Back From New York City

Gawking at a massive meteorite at the MoNH

I've been to the Big Apple a few times over the years, but it was always very briefly and always for business. So I never have had a chance to see much of the city. Recently, The New Criterion ran a review of the "Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs" exhibition at MOMA. It's an entire exhibition of 100 works brought together to provide an overview of Matisse's last period of creativity. As often happens when I read about such shows, I thought: "Wow, I would love to see that! Maybe I will just go to New York." In one hemisphere of the brain and out the other; I never act on this impulse.

However, as fate would have it, the same issue of The New Criterion also had a review of the Met's exhibition "Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection". This privately held collection of cubist painting and sculpture is being donated to the Met and includes 81 pieces by Picasso, Gris, Braque, and Leger. I looked up from the magazine and said to Jim: "I'm going to New York."

He decided he wanted to go too, so it instantly became a trip. For the first time, thought was transformed into action! Of course, once it became a trip, we planned other things to do as well. We decided to buy a Wolf Kahn...until we got the dealer's preview and saw that prices on his work have gone up quite a bit since I last priced them. Fail. More successfully, we went to see The Book of Mormon, bummed around Times Square, and hit the highlights at the Museum of Natural History.

It was a short but very enjoyable trip! Sometimes it's a good idea to act on impulses.

St. John (rest of trip)

Gimlets and a sea view from the back porch

Most of the rest of our trip was spent at the villa, just kicking back. In general, I prefer to be a bit more active on a vacation. However, we had discusses that - after four visits - perhaps it might be time to plan visiting other places in the future. Also, we both liked the idea of just being lazy, and there could not be a better environment for it than the privacy of Andante. We took a few selfies for kicks, and we had more gimlets (I got really happy one afternoon).

Our last true activity was spending a half day deep sea fishing, which I'd not done in St. John. We rented a private boat because the last time we went deep sea fishing we were crowded on a boat with two dozen other people. The crowd was kind of a hassle as wasn't as it seemed like we spent half our time untangling lines from other anglers. Having our own boat was a much more relaxing way to travel and fish.

Despite my initially catching a mahi mahi, we had a very slow start. The sky was clear and the sea very calm and, according to our captain, the best fishing happens when the water is a little disturbed and/or there is lower visibility. But we were fine with sitting out on the boat, having something to drink, and getting more sun.

Soon enough, the work set in and we caught grouper, red snapper, and yellowtail. Jim even caught a baby barracuda and a remora. We attached the remora to our hands to see what the suction disk felt like before letting it go. There was talk of a whale shark patrolling the area, but we didn't see it. I'm pretty sure I would have jumped into the sea to swim with it had we successfully gone to look for it. At the end of the day, we didn't have a massive catch, but we had a good amount of action and that's pretty much all we were looking for.

After we were done fishing, we went back to Andante and pretty much stayed there. We discovered Candi's Delights, a restaurant with BBQ as good (or maybe even better) than Uncle Joe's but without the attitude from the she-trolls who work at Uncle Joe's. We also did a little shopping...a very little...as Cruz Bay just doesn't offer a whole lot in that area. But mostly it was all about suntanning, pool time, hammock naps, stargazing, watching sunsets, iguana spotting, and cards (I finally put an end to Jim's outrageous winning streak!).

As we Friday evening came along and the sun started to set, we had to say our goodbyes for real. After spending four trips at Andante, it was tough to leave knowing we might not be back. Andante had really become like a home away from home, so it was sad to think that we might not see it again.

But all things come to an end, and we know that there are many new adventures yet to come.

Our last sunset in St. John

St. John (Day 4)

We left Andante early (in the care of an unprecedented six iguanas on the deck-side cactus) and drove around the island to Salt Pond Bay, where we have had great snorkeling experiences before. This time, we were not planning to snorkel. Instead, we decided to hike the Ram's Head Trail, which heads out to one of the southernmost points on St. John.

The hike wasn't difficult (the trail is only two miles round trip), but this part of the island is hot, humid, and bakes under a brutal sun even with cloud cover. And it was all uphill with jutting stones in the trail that could easily send you sprawling onto rocks and barrel cactus. This made the hike a bit time consuming (somewhere between 90 and 120 minutes round trip. Of course, we were snapping pictures and at other times trying to figure out where the path was.

During the hike, we were reminded how varied the landscape is on St. John. There was a large salt pond just past the bay at the start of the trail, then we went up into the rocky scrub of the point. As we approached the sea, we came to a side trail that led to an overlook. The view was wonderful, including a sheer drop into a crevasse where the ocean roiled two or three stories down. Even here, the jagged rocks were supporting life. A beautiful green tree abloom with flowers grew off the rock, like a delicate fairy in the middle of an ogre's den. Jim was not thrilled with me venturing near the edge, but I had to see this inhospitable natural beauty.

The next highlight was a wide beach completely covered in cobblestones. Each one was a paperweight-ready smooth stone. I can't imagine how long it took to for the sea to smooth all these stones and pile them over the entire beach. As the waves came in and ebbed, they made a sound like one of those new age rainsticks. I imagine the snorkeling on this beach must be very good, but the idea of hauling snorkel gear all this way is a bit daunting. If I could have popped it in a backpack, that might have worked. While I'm not sure a backpack would have been comfortable on hike like this, a swim certainly would have been a nice way to cool off!

Looking west towards Andante

The rest of the trail to the Point is dry and high above sea level. More rugged crevasses on the east side provided great views. On the west side, the view of Salt Pond Bay - and really all the bays along the south side of the island was amazing. We tried to spot our villa, but we couldn't quite figure out which point Andante looked out on in order to locate our home away from home. The Point itself also offered some great views.

While we were stopped at the point and before turning back, it was sobering to remember that the area has some dark history. Slave owners victimized the indigenous people of the island. From what I read, Ram's Head Point was a rough but welcome refuge for many escaped slaves. Survival here could not have been easy. But it was hospitable enough that, during a slave uprising in 1733 by the Akwamu tribe, historians believe Ram's Head Point may have been a stronghold for the slaves. When their uprising was being put down, apparently a group of warriors committed suicide rather than be captured and return to slavery.

