Paintings by Terry Denson

Demonstration of painting on Aquabord

2012-01-27T16:03:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, Sat., Jan. 28, 2012, I will be demonstrating techniques for painting on Aquabord using watercolors at Island Gallery West in Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island. Time is from 10am to noon. Address is 5368 Gulf Blvd. I will be working from this photograph I took at Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg in April, 2010.

Paintings in the Art in Bloom Show

2012-01-27T15:45:00.001-05:00

Thank all of you who came to the opening reception for the Karen Black traveling exhibition "Blossoms II" and to the "In Full Bloom" show. Susanna Spann did I great job of selecting a great variety of work from ten local artists, some of them nationally recognized. In my opinion, "In Full Bloom" is possibly an even better show than the Blossom II exhibit. I feel privileged to be included in a show with with such talented artists. Here are the seven paintingsI have hanging in the Art in Bloom Show..

Out of the Shadows

In the Spotlight

Vanilla Light

Green Shadow

Sagebrush at Sunset

Autumn Pond

Thoroughly Modern Magnolia

Out of the Shadows

2011-12-26T09:52:00.004-05:00

Out of the Shadows

A special traveling exhibit will be coming to Art Center Manatee Jan 17, 2012. It is the Karen Black Blossoms II national exhibition traveling component. As the name implies, it is comprised of paintings of flowers. An accompanying exhibit is In Full Bloom, a exhibition curated by the watercolor powerhouse painter Susanna Spann. Susanna has invited 8-10 artists to participate in this show and I am hughly flattered to be one. So I have been painting new pieces for the show. Here are the two most recent and the photographs that inspired them.

Autumn Pond

In the case of Out of the Shadows, the shapes are what attracted my attention. Obviously the colors were created. The second painting, Autumn Pond, is truer to the photograph, but once again, color is used very differently.

52 Sea Grape Paintings

2011-03-13T12:23:00.001-04:00

In the Limelight is my latest painting. It is also, by my uncertain count, the 52nd painting of sea grapes I have done. Number 50 was Tropical Grapes, the next to last painting I posted on my website. Both have image sizes of approximately 11 x 14", however, Tropical Grapes was a more complicated painting. It now resides in Holmes Beach, FL with the couple who bought This Way, one of the Hillsborough River Ibis paintings. A 5x6 painting of red leaves was number 51. Small paintings like it are not posted on the website because they come and go too fast.

The painting was taken from a small section in the lower right corner of the second photo. This wall of sea grapes is at the Eastern entrance of Maximo Moorings in St. Petersburg. The strong light and shadow patterns are what first attracted my attention to this hedge.

Paintings of sea grapes continue to be popular at the art festivals and street fairs I display at each spring. So I keep painting

them. So far all but one has sold. My most popular painting of sea grapes has been Spring Sea Grapes. Reproductions of it continue to sell.

Tropical Grapes

2011-02-17T18:01:00.000-05:00

This is my latest painting, just finished Monday and

framed today. It will be going to the Sarasota Main St Fine Arts Festival this coming weekend. The grapes were on Manasota Beach, south of Venice, FL. My husband and I were there for a rare "beach day" two years ago while camping near Myakka State Forest.

Fairytale Morning

2011-02-17T17:51:00.000-05:00

Fairytale morning is my rendition of a steep, roughly cobblestoned alley in the river town of Joigny, France in Burgundy. As you can see by the original photo, all the shutters were brown but I chose to paint them a cereulean blue because nearly all the shutters I saw in France were that shade of blue. The day I was there it was the usual early autumn morning overcast but I thought it would look better with some sunlight. Artist's license. The painting is hanging at Art Center Manatee in Bradenton, Fl in the Florida Suncoast Watercolor Society exhibition. It will be there until April 18.

Hanging Out in Burgundy

2011-01-02T16:14:00.000-05:00

I have painted several small scenes from my Burgundy trip last year. But I just completed the first large painting today. This 30" x 22" full sheet is of the pot of geraniums half in shadow, half in bright sunlight, hanging from a spike in a rock wall in Maile-le-Ville goes to the Englewood Art Center tomorrow to hang in a show until Jan. 29.

Another large Burgundy painting will follow soon. I have about 1/3 completed of a painting of the cobblestone alley in Joigny, France. See the picture in the Sept 20, 2009 blog. Much tree trimming has been done to reveal some of the Burgundy countryside. I have also added an old lady carefully walking down the alley. Some say the old lady looks just like me.

Ibis Find a Home

2011-01-02T16:10:00.000-05:00

The first of the Hillsborough River Ibis have flown my studio. The original painting, "This Way" has found a home with a couple from Anna Maria Island that fell in love with it when it was hanging in a show at Art Center Manatee in Bradenton last winter.

Journey of the Hillsborough River Ibis

2010-06-07T14:24:00.000-04:00

Since last November I have been doing a series of paintings that depict the journey of a flock of Hillsborough River Ibis seeking access to the River. First in the series is "Which Way." This was actually the second painting I did. The first is "This Way." I just completed the 3rd painting of the group "Thru Here." I followed this flock as they meandered along a line of very old cypress trees on the bank, looking for access to the river on the other side. Soon they will join up with all their friends in the water.

Contenders for Paintings from France Trip

2009-10-13T10:14:00.000-04:00

We've been back home for more than 2 weeks and I have had plenty of time to evaluate the 800 pictures I took. Here are the top five contenders for inspirational sources for paintings.

My favorite is the sunlit pot of hanging geraniums. A lot of the wall would have to be cropped out and I want to keep the exposed stonework in the top left. This ws from Mailly-la-Ville, Burgundy.

My second favorite picture is that of the buildings will the blue shutters at the top right. Some rearranging would be necessary to make a good composition. It was rainy when I took this so I would have to be creative with the light source. This was in Roussillon, Provence.

