It Is All About the Stories--People Part II

Before I travel I tend to collect a few books of fiction and non-fiction on the place I am going to visit.  I involve myself in the idiomatic expressions, the geography that molded the history of the country, the foods that are most traditional and I try to see what makes the people laugh.  I read one Gertrude Stein book on the people of Paris, but did not find it enlightening.  She refuses to use commas, which can be a distraction for someone, like me, that uses commas like salt.  I also read the novel "The Paris Architect" which I mentioned in a prior post.  It is a fictional account of two very different French sisters that found themselves fighting the Nazis from within their own limited world of that time.

Stop for a minute and think back to when you were 18 years old.  Imagine waking up to a war in your country.  Imagine your father leaving to fight that war and not seeing him for 9 years.  Imagine blackouts, bombings and ration cards.  This prologue leads me to writing about the people one meets on a cruise.

One of the best experiences on these cruises is the open table where you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with other passengers.  You can avoid people to some extent, but the true pleasure is meeting and talking to people who have lived very interesting, long lives and are strong survivors of those lives and are in a great mood because they are on a travel vacation!  (Even an introvert like me gets sucked into the small talk.)

This lady wearing the red scarf above was on the cruise.  She was always dressed to the nines.  Earrings, several bracelets, finely knit sweaters, etc.  She stood about five feet tall and was full of energy and enthusiasm.  She was 80-something and traveling alone. She was also very religious as I saw the time she almost missed the bus because she forgot her audio guide machine she crossed herself while rushing back to her cabin. One evening as we sat at one of the round tables she asked to join us for dinner.  Oddly I had not noticed her on this trip until this time.  Her accent was unusual and while she spoke clearly I had to lean in carefully to understand her.  Asking enough questions I slowly got her life story.

She had owned and helped run a cattle ranch in Ohio.  She even raised meat for the Cincinnati Zoo.  She talked about the price of beef on the hoof and the hard work ranching entailed.  When I asked where she was from originally she said France!  (I thought about it and realized that her accent was a version of French, but after decades in the U.S., not easily identifiable.)

She smiled and said that she had fallen in love with a U.S. soldier when just a teenager in France during WWII.  She and her mother and sister were trying to survive while her father had gone to fight the war and they feared he had become a POW.  She married the U.S. soldier while in France and lived in France with her mother and the soldier where he was stationed for several years.  Late one evening there was a knock at her door.  Although the Germans had fled and the war was almost over, she and her mother were afraid to open the door.  Then they recognized the voice.  It was her father!  They had not seen or heard from him for nine years.  She said she almost did not recognize him when she opened the door as he had lost so much weight and was so bruised and weak.  I cannot imagine the emotional reunion, repeated many times across Europe.

Later when her husband was called back she moved with him to the U.S. only to find he was not the man she thought.  He was cruel and demanding and she eventually divorced.  Perhaps the war had changed him more than they both knew until he was back home.  (I did not know at the time she told this story that she was Catholic, but I should have expected as she was French.)  She tells of meeting  another soldier whom she marries and they went on to Ohio to ranching and that is where she spent the rest of the decades of her life. (A lot of the best story of her life is unquestionably during these times.)  She was most certainly a survivor, one for whom the twists and turns of life were just a dance move to be mastered.   She is now a widow and said that, at the end of the cruise, she was going to visit her married sister who still lived in France. 

On these two cruises we met many people of interest and perhaps in the next post I will touch on a few more.

People---Part 1

The next few posts are about the people.  Without that ingredient, travel becomes solid food without wine or dessert.  The first group of people we dealt with on a daily basis were the Viking crew members.  These people are endlessly polite, happy, caring, and even understand English on a basic level.  Their wages are unknown to me, but since staff attitude is one of the primary ingredients that allows Viking to charge so much for their cruises, I am guessing that is why passengers are encouraged to add a generous tip.  Staff treat you as if they depend upon you, and perhaps, they do!   In 2015 Viking (which is Swiss) announced it was going to change all pay to Euros which resulted in a 13% pay cut.  They are blaming this on the minimum wage law in Germany which includes staff on vessels.  Odd since most of the income comes in pounds or U.S. dollars!  I did not know about this until I returned and did some research.  I would not have changed my purchase, though, I am considering writing a letter.

This sweet lady worked behind the desk and we later found she was married to the Chef, who himself was a handful!

 

 

Here is her husband guiding us through an oyster tasting.