I don't mention this history (similar to what we learned about the sugar mill we visited years before) to be depressing, but it does seem important to keep in mind that in spite of all this beauty there was some deep human ugliness on this island in the past.

St. John (Day 3)

Honeymoon Bay (from seestjohn.com)

Once we got completely disconnected from normal life, it was time to dive in. Literally! We started off this day with an spontaneous return to Honeymoon Bay. We had been here before, but it's so close to Cruz Bay and we enjoyed it so much that we decided to go back. Plus, with only one cruise ship arriving at St. Thomas, the odds that hordes of people would a) take a side trip to St. John, and b) spend that trip at Honeymoon Bay instead of the more popular Trunk Bay was small.

We were right! And we were rewarded with an almost deserted beach and a morning of excellent snorkeling. Honeymoon Bay is shallow and sandy all along the beach, so even someone totally unused to snorkeling can feel good about getting started. Off to either side of the bay are reefs that spread away from the beach into deeper water. Also, in the deeper middle area of the bay, is a grassy bottom. So you have just about everything for everyone. We tend to stick to the reefs over by Salomon Bay (on the left side of the bay as you face it).

Visibility was terrific and the water was pretty warm. Pelicans skim the water, sometimes gliding quite close to us. In waist deep water we were surrounded by schools of small fry with silver-neon stripes on their backs. Bigger fish darted in and out of the schools looking for an early lunch. Off by the reefs, we peeked into a crevice and saw a huge, colorful fish hanging shyly in the shadows. He had to be three feet long with a rounded head about the size of my own with puckered lips. No idea what that fish was, but it was an awesome sighting. There was also a sea turtle encounter in the grassy region but, unlike most turtles, this one was content to munch on his grass despite my presence. He was probably a bit bigger than my torso in size, and it was cool to just hang out watching him for a while. And of course, we enjoyed the usual host of sea critters. As for the coral, there was plenty of elkhorn, sea fans, some brain coral, and a few other varieties that I don't know the names for.

Jim enjoying a gimlet

After we were done with the bay, we hit the gift shop. This was to cancel out the $20 parking fee with a purchase. Last visit, we picked up a set of wooden bowls, and we got a larger version this time to go with them. During this trip to St. John I was determined to have some shopping successes. However, this was the only purchase we made. The shopping on St. John is just not very good.

Back at Andante, we sunned and swam. As evening came on, Jimmy made gimlets! It was very relaxing to sit on the deck with the sea breeze around us, 'getting happy', and enjoying the view.

More so than in past visits, there were a good number of large sea birds gliding past and above the villa. Since we're quite high up the island the wind is pretty strong here, and yet these birds go minute after minute without so much as a twitch of a wing. I think I recall reading in Oceanus magazine about how they manage to do this (have to re-read that article!).

Later, Jim won his sixth game of hand and foot in a row. Bad cards. Jim twice went out while I had still had my foot, which contained a red three. Grrrrr! I was officially pissed off. Not that I'm competitive or anything but...I vowed that before the vacation was over that Jim was gonna go down!

Villa View: Sunset over Chocolate Hole

We watched the sun set and then, later at night, did some stargazing. While my knowledge of the sky is not what it used to be, I was able to pick out several objects my own: Mars, Orion, Sirius, Rigel, and the massive red supergiant Betelguese. A tablet app helped us with the rest: Jupiter was brilliant near the zenith and we also located Arcturus, Castor, Pollux, Aldebaran, and a bunch of others. The stars always shine so beautifully on St. John, and we could definitely see the reddish tint of Mars and Betelguese with the naked eye.

What we did not see was the meteor shower. We had heard that the Lyrid meteor shower was happening and stayed up a little later than usual to watch but...nothing. As we researched a little, we learned that the best time for observing would be between 230AM and dawn. Forget it! I'm on vacation! Further, since we planned to hike on the hot and dry South side of the island the next day, we needed our sleep.

St. John (Day 2)

one of the views from the villa (click to expand)

After the Arrival Day Blues were over, Day 2 was much better!

This is all part of our arrival day strategy. On our first full day on St. John, we always plan to have no plans. Going by the mantra that inaction is not inactivity, we spent all of Day 2 at the villa we rented (Andante by the Sea). No driving, no planning, no thinking, no potential stress. An entire day to do nothing but to lie in the sun, swim in the private pool, nap in the hammock, eat, and read. The sole point of this day is to sloooow the pace waaaaay down.

And we succeeded! Within a few hours, I was in a state of samadhi via osmosis. On the rare occasions I thought about anything outside the villa or beyond the bay, the thought was like a cloud blowing by in the sky. "Yup," I'd think, "there is an outside world...oh look, it's floating away...bye bye!" Back to my nap.

By the end of the day, we had a little color going from laying out in the sun. During midday, when the sun gets really hot, I set up camp in the hammock. It's shaded by the upper deck, and there's a constant breeze to keep this comfortable. I spent at least an hour there, napping while rocking in the breeze, reading about the latest in supersymmetry, staring over the turquoise water, and listening to the ocean.

The surprise of the day was when Jim spotted an iguana that had come very close to the edge of the deck. Usually the iguanas stick to the cacti, watching us without much interest. There are usually between three to six on any given day (hence the name for the road leading up to Andante: Iguana Road).

However, on this particular day, the juicy petals of a flowering tree that rose to the edge of the deck were too tempting for this particular guy to resist. As he munched away on his afternoon snack he was close enough to touch. Of course, we were smart enough to settle for some up-close photos Jim took with his tablet. You can click this photo to expand.

Having left behind the normal pace of life, our arrival strategy is officially complete. Day 3 is the day we begin actual vacation activities...fully rested and relaxed. It works every year.

St. John (Day 1)

Our fourth trip to St. John has begun (and ended, since we're back now). I'll be posting about our adventures for anyone who might be thinking about visiting St. John.

