A 40 Hour Travelogue, New York City Sept 20 - Sept 21

Stephen:
We took a jam packed trip to New York City the Sunday before we left for Italy. It was so much fun that we decided to throw in a couple of paragraphs here. We started out by driving down to the Route 128 Amtrak station outside of Boston and taking the 6:40 AM train down to the New Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station. When we got there we made contact with Gloria, the woman that we made Sueño with last winter in Mar de las Pampas in Argentina. She was on a long trip starting in Spain to see friends and family. She was now visiting cousins in NYC. Her cousin Terri had driven her in from Long Island and they were parked across the street from the station. We met and greeted everyone. And then walked down to twenty-third street and Seventh Ave. to drop our back packs off at our hotel, the Hilton Fashion District. A couple of more blocks took us to the Da Andrea, a restaurant that Adam, Dawn's son, recommended although he had not been there.


It was a sunny well designed restaurant, serving good food with a friendly well trained staff. We even understood some of the Italian that was being spoken by the staff. Dawn found out that the women who was running the restaurant was going to be visiting her family in Padua the same time that we would be there. We will have to keep an eye out for her.

After lunch, we walked a block to the Joyce Theater to see the London City Ballet. They could dance and the work was generally inventive without knocking our socks off. That would come later seeing a dance on video from 2005.

After the concert, we walked back to check in and retrieve our bags. We were installed on the eleventh foor in a corner room away from the elevators. It was a small room, but we could fit in everything we had. We returned to the street to walk up to dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner, place where Jeanne, Gloria' other cousin, had had a birthday party and she and Gloria want to eat at. It was a disappointment because the sound level was so high that we could mot hear each other talk. The wait staff were the singers and they sang well enough, but it wasn't going to work out.

So we moved.

On her phone, Gloria found Empire Steak House nearby. We paid our drink bill and walked over. The place was the exact opposite. It was calm, dark and professional. The food was very good and we had a good time. Afterwards we said good bye and after looking for a bus to take us downtown, we took the number 1 train and went two stops to 27th street and walked a block to our hotel.

The Sandbar was next, a rooftop beach bar open to the elements on the top of our hotel. Dawn had a cocktail and I had a couple of nice beers. We took the video below as the Empire State building twinkled at the top of the hour.

Dawn:
After a full Sunday with Gloria, Monday we walked east and downtown to meet Sean at Veselka, a traditional Ukrainian lunch spot. After a great soup and pirogies, and earnest wishes for peace in Ukraine, we walked to NYU and got a tour of the dance department. I had asked Sean if we could observe his dance composition class. It was wonderful to be there. First he showed a video of a piece by Jiri Kylian with the Nederlands Dance Theatre II. It was delightful, inventive and surprising. The comments his students made about the work were thoughtful and observant.

Then the students showed two versions of short duet pieces they had combined from the classic study of spelling ones name through movement. First was in perfect unison, and the second was called counterpoint, although not in the strict sense of counterpoint in baroque music. They performed these short studies three duets at a time, and they danced beautifully. These were seventeen and eighteen year old first year students. After they showed their studies, I said that every single one of them danced beautifully, and indeed they did! Plus Sean is a lovely teacher. The whole experience was very moving.

Stephen:
On the way back to the hotel to pickup our bags that we had checked for the day, I heard someone cry out HEY BUCK. i turned around and after a moment recognized her as one of the women at the front desk. I was surprised that she recognized me and remembered my name. We had a short spirited conversation about the hotel and dancing. Most importantly learned how to find the men's room. (in the leftmost elevator go down two floors and then follow the signs).

After that, we met Carlo for an early supper before catching the train back to Boston. It was a sweet little, family-run Korean place on 26th St., and the only reasonably priced place we ate in during our NYC adventure. It was good to catch up, and we are happy that he has a good living situation in Brooklyn with a couple of mature roommates. The man behind the counter responded sweetly to my two words of Korean!

We hiked up to the Moynihan Train hall and had some gelato (practice for Italy) while we waited for the train. We got to Rte 128 about midnight and were home before 12:30.

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Arrival in Italy

Stephen:
Arriving in Italy around 8:15 AM we thought we were getting a headstart on Getting into Rome when they opened the Rear door on the airplane near where we were sitting. We were wrong because it only gave us the opportunity to stand outside on a movable stairway as we waited for a bus to take up to the terminal. After that it went relatively smoothly and soon we were on the Leonardo Express to Roma Termini where we had plenty of time to have some coffee. We had some euros left over from our last trip so we did not get any from a ATM. We then took a regional train to Foligno arriving about 2:00 in the afternoon. A taxi driver out front was not available but called a colleague who came in about five minutes and took us to what would be our home for the next week.