Viking is based in Basil and handles 40 river vessels and 2,000 staff.  They are now adding ocean vessels to the mix (I will most likely never take one of those as I hate big cruise ships). I do know that the upper level staff work about 3 months on and then 2 or 3 weeks off.  They are on 24 hour call, so eventually need such a break.  I am guessing it is unpaid leave?  But I do not know.  Higher level staff are paid decent wages, it is those that work in the bowels of the ship, which are of concern to us all.

Think about having a job where you must be polite to stupid elderly Americans that forget what you told them, do not read their brochure and booklets carefully, assume they can walk cobbled streets and in some cases (a future post) are privileged enough to feel that staff should behave as personal servants expecting perfection and in other cases (perhaps a future post) drink too much and miss the boat.  These staff earn it!

During one of our mooring experiences I saw the woman crew member rushing off and decided to follow and get pictures.  These are for Mage who loves the operations on ships.  This gal (no spring chicken) tried twice to throw the bow line over the dock pipe without a using any pole.  Photos taken from inside the terrace room windows!

She threw twice and failed to capture both side hooks on the mooring bollard.  Immediately the big "guy" shows up to assist.  They seemed to be speaking in German.  He took the rope from her with an air of confidence.

I am sure he thought he was going to do it better than she, but after four failed attempts he looked up and smiled at me and I politely quit taking photos and went back to my wine.  We must have eventually gotten docked correctly as we soon disembarked for our afternoon tour.

Next a post on other people.

Friday June 6

Enough about Paris!  After all, I did cruise on not only one but three rivers during this two week trip.  The weather cooperated nicely.  A little rain, a bit too cool for my tastes, but lots of interesting skies for photos.  We did "do" Versailles and the Louvre, both so overwhelming in their size and exotic nature and huge crowds!!  So, I won't bore you with photos.  These are places to return to on colder days when the crowds are smaller---if that ever happens in my life.

How about a sad and thought-provoking experience to share and one of the primary reasons we chose this particular cruise?  The beaches of Normandy.  Our cruise company took us to the American cemetery early one day before the crowds, and held a small ceremony playing both the U.S. national anthem (Brits and Canadians had a separate tour) and Taps and gave us each a rose to place on any grave we wished among the 9,387 crosses that stood starkly against the green.  Absolutely no one was dry eyed that time and very few could sing the anthem!  So many brave young men who gave their lives to save our lives from a wave of horror that spread across Europe.  My father was in North Africa a few weeks after this invasion and was one of those moving up through Italy sweeping the Nazis back.  It was only the luck of the draw that he lived to come home and share in the freedom that he and others had fought for.

The veterans were called to come to the front so that we could honor their service.  Yes, we were all the old folks.  Our French guide thanked us for fighting to free his country and hubby later went up to thank him for his countrymen and their role in ensuring our revolution's success.

liberty equality fraternity

Just a few yards away were the bodies of so many souls and a debt we can only repay by continuing to make sure our freedoms are safe.  The names of 1,557 Americans who lost their lives in the Normandy campaign but could not be located and/or identified are inscribed on the walls of a semicircular garden at the east side of the memorial.

We also stopped at the German bunkers where Naziis had watched the landing and even delayed their response waiting for orders from a higher command.

Above is the Statue Les Braves.  "The Wings of Hope ---So that the spirit which carried these men on 6th June 1944, continues to inspire us, reminding us that together it is always possible to change the future.  Rise of Freedom ---So that the example of those who rose up against barbarity, helps us remain standing strong against all forms on inhumanity.  The Wings of Fraternity---So that the surge of brotherhood always reminds of our responsibility towards others as well as ourselves."

And that event in history was today June 6 back in 1944.

Once a Limit of 122 Feet

Prior to my trip to France I read The Paris Architect which was a novel more about WWII and the Nazis in Paris and how an architect handled that time and less about architecture in itself.  It was a good read, if not a great read.  But it helped me realize how important architecture was to the Parisians.

According to one article that I read, French architecture is a gradual movement touching on all eras:  Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Rocco, Neo-Classical, Empire, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modern, Post-Modern, and Contemporary Architecture.  From my quick view of Paris and the rest of the country, this was certainly true. 

Paris began as a Roman city called Lutetia.  But this architecture, while found in other places in France, was pretty much destroyed in Paris as the Roman empire fell.  The medieval period was chaos with no plan for design in the city.  Then came the revival of Paris in the Renaissance period with the introduction of Italian architecture.  Much was done under Henry IV who some say was the earliest town planner.  It was not until the 1600s that Paris began to devise its own classical style with a hint of romanticism.  If I had time and more money I would spend months in Paris just studying the architecture.

