Brit-Lit: Out to the coast of France

He took all eight of his kids here and was so engrossed
in painting before the light faded, he was knocked
over by a wave and lost his art for the day!

   

 There's more to France.....













      Not to say that Paris is lacking, but there's even more to France than the city. After getting a taste for interacting with the people in remote areas like Vernon and Giverny, we were  excited to check out the coast. We visited Etretat where Monet painted The Manneporte 

Monet's manneporte

    We dove into some great children's books Monet Paints a Day and Linnea in Monet's Garden. One thing about children's books is they do a good job of explaining the obvious that, in our typical rush to snap that picture, may to take the time to think about.

  
 









 Mont. St. Michel
 













         .....   And Mont. St Michel - the monastery on the beach.This place is so huge, you have to look at the tiny dot of black at the bottom to compare it to people. It was cold and windy there. I don't know how the monks live there with no real heat.  This landmark dates back so far in France's history that it's on the Bayeaux Tapestry showing William the Duke of Normandy defeating King Harold.   While we were there, they were building the boardwalks for the Tour de France that was just about to start.

 Of course there's always a gift shop and the bottom of the island is a town wrapping around the monastery. Crepes and trinkets everywhere!  

     In relation to this place, we read A Time of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux about a refugee suffering from civil war in the Republic of Georgia. His guardian always told him that his real mother lived at Mont. St. Michel. It just added to the mystic feeling of refuge - especially in the garden at the top of the monastery.






source
source
source

Paris at last!!

     Paris!! It was even more amazing than I expected it to be. The lifestyle is more relaxed - even the landscaping runs wild without borders. On the first day, we had a bus tour and saw all the standards - The Arc du Triumph (whoa - no traffic laws there!), Notre Dame, and of course the Eiffel Tower. It is HUGE! In this picture, I am standing on a raised marble platform about a city block away. 
     We also saw things from high up like above-ground graveyards  and crossed the tunnel where sadly, Princess Diana's accident happened. My favorite things in the city were the street side vendors selling used books out of these little huts. Oh I wanted to buy some alright, but I can't read in French! I already had way too many books in my backpack by that point, too.

 

Most people know this one...

 My favorite museum was the Musee d'Orsay - all the works from the Impressionist Era are in there. You walk into a room and BOOM! There it is jumping off the wall - Van Gough's Starry Night. Not the Starry Night on all the laptop covers you see, but another version of it. All by itself. Worthy of an entire wall.

The other Starry Night
(the real one, not my postcard!)

      This piece is hypnotic. The bright yellows contrasting with the black and blues and then those stars....You can see the reflection of light off the thick paint strokes. This one proved the case that seeing a painting in person is a much richer experience than looking at a digital copy. Since no pictures were allowed, I painted my own rough image on a postcard - it made me look more closely at the original and how he makes your eye go around the entire painting.

Another dream realized - biking in France

     

Next, out to the country. We rode a train out to Vernon for a biking tour to Monet's garden in Giverny. The countryside is so beautiful, it reminds me of Napa Valley in California.

meat, cheese, cider

This is how you have lunch in the country. You go to the bakery, the meat shop, and the cheese shop and spread it all out at the park and relax for an hour or so.... No 30 min lunch-breaks!

     This was an incredible experience - painting Monet's garden. He built this garden just so he could paint it and obsessed over the light and water lillies. Over and over he painted it. You can see his final product at Musee de l'Orangerie and take in a larger than life 360 panorama of the lillies.
      Instead of taking pictures the whole time, I used water colors. It was so funny, here I was using Crayola water paints and people were taking my picture like I was some real artist or something! It happened a couple times - people see what they want to see.....I see my work as globs and splotches, but to me, it flips that switch in my mind reminding me of what it really was like to look closely at each plant and arrangement of trees.....

I'd say at least my kindergarten teacher would appreciate it!

Here's just a sample of the garden.....it goes on and on!

Back to the train....