This is our fourth trip to the island; we've gone every other year for eight years. We stay at the same villa (Andante by the Sea) each time, and we recommend staying on the island as opposed to a cruise for the privacy and freedom to explore.  Despite its small size, St. John encourages exploration and return trips because - even though we are now familiar with the island - we always find new things to do or experience each time we visit. This time out, the new stuff we planned on were deep sea fishing (which technically we've done before but just not here), snorkeling Great Lameshur Bay, and hiking Ram's Head Trail.

Another reason we like coming back to the island is that our familiarity with it sure comes in handy on arrival day. For me, arrival days are a mess wherever we travel. There's just no use planning otherwise or trying to avoid it; something always goes wrong and we end up so tired we just want to eat, chill out for a few hours, and go to bed. Day 2 is when good things start to happen.

So, because we know our routine for getting to and arriving at St. John, the 'Arrival Day Blues' sting a lot less. And we were certainly put to the test this time. Our connecting flight to St. Thomas was delayed by half an hour, which meant we wouldn't get to the villa until dinner time (and we'd have to go grocery shopping in order to have something to eat for dinner). When we got to St. Thomas, heavy rain kept us sitting on the runway long enough to miss the 4PM ferry to Cruz Bay. When we finally got to St. John, we learned there was no power on a good chunk of the island due to the storm (including Andante). On the one hand, it was no big deal since we never use AC when island breezes are so plentiful. On the other hand, island breezes don't keep a fridge cold or light an electric stove. Arrival Day Blues, for sure!  While we didn't get angry or bitchy, I won't lie that I was very bummed. What an awful start!

Soon enough, the rain stopped. We sat out under the stars, which were especially brilliant due to the outage. In a few hours, the power came on. We unpacked, got settled, had dinner, and went to bed knowing tomorrow would be better. Another arrival day survived!

Paris (Day 4) - The Loire Valley

Jim and I at Chambord

The weather in Paris was not optimal during our trip, but it wasn't bad. Just cloudy, with a tendency to be cool. However, we got one absolutely sunny day and it was fortunately the day we took a day trip to the Loire Valley. The cloudless sky and plentiful sun were an asset to seeing the sights here. Plus we had a great tour guide named David who was able to give us a primer/refresher of the history and key characters: da Vinci, Francis I, Henry II, Catherine de Medici, and Diane de Poitiers. We stopped at three of the Loire chateaux: Chambord, Amboise, and Chenonceau.

While the drive to and through the Loire Valley is easy, I'm glad we did a tour. After walking all day, I was quite happy not have to deal with the crazy Paris traffic when we returned. Better to doze off and let someone else manage it!

We started with Chambord, which was less a chateau and more what I imagine a castle to be like: courtyards, huge stone staircases, and towers slicing like needles into the air. While much of Chambord is not decorated, I could feel what it must have been like when it was occupied by Francis I in the 1500s. I loved the hunting-lodge-on-steroids vibe: thick wood doors, imposing stonework, and the impressive scale. The best part was the terraces. They run all along the top perimeter of the castle, and we walked among the spires to enjoy the fantastic views.

The Loire and town of Amboise from the terrace

Next was Amboise. While Chambord was set in a forest (and apparently is home to a considerable population of wildlife), Amboise was located within a town that brings the word "quaint" to mind. While Amboise is an impressive building also offering fantastic views of the valley from its terrace, it is much closer to a home than Chambord. My favorite room was Henri II's bedchamber, which had a very masculine feeling for a room steeped in such ornate decor. Lots of wood and rich but uncluttered furnishings. The chateau is also the burial place of Leonardo da Vinci.

Finally, we stopped at Chenonceau, which is the most palatial of the three chateaux. It was here that the most detail seems to have survived (or at least has been restored/added). Beyond the chambers the royals used, there were many rooms - such as a kitchen - where servants would have worked. Catherine de Medici's bedroom was evocative for me, especially having read Alexandre Dumas' Queen Margot. In fact, dozens of famous royals lived here at one time or another, and the related stories are fun to know before going in (another reason I'm glad we had a guide). 

Chenonceau

For example, the competition between Catherine de Medici and her husband's mistress, Diane de Poitiers, permeates the place. Mary Queen of Scots lived here. Henri III's queen retired to a room here after he was assassinated, and which she apparently set up as an over the top 'shrine' to her late husband (perhaps putting her in the running to be the first fag hag). There were huge bouquets of lilies in this room, which gave off an intoxicating, sweet fragrance. On top of the fantastic interiors, the grounds were also like something out of a fairytale. 

I'm sure there are plenty of other castles and places to visit in the Loire Valley, and I feel like we got a good sampling of a variety of buildings given that we only had the one day in the Valley. It was good to get out of Paris for a day, and this was a trip highlight for sure!

Paris (Day 3)

This was a big walking day for us! First we took the metro to the Tuileries with the idea of getting into the Musee de l'Orangerie, but it was unexpectedly closed. Since it was fairly early (at what time do people in Paris get to work?), we strolled the gardens and took a gander at the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde.

Then we crossed the Seine on the Pont de la Concorde and hit the Musee d'Orsay for a deep dive into Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Symbolism. By this time, I was already overwhelmed by the wealth of art Paris offers a visitor. No matter how enthusiastic one is, there's only so much art that can be absorbed in a meaningful way in such a short amount of time. Nevertheless, I could not stop looking.  Even when my back and feet were killing me, some amazing painting would beckon. Oh, to live in Paris for a while and be able to pop into the museums every so often, check out one wing or a few works, and absorb things more deeply! It's not fair!

After lunch, we strolled along the Seine, crossed back over on the ornate Pont Alexandre III (stopping to enjoy the amazing views), and checked out the architecture along the Avenue Winston Churchill, before heading up the Champs Elysees. Overall, we didn't take a ton of pictures on this day. I guess we just generally prefer to be free of the whole 'recording the moment' mania. Jim is better about this than I am, but taking a picture doesn't really make the moment more personal. Sometimes, it's better to just 'be'. Anyway, the Champs Elysees was obviously a part of the trip we were really looking forward to. And...well....