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Foligno, Sat. Sept 28 - Oct 4

We had the lockbox code to get the apartment keys but we had to contact our host to find out what door they went into. I had signed into their wifi which was somewhere close from out in the hallway so I could call them on Whatsapp and receive the final steps. David and Luciana came a couple of hours later. Luciana had made a dinner reservation after consultation with Valentina, the owner of our apartment.

Dinner at Me Te Magno was exceptional and the eating for the next day was also amazing. We were in Foligno, quite by accident, during the four day festival of the Primi Piatti of twelve different regions of Italy. These are the first courses that are served in Italian restaurants. So the next day wee walked around to the various locations that were participating and sampled their various fare for 5 euros each.

At 6 PM we participated in a Food Experience which consisted of three course Primi meal accompanied by a talk about the latest philosophy of Italian cooking by a celebrity chef. Since it was all in Italian we got mostly the flavor and enthusiasm of the presentation.

We met the winemaker who provided the wine for the evening, who will be in Boston next week doing a presentation, and arranged to meet him at his winery in Montefalco for a tasting. Luciana's son works in the mescal business and we might talk business.

Monday -Assisi

Dawn:
We went to Assisi Monday because we knew the big holy days were later in the week, and there would be crowds and religious pilgrims. It is a beautiful town. Like so many in Umbria, and throughout Italy, the town seems to crawl up the side of a hill. We parked at the high end and wound our way down on foot to the Basilica of San Francesco. Ah, Giotto! I am a sucker for his sensitive, expressive faces. He painted so many frescoes all over Italy in the early 1300s. They have been beautifully preserved here and in the famous chapel in Padova that we have visited more than twice. In a chapel of the lower church in the Basilica, I came face to face with a simple monk, perhaps St Francis himself, painted by Giotto with an expression that brought tears to my eyes. I cannot explain why, but there was a compassionate sensitivity in those 700 year old eyes that simply moved me. I wanted to take a picture of this image, but a sign at the entrance to the church prohibited picture taking. Of course later I saw a few folks happily snapping away, rules be damned.




Stephen on this quiet back road with virtually no one else in sight. The Basilica was at the bottom of the hill town, so after our visit there, we started walking back up. We found a little side street parallel to the main street with all its tourist shops. It was a residential street.

Here is how we found this quiet street. Dawn was actually standing on the top of a spiral staircase when she took the picture of the group and we overheard the guide who is in the picture saying that this was the way without cars.

But we did find a little bakery cafe, Fratelli Sensi, where we had a bite and a cold drink and got to put our feet up. It had just four small tables.

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Spello, Monday

Dawn:
Spello was another charming, small hill town where we chilled out with a drink before heading back to Foligno. Fabio, our young server, asked if I had Italian background because he thought the way I spoke the language was like an American with Italian parents! Someone else had asked if I was originally Italian….once again, I think it’s because most of the time I can get and imitate the sound of the language, but I am very far from fluency in Italian! The town was steep after climbing Assisi so we stopped for a round of drinks at a little bar. We were served by a young Fabio who said he liked wherever he chose to go. He also mentioned that rural towns in Italy are 10 kilometers apart.Dawn will always take pictures of flowers against stone. Spello is a town of flowers, in June, they carpet the roads with flowers.

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Tuesday-Montefalco/Cimate/Bevagna,

Stephen:
After Luciana' had an unproductive time trying to get a SIM card at the Vodaphone office, we drove to Montefalco. This time a mountain town rather than a hill town. The views from the edge of town were amazing, incorporating other towns in the distance and filled with small farms. I had the feeling that the view had not changed in a 1,000 years.

We had lunch in the main square.