Have you ever tried putting down your camera and sketching or painting??? 

source
source
source
source

BritLit - Private Peaceful and wrapping up London

     I'm wrapping up London with our last British book, Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. Private Peaceful is a gut-wrenching story about a soldier narrating his life in WWI. He's counting down to an event that will change everything that matters to him. He tells all about growing up, falling in love, and joining the Army with his brother.  Both Tommo and Charlie are sent to fight for Britain in the trenches in French western front, but when one is injured, the other must choose to follow orders or defend family. Little known to the rest of the world, the punishment for soldiers falling asleep at their post or defying their commanding officers is death.
    Private Peaceful blindsided me just like when I read The Giver. I jumped in with both feet - never reading the summary or looking up any background or setting information and I had no idea what was coming. Out of 15 people in our group, Private Peaceful was a top pick for many of them. I think everyone was moved by the love, honor, and sacrifice in the story. I wish it had been given the attention War Horse was. I would have loved to see this on stage, but I'd need a BIG box of tissues for the ending.  I recommend this one for older teens, including boys because the main characters are young brothers coming of age as soldiers. I think they could relate even though it is set in WWI and they'd be getting a dose of history without even realizing it.

Locks for lovers...just like in Paris

     Last little bits of London - So much to do, you could go every day and never run out of things to see. 

Millineum Bridge and St Paul's
where Charles and Diana were married

 

Millenium aka "Wibbly-Wobbly Bridge"

   

The Eye - 15 people in one capsule!

One of our tour guides pointed out the bridge where Princess Diana crashed. It was so sad crossing over it. I remember the night it happened, exactly what I was doing and how I didn't believe it at first. In the morning, I thought it was a mistake until I turned on the news.  I remember watching her wedding, too and seeing Will and Kate get married, standing in Westminster Abbey, was surreal.

     We spent some time in the British National Museum and guess what - it's FREE to the public! Can you imagine going in there any time you want?  So many treasures - lots of Monet, a few DaVinci's, some J.W. Turner....so huge, there's no way to see
everything you want. It would take months. We finally saw Monet's Japanese bridge and some of his water lillies.

The Metro
"Mind the Gap"

Proper tea with my buddy Nadean

Covent Garden - site of
Punch's Puppet Show

Charlie Chaplin

Covent Garden, London is still the site of choice for street performers. This guy is doing Charlie Chaplin and he's amazing.

Jammy Dodgers at the British National Library

So excited to see the British cover of Insurgent.

British Music Experience at the O2 Arena
Interact with instruments, video, and
their collection of memorabilia. Freddy Mercury's
white suit, Spice Girl Costumes, Beatles, etc.

British National Library - where you
can't touch the books, but you can visit
their collection of illuminated manuscripts, original
Bibles, Jane Austin's manuscripts and desk, and
some of the Beatles original drafts.

Nothing like riding on the top of a double-decker bus!

On our way under the ocean on the Eurostar through the chunnel.
Paris - here we come!

source
















 source

BritLit - Banksy!

     One way to find out if people you are with like contemporary art is to ask if they've seen a Banksy. Banksy is one of those artists who keeps you wondering what they are going to do next. He's a sneaky one - tagging buildings with his stenciled backgrounds and shocking combinations. One of our challenges was to find a Banksy in London. Sure, you can Google a map of his works, but what if you found one on your own? On the bus the minute it swung the corner your seedy-back-street-guy-sleeping-on-a-mattress-behind-our-alley-hostel?  

I think the center is an addition from a local....

How about this?

My art instructor says for sure, it's the real deal. I have yet to find it on any of his lists, but you be the judge. Look at some Google images of Banksy art and tell me this is not his?

    What backed it up was our very modern and hip hostel was decorated in Banksy art. Even the bathrooms had a rat image here and there.....I think there was a connection with our location one block from Elephant and Castle, Banksy, and the Safe-Stay Hostel.

Bonjour! I have returned from England and France....

....from France where the culture is as rich as the food and England where history is living and breathing in the Buckingham and Windsor palaces. Blending literature, art and presence gave me a new perspective on how to really understand life. Peeking into C. S Lewis's dark, shadowy attic that appears in the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, then eating Turkish Delights or standing in the Tower of London at the exact place where Anne Boleyn was beheaded and buried are just some examples of the possible collisions of art, literature, and being there.
      I think my biggest connection was through Skyping with Jennifer Donnely about her book Revolution, going to the Palace of Versailles, and viewing Monet's debut impressionist painting "Impression Sunrise" which I will post my thoughts on being a revolutionary soon.
       That said, reading is still the easiest way to transport your mind.....Join me as I share some connections between literature and art from the land of the Brits and French.

Vive la littérature et de l'art !

(Long live literature and art!)