and process (technique).  I was concentrated on the secon...