Next comes the curving downhill side street in Joigny, Burdundy. Couldn't you see an old woman cautiously walking down this steep street. I can. Me. The trees would need to be trimmed back to reveal the rooftops and the countryside beyond.

The rainy day market in Carpentras, Provence brought out this umbrella seller. Nice potential here for contrast with grays and the bright color of the umbrellas.

Lastly, this was my view of the church at Gurgy, Burgundy as I ate dinner one night. Gurgy is the snail growing capitol of the world. Somewhere around here is a farm for free-range snails. Imagine that. I liked the shapes, shadows and colors created by the setting sun. Notice the gargoyle downspout.

Final thoughts on traveling in France

2009-09-29T19:30:00.000-04:00

France is expensive, especially Paris. It would be expensive even if the Euro and the dollar were on par. A 4 ounce glass of wine costs 6 to 10 Euros; $9 to $15.

Hotels in the historic areas are small, often up 3 flights of stairs, without elevators. Modern hotel rooms at reasonable rates are available just outside the main historic districts and often have little kitchens. Our rooms in Paris were tiny, the toilets were down the hall, and the second time we stayed there, the shower was on another floor. Our hotel room in Chablis looked like a B&B. But it was on the third floor. No elevator. The staircase was a narrow circular staircase with a loose banister. Our hotel 1 mile outside the historic center of Avignon was a French chain, Citea. It had a small kitchenette, 2 desks, a good view, a full modern bathroom, lots of closet space, and not much character. It cost 60% of the room in Paris and 75% of the room in Chablis.

There apparently is no equivalent to OSHA. It is possible to touch the cables that raise the elevator on the Eiffel Tower. Look at the staircase to the clock tower in Roussillon. How would you like to be the one that winds that clock? In the US great efforts are taken to protect us from ourselves. Maybe the French are just smarter and wouldn’t touch the cables.

If you get frustrated when things are unfamiliar then travel to Europe isn’t for you. Doors open in different directions. Handles on everything work differently. Things don’t come with directions.

As a woman, you haven’t experienced grossness until you have used a pisserie.

France is clean. We saw very little litter. But graffiti was everywhere. It appears to be a real problem.

Traffic was crazy in Paris but it is in D.C. as well. Let the cabbies do the driving.

France is not friendly to the mobility challenged. Cobblestones, curbs, blocks of granite, and 2000 years of building materials do not make for smooth sidewalks. The library/art gallery in Nimes had 5 floors. The elevator only went to 2 of them. The parking garage there had 3 levels . There was an escalator from the top level to the surface. This was typical.

I don’t think there is a French paradox. That’s the belief that the French eat high fat foods but are still slim because they drink red wine. The average population wasn’t slender, just average. There were few obese people but there were some, and they were French. What I have observed is that portions are small compared to the US. Rich sauces just nap the main food; they don’t provide a swimming pool. Three of 4 parties seated near us our final evening at the nice restaurant were drinking water. Only one couple drank wine. The average glass of wine is smaller than in the US, probably 4 ounces. Food is expensive in the city. People in the country looked well fed to me. But everyone had a garden and fruit trees. French people walk a lot. It’s easier to take the subway than to maintain a car. Subways are 2 to 5 flights of stairs underground. Few have escalators or elevators.

All churches are on top of hills. The biggest churches are on top of the highest hills.

Walking downhill isn't easier than walking uphill.

I still wonder if I would have gotten brains or calf cheeks if I had ordered the calf head for dinner.

Photos of Roussillon

2009-09-29T19:26:00.001-04:00

Picture 1: Roussillon town square in front of the town hall.

Picture 2: Roussillon clock tower. Note the small black staircase to the right ofthe tower that goes to the door to the tower.

Picture 3: Ochre cliffs at the edge of town

Picture 4: I can't believe I climbed the whole thing.

Picture 5: The village of Gordes.

Back to Paris

2009-09-29T18:44:00.001-04:00

Photo 1: Oh no, the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays.

Photo 2: This is the elevator shaft at the Hotel Monpensier. An oak box rides up and down it. Inside it looks like a scaled down version of Superman's phone booth. It holds one person and one roll around suitcase. Since we were on the 2nd floor (3rd in the US) and had lots of luggage we used it.

Tuesday morning, Sept 22, we turned our little Twingo over to Avis and boarded the TGV train to Paris. Nonstop less than 3 hours later we were at the Gare Lyon station in Paris. By 1 pm we were back at the Hotel Montpensier.

We decided to spend the afternoon at the Louvre, just a block and half away. Turns out it is closed on Tuesday so we wondered around the Tuilleries Gardens and went back to the room. We had a nice dinner at a nearby brasserie and went to bed early. We had to leave for the airport at 7:30 am Wednesday morning.

The plane flights were the only really disagreeable part of the trip. We weren't sure we would get on the plane in Paris. There was some sort of game going on with boarding passes. We made it and left for Chicage at 11:30. Why Chicago? Who knows. But we had a 6 hour layover there. Two hours of that was taken up with walking the mile out of the international terminal to customs, going through customs, and rechecking our bags. Then the plane was an hour late leaving.

We finally arrived home at 1:15am Thursday, Sept 24, 2009

The Luberon and Peter Mayle’s Provence

2009-09-29T18:33:00.000-04:00

Picture 1: Along the Sorgue River. We aite lunch just to the left of the bridge.

Picture 2: One of the water wheels on a stream of the Sorgue.

Picture 3: Inside the cathedral at Sorgue
Picture 4: Vineyards everywhere ready to be harvested.