The vineyard, Cimate, was actually fairly far out of town, but our GPS found it easily. We pulled into the parking lot and found a wine guide who took us for a tour and then led us through a tasting. The main grape is Sangrantino, a dark blue, small grape that looked a little like a blueberry. Some of the workers were spreading them out on racks to be dried to make their sweet wine. In temperature controlled rooms they would be shrunk by 70% to concentrate their sugars. In this region, this sweet wine was the only wine they made until maybe ten or fifteen years ago when the began to make a dry red wine here. The grape has tempermental tannins, so the wine maker needs a lot of skill and control. They have them here at Cimate when their stainless steel tanks are all computer monitored. They also use oak barrels of different sizes so they can be blended to get the wine they want. We bought two bottles to take to Elena as presents. Paulo returned to our surprise and we talked about the business of making wine. When a tour bus filled with maybe 40 Germans pulled in we figured out that he returned to help take care of them. It would take two of them, one talking and one pouring.

We moved on to Bevagna, a town that has a medieval look and feel. It was the setting for part of the movie, "Dante"by Pupi Avati, shot in 2022. We found a little shop that demonstrated medieval paper making and another that was part of the old Roman Theater. Later, with Luciana and David, we looked a candlemakers shop. He was giving a demonstration to a small English tour group. The churches were amazing and the square was the best we saw on this trip. Hard to say why. Could be Color, maybe proportion, maybe just the time of day. We met a man walking his dog who was from Dayton, Ohio. He and his wife had been coming here for five or so years when they bought an apartment in town. He seeme happy here.

Wednesday-Perugia

We met Joanne and Gabriele from Le Marche at the mini metro stop Cupa. They parked their car at the end of the line and were coming along toward us who had gotten off the train from Foligno at the Perugia train station were transferring to the mini metro. Up at Cupa, where we agreed to meet, they came out through the turnstiles about three minutes after we did. We worked our way up to the top via a series of underground escalators. We looked at the churches and an etruscan well, an underground Irish bar and picked a place for lunch. Some beers, and pasta. The standard, but good. The well with its new glass bridge.

After our lunch, We went thrpugh the fort and then they were on their way and we started finding our way down the hill and getting a train back to Foligno.

Day Off, Thursday

Stephen:
It was on the schedule that I made back in Boston as a day off, and since it rained most of the day, we took it. Luciana and David went to Spoleto while we stayed home and did laundry and I did the full course of PT for my sprained ankle.

MY ANKLE IS DOING GREAT-THANK YOU!!! (for my PT officer at the Faulkner in Boston).

Dawn did yoga and we bathed and worked on this travelogue. After L&D came home and the rain stopped, we went shopping for dinner at the EMI market that we could walk to in three minutes through the park behind the house. Tonight is rabbit with olives with whole garlic, olive oil and wine. Dawn made green beans with oil and Parmesan and a salad.

Maybe this is the time to talk about what we ate for dinner. Starting Monday, we had a spinach raviloli with sage, then the next night, sole with a vegetable called chicory but it was something like it, then spaghetti with eggplant. Dawn made great salads to go along with each meal. This has been a food week and I really understand from my gut what it means when it is said that Italians love food.

Travel Day, Friday

I am now writing from the train to Padua on Friday. Last night Luciana called the taxi company and arranged for us to be picked up this morning. We were happy to see him waiting for us when we came out of our house. We were early enough to get coffees and share a chocolate cornetto. We were a little late getting into Florence and the chaos began. I think the root of it is down in Rome but the problems ripple out through the whole system. Our train to Padua was late also and when we boarded we founded that the seat reservation system had put more than one person in a seat. We got our seats, but are waiting in a train station because the track ahead of us is conchested. This about the third explanation all slightly different but now we are moving again. We are traveling in an Italo reserved second class and it is very comfortable. If I wanted to I could watch movies and things on my ipad now that I have entered my email into their wifi.

What we found out later from Elena who saw it on the news, was that a worker was on the wrong track and was hit and killed by a train. A sad end to today's trip and a reminder not to care so much about delay, especially until you know the cause. This is the second time this year that I have been on a train delayed by a death on the tracks.
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Padua Fri. Oct 4 - 7

After yoga for Elena and Dawn, and shopping for tonight's dinner (oysters, calamari, salmon steaks), we took the tram downtown and walked through Padua. We stopped to see Saint Anthony's relics and then went for a drink at La Bayard. Great prices, great selection and a pretty view of the sky.

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We came home a very crowded tram. We really did not need to hold on. We were toally surprised by the sunset out our bedroom window, and then another one five minutes later.

Sunday in Padua

Stephen:
Elena is off to the gym this morning and then to tend her mother's grave. Dawn is working out with some weights and I am looking at some Johanna Vaude'e mashups on her website. We had met her in Paris in 2017.