One of my readers asked about high rise structures in the capital.  The high rise shown in one of my prior photos is the Tour Montparnasse,  built over 40 years ago, and most agree that it is the most hated building in Paris.  It is ugly, bold, and out of place.  A 2008 international poll named it the world's second ugliest building.  "planned developments are pushing up to levels where they will be visible across large sections of the city. The Norman Foster and Partners-designed Hermitage Plaza, expected to be completed in 2019, will consist of twin towers taller than London’s Shard, currently Europe’s tallest building, but just shorter than the Eiffel Tower. A mixed development combining offices and shops with apartments, its Russian developer says it will resolve what he sees as Paris's lack of luxury property compared to New York and Miami."  Times are changing and Paris is beginning to allow high rises into the city, especially in places where the structures are becoming ugly in age.  It is a slippery slope in my opinion, but money drives everything.

The foreground of this historic area in the photo above does leave something to be desired in terms of architecture.

" Paris currently has office vacancy rates of over 7 percent, as companies reject high rent levels in the city core to relocate farther out in the Paris region. What Paris needs more of may not be taller, shinier spaces to rent out but customers for vacant spaces that already exist, plus improved transport links to get to them (La Défense’s metro and train links aren’t the best)."

And, below, where our boat was docked, right next to a new shopping center and yet just a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower...how convenient.

Icons

I find my reaction to iconic landmarks/art varies over the years as I get my chance to see them.  I was overwhelmed when I first saw the pyramids in Egypt and my knees trembled, but I was also still in my 30s and a newbie to the world.  Seeing the temple of Borobudur in Indonesia was impressive and sad understanding how religious zealotry never wins in its path of destruction over something so ancient.  Seeing the paintings in Uffizi in Florence brought tears to my eyes in inspiration as these were the first really classic works of art I had seen up close.  Yet, the older I become, the more jaded I guess I get, but if you are at a place for the first time with no certainty of returning, you have to see the icons.  I was certainly excited to see the Eiffel Tower, but I also realized I may not be as impressed as I had hoped.  It was crowded, very crowded, with long lines buying tickets to go to the first level or buying more expensive tickets to go to the very top---and yes, you can walk it for free!  With the global terrorism permeating all that we touch, there were lots of guards and security gates and bag checks.  This is one reason I went to the top.  Who can imagine what idiot religious zealot would damage this structure in such a way that it would be closed for some time to come!  We were in line most of an hour, but the wait was worth it. (Click on photos for a closer experience.)

I used to think 1950's culture and Audrey Hepburn romances, etc. when I saw photos of this structure.

The reality is tired and bored guards waiting to go through our stuff, but a very festive mood among the crowd including one rather portly teenage French boy dressed in black slacks, white shirt, beret and fake mustache with artistic easel in hand---but I failed to get a photo. "After Gustave Eiffel experiments in the field of meteorology, he began to look at the effects of wind and air resistance, the science that would later be termed aerodynamics, which has become a large part of both military and commercial aviation as well as rocket technology. Gustave Eiffel imagined an automatic device sliding along a cable that was stretched between the ground and the second floor of the Eiffel Tower."

This is a rather handsome bust of the famous architect.  "The architect, Gustave Eiffel, an innovator in iron design, had worked previously on bridges, the west train station in Budapest and the framework for the Statue of Liberty. He watched his biggest project to date go up like a gigantic work of Lego: 18,038 pieces of iron were fitted together with 2.5 million rivets by more than 100 workmen who functioned almost like acrobats and stuntmen. Not one man lost his life during the construction."

Long lines waited ahead to ride the last elevator to the top if you purchased the more expensive ticket which we did.

...But what a view!!   And it reminds me, as it should, of Washington D.C.

Above you can see the Left and Right banks of the Seine.  Do not ask me which was which.  The river is not very clean in appearance, but there were no smells.  We were high enough to see the curve of the earth.

With binoculars you could watch a soccer game, although why so many are on the field I do not know!

The boat in the photo below moving in the center was the size of our cruise vessel and you can see how sometimes the height of the river closes the cruises that cannot pass under bridges and you must go by bus.

And, as in any good tourist place, there are many wanting to take your money in exchange for souvenirs.  These folks appeared to be from North Africa...Algerians?

This was one of my favorite views as I love that butt!!  Yes, I am getting weird in my old age.