On Monday, Sept 21, our final day in Provence, we headed east to a pretty, but touristy, town called L’Isle-sur-le-Sorgue and then on to the Luberon region. The Luberon has become a destination for the French wealthy and other expats looking for the bucolic life style. But they have kept a low key presence. Agriculture is still the primary focus of the locals, except for a few touristy spots. That's where we were headed. All of the towns we visited could be overrun with tourists in the summer, but we seemed to have missed the largest crowds.

L’Isle (Island on the Sorgue) sits in the middle of the Sorgue River. Channels of the river meander through this little town turning 10 water wheels that used to grind flour, and driving medieval textile, silk and woolen mills. Water wheels have been in operation at L’Isle since the 1200’s. Some we saw could be that old judging by the moss. This town was the source of the colorful Provencal fabric still popular today. The original patterns came from India. Right now the town’s main occupation seems to be scenic restaurants perched on the riverbank. We ate lunch here, making sure we ate between the magic hours of 12 and 2. Tourism and the antique trade are also thriving.

The town’s 12th century church, Notre-Dame des Anges, has a very gilded Baroque interior. I read this was typical of Louis XIV, the Sun King, period churches.

Our next stop was at the Lavender Museum in Coustellet 6 miles to the southeast. This museum houses the Chateau du Bois lavender farms collection of antique lavender stills and other processing equipment. Lots of polished brass and silver coils on display. This was a good place to learn about the different types of lavender and how each is used. This is a major crop in the Luberon. The bushes grow at an altitude between 900 and 1300 feet on the rocky soil of the area. They grow wild as well as being farmed commercially. Bloom time is June and July.

Peter Mayle, author of A Year in Provence, lives about 10 minutes to the southeast of Coustellet in the village of Ménerbes. We didn’t stop and say hello.

Instead we headed for the ochre village of Roussillon 10 miles further northeast. It was supposed to be a 15 minute drive. Ha. The village perches atop a 30 mile long seam of ochre bearing rock. Mining the ochre was the village’s major industry until WWII. Ochre is used to make a pigment for paints and glazes, and in wallpaper and linoleum. Roussillon’s deposit is the largest in the world but other sources exist in Italy and the U.S.

This is one steep town. Visitor parking is outside the town, downhill. The town accomplishes the miracle of having you climb into town, climb all over town, never going downhill until that final, steep climb back. But it is certainly the most colorful town I have ever seen. The residents have used a lot of ochre to “ochre” wash their buildings, as well as paints of similar colors.

The cliffs on either side of town dramatically display the varying shades of the mineral.

Heading back home we had to drive through the hill town village of Gordes. It perches on its mountain top with narrow, steep winding streets that no other car than the Renault Twingo we rented could navigate without causing the passenger, me, to have a heart attack. We had been navigating with GPS. We bought and downloaded the French maps before we left, taking our GPS with us. It had been doing a superb job in the past few days but now it decided it wanted to see the countryside. We saw only side roads, tiny towns and steep mountain roads until it finally returned us to civilization a few miles from our hotel. I guess it didn’t like the direct route we had taken earlier.

Pictures of Rousillon and Gordes will be in the next post.

Avignon

2009-09-29T16:56:00.000-04:00

Picture 1: The walls of the old city
Picture 2: Palace of the Popes. I couldn't get the whole building in the photograph

Picture 3: The formal dining hall in the Palace of the Popes

Picture 4: St. Bénezet Bridge seen from Parc des Rochers des Doms

Avignon was the second largest city we visited. There are 90,000 or so people in Avignon and about 300,000 in the metropolitan area. It was settled in Celtic times and became the first Roman province west of the Alps. It qualifies for a six flags franchise since it belonged to the Romans, the Goths, Burgundy, Arles, the Saracens, the Franks, the Holy Roman Empire, the Papacy, several local counts, Sicily, France (twice), and was also an independent republic. I probably missed a few owners. It sits on the left (east bank of the Rhone River.

But we were here to see the Palace of the Popes. From 1309 to 1377 Avignon was the seat of the Papacy, instead of Rome. This building, five stories tall and the size of a football field, was built between 1335 and 1364, on a rock spur. Its walls are 17-18 feet thick. The popes had enemies. Seven popes resided in the Palace followed by two anti-popes. The building is now a museum.

We took a tour train of the city first which gave us a perspective of the fortifications. Then it was on to the line to enter the Palace. Just like Disneyland but the line moved faster. For some reason the tour was free that day. Here, as in other places, a hand held speaker with an English language description of the rooms was available. It took us 3 hours to go through the part of Palace open to the public. I don’t think we got out of the southern wing. At one time the place was ornately painted and furnished with tapestries and wall hangings. Traces of some of the paintings still exist.

Two rooms were very large. One, the cathedral, was expected. But the other was the formal dining room. As most tours do, we were guided out through the boutique. But before that was a “degustation” room where you could buy a glass of vine from the vineyards owned by the popes. These vineyards were across the Rhone in the small town of Chateauneuf du Pape. Sound familiar? The popes had their summer homes there. We sampled and bought two bottles to bring home.

Lunch was next but once again it was after 2 and we had a hard time finding something to eat.

Not satisfied with all the walking and stair climbing we had done earlier we climbed the hill north of the Palace and the city cathedral, older than the Palace. On top the
parc des Rochers des Doms had a greatview of the city and St. Bénezet Bridge. Built in the late 1100’s, it was the only medieval bridge to cross the Rhone, a very significant river. It was partially desstroyed by floods several times but was rebuilt until an icy flood in 1668. Now it is a bridge to nowhere.

There is so much more to see and do in Avignon but the afternoon was gone and we only had one day left in Provence. Tomorrow we would head to Peter Mayle's part of Provence.