Let me just say this. The Champs Elysees is a wonderful walk, no question. Saw some crazy sports cars, got a sample of cologne, and enjoyed the people watching. However, I can't help but wonder if it's perhaps a little less impressive than it may once have been. The reason I say this is that the brands/stores along the way were not very different from what one would see on the Mag Mile in Chicago or what we saw on a main drag in Rome. I'm sure it sounds terribly jaded to - in even an oblique way - say 'meh' to the Champs Elysees (it's the Champs Elysees!), but perhaps one downside of globalization is that each country loses a bit of its unique charm. After all, there's nothing Parisian about Benetton, Nike, Hugo Boss, or the Disney store. Even brands with some legit French heritage (Louis Vuitton, Lacoste) are readily patronized just about anywhere. Or maybe I just don't get it because I'm not a hardcore shopper!

All musings aside, we enjoyed the walk that led us to the Arc de Triomphe. Totally impressive piece of architecture, and the view from the top was truly worth it. Paris is such a fantastic looking city in general, but to see it sprawling out before you from that height is breathtaking.

After all this walking and sightseeing, we were wiped out and - after dinner - sleep was a well-earned luxury!

Paris (Day 2, Part 2) - Pompidou Centre

Pompidou Centre

As everyone knows, Paris was the hub of the art world for many decades. So traveling here means museums are going to be on your itinerary. This is where Jim and I ran into some problems. Jim is fine with museums and looking at art, but our opinions about art diverge a lot as we get into modern and contemporary works. Further, if left to my own devices, I could have happily spent all nine days gliding around the various Parisian museums and galleries, soaking up art. Jim is not interested in standing around all day looking at paintings.

Many say the secret of a successful relationship is compromise, and I suppose we were a model of this during our afternoon at Pompidou Centre. After cruising the modern art floor (probably too much time for Jim's taste), he was in no mood to check out the contemporary art floor. On my side, I would have spent much more time on the modern floor and then happily have tackled the contemporary stuff.  This is the inherent flaw in compromise. While everyone gets to influence the decision, the final decision doesn't make anyone really happy.

Personally, I think Jim and I should have seen this coming and planned for it. Just because we're a couple doesn't mean we do everything together. We're a couple, not Siamese twins! On a trip like this, why not have a day where we take off on separate trajectories? It certainly wouldn't have taken much thought to find something Jim would have enjoyed more than several hours of Matisse, Mondrian, and Braque. At the end of the day, we could meet at some great restaurant for dinner to regale each other with our adventures. So much better for everyone! Oh well, hindsight is 20-20.

Le Luxe I, 1907
Henri Matisse
Oil on canvas, 210 x 138 cm

If you're not a Matisse fanboy (or girl), I suggest you stop reading this post right now because I promise there is nothing of interest here for you.

I learned a great deal seeing some Matisse works in person. But then one always does learn more about art by seeing the real deal rather than pictures in a book or magazine. Photos often fail to get the colors exactly right, rarely convey the scale of the piece, and usually lose the texture of paint application. As a result, it's not wrong to say that a photo of a painting can be visually inaccurate.

The Matisse paintings at Pompidou Centre are an example of the inferior viewing experience provided by photographs of art. In photographs, Matisse's work takes on a solid, colorful appearance. Sort of like icons. The actual works are not this clean or simple. The colors are there, but the roughness of the brushstrokes are surprising if all you've seen are photos.

Matisse - like many modern artists - wasn't especially concerned about polish. Often, he wasn't even concerned about covering his entire canvas. You can see the lack of overt finesse in the way fields of color are sometimes not blended. There are also many places on his canvasses where brushstrokes were low on paint and leave most of the canvas or underlying color exposed. It appears Matisse made little attempt to hide these artifacts of his painting process.

I also wonder about how Matisse prepared his canvasses (or if he did). Standing before the actual works, you can see that some of the exposed areas are filthy. Not sure if that's due to a lack of priming or an issue with the history of the paintings. Also, in many works, Matisse's fields of color are cracked, which seems odd given the relative youth of these paintings. Not sure what that's all about, but it's interesting information to have in understanding the works and how they were made.

And this was just my experience with Matisse's works! The Pompidou's modern art floor had plenty of Cubism, Surrealism, Color Field, and installation works, including a Rothko and a Mitchell. Just too much to appreciate in a few short hours!

After we left the museum ('escaped' might be the word Jim would use), we went for dinner at a cafe just down the street. We were both dead tired by this point and were happy to relax with some wine and watch the world go by.

Jim enjoying a well-deserved meal and rest!

Paris (Day 2, Part 1) - Montmarte

Sacre Coeur

We woke up well-rested and ready to dive into Paris with a vengeance! The morning was to be spent in Montmarte which, to us, is the place where Amelie lives. If you have no idea what I mean by that, then you must see the French romantic comedy Amelie with Audrey Tautou.

We started by heading up to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur, which is positioned impressively on a high point in the city. The views from the basilica were amazing, with all of Paris stretching out below. The interior was equally impressive and, again, there was a mass going on while we walked about the basilica.

Although I enjoyed the basilica's statues, art and ambiance, I had a problem with the way money was being pulled out of visitors. Okay, I should reword that. Nothing was 'pulled out' of anyone; it was all donations. However, I've been to the Vatican and seen the immense wealth the Church has, so I find it hard to swallow placards suggesting donations are needed to keep the basilica going. And when these placards and donation boxes are situated below a five foot tall - apparently solid silver - statue, I have an even tougher time with it. Of course, we don't want people melting down art for operating funds, but there was a lot of other revenue streams flowing in this church. There were the usual spots one could make a donation and light a candle to a saint. Plus there were machines with commemorative coins for sale and a 'gift shop' of sorts. There's a part of me that cannot get past this overt commercial aspect in what is allegedly a house of religious worship.