Orto Botanico di Universidad di Padova

It is the oldest university garden in the world and it is situated in the city of Padua. Established in 1545 for the cultivation of medicinal plants, this natural and architectural wonder, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, preserves almost seven thousand plant species, expressly divided by category to allow them to be observed and studied. This is a unique variety of specimens, rich in history.

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We stopped in at an exhibition of nature photographs that we have never seen the like of. They were made for scientific puposes but were also amazing as woks of art, We were both enthralled by the works. This a photo of a photo. it is either a picture of clear cutting in a forest after someone used an earth mover to draw a large finger print or the artist did the finger print in post.

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Now we are in the real garden. Large wonderful lily pads and beautiful colored annuals.

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The top of the building is Elena's Condo.

Dinner at A Banda del Buso
We had a great time consuming a variety of local dishes with a good Valpolicello Ripasso. The grappa di amarone was spectacular.

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Dawn:
We first met Elena in 1993 when she stayed with us in Boston for a few days as she was beginning a post grad semester at MIT. We have reconnected a few times in Italy and once or twice when she came to the States for professional conferences. She continues to be a bundle of energy and a wonderful host. Her top floor condo in Padova is beautiful and comfortable, and filled with plants both inside and outside on two decks.

In addition to taking us around town and revisiting the cathedral of San Antonio, she made wonderful meals and taught us a strange new card game! Even on our last night there, after returning from taking her out to dinner, we played this game til midnight!

Stephen:
Dawn neglected to mention tht she won all the games until the last night, (maybe it was the mid)

We got up early this morning, and Elena drove us to the train station on her way to teaching at the University. Now, when I say goodbye to people I have not seen in a long time, like Elena, Joanne and Gabriele, I wonder if it may be the last time I will ever see them. Although the thought makes me a little sad, it is a realistic possibility for someone my age. The Buddhists constantly remind us that everything changes and not to grasp at permanence. So living each moment with joy, compassion and generosity is the way to be. Ecco! Carpe diem!
Stephen:
Our trip has now got more interesting since we got a note from Savina, our airbnb host, telling us that her water heater died. She said she could find us another place after the first night, but we replied that we would come in and work it out. The main attraction of the room was its location out near the Biennale so we didn't want to move. We are here to concentrate on the Biennale. It is not open on Monday so we have spent the day knocking around this end of Venice before we go to a music concert this evening. The water heater will be replaced soon (top)

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Venice Oct 7 - 10
Airbnb in Venice

Dawn:
The lines to get Vaporetto tickets at the train station were crazy. Having looked at a map, Stephen led me up and down a bunch of stairs to cross a bridge carrying bag and backpack. It turned out to be worth it as we were able to buy tickets from a real human being, not a machine, and there was no line. We took the 4.1 vaporetto that skirts around the outside of the main part of Venice and has many fewer stops than the one on the Grand Canal. We got to see the industrial side of Venice. Stephen got us a very nice Airbnb in Arsenale, a short walk from both sites for the Bienniale.

I think this is my fourth time in Venice, the first when I was fourteen with my parents and brother. Staying in Arsenale was getting a different view of Venice. People live and work here. Laundry lines spanned the alleys on Monday morning. Delivery people negotiated tough turns in the small canals to deliver their goods. The Italian Navy was in town for a conference so there were two large gray warships and a stunning large sailing ship docked right around the corner. Uniformed Navy personnel of both genders patronized the same trattorias that we did. We never got to St. Mark's Square or the Rialto, except to go by them on the Grand Canal Vaporetto which we took to the train station at the end of our stay to head towards Milan.

Monday's Performance
Teatro alle Tese - Tesa 2

Italian premiere of Tutuguri VI (Kreuze) (1981) for six percussionists by Wolfgang Rihm, Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement 2010, performed by the young German collective the Christian Benning Percussion Group; also on the programme is the world premiere of a work for percussion commissioned by the Biennale Musica from the Israeli-Palestinian composer Samir Odeh-Tamimi. In these performances, which highlight the power of percussion instruments and the extraordinary timbres and colours they can create, the audience will be free to move around the percussionists so as to appreciate the different acoustic perspectives generated by the volcanic nature of the performance act.

From Stephen:
I got tickets for this concert when we were back in Boston. It was a matter of scheduling. It was the only things on that day.

From Dawn:
We went to an amazing percussion concert last night as part of the Biennale in Venice. Six percussion stations, all playing together in a huge space, The first piece was nuanced, almost melodic, with contrasts and textures.The second one I didn't like as much: lots of snare drum and bass drum, more military in feeling.