In Search of Roman Ruins

2009-09-29T15:47:00.000-04:00

Picture 1: The arena at Nimes with matador statue
Picture 2: Fans at the bull fight
Picture 3: One of the street bands after the bull fight.
Picture 4: The Maison Carrée, former Roman temple
Picture 5: The Pont du Gard, an aqueduct and bridge on the River Gardon
Picture 6: Close-up of the Pont du Gard
Picture 7: The Moulin restaurant at Pont du Gard with Uzes in the background.

Saturday, Sept 19 we headed for the city of Nimes, an hour’s drive to the southwest from Avignon. We were looking for Roman ruins and there were three in that city plus the famous Roman aqueduct, the Pont du Gard nearby.

The best known ruin in Nimes is the arena. It is an amphitheatre built around 100 A.D. and it is still in use. No touring of the arena that day. A bull fight was in progress. Two types of bullfights are held routinely. One was the Spanish style corrida where the bull is killed and the Provence style where bull and matador chase each other around the area. The Spanish style is only held 4 times a year and judging by the street party this was one of them. A street market, bands, and temporary bars and cafes crowded the closed off street.

Other Roman ruins in use included the Maison Carrée. Also built in the 1st C, it was originally a temple but to whom is still debated. It has served as a stable, town hall, monastery church temple, and currently, a tourist center showing a 3D film on Nimes.

The temple of Diana is a well preserved ruin. Rumor has it the building was a library, not a temple but I guess goddess draw more visitors. It is located in the back side of the Fountain Gardens, which date to Celtic times when a sacred spring existed here. The Romans absorbed the Celtic deity into their own pantheon and have existed happily ever since.

Fleeing the increasingly boisterous crowd we headed to Uzès, a small town on a hill top (of course) about 15 miles due north. The mission: lunch. This is where we couldn’t find a restaurant serving lunch after 2 pm and ended up eating what the French call bruschetta. See the post, Eating in France.

Finally feed, we headed to the Pont du Gard. This aqueduct is perfectly preserved. Most of the aqueduct is on or below ground but at the Pont du Gard it crosses a canyon a massive bridge.

Then it was back to the east 15 miles to our very modern hotel. Tomorrow we would explore Avignon.

Carpentras and the Cote-du-Rhone villages

2009-09-29T09:41:00.000-04:00

Picture 1: Carpentras street on market day with Mike in the middle.

Picture 2: A rainy day market

Picture 3: Lavander is a major product of north west and north central Provence

Picture 4: Old chateau near Vauqueyras. Many of these have been rehabed and turned into winery tasting rooms and caves.

On Sept 18th, our first full day in Provence we decided to head north east and see some of the villages on what travel guru Rick Steves calls the Côtes du Rhone Wine Trail. But first we headed to the town of Carpentras about 20 miles to the northeast because it was Friday and Friday was market day in Carpentras. Carpentras has been a market town since before the Roman conquest. In the late fall it is the center of the truffle market in France. The weather wasn’t cooperating. A stormy, squally, thunderstorm laden weather system had moved in for the day.

Like most old towns Carpentras has a concentric center, with the church or cathedral in the middle, and a street system that looks like a broken spider web. Outside of this older section is a modern urbanized town. Total population is around 26,000. The market covered most of this old town. We parked near the river and followed the vendors along it, across into parallel streets and around in circles until we were thoroughly lost.

There is a long park along the river and the vendors here were serious. They had self contained RV like vehicles with opening or expandable sides that displayed an amazing variety of food, produce, and stuff. No one was crowded together here but in the narrow center streets the center span was cozy. They would give an American fire marshal nightmares.

After finding our way out of the maze we headed north for the villages that circle the Dentrelles de Montmirail mountain peaks. Our first stop was in Vacqueryas at the wine cave Les Vignerons de Caractere winery for lunch at a restuarant called L'Eloge. Apparently we had stumbled into a restuarant by a locally celebrated chef, Eric Balan. Lunch took two hours. It was the most pretentious meal we had in France. The name of the restaurant means praise or eulogy in English. The food was good, the wine excellent, the service SOOO slow. It was one of those places only the beautiful are expected to attend, or to work at. Tables were draped around with sheer curtains hiding the unpainted parts of the chocolate brown concrete floor. It was in the downstairs of the tasting room and appears to have held large fermentation tanks in the past. Many of the tables were on raised circular concrete pads. Here is the restaurant’s website: http://www.restaurant-leloge.fr/

We drove through the village of Gigondas, a designated wine region of its own, on to Sablet. A pretty village, but seemingly deserted. The rain was increasing so perhaps the locals were hiding behind their shuttered windows. The same was true of the next village, Seguret. This was a perched village, clinging to the hillside, much rockier and with less paint that Sablet.

We drove on to Vaison la Romaine, the northernmost town on the wine village tour. But the rain was increasing so instead of braving the steeper, downhill roads on the east side of the mountains we bagged it and headed back to our hotel outside of Avignon. These villages were the part of Provence I was looking forward to seeing the most. Too bad nature didn’t cooperate.

A few pretty pictures

2009-09-28T17:43:00.000-04:00

Picture 1: Typical country houses along the Yonne River

Picture 2: Window in the village of Mailly-la-Ville Cravant and Chatel Censoir

Picture 3: Abandoned chateau between Mailly-la-Ville and Chatel Censoir

General impressions on Provence

2009-09-28T17:41:00.000-04:00

Picture: Hillside view in the Luberon, near Roussillon.

You can tell Burgundy has been settled, cultivated, and tamed for a long time. Even the woods have been replanted with all the trees perfectly aligned. Not so with the Valcuse and Luberon areas of northern Provence where we were. It’s rockier and more arid terrain has required “pocket farming.” Mountain ranges and rocky hills are interspersed with narrow valleys and vineyards climb the hillsides. The two areas were both arid but had different plant systems. Small villages cling to the cliff sides, climbing above the farmable land.