Okay, point made. 'nuff said. The basilica was quite beautiful and we enjoyed seeing it.

St. Pierre de Montmarte, spookified

Outside, we saw the mountebanks begging for alms and then made our way past St. Pierre de Montmarte, which seriously made me think of a haunted mansion. Check out the photo. All I had to do is give this photo a slightly darkened black and white and - voila! - instant spooky home of the undead vibe. Gotta love that gothic(?) architecture!

We spent the rest of the morning enjoying Montmarte. First we jumped into the Place du Tertre, where we took in some of the local art, admired a few shops, and sat just outside a little restaurant to people watch and partake of escargot and snacks. It was always good to find time to sit during our stay in Paris! After thinking about entering the Dali Museum but getting a distinctive 'tourist trap' feel from the place, we headed down the Rue Lepic towards the less touristy part of Montmarte and made our way to the Montmarte Cemetery.

At the grave of Emile Zola

The Cemetery was enormous and jam packed with mausoleums from the 1800s, some of them absolute towers. Loads of sculpture, mossy tombs, and shady lanes made the place very atmospheric. There was even stained glass windows on some of the tombs. It could totally have been the set for a vampire movie. Aside from the graves, there were plenty of wild cats running around. I tried luring one over, until Jim suggested they were probably crawling with bugs and might not be the friendliest critters to ever walk the earth. Pet Semetery?

There are plenty of famous people buried in the Montmarte Cemetery. I believe Jim Morrison is one, but I wasn't all that keen on seeing his grave.  We did located what I thought was the grave of Alexandre Dumas, until I remembered that the fils after the name means it was his son. But, while I didn't get to see the grave of one of the greatest romantic writers ever, I did get to see the grave of the master realist: Emile Zola.

Literary Geek Moment #1 of this trip!

Paris (Day 1) - Sunday at Notre-Dame

Arriving in Paris in the afternoon was a good thing. We'd slept a bit on the plane so facing the prospect of staying up until night wasn't as bad as it might have been. Unfortunately Paris is dead on Sunday, and we could not find any restaurants that were open...except American fast food. Let me tell you there could not be a less enchanting first image of Paris than to see a well-dressed French man sitting pensively at an outdoor cafe....that was a KFC.

So we sucked it up and consumed caloric content from McDonalds. We were staying at the Place de la Republic along the edge of the Marais, and the square was fantastic for people watching (plus the metro access was phenomenal). So we got some energy before exploring.

By the way, have you ever noticed that famous French novelists had a habit of almost always naming the streets their characters walk down? I haven't picked this up in other country's literature. It's like these authors draw you a map. You feel you could walk the route Jean Valjean and Cosette used to escape from Javert into the Petit-Picpus convent. Or the path D'artagnan took towards the Musketeers barracks. Or follow one of the winding rambles of Claude Lantier from The Masterpiece. Trusting their genius, I will adopt this convention in my Paris posts!

So after our...is there an ironic synonym for 'meal' I could insert here?...we went walking. We took the Rue du Temple toward the Hotel de Ville and then walked along the Seine. While almost everything was closed and shuttered, we could still enjoy the architecture and get a feel of the Parisian vibe. Old Paris has an odd but appealing mixture of grit and historic ambiance. It was a bit jarring against what 'Paris' was like in my imagination but, once I connected with reality, I quickly warmed to it.

We crossed the Pont d'Arcole, evaded hoards of 'deaf' gypsies, and found ourselves on the Ile de la Cite. Passing a dozen tourist trinket shops, we arrived Notre-Dame. I didn't take many pictures of the church itself as there are loads of brilliant stuff to be had on the Internet. What I liked best about the church was the intricacy of the facade. All those dour looking priests and saints and such! (Click on photos to expand them)

The inside was magnificent, naturally, and there was a mass going on so the singing and the sermon lent atmosphere to the medieval interior (fortunately the sermon was in another language so we could relegate it to background noise).  Loved the art on the ceiling with the giant white bird flying from a white bearded God to a Byzantine-looking Jesus. There was also this atmospheric smoky quality to the way the light passed through the air. Maybe from all the candles that are lit? And of course there was lots of stained glass, statues, woodwork and mystical niches to be seen. 

We spent a good amount of time inside Notre-Dame but, to be honest, Jim and I are not the 'let's see every church in Europe' types. Yes, the history and architecture are amazing, but we prefer to pick the highlights and move on to other activities.  Once we left the church, we  checked out the Square Jean XXIII behind Notre-Dame. There was a garden with plenty of roses in bloom. We sat and watched people (and the absolutely enormous Parisian pigeons trying to mate) before wandering across the Pont Saint-Louis to Ile St. Louis and then across the Pont Louis Phillippe back into the Marias.

We found plenty of cool little back streets, which we slowly wandered about in as we made our way back to the hotel. I can't really remember where we ate dinner as, by this point, I was all about wanting to get some sleep. I think we just ate around the back of the hotel at a little bistro we could see from our window. Then it was back to the hotel room for planning which activities we would undertake on our first real day in the City of Lights. And then...sleep!

Paris!

No, not a photo I took!

At the end of June, Jim and I took our first trip to Paris. Aside from having tons of history and culture, Paris is home to some of my favorite artists and writers. Matisse made his mark here, as did other giants such as Picasso, Monet, Dali, and countless others. Great artistic movements, such as Impressionism and Fauvism, were born here. As for literature, there's Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Emile Zola, Andre Gide, and so many others. Being part French, I was excited to visit the land of some of my ancestors.

As on most of our trips I'd made a laundry list of things to do and see, knowing that we could not possibly do it all. However, I feel it's best to have options and run out of time rather than run out of things to do. We were on the go almost all day, everyday. While we worked the metro system, we believe walking is the best way to absorb a city's spirit. Plus Parisian cafe-style restaurants make people watching easy. Long story short, we had a fantastic time in the City of Lights and we were totally wiped out by the end of the trip.