Venice Biennale

Dawn:
The Biennale was overwhelming! Stephen and I were both a little sick so maybe we tired quicker than usual. I would say that the general theme was to represent artists from what are considered marginalized communities. There were wonderful contributions by indigenous people and collectives from all over the world. The LGBTQ community was also well represented. Climate change and species loss were also big themes.

One of the most stunning exhibits was the very first one that we encountered in the Arsenale, done by a collective of Maori women. The installation really used the space fully and beautifully.

There were lots of video and sound installations, some more effective than others. VOID, by Phillipine-born artist Joshua Serafin, was a video of a non-binary person with long dreads, covered in oozy silicone, burrowing in and out of a wet, earthy environment. The video screen sat atop a semi-circle of mirror with black underneath. I could have sworn that mirror was a semi-circle pool of shallow water. The illusion of the performer creeping into the water was so strong. The performer was a beautiful mover. Germany had a futuristic, space oriented exhibit. This image was the first thing we encountered in the pavilion, a physical model of a space ship which then appeared in a long video with larger than life, old style Grecian clad dancers and land tracts that seemed to be swept away in the space ship.


The United States was represented by Jeffrey Gibson, an indigenous, gay man. His work included these beaded sculptures, made with a collective of helpers. The button on the female figure says If we settle for what they are giving us, we deserve what we get.
There were many quotes about the history of civil rights in our country, carefully sewn in to multicolored tapestries. The design of these large hangings was abstract so that you had to spend time looking at them to decipher the words.

This beautiful image immediately made me think of the moon, although it was entitled A Prayer to the Sun. It was made by an indigenous South American artist, and I apologize for not remembering the country represented.
This very large sculpture was meant to be a comment on masculinity! Again, I do not remember the artist or country of origin. You can see how large the sculpture is relative to the people looking at it

Around Venice

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Varenna Oct 10 - 13

Stephen:
We are here in Varenna. We took the train stopping in Milan

Dawn:
Immigration was a theme of the Biennale. Yesterday, I could not help feeling like we were part of an upscale migration as scores of people dragging bags got off the train in Varenna and headed downhill, then up, then down, to find their accommodations. Our Airbnb is in an incredible location, next the the four-star Royal Victoria Hotel. The view from our private deck is unbelievable, as you can see from the pictures. My son and family, Stephen's brother, and our friend Micki have all been to different parts of Lake Como, and they all raved about it. No one was exaggerating!

Dawn:
We climb two flights to get to our room, but it is worth it. As in Venice, this accommodation is definitely more upscale than our usual "close to the ground" travel style. The bathroom floor is even heated! Life is not getting any longer, and I am so grateful that we are able to enjoy such beauty. That said, we chose to have our aperitivo and early dinner in the square, rather than overlooking the lake. We were the only English speakers there. Our server seemed constantly surprised when I uttered a word or phrase in Italian. Stephen:
We think we have worked around our first major problem of the trip.

Train Strike!

It is scheduled for Sunday during the time of a crucial train trip up to Switzerland to take the Bernina express over the Alps. After a somewhat sleepness night, I hired a car through Daytrip.com to take us up there Sunday morning. Perhaps the crisis is averted.

These ghosts of Vezio are plaster casts made by the managers of the castle each year. Tourists volunteer to have plaster fitted to them, which are used to create these ghostly figures. They are then left to the elements throughout the winter until a new season begins and the ghosts are cast anew. These ghosts are one of the castle's biggest attractions, but why are they on the grounds and what do they represent?

It's all linked to a legend about why the castle was built in the first place. In 1779, Anton Gioseffo della Torre di Rezzonico published a book Larius. In it, he mentioned that the castle was built thanks to the wishes of Theodelinda. She was the queen of the Lombards, the Germanic people who ruled this part of Italy for several hundred years. It's said that she spent the last years of her life in the area and wished to leave behind a church and oratory with a prominent bell tower as part of her legacy.

Though that never happened, the legend states that her heart and soul are buried within the walls of the Vezio Castle and that her soul wanders its halls on moonless nights. These plaster sculptures are a physical representation of that legend that certainly adds to the beauty and mystery of the castle.