And, of course one must have a romantic photo.  A quick and data filled video on the construction of this tower can be found at this link that follows next.  (http://www.history.com/topics/eiffel-tower)

Boats and Ships

Since this was a river cruise we spent most of our time near the water and the first two days docked in Paris.  Thus, our walk to the Eiffel Tower took us past many water vehicles.

With the cost of renting in Paris, I think it is safe to assume that most of these boats are full time homes.  In some cases they have places to park their cars above the river, but in most cases they do not.  All kinds of people live on these boats...blue collar workers and professionals.  Fees range from 1,000 Euros annually to above 5,000 the closer to the center of Paris.

Clearly some of these boats NEVER move, or do not move far.

This one above looks roomy and gloomy with no windows.

This deck is covered in patio furniture for an evening of wine and socializing.  Of course, these photos belie the loads of maintenance and work that is required on a boat!

Finally after a number of blocks walking and peeping into the lives of the water people we reached the famous Tower and this was my first real view!

Arriving in Paris

One city is very much like another city, the only difference can be found in places in Asia where the pollution controls are less severe and you arrive at your hotel with burning eyes and a sore throat and a film of dirt on everything.  Paris was certainly not like that.  Rare in smells of diesel or gas fumes, clear air and navigating traffic that seemed manageable.  (I have a theory on this which I will share in another post.)  As you can see below, leaving the airport was a fairly smooth event.

My first glimpses of the city were from our bus as we headed to our boat anchored on the Seine.  We were lucky to get a front seat so that I could snap away in my jet-lagged mode.

No recession visible in all this bustling construction!  Looked like a convention of cranes.  The new architecture of Paris was both ugly and lovely depending on your style.  The French are not afraid to try anything and everything and it is usually loved or hated, but rarely ignored.  I will try to remember to show some of the more interesting buildings.

While I kept my eyes peeled for the Eiffel Tower, wondering how large it would appear, the Arc de Triumph was the first landmark we actually reached.  And, as you can see from above, the traffic in the center of the city became much more congested but always seemed to be moving.  Twenty percent of the population lives in the Paris region.

We finally arrived at are our ship which was moored among lots of other boats of all shapes and sizes.  Rivers still play a major role in France and 24 exceed 180 miles in length.   We found, to our joy, we were a short walking distance to the Eiffel Tower which you can see competing for attention with the lamp post on the right!  Since we were staying here the first two nights, that meant at least one visit to the big structure.  More about that in the next post.  

Terra Firma

Back and almost among the living.
Got up at 4:00 A.M. Avignon, France time, luggage outside the cabin by 5:00 and off the ship and onto the shuttle bus by 6:00.
Arrived at Marseille airport at 7:30.
Air France plane left at 10:45 AM.
Arrived at Amsterdam for our KLM transfer at 1:30 and they finally left around 2:15.
Our landing had been delayed one hour by a nasty storm cell that we flew around.  We were in one of those JUMBO airplanes that only the physicists/engineers in their wisdom allow to fly.

Huge lines as we went through passport control in the U.S.East Coast, IAD.  Huge lines as we went through baggage claim.  Huge lines as we went through customs.  I have never seen IAD so packed!  It was 11:00 P.M. our time now (although something like 5:00 P.M. U.S. time).

Arrived at daughter's house an hour later to pick up car and she fixed us a wonderful salmon and asparagus dinner. As good as anything we had in France! Digested a bit watching the grands attempt tennis in the nearby parking lot, then got home last night at around 3:00 PM our time ...up almost 24 hours and not much sleep on the plane, the sun was bright as we chased it.  But we survived.

And, in spite of meeting wonderful people, being waited on hand and foot, spending great times with my sister and her husband, and seeing a country in all its historic and artistic glory, I am so glad to be home!

Faded Photographs

My final pre-written post that gets "published" while I am still on my trip.  I should not write that because it does take the steam out of this post.  "There she is drinking French wine (for which she has no palate) in some place along the Rhone which has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world while I am reading her tripe about memories on her blog!"

The other day I was looking for a photo of my husband in his late twenties for a guest to prove that hubby had been going bald way back in graduate school, even though they did not remember him that way.  This is the real reason for old photos...so that you can embarrass the family.  I finally found our wedding album.  This album was put together by me who had not a dollar of money for a professional photographer and thus it was filled with photos from my husband's best friend, who was the designated photo person.  Therefore, there are no photos in the church!  Just photos of us leaving and the reception after.