The eastern Luberon had steeper hills and some significant canyons. On our last full day in Provence we explored the Luberon area east of Avignon, our “center of operation.” After leaving the ochre colored town of Rossillion, with cliffs similar in color to Sedona, AZ, we drove through a narrow, steep walled canyon that was very similar to Oak Creek Canyon, AZ just to the north of Sedona. I was certain we would come around one of the curves and meet up with John Wayne who would say “Bon jour, Ma’am.” Then we popped out of the canyon to see a typical valley full of unharvested grape vines.

French Weather

2009-09-28T17:40:00.000-04:00

Early September is a good time to travel in France. But the weather can change later in the month. We had good weather all but 3 days of the trip. Most mornings in Paris and Burgundy there was a high fog or overcast that didn’t burn off until noon. Perversely, it was cloudy every time we went to a city or town, thwarting my photographic efforts. By the 16th of the month it was definately chilly at night, high 50’s on the Fahrenheit scale. By afternoon it would be in the high 70’s or 80’s. The trees looked like very early fall.

The day we left the boat, Sept 16th, it was definitely fall, spitting rain, windy and chilly. It continued that way the next day as we left Chablis and started driving to Provence. But as we crested the Massif Central range and started dropping down into the Rhone Valley the weather was decidedly different. It was 15 degrees warmer by the time we got to Provence. Our first day in Provence we had thunderstorms and rain squalls but the remainder of the time it was warm and partly cloudy. When we traveled back to Paris we arrived back in the same overcast morning conditions with the chilly nights. We know exactly why all those impressionist painters headed South.

The French Train System

2009-09-28T17:11:00.000-04:00

There are at least 3 levels of French trains: the suburban trains, the regional trains, and the big daddy bullet train, the TGV. We rode a regional train from Paris to Migennes, and then again from Chatel Censoir back to Auxerre where we picked up a car to drive to Provence. All of the trains were clean, modern, and on time. The ticketing process is fully automatic if you wish. In the larger stations and on the trains there are ticket vending machines that take most credit cards. The only weak links in the system are a few of the personnel. There was someone that spoke English in all the larger stations. But the two stationmasters in Chatel Censoir were not good advertisement for the system. They didn’t sell tickets and the one on duty when we left for Auxerre throw us out of the waiting room into the wind and rain right at 12 noon when they locked up and went home for lunch.

The TGV is the bullet train. It took us 5 1/2 hours to drive from Chablis to Avignon in Provence, including a stop for lunch. It took us under 3 hours to go from Avignon to Paris, a distance of 100 miles greater, for a total of 415 miles. But the trains aren’t cheap. The TGV ticket cost 80€ each, or about $110, $220 for the both of us. It would cost far less to keep our car for two more days and returned it in Paris.

Cravant and Clamecy

2009-09-28T17:02:00.000-04:00

Picture 1: The oldest house in the medieval town of Cravant, built in 1328.

Picture 2: The west bank of the Yonne, approaching the town of Clamecy.

Picture 3: I was intrigued with the variety of chimney pots in Clamecy.

Picture 4: The architecture in Clamecy was more varied and decorative.

Picture 5: I guess the delivery men couldn't handle the stairs; or lunch time arrived in the middle of the flight.

There were four more small towns on our river/canal journey. Two are worth noting. Cravant was the oldest of the town. It is a medieval town with its original portal still standing. The oldest building we noticed was built in 1328, the half-timbered house pictured above. We stopped here because it was supposed to have a Saturday produce market. Other than its age the town is know only because it was near a major battle in 1423. The town’s population in 1999 was 824. I don’t think it is that large today.

Clamecy has a population of more than 4,800. It is built on both sides of the Nivernais Canal where it again joins the Yonne and Beauvron Rivers. The area was settled in the early 600s but it became an enfranchised town in 1213. Amazingly all or parts of some of the earliest buildings are still intact, although many are looking a little tipsy. Like all the other towns, it is built on a hillside. Here is where the practice of cutting timber, rafting it up, and floating it downriver to Paris was started in the 16th C. and continued until 1923. This certainly helped the town prosper. Even today it looks brighter and more upscale. It is also the center for an artist community.

This is as far upriver as we went. We spent a night here and headed back to Coulanges-sur-Yonne for another night. Coulanges is the location of one of those great French country inns I mentioned previously. The next day it was on the Chatel Censoir where we turned in the boat.

The Caves of Bailly-LaPierre

2009-09-28T16:55:00.000-04:00

A short distance upriver from Auxerre we made a stop at the Caves of Bailly-Lapierre, right on the Yonne River. A cave (pronounced cahve) is a wine cellar and may or may not be in a cave. But it is where you go to taste wine. This cooperative cave was in a former limestone quarry carved into the side of a hill like a cave system. It housed 7 million bottles of wine, most of it sparkling wine known as Crémant of Burgundy made from Pinot Noir grapes. We toured the caves, viewed a series of sculptures, marveled at the layers of moss on those 7 million bottles, and sampled a few wines. Sorry folks, no pictures allowed. However, they do have a website. http://www.bailly-lapierre.fr/ with some good pictures.

Auxerre

2009-09-21T13:20:00.001-04:00

Picture 1: Inside Cathedrale St. Etienne looking forward
Picture 2: Approaching Auxerre in the late afternoon
Picture 3: L'horlage, or clock tower, in the old town.
Picture 4: Auxerre at night
Picture 5: Cathedrale St. Etienne outside
Picture 6: The cathedral inside, showing center of the basilica, or center arch
Picture 7: Side street in Auxerre
Picture 8: Main street in Auxerre

Auxerre was our third stop on the river/canal. We spent 2 nights here. It has a population of about 35,000. It's major attractions are the Cathedral St. Etienne, an active church, and the Abbey of St. Germaine, now a museum. In the approach photo above the abbey is the large building in the lower left, along with the tower of St. John, part of the abbey. The cathedral is the higher building to the left. In the night view both are lit but seen from the opposite end of town where we tied up to the shore.