We arranged to get a car to Tirano and when we came out onto the square there he was, but he was filled with four or five American tourists trying to take off with our car. When Walter asked them if their name was Jesse Buck they said yes. But we were two as on the order form and they were trying to get to the airport, not Tirano. In fact, their driver was also waiting in the square. They had just not seen him. He was not amused.

It was a very interesting trip. He pointed out the cheese and wine making places and the site of the next Winter Olympics. He dropped us off at the Tirano train square and we exchanged cards. Here is a photo of it his so if any one is in the area they could contact him.

We did have lunch at a wonderful place called Cafe de la Gare, out in a nice hedged in garden. The red beer was good and so was our meal. We had a little panic of not finding our tickets to the train in the computer file where it should have been, then we remembered that we brought paper backups of these tickets, so we were saved. (I later found the tickets in a subfolder. No idea how they got there).

Then the train came and we found our first class reserved seats and started off through the Bernina Pass, highest train pass in Europe, to Chur to spend the night there. It was awe inspiring. Both the engineering and nature complemented each other. See our pictures from the train below.


Autumn color. On the right, what a glacier looks like when the snow is gone. Just ice polished rock.


Architecture man-made and natural


Stephen looking at his own train


Mountains and a glacier fed lake. The color comes from the grinding of the rock by the glacier.
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Chur and then to Paris, Oct 14

Stephen:
We arrived exactly on time and rolled our bags through town to our hotel. It was quite spectacular. The people were nice, the shower big enough to house a family of four and a very comfortable bed. We had a nice dinner during our only evening in Switzerland. We ignored the suggestions that were given us and wandered around in the dark before figuring out the I had the google map upside down. Once we got that straightened out we looked at a couple of restaurants and finally ending up at a bar with good beer, soup and fries for Dawn and a burger for me, and a very friendly staff.


The beer of the month was a nice IPA from California that I am familiar with. The morning view through the modern section of town as we walk back to the train.

After a breakfast from a large selection incliding a bottle of prosecco next to the orange juice, we took the train in the morning to Zurich and then the TGV to Paris
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Paris, Oct 14-21

Monday

Stephen:
We arrived and walked over from the Gare de Lyon and found the location of the lockbox, but it took some time to the find the box itself because it was wrapped up in the bicycles and bicycle racks. I eventually found it even after crossing the street to check out the other bike rack. It opened and we were off to the apartment around the corner. Our last confusion was trying to use the ceramic identifier instead of the black fob/magnetic key. A woman came by and corrected our misunderstanding and we were in. (We do know how to use elevators and regular keys). We unpacked and walked over to the Petit Cardinal to have a drink. This is our bar from 2015 when we live up the street. Dawn called Pascal and he rushed over after she told him where we were. We talked about the good and bad things in our lives and the state of the world and we will meet again before we leave.

Later Dawn and I had supper at a Vietnamese place, Mouffetard Saigon's, that is Isabelle's favorite and we visited it again to have lunch with her.

Tuesday

We shopped for food this morning at the Monoprix and got some metro tickets.




Dawn found a concert for us and we had a stunningly beautiful day to walk over to it. First, through the Jardin des Plantes where we got to enjoy the various gardens they had planted.Then we walked down the Seine and watched a tango dance class at the Jardin Tino-Rossi, a circular platform cut out on the banks of the river. And then down Boulevard Saint Germain des Prés. On the way, we had a snack at LouLou. On the wall on the way to the toilet they hung a picture of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez when they were nearly children. So young, their whole lives ahead of them. Finally we reached the church and found seats to hear Bach's Art of the Fugue by the string quartet, Quatuor CLASSIK Ensemble.

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Dawn:
The Art of the Fugue was written by Bach for organ or piano forte. The violinist of the Quatuor CLASSIK Ensemble, explained that it was an unfinished piece. So the editors of the first edition added Bach's Chorale Prelude Before The Throne I Stand Alone at the end, using less counterpoint than the rest of the fugue. His explanation was in French so I did not get the name of the transcriber or when it was done. The performance was in a small, rather austere room, near the entry to the much more decorated church. Stephen and I both love Bach. We thought the viola player was the most musical of the four, but there was also a beautiful duet for cello and violin.

Afterwards we took the 5 Metro home.

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Wednesday

Stephen:
On the way to the outdoor market past the Mosquée with our shopping bag. We bought cheese and salad makings and I replaced the scarf I had lost on this trip. On our way back we went through a little Paris parklet.