Some broad takeaways:

• Rude French People - I didn't find people in Paris rude. They could be abrupt, but that's often true of people in Europe generally. I think this is a myth propagated by tourists who earn the rude treatment they receive.
• Ugly Americans - Not so much, but I could often spot Americans based on their clothing. Our "come as you are" attitude towards attire stands out in fashionable Paris. Ultimately, however, I think the British dress worse than we do.
• Through the Eyes of a Cell Phone - There are a lot of people who experience the world through their cell phones. Whether we were on top of the Eiffel Tower, in front of the Mona Lisa, or sailing down the Seine, there were people who didn't look at anything. They just took pictures or a video and then moved on. Insane! 
• The Fashion Capital - Paris lived up to its reputation for fashion. The men are gorgeous, even when they are roughing it. They exude an effortless chic, and I was eyeing their clothes and shoes for ideas about how to polish my appearance. 
• Great Wine - The wines were wonderful, and we enjoyed them with almost every dinner (and a few lunches).
• Great Food - Good marks here, including treats from the bakeries scattered all across the city. That said, in my opinion, the French don't 'get' pizza. At all.
• Romance - Yes, it is romantic in Paris. Jim even gave me a kiss while we were walking through a park from the Eiffel Tower at night!

I'll be posting photos of our travels over the next few weeks.

Back to Las Vegas

Haven't been posting for a while, due to lots of travel. Had a trip to LA for business, we just got back from Paris, and at the very start of the summer we took our goddaughter and a friend of hers to the Bellagio in Las Vegas to celebrate their college graduation. So I need to get back in the saddle, so to speak.  I did a post on LA, so let's tackle Vegas.

We wanted to give our goddaughter and her a friend a real experience, so we started off with the stretch limo to the airport. However, the fun really happened in Vegas where our guests partied hard for the weekend. For Jim and I, there was the usual gambling, eating, and shopping. The girls and I rode the New York, New York roller coaster. I couldn't get Jim to ride it though (last time it banged his head around pretty hard). So instead, I coerced him into doing one of those video, lip syncing booths in the arcade. By the time he realized I would likely post the resulting, it was too late (insert scheming, villainous laugh). Of course, I was thwarted by the proprietary software used to create the video. I'll have to cam it.

Anyway, the highlight of the trip was taking the girls to see Mystere, as they had never seen any Cirque. We had a surprise treat in that Jim became an inadvertent part of the show. Some people question whether those audience members randomly selected to participate in the show are plants in the audience, but I can tell you they are definitely not. Jim would never have volunteered for this sort of duty.

Before the show started, the 'clown' was wandering through the audience messing with people. He started tossing popcorn at people for them to snap up with their mouths. When he came by Jim, he tried a few times but remained unsuccessful in getting him to catch the popcorn. Poor Jim had to take the brunt of the clown's frustration, as he dumped his popcorn all over Jim!

Then he went off and got another, much larger, box of popcorn and came back over. After a few moments...dump! It was really very funny, and it was perfect that it happened to Jim because he's not the kind of guy who likes to be 'center stage' like that. Still he bore it like a trouper.

So we had a great deal of fun in Sin City and managed to give the girls a great weekend after four years of hard work.

Kayaking at Rainbow Springs, Florida

As a follow-up to my disastrous first experience kayaking, I felt it would be best to try again in a kayak by myself as the ability to coordinate rowing with others was obviously beyond me.  I was down in Florida to see my parents, and my mom and I went kayaking at Rainbow Springs. Each in our own kayak.

The spring water that feeds the river was crystal clear and the light current left most of the river smooth as glass. As a result, I could see down to the bottom. Plus we were early enough so that the sun wasn't too hot and there weren't a whole ton of people on the river. We saw plenty of fish, foul, loads of sea turtles right at the surface near the kayaks, and even a few otters trolling along the banks of the river.

This time, I did much better. I'm certainly no expert kayaker, but I was able to control my craft and get a good head of speed going when I wanted to.  I definitely had some nice achiness in my shoulders later that evening, so it was a good workout as well. 

With a bit more practice, this is something I could really get into!

St. John (Days 6 & 7) - End of Trip

This morning we tried another new bay, but this one was much closer to Andante. Honeymoon Bay is supposedly a less frequently visited bay, despite its north side location and proximity to Cruz Bay. That's what people posting comments online led me to believe anyway, and I must admit that, when we got there about 9:30AM, the beach was nearly deserted. The snorkeling was pretty good, and there was a nice sandy bottom if you don't like rocky bays. A little further out were some coral groupings were havens for a great array of fish. After a reasonable length of time, Jim told me he was headed in and I let him know I probably wouldn't be much longer.

Twenty minutes later, Jim calls out to alert me some people have arrived in a couple of kayaks. "A few more snorkelers," think I, "that's okay. I'm not going to be in here too much longer."

Within minutes, seven people are 'snorkeling' around me. They're making a ton of noise and splashing (I think it's their version of swimming). One is snapping pictures with a strobe flash that could signal aircraft. I'm thinking: WTF?  I lift my head above water and see a herd of two or three dozen people 'swimming' in gaudy neon snorkel gear and inflatable floatation devices...and they're coming my way! On top of that, small motorboats are coming to shore to drop off a couple people each. Plus there's a herd of these creatures migrating towards the beach. To a snorkeler like me this sight is as horrifying as the Vandals were to an ancient Roman.

I do not like snorkeling in crowds...especially crowds of cruise ship people.  I'm willing to go to great lengths to completely avoid this species. They don't ever look where they are going, plus they splash around every reef in sight and scare a lot of the fish away. Surrendering immediately, I wove my way through the melee back to shore. I had my fun, but Honeymoon Beach was no honeymoon for us. If you can get there early, it's a good quick snorkel. However, go in there knowing you will have to flee before the arrival of...'Them'.

After Honeymoon Bay, we went back to Andante and closed out the trip by hanging out at the pool, tanning, and swimming in complete privacy. A relaxing end to another wonderful trip to St. John. I miss it already!

St. John (Day 5, Part 3)

Bringing momentous day 5 to a close...

