The Rebel Rose

Home Page        The Eclectic Bookstore           Lenora Carrington, Remedios Varo and other surrealists

Nakazato Mixed Gallery of Images: Japan, France, Thailand, California, Transrealistic collages

January 3, 2001

The major big thing about the year 2000 was I visited France with Rie for two weeks. Rie has done some articles for Japanese travel magazines but mostly is a scriptwriter for television and movies. We make a good team as she doesn't mind hanging out and writing when I get fascinated by something and start photographing. Most people when traveling want to keep moving onto the next place when traveling to see as much as possible. I don't work like that. You never know when something will strike you and an inch of paint can be much more fascinating than the Eiffel Tower to someone like me.

I had to work 3 part-time jobs to earn the money to go but it was well worth it. I enjoyed the south of France the most. France Rail had a special deal where two people could have 3 days rental car and 4 days railpass good for a month for $210 each as long as they travel together on the train. You can even reserve a train seat.

With that in mind, we went to Southern France. First stop was Avignon. We sat in front of a medieval church while a man from Spain played classical guitar. Then we wandered through the church garden and the curving town streets, had a delicious dinner and listened to very bad karaoke over a cocktail at a bar filled with young people--one person was as off-key as me!. Each night we randomly selected a place to sleep. Here we stayed at a hotel for people traveling in cars on the cheap. Not our best choice. Sagging beds, water-stained ceiling, peeling wallpaper but the biggest best bathtub that we had on our whole trip.

Next morning I went to pick up the car. For anyone who does this, always schedule to pick up the car at the railstation. I choose downtown Avignon figuring that's where we would be. Not!! We were in old historic downtown Avignon near the railstation. I had a major hike to Avis car rental. The upside was that since most people rent at the railstation, the downtown AVIS had all brandnew cars that smelled really nice.

Rie We drove to Arles where Van Gogh painted and cut off his ear in remorse after an argument with Gaughin. In the center of town is an ancient Roman amphitheater. A long time ago, the Romans invaded France (aka Gaul) and built roads, aqueducts to carry water and amphitheaters for entertainment. Many of these structures are still standing although gladiators no longer fight each other. Unfortunately, the amphitheater was closed because they were setting up for a jazz concert that night. Van Gogh's Sanitarium Luckily, the musicians were already practicing to test the equipment and you could hear jazz floating out. Rie and I sipped coffee at Le Calendal enjoying the jazz. Le Calendal is a little hotel with a cafe in the back with giant chess pieces and local photography lining the staircase. I'd like to stay there sometime as the staff was very friendly.

On the road, we chose a hotel. It was a surprisingly good choice with a beautiful garden out back. Next to the hotel were some Roman ruins, across the street was a sanitarium that Van Gogh stayed in and a few miles down the road was an old French fortress atop a cliff. I woke up early the next day before Rie and walked to the sanitarium. Van Gogh used to go on walks nearby and paint the countryside. They had set up boards where he painted showing the painting and the portion of the letter he wrote to Theo, his brother, describing the painting. I admit I wasn't a Van Gogh fan before but the trip to France taught me a new appreciation for his work. There is this incredible physical vitality to his paintings, in the thickness of the strokes, that book reproductions can't convey.

Le Beau Rie and I drove all day visiting little towns--Le Beau, an old fortress; Gordes, a clifftop town; Roussillon, a town dipped in scarlet; a family winery; and Isle sur la Sorgue, a town on a river having a market day. The wine was delicious, the scenery gorgeous. Why would anyone want to go back to Paris? We had a lovely evening at a bed-and-breakfast owned by a couple who work 7 days for 9 months and then take 3 months off. They were very kind and friendly and the husband is an awesome cook. He created a great five-course-dinner that started off with bouillabaisse soup--a rich tomato-base fish dish. It's on the way to Gordes.

grafitti 1 Well, we finally did return to Paris. What can I say about Paris? For me, it wasn't as much fun nor as interesting as Southern France. I enjoyed the museums the most as it gave me an opportunity to see artwork of artists that I had read about it. mannequin The Orsay was lovely, set in a gigantic train station back in the days when trains ruled the world. At the very top, the whole floor was dedicated to impressionism. They included Van Gogh in that category. Floating through on the pure pleasure of color, a dab of light, my eyes danced through the exhibit. I was happy. We didn't have time to visit the first and second floor as a sudden storm caused them to shut down the building. The Pompidou is a good counterpart to the Orsay as it features modern art. Luckily, they were having a special exhibit of Brassai's photographic work. He is most famous for his documenting French prostitutes but I