We met Isabelle for lunch, back at Mouffetard Saigon's. After lunch, we went on a bus to the Jardin du Luxembourg, one of Isabelle's favorite places since childhood We talked about her upcoming trip to NYC. She thinks it will be her last. We also talked about her children when Dawn had stepped away for a moment to talk to Amber. We also just people watched. Then we went back to her house for tea before heading back to our neighborhood.

Thursday

Dawn:
The next day was rainy and windy, but we made it to Sophie's studio out near the Philharmonie and Parc de Villette. It was good to see some of her recent work, have tea, and catch up on various family doings. She kindly lent me an umbrella for the rainy return trip to our apartment.

That night my cold really caught up with me. I was too exhausted to go out for dinner. I made some fabulous haricots verts that we had bought at the outdoor market. Stephen got a couple of prepared meals to pop in the microwave and a bottle of rosé. Yes, here we were, in Paris, eating a microwaved supper!
Then the travaux began. First cutting our street so they could build speed control bumps. The saw that they used had a really dull blade so it went on until midnight. It was much louder than could be handled by our ear plugs. Then loud machines working to make the bumps until almost 3:00 AM, Hence, very little sleep.

Friday

I am taking some ibuprofen and determined to get to the Opéra Garnier tonight with Stephen and Isabelle to see two Forsythe ballets. A comfort food lunch of chicken couscous at the Mosquée helped to fortify me. We had to finish with the traditional mint tea.


We did get to the concert.

At the Opera Garnier, we found our seats just before curtain, after many erroneous attempts! The name Maheu still has some cultural clout as Isabelle scored three tickets in a baignoire box, front row. Sitting in a box in this ornate, old theater, makes me feel like I am living in a nineteenth century novel!

William Forsythe has an international reputation and first choreographed on the Paris Opera Ballet in 1983, the same year I made Intervals of Heavy Rain and Blue Cheer! I have seen some of his earlier work that I liked quite a bit. Here the dancers were technically brilliant, but the choreography was mostly classical ballet steps, with some stunning moments of interaction that felt developed out of contact improvisation.

Johan Inger, a Swedish choreographer, made a kind of dystopian piece called Impasse. Although the concept was a bit lost on me until I read program notes later, I enjoyed the movement, with full use of the torso, bare feet instead of pointe shoes, more quality and timing variation, and lots of rolling on the floor! Ha ha, rolling has been a Dawn Kramer choreographic trademark for years.

Saturday

Dawn:
We had a long sleep and worked out the details of our social life.

Pascal met us for a drink at Comptoir Gourmet in the Marais. Unfortunately his friend Florentin, whom we had met in 2022, was unable to join us. It would have been good to see him again and get the latest on France Outre Mer, as he is originally from the Caribbean isle of St. Martin. Also we did not get to see Pascal's lovely partner Ophelia because she was dealing with the recent loss of her mother.


He walked us over to see Maggie and Ghislain, past the Pompidou Center.

We did get to spend a delightful hour chez Maggie and Ghislain with their adorable four year old twins, Flora and Aurora. They dance, mais oui!, improvise on piano, do puppet shows and are essentially trilingual. Their dad is French, their mom is Dutch. Both French and English are used in the Paris Marais Dance School, the enterprise that Maggie and Ghislain direct. Plus Maggie wants them to learn her native language as well. Honestly, they do seem up to the task. We were charmed and inspired by our time with them. I was so in the moment, I completely forgot to take any photos.

After the visit, Ghislain gave us a tour of their new school, with lovely studios that they completely renovated. If any of our readers know anyone in Paris who wants dance classes, please tell them to check out Paris Marais Dance School at 26 bd Sébastopol, 75004. WWW.PARIS-MARAIS-DANCE-SCHOOL.ORG

That evening we were pretty exhausted but found a local bistro where we had the most French meal of our time in Paris, or at least I did, as I indulged in magrets de canard, pommes de terre au gratin, a small salad and a glass of very light rosé de Provence. Stephen had a Cantal burger, frites and a Côte de Rhone!

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Sunday

Stephen:
We had a nice lunch with Isabelle at her apartment and she pulled out some ideas about our afternoon. We did not think we could get into the Mussée d'Orsay because they were sold out, but Isabelle thought she could get us in with her handicap card. We disagreed, so were left with a nearby music concert or a new exhibition of the Al Thani Collection at the Hotel de la Marine, dealing with color in art around the world. Isabelle thought we should go to both! As she has demonstrated to us before, she has unlimited energy. We decided to see just the collection.