After we left Little Lameshur Bay, I was driving when I saw something that I have to admit gave me a start. We were going up a steep hill on a narrow road when suddenly a huge truck started coming down! Had to drive halfway off the road with no guardrail and a steep drop off into the jungle to let it by. Not something a Midwestern man of the plains like me is used to!  As we got back to 107, we saw a mongoose. I knew they were around on St. John, but we had never seen one before. One more sighting on the way home: two wild white donkeys (or burros or something) along the road.

After we drove home, we ate, tanned, and swam in the pool for the rest of the day. This was the first afternoon that we were able to (or maybe just noticed) that we could see St. Croix from the villa. We knew the island was south of us, but always just assumed it was too far away to be visible. Nice dinner and then we sat out and watched stars. I swear I can sometimes see a trace of the Milky Way late at night.

St. John (Day 5, Part 2) - Octopus Sighting!

Now...on to the detailed story of my first octopus sighting!

I'm making a huge deal out of this, because I have always been absolutely fascinated by the octopus. As mentioned in another post, it's an animal I call an 'earth alien' because it seems like it could come out outer space (or at least an imaginative science fiction novel).  They have eight arms, no backbone, and a highly developed brain. They can problem solve, change skin color to match their background, change their skin texture to do the same, shoot ink to confuse their enemies, and squeeze their bodies through tiny holes far smaller than they are. They can even move around outside the water for limited amounts of time. Earth aliens!

In my reading about them, I had learned long ago that they are shy and prefer to hide than be seen. However, you can find the entry to their homes if you look for a small pile of empty oyster or clam shells (their principle food). So all through the years, I have been looking and eager to see an octopus in the wild. However, I have never been lucky enough to find one. The trip to Little Lameshur Bay changed my luck.

I was snorkeling well out into the bay along the rocks on the east side, when I saw five or six opened shells right along this large group of rocks. The shells looked so clean that I realized this was it. An octopus den must be nearby! So I looked at each hole and crevice I could find, searching for some hint of an octopus. Of course, knowing about their talent for camouflage I had to look very carefully or I might mistake the octopus for a piece of coral or rock. But I couldn't find it.

Then...BAM!...I realized it wasn't in the crevices at all. It was sitting right there on the side of the rock no more than a yard from me. It was colored to match the rock and curled up to hide its tentacles, but I was sure I'd found my quarry when I saw the eyes and the siphon. I moved around it a bit and could see the suckers on several of its tentacles.  It's head was about the size of a football but, because its tentacles were curled under it, I had no way to estimate how big it was. The thickness off the tentacles near the head made me think that for them to taper to a tip as they usually do that the tentacles would have to be 2 or 3 feet long, making for a diameter of 4 to 6 feet. Not enormous, but certainly big enough to send me into orbit! The picture above is not actually the type I saw, but it's pretty much the exact position I found mine in (just imagine most of the tentacles pulled up under or curled up around the base of the head, and the color matching the rock and you can get a fair idea.

Given the size and that there was no weird shape or pattern to it, I have to assume it was octopus briareus - the Caribbean reef octopus - which I assume is probably a pretty common type. This is a picture of an actual Caribbean reef octopus.  They seem to look like other octopi, but the only thing that makes me wonder if it might have been a different kind is that the pictures of the reef octopus I've seen seem to show a more extensive mantle with more connective tissue between the arms.  While I didn't see the arms of my octopus very well, it seemed as though the mantle ended much further up the arms.

Anyway, I was ecstatic! I just floated there watching him (he did nothing, so I guess I'm easily amused). His siphon pumped water, his eyes just watched me. I have to admit I did flap my fins towards him a little thinking I could get him to move, but he was far too smart to fall for such a puerile ploy. In any case, this sighting was the highlight of the trip for me and is something I have always wanted to see! Scratch that off the bucket list...(yeah, I am easily amused!).

St. John (Day 5, Part 1) - Little Lameshur Bay

Click to expand

This day was the highlight of the trip...so much happened! So the document of it all has to be split into two parts.

That morning, I was able to convince Jim we should drive beyond the end of the road at Salt Pond Bay and head for the Lameshur bays. He was worried because the map specifically says "no rental vehicles beyond this point". Since most rental vehicles are 4-wheel drive jeeps, he was probably right to have doubts. But I checked the Internet for other people's experiences and thought the map was making a big deal over nothing. When we visited Salt Pond Bay, we walked part of the road. Lots of major potholes and stretches that were unpaved, but that's why we have a 4-wheel drive jeep right? We made the drive today, and I'm sooooo glad we did!

Little Lameshur Bay is beautiful! I lifted the picture here, as I'm becoming less interested in photographing things...I'm there why not just experience it?  Anyway, it has a nice sandy beach and loads of shallows both among the rocks/coral and in the middle of the bay where there is a sandy bottom and sea grass. This was great, because Jim got to see plenty of stuff close in while snorkeling, while I was able to explore way out into the bay. As a result, while we still love Salt Pond Bay, Little Lameshur Bay is our new favorite beach on St. John.

There's fewer people who get out this way, as the cruise ship people usually stick to the other side of the island and buses can't do the road beyond Salt Pond Bay. While there were about twenty people on the beach, it is so wide a beach that we were not at all crowded. When we arrived - around 9 or 10 - there were only four other people there! Close in, Jim and I both saw sea turtles and we could get quite close to them as long as we just floated along. They kept an eye on us, but didn't seem that bothered by us. Awesome!

I didn't explore the west side of the bay, but the east side has loads of rocky outcrops (which you can see in the picture above). This is a fantasyland of snorkeling: reefs, sea plants, rocky 'canyons', grottoes... It just beckoned me on and on, and I was at least two-thirds of the way to the point by the time I thought to come back in. I stink at estimating depth, but I think the water was about 20 feet deep as I got further out (by the rocks that is), but I also found inlets where I could stand in two feet of water if needed. Visibility was fantastic!