BUT the real concern I just discovered was that 44 years of time had faded these photos and they looked older than me!  I was so sad, because I have been leaning on my brother to digitize all the photos he has of my family to keep them safe and available.  Those photos are not fading much because they are black and white and printed with more durable chemicals.  My color photos in the wedding album, on the other hand, are truly sad as the chemicals are breaking down.

Guess I have a big digitizing project (I have a scanner) to work on through the summer between the three weeks of grand-children visits when I return from France!  Any and all advice is welcome on old photo work.

(Here is the historic post about that wedding time if you joined my blog in these later years and have nothing else to do today.)

The Tropical Season

I am currently away on a trip in Europe as all of my blog fans know.  Who knows what weather I am experiencingas this was pre-written.  I left the U.S. during concerns of long drought that have impacted how people shower,  how people garden, how  farmers grow crops...to say nothing of how factories may have to change the way they do business in California... which is facing the result of years of severe drought.  During the same week friends of mine were faced with huge rains flooding dry river beds and closing roads followed by 6 to 12 inches of snowfall in Colorado!  In the middle of the country entire neighborhoods and infrastructures were damaged by huge hail and terrifying tornadoes for days, not just one storm front, and there were deaths.  Here in my neck of the woods we hunkered down for the remnants of a tropical storm that had come ashore south of us, but got no significant weather as I packed.  (And this is just in my country!)

So, I repeat, who knows what weather I may be facing on my river cruise?

This is called global climate change---which is really warming.  You know how weather seems more moderate (less cold or less hot) nearer the ocean?  That is because the ocean takes up the heat of a warm season and hangs on to it as you enter fall.  This means those coastal folks have a slower change than the middle of the country where it gets very hot or very cold overnight.  Well, corals are dying, ocean animals are dying, and energy release is greater because our ocean has taken up all the heat from the surface of the earth that it can stand and it now has to release it back into the atmosphere in the form of those el Nino events which create dramatic storms.

Some Congressmen make fun of climate change by showing how ice cubes melt in a glass of water with no overflow (i.e. ocean rise) when all the ice melts, therefore how can the ocean rise?  Even if this very stupid analogy were accurate, it does not explain how the entire planet will change when all the "ice" melts and the cold goes away.  And glaciers are melting and each month is warmer than the last.  But this is happening at a very "slow" paces and not like a disaster movie, so most Americans do not believe it.

Trophic levels (food webs) at the lowest end are breaking down as temperatures change.  Grab a knit shawl and take scissors and cut through the edges in places and wear it every day and wash it every evening and you will see how fast it unravels.  This is what is happening to our food chain.  Huge holes are appearing which are threatening life of all kinds as their food disappears.  (Not just due to climate change, but add in a few toxins/chemicals/hormones and you have a stew of amazing deathly proportion.)

The lands of the haves and have nots are going to be even more defined in the decades ahead and the anger of various groups (religious/political) as they try to survive probably means greater wars (local/global).  I apologize for not doing enough on my part to advocate for a better world for my grandchildren.  Recycling, using less power, using fewer resources was hardly enough.  Taking large carbon footprint trips is certainly not helping.

And, oddly enough I thought the challenges were going to be because of overpopulation by mankind years ago, which is no longer the case !!

Some Days

Some days Many days I wish we had a dog.  There have been at least six dogs in my lifetime  Pepper, Donie, Christmas Dog, Makai, Kane, Buster--a wide variety of names.  All of them were unique in personality and spirit, purebreds or not.  I have cried at every loss as dogs do become members of the family.

On the day that we visited a farm, I see this big, hairy, galumphy, dedicated, muddy pawed animal in the photo above and cannot resist calling him over for a good ear scratch.  This is a working dog, but even he is not above a visit from an admirer. 

I forget all the hair, dust, slobber and sand that they bring into the house.  I forget the body scratching in the middle of the night that jangles the tags that wake me up.  I forget almost tripping over them on my way to the bathroom in the dark.  I forget the water spills from the water dish next to the kitchen counter that appear in a line across the floor and the bits of stray kibble under the cabinets.  I forget the endless hours of puppy raising that one must go through at the very beginning...almost.

We travel way too much to have a dog (no neighbors we know well enough to help) (currently in France now).  

There is a new wrench in the canine discussion...ticks.  Our ticks in these woods carry all three of the major diseases.  Both of my neighbors have gotten the two least known illnesses and many years ago I had a meet-up with Lyme, the third and most well known.   There is now a new tick borne illness in some Southern states that is more lethal than all three above and that has killed some people!  

I do wonder if we will ever get a dog....so sad.  For now it is going to be relegated to these farm visits, I guess.