The Al Thani Collection contains an exceptional array of artworks spanning the ancient world to the present day. Encyclopaedic in its approach, and representing a diverse range of cultures and civilisations, this extraordinary collection celebrates creativity and the universal power of art through the ages.
Since November 2021, highlights from The Al Thani Collection have been on public exhibition at a dedicated museum space at the Hôtel de la Marine in Paris. These galleries also host a biannual series of themed exhibitions and provide a venue for loans from international museum partners, as well as educational events and seminars.



The Angelina tea room, which has established itself as a high place of Parisian gourmet pleasures, celebrates its 120th anniversary this year. The Angelina House is one of those institutions that perpetuate, across borders, the French art of living.

This place is rich in memories of comforting moments and gourmet breaks spent in its salons located in the heart of a chic and hectic Parisian life.

For more than a century, Angelina has been regaling sweet beaks from all over the world, respecting traditions, ranging from her inescapable Mont Blanc and hot chocolate, to the Belle Époque decor of the famous tea room, to the transmission of know-how from generation to generation.

Afterwards, Isabelle grabbed a cab off the street and we proceeded back to her place where we said our good-byes and we walked back to our place to finish packing and later have a supper of the food had left in our kitchen.

Monday, Exit Day

In 2024, the biennial event of SIAL (or Salon International de l'Alimentation) was bigger than ever, with 11 halls for 10 food industry sectors.

Over 7,500 exhibitors had reserved their stands, and for the first time in its history, SIAL Paris was sold out 5 months before it opened. They eagerly awaited the 285,000 professionals expected from 205 countries to show them over 400,000 products and innovations.

This massive trade show on its final day was planted directly in our path to the airport. The RER the regional train from Paris to Charles de Gaulle Airport was posting warnings to seek alternate routes, so we took an Uber instead. It worked but we still got in pretty large traffic jams until we passed the exit for the show. But hanging out in an Uber with a pleasant driver is better than being in the middle of Metro chaos in Paris with our roll-ons and back packs. We were notified by Delta that our plane would be a half hour late so we had lots of time.

Passport Control and Baggage Security took about 25 minutes, so we had plenty of time.

We sat in what we now call steerage and watched a bunch of movies and ate only one of the two meals promised us because of turbulence prevented the second service.

The escalator to Central Parking was broken in Terminal E at Logan and there was a long unmoving line at the elevator so we walked over to the taxi stand and grabbed a taxi that was waiting there. The ride home was beautiful with Fall colors in full display and the temperature at 82. When we got home our house which had been closed up was 62! We made dinner from stuff in the freezer and the next day took a walk and declared ourselves home

Home in our shadows in the Arnold Arboretum and in our view from our back porch.


Since we started with New York City, we will end here with two pieces of delicious sweets from Argentina that Gloria forgot to give us when we were in NYC. She mailed them to us in the package above and they were waiting for us when we got home. They were so good that they were eaten before we thought to take a picture.
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Wrap Ups

Thoughts from Dawn

I would say that this trip was mostly about people. There were wonderful things to see, to do, and to eat, but our focus was on reconnecting with people, twelve folks in all! From Luciana and David in Umbria, Joanne and Gabriele in Perugia, Elena in Padova, Pascal, Isabelle, Sophie, Maggie, Ghislain, Flora and Aurora in Paris. The older we get, the more important it feels to connect with people we do not often see.

From a geographical point of view, Lago di Como was a highlight for me. I love the art, architecture, music, and dance that we experience in cities, but I am at heart a Natural Woman, to quote Aretha! I loved waking up to that view of the lake, hiking up to the castle, living for few days in a small town surrounded by trees and mountains.

Will we do any more trips? Perhaps in a slower fashion, as my body is definitely acknowledging its age. Given the current conflicted state of the world, I feel incredibly grateful that we were able to take this journey, both the outer and the inner journeys. Travel helps us grow up a little more each time, and gives us the opportunity to greet everyone we encounter with an open heart.

Thoughts from Stephen

This trip was a lot of traveling, maybe a little too much for us, maybe too much time on trains, but we saw alot of beautiful interesting places. Next time, maybe we will go to one or two places and stay longer at each. Maybe more research about what is happening in each place.

We are going to have to decide between urban and country destinations. I think we are leaning in the country direction. We would love any suggestions

Thanks everyone for reading and looking.
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