Of course there was plenty of coral, but some of it had its arms out despite the daylight. Looked like these were under rocks or in crevices where perhaps they don't realize it was daytime. So this was something interesting to see. Brain coral, finger coral, and circular corals that looked like unglazed pottery. With the latter, each one was occupied by a single darkish fish about five inches long that would chase away other fish.

The sea life was just as varied. Aside from the usual panoply of colorful fish, I saw 11 reef squid hovering in a line, shifting colors as I approached. Several sea turtles. Bigger game fish. A huge, angry red sea cucumber. A school of about 20-30 needle fish stretching off as far as I could see. These predators are thin, silvery, and have needle like teeth. They hang right near the surface, so sometimes you don't see them until you are right on top of them. The thing is I have never seen so many all together.  Then I saw why: massive schools of fry were hanging out near the rocks and in the grottoes. One school of well over a thousand were a cloud all around me, and each one had a bright neon blue stripe inside its body. Another smaller school had about 100 tiny muddy-colored fish in a round shape the size of a medicine ball. I reached out towards them and, instead of scattering, the 'ball' shifted shape as if the motion of my hand were shaping it! Really neat! And then there were two firsts!  I saw a bright red sea spider (see picture) which seemed to be harassing a sea urchin. And the best of all...drum roll please!...an octopus!!!! At last!

Since I have to run on about the octopus sighting for at least a few paragraphs, I'll save the story for the next posting.

St. John (Day 4)

Back to Salt Pond Bay! Salt Pond Bay is a 45 minute drive from Andante. We have to drive all around the perimeter of the island and through Coral Bay to get there, even though it's closer to drive east. Problem is there is no road east through the National Park!

The bay was a hot and intensely sunny as always, but the snorkeling has never failed to disappoint. I saw two reef squid but, unlike prior years, they were not over the sea grass but near the coral. This made them easier to spot and look at. Each was about 8-12 inches long with big black eyes and hovered in the water fluttering their lateral fins. This year, I decided to dive so I could get real close to them, and they immediately flashed into a white color and backed away slightly. As I rose to the surface, they jetted away.  I always get excited when I see reef squid because they are cephalopods, and I'm fascinated by the entire group of animals.

A first: I saw a spotted eel. He was snaking around the bottom in about six feet of water, looking for a hole to curl up in for the day. Looked a bit like this guy pictured, only bright yellow all over, especially on his head. He was probably about two feet long or so. Not the biggest eel ever, but I can check that off the sighting list!

As I swam into the middle of the bay where the boats are docked, I was looking for big barracuda that usually hang around near the boats, but there weren't any out there. I did see a small sting ray and three sea turtles munching on the grass and rising to the surface for air. They didn't seem at all bothered by my presence.  There was also a large surgeon fish parked near the coral, with a tiny black and neon yellow 'angelfish' moving around him, probably nipping algae or parasites off of him for a meal.

photo by Jerry Kane

Another thing that often happens in the ocean that I like is you get a little fish or two (not even an inch long) that swims near you for protection. Sometimes, they can be very distracting as they will swim right in front of your mask, making you look cross-eyed at them. Annoying, I guess, but kind of cute too. Speaking of small fish, naturally there were tons of colorful ones to see, but I saw a whole lot of bluehead wrasses, chasing fish away (some were fish much larger than themselves), so I imagine it was some kind of territorial thing. They are really colorful and I always like seeing them.

Another familiar but always welcome sight are schools of fish. This time it was a big school - maybe 50 or so blue tang. For you cartoon people, that would be Dory from Finding Nemo. After snorkeling during the morning and early afternoon, we drove home and - of course - vegged by the pool and tanned. Then Jim cooked us a nice steak dinner! You can click the pic below to get a load of the fantastic setting.

St. John (Day 3)

One of the things we like to do at Andante is see how many iguanas we can spot in the cacti and undergrowth surrounding the villa. These critters like to sun in the morning and evening, and I'd say the one at picture center here is probably about three feet long from nose to the tip of his tail. Click on the picture to expand it and enjoy in the 'Where's Waldo?' fun (there are at least three iguanas in this picture). The record number of iguanas seen in this particular cactus is five iguanas. Only a little zoom was used to take this photo, so they are very close and you can enjoy watching them move their heads around from time to time or occasionally inch from one side to the other. However, they are usually the picture of sun worshipping slackers.

We check on the iguanas everyday, and have found that the same ones seem to come to this cacti each day. There are other cacti around the villa but not as many tenants on those. One day, we saw a brilliant green iguana up there. He was a bit smaller than the others, but still a good sized lizard. In fact, the road that winds up to Andante is Iguana Road and I can see why they named it that. Aside from all the ones we see at the villa, several times over the years we've seen iguanas racing across the road. (They can move really fast when so inclined!) They shun humans but, one afternoon, I snapped this photo of an iguana right at the start of the path that leads from the villa down to the beach.  He was just browsing around, munching on flowers, and didn't seem too concerned about me being there. I can see why people decide to keep them for pets; they are really cool looking!

Today, we revisited Francis Bay for swimming and snorkeling. It's on the north side of the island and usually the current and waves are a bit more active here. This activity reduced visibility so we couldn't see the fish as clearly as usual. Part of the problem was we forgot that we should not arrive at a beach before 10:30 or 11 to get the optimal amount of light for seeing fish. It's actually not the light so much as it's not usually until then that all the morning clouds have blown away. Jim suggested we should keep notes of these little factoids we discover, but I'm not sure it would make much difference. We're both such early risers that by 9:30 we're antsy to get out and about.

This day was very low key, as well. After spending the morning at the beach, we had lunch at Mongoose Junction (yes, there are mongooses on St. John though we've never seen one). After that, we just went back to Andante and enjoyed the pool and worked on our tans. As I mentioned, the plant life was thicker this year than in prior years. I think this is a palm tree (or two) growing right along the west balcony. The giant leaves on these plants make you feel like you've taken a trip back in time to some Jurassic ecosystem. (This picture expands really big so you can enjoy the beautiful landscape behind me).