We tied up on the south end of town near the bridge of Paul Bert. When I say we tied up I mean we drove two metal stakes into the bank with a 2 lb hammer in front of and behind the boat and tied our lines to them. There was a marina across the river but we would have rafted up to another boat that may have been rafted up to yet another boat. By tying up on the town side (West) we didn't have electricity or water, which we didn't need, and we had the sea wall to ourselves just meters from town.

Auxerre has been settled since Celtic times. An archelogical dig in the Abbey of St. Germaine shows the Romans built atop Celtic sites and the Frence built atop Roman sites. We saw that in several other places throughout France. The abbey was originally a basilica above the tomb of St. Germaine, a 5th centry bishop, who is credited with making Auxerre an important religious center. He is still buried in the crypts below along with other 1,000 year old crypts. Forget what I said about St. Nicholas before. He is important because he is the patron saint of travelers and mariners and the forestiers, or log cutters that floated their wood downstream to Paris mostly lived in this area.

The Cathedral was first built in 900 A.D. but burned several times in the first 150 years. Apparently every thing worked out after that and this huge Gothic cathedral dominates the skyline. It did suffer damage from the Hugenots in the 1200s. There is a 70 minute sound and light show here from June thru Sept but since it started at 9:30 us old folks couldn't make it.

There are two large museums in town, one of which was closed to set up a new exhibit. The other Mike and I didn't go to but Goerge and Carolyn did. What I found the most interesting was how buildings orginally built 1200 years ago where still being utilized for all sorts of enterprises, including computer stores. We tear down buildings because they are dangerous after 50 years. Maybe if we built them of stone instead they would last longer.

The most colorful tourist site is the clock tower, or Tour de L'Horloge. It is in the old town and was built in 1483 as part of the fortifications. The clock faces came along in the 17th century. There is a sun hand show the time of day, a moon hand that takes 29.5 days to rotate. Most of the old cities we visited had a Place de L'Horloge. Handy in the medieval ages, since watches hadn't been invented yet.

Only two more medieval cities to go before we move on the Provence.

The church at Gurgy

2009-09-20T16:03:00.000-04:00

This was the view I had as we ate dinner in the town of Gurgy, midway between Joigny and Auxerre. I think there is a painting here.

Medieval Towns - Joigny

2009-09-20T15:47:00.001-04:00

Picture 1: Half timbered house seen through arch in Joigny. Many of the houses in the medieval French towns reminded me of medieval houses in southern Germany I saw years ago. Picture 2: Our descent back from the top of the hill to the river.
Picture 3: View of the cathedral through the other side of the arch
Picture 4: First view of the town is the Hotel de Ville.

Joigny is the first of 4 medieval towns we visited on the Yonne River. We spent our first night across the river in a marina and wandered the city that afternoon. It is built on a steep hillside with 2 churches and a cathedral on top of the hill. It was rebuilt in the 16th century after much of it was destroyed by fire.

It has a population of 12,000. It's narrow cobbled streets and a number of timber-framed 15th and 16th century buildings and churches and the gate of St. Jean, a remnant of the original fortified City Wall (AD 998) make it look very medieval. It will also wear your knees out as you climb to the top of the hill to visit the cathedral.

Eating in France

2009-09-20T03:15:00.000-04:00

Picture 1: The fruit section, or half of it, at Carrefoure.
Picture 2: The veggie section, or one half of it, at Carrefoure.
Picture 3: The seafood counter at Carrefoure, a WalMart like place. The counter extends to the end of the building. Prepared packaged seafood is to the right in a cold counter out of sight in the photo.

Take a dictionary to dinner with you. It will eliminate some of the mystery of what you are ordering for dinner. But if you can't find your food in the dictionary, order it anyway. Part of the fun of traveling is enjoying new experiences, right. The French have six different names for chicken, depending on age, size, sex, or lack of sex. That doesn't count the term "poultry." Duck is almost as complicated.

We left Chatel Censoir, and the boat, on the 16th and took the train to Auxerre. We rented a car, did laundry for the first time, and drove to the upscale village of Chablis, same name as the wine growing area. Laundries are hard to find in the country. We ate dinner there at a "nice" restaurant the inn keeper recommended. It was the only disappointing meal we had. We drove from there the next day to our hotel in Avignon.

We ate lunch at a truck stop in Lyon. There were only two "plats" on the menu. At a French food establishment the entree is the first course: the salad, pate, small serving of something. The "plat" is the main dish, the meat, chicken or fish, accompanied by a veggie or starch. The truck stop offered what I later translated to be ring-neck dove. We arrived late in the normal 2 hour lunch period they were out of that. The second plat was filet of loup with berre blanc sauce. Now I know the French word for loup. It's wolf. I thought we ordered that. I didn't really believe it would be wolf. It wasn't. Maybe they were out of the wolf as well but we got a nice little steak. It was a tough cut that had been prepared very well. The truck stop ranked just behind the country inns and the best food so far.

We have eaten at country inns, nice restaurants, snack bars, cafes, truck stops and taverns. By far the 3 best meals we had were at the 3 country inns in Burgundy, and I do mean country. These were all in the Burgundy region, specifically in the department of the Yonne, and in the general area of Chablis. We are in Provence now but haven't eaten out as much. The town of Gurgy in Burgundy is the snail raising capitol of the country. Personally, I think that good butter, garlic, & parsley sauce is best without those tasteless chewy nuggets in it but Mike and George liked them. Burgundians also like eggs. You are likely to find a very soft poached or fried egg on top of your salad, your galette, or anything else.

Eating hours at restaurants are pretty rigid. Most restaurants only seat between 7 and 8:30 or 9 and often require reservations. Lunch is between 12 and 2. Yesterday we went Roman ruin sight seeing and stopped in the town of Uzes for lunch. It was 3 pm. It was almost impossible to find a place serving food, although most places were open for drinks. We finally got lunch at a snack bar. They only thing they were serving was bruschetta. It isn't like our, or Italian bruschetta. The owner was describing it and I said it sounded like pizza. Non, non, pizza is with a dough. This is with a bread. Oops, my mistake. It was a 8x10" oval of a light, crisp, buttery bread with your choice of pizza stuff on top. Good.

We don't always eat out. We cooked many meals on the boat and our room in Provence has a small kitchen so we generally make dinner here. But that requires food shopping, which is a treat. There are many grocery stores, most smaller. But you can also get your food at an open air market held once or twice a week in many towns, a roadside fruit stands, at the butcher shop, the bakery, or the bread maker.

There are a few equivalents to WalMart. Carrefoure is near our hotel and we have been doing our grocery, and wine shopping there. But you can tell from the photos above, Walmart has a long way to go to challenge the food section of Carrefoure. The pictures are just of the fresh sections. The frozen and refrigerated "frommage" and "saucisson" sections are just as large. The wine section... well, it is France.

Baguette, cheese and pate have become staples of our lunch or breakfast. This blog won't let me type an accent mark over the e in pate. With the accent part it is the constructed meat dish cooked in a terrine. Without the accent it is pasta. We were reminded of this at lunch two days ago when we stopped at a winery with restaurant in the Rhone hill country north of Avignon.

But so far the greatest food discovery I have made is something called mirabelles. A grocery told me he didn't know the name of them in English. He didn't think they were plums but I believe they are in that family. They are only 1 1/2" in diameter with a free stone and they taste like honey. Wonderful.

Bon Appetit.

Flowers Everywhere

2009-09-19T03:53:00.000-04:00

The Burgundians make the most of their summer. Everyone with any size plot of land has a vegetable and/or flower garden, no matter how small. Also, I think the lockmasters with cottages have a contest to see whi can decorate their lock the most. One guy was solid flowers but the 30 plus garden statues was over the top. Snow White & the 7 dwarfs had trolls, geese, Rin-Tin-Tin, wheelbarrows and whatever to keep them company. Most small villages had a flower shop even when they didn't have a grocery.

Locks and Bridges

2009-09-18T13:39:00.000-04:00

Picture 1: Unnamed bascule bridge
Picture 2: Mike cranking open one side of a lock
Picture 3. Lock opening for us
Picture 4: Carolyn Stamps and I at the Bourgagne (Burgundy) Canal in Migenes.

We picked up our canal boat in the small village of Migennes, about 100 miles SSE of Paris. It is on the Burgundy Canal at the junction of the Yonne River and the Nivernais Canal. Perhaps you can follow this itinerary on Google maps.

The Yonne River is 192 km long and empties into the left bank of the Siene. It starts in the Nievre department in the Morvan hills near the town of Chateau-Chinon and gives its name to the Yonne department of the region of Burgundy. It was the primary traffic route to move wine and timber to Paris using tow barges during the 19th Century, similar to the U.S. Eire Canal. it is shadowed by the Nivernais Canal. Boat traffic locks into the canal wherever the river is too shallow, rapid or curvy. The canal and river are no longer navigable to commercial traffic above the town of Auxerre because the locks are too short, narrow and shallow. But the French government maintains them very nicely for pleasure traffic.

We locked out of the Bourguigne Canal into the Yonne River on Monday, Sept 6. This was our deepest lock at 10 ft. It is a little nerve wracking to be standing on the bow of your boat and looking over the water in front of you to a 10 foot drop. Kind of like being on the Black Pearl as it goes over the edge of the world.

We headed down river to the town of Joigny the first day and spent the night in a marina. It cost 5 Euros, about $7.50. Water was free and electricity was included. Sure beats the cost of cruising in the U.S. Most of the towns we stayed at deserve their own post so I won't go into them now. The second day our we reversed course and headed upriver. Stops included Gurgy, Auxerre, Bailly, Vincelles, Cravant, a riverside tie up on a meadow near Mailly-la-Ville, the rock formations at Saussions, Coulanges-sur-Yonne, Clamecy, back down river to Coulanges-sur-Yonne, and finally Chatel-Censoir where we turned the boat in on Sept 16. See the picture above.

Auxerre is the biggest city in the region at 35,000 plus. This is not a heavily populated area. In fact, most of it was country. Auxerre was founded in 900 AD by Saint Nicholas, I think. I will check on the founding guy. It is a beautiful city and worth its own post. I have a number of great pictures and will share a few. In fact, I have pictures of most of those medieval towns and will post them soon. Most are built on hills and my knees have yet to recover.

We lost count of how many locks we went through. It was around 50 during the 8 days of travel. Courtesy suggests a boat member help the lock master/mistress if possible. When going upstream this requires one crew member to jump onto a slippery ladder and climb the to the top of the lock, retrieve lines from persons on the bow and stern, wrap them around a bollard, toss the lines back, and then go crank one side of the lock gates. Going downstream it require the assisting person to climb back down the ladder and step onto the moving boat. The boat driver needs to be pretty good. Needless to say we "girls" left that part to the more nibble "boys" while we controlled the lines.

At one point, in some nameless hamlet we came to a bascule bridge. It was clearly marked, in French, that only authorized persons were allowed to operate the bridge. Since no authorized person showed up we had to operate it ourselves, both going upstream and back down. The local traffic thanked us for being hasty in our transit.

Coming next: Eating in Burgundy, Flowers everywhere, and all those medieval cities.

Canal Boats

2009-09-18T11:51:00.000-04:00

Picture 1 & 2: Canal boats on the Siene
Picture 3: Elegant canal boat on the Siene in Paris.

Canal boats come in an incredible variety of designs, shapes and sizes. They can be as elegant as a beautifully preserved Trumpy, look at home in a Florida marina, or be as plain as an old Clorox bottle. The one we rented was closer in appearance to the later. But all canal boats have the same things in common: they are narrow and low. The width of locks and bridge clearance determines the maximum of these. On the Nivernais Canal where we were there were several bridges with a clearance no greater than 3.3 meters. Some of the locks were no more than 10-12 feet wide. The length of the boat will also determine which locks it can pass through. The elegant boat in picture 3 would never fit in some of the locks we passed through.

Our boat was a 21 year old Traditional 1135. I can't find a picture of it. This is an old style European canal boat. It was only 35' long with a center "living area" or salon. It had a small stateroom, and smaller head (toilet and shower) both back and front. Just right for two couples. It also had a small gallery with a refrigerator that never got colder than 55 degrees, just perfect for wine. It had a sliding cabin top that allowed the front half of the living area to be opened to the air. With the windshield dropped it was a great warm weather boat. We picked it up in the village of Migennes on the Burgundy (Bourgogne) canal where it joins the Nivernais Canal and the Yonne River. This is about 160 kilometers (95 miles or so) SSW of Paris. I'll post our itinerary next.

Paris

2009-09-17T14:55:00.000-04:00

The French countryside is not wired for internet. After 1 day in Paris and 10 on a canal boat without internet access I finally connected in Avignon, Provence. So here is a late recount of the fast day we spent in Paris.

We arrived in Paris on Sept 5 at 6:30 am, 12:30 am Tampa time. After an hour wait for out shuttle we departed Charles de Gaulle airport for downtown Paris. Our hotel, Hotel Montpensier, was only a block from the Louvre. But we were to be in town just for the day. And it's advertised Wifi didn't exist. It is a nice little, old hotel. Our room was the size of 2 postage stamps but it was just for the night. We left for the Bercy train station Sunday morning, the 6th, to catch a train to the little town we picked up our canal boat. This is the same train station from which the Orient Express leaves. Too bad it wasn't there.

So we opted for a 5 hour tour of Paris. It included an hour and a half drive around town, an extended stop at the Eiffel tower, and a 2 hour boat tour of the Siene. That was definately the best part. Not much time in Paris but maybe another trip. It was overcast most of the day, not great picture taking weather. But here are a few pictures I did take. The base of the Effiel Tower, the Tower from the Siene, Notre Dame from the Siene, and a view of the Arc du Triomphe from the Eiffel Tower. Lastly, the Siene is criss-crossed with bridges. From the boat the view was frenquently of 10-12 bridges in a row.

At the Airport

2009-09-04T12:21:00.000-04:00

Here we are at Tampa airport waiting to board our flight to Dulles where we will meet up with the Stamps and continue on to Dulles. Mike is on the phone with a Verizon agent trying to activate an international phone that will have his phone number while we are in France. It's a great program for Verizon customers but the customer service is appalling. I ordered the phone on Aug 28. The agent said he couldn't process the order until the 31st but would do so then. The phone would arrive on the Sept 2nd. Didn't happen. I called Verizon and found the order was never placed. That CS rep said they would send it out priority overnight. I would receive it yesterday. Didn't happen. I called. They said sorry but it had to have a supervisor approval so it was sent out on the 3rd. It would arrive by FedEx on the 4th, today. Too bad we would have already left! We could go to a Verizon store and buy a global phone! Thirty minutes before the airport shuttle arrived a special FexEx truck shows up with the phone. It has to be charged before it is activated. Fortunately we found a workstation near our gate and it is now charged. But the instructions on how to activate it didn't work. Hence Mike is on the phone with Verizon. But thinks are definately looking up. How bad can things be if you are one your way to 3 weeks in Burgandy and Provence? The next post should contain pictures of the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.

Getting Ready for France

2009-08-24T14:45:00.000-04:00

Friday, Sept 4, Mike (my husband) and I leave for 3 weeks in France. I've completed 8 weeks of "adult education" in the French language. I have been insured by my two teachers that any French speaker will be able to understand me when I say, "I don't speak French; do you speak English." But since one was Lebanese and the other French Canadian I have my reservations.

We are traveling 2 of the 3 weeks with old friends from Maryland, George and Carolyn Stamps. We fly to Paris on Sept 4th, arriving around 7 am on the 5th. We leave the next morning by local train to the town of Migenes, France on the Yonne River. It is in Burgundy, the region of Chablis. We will be chartering a canal boat until Sept 16, dropping it off in the village of Chatel Censoir down the Yonne river and Nivernais Canal. George and Carolyn will head back to Paris but we are renting a car and driving to Provence. We will spend the first night in the nearby village of Chablis checking out a few "caves" (wine tasting rooms). Then on the Provence, with a mid day stop in Lyon. We will be based in Avignon until Tuesday, Sept 22 when we take the high speed train, the TGV, back to Paris. Half a day more to see something in Paris before we fly home on Wed morning, Sept 23rd. Both days in Paris we will be staying at the Hotel Montpensier, just a block and half from the Louvre.

We have a million things to do. Mike is dealing with the yard and house prep. Fortunately he has finished working on a client's boat that has consumed much of his time. I have a show hanging at local art center that needs to come down the day before we leave and one of the paintings has to be sent to the Kentucky Watercolor Society for their annual exhibit that same day. I was just asked to do a demo at the Florida Watercolor Society Trade Show two days after we return. It's one of those where you need 3 versions in different stages, plus the finished painting. All that has to be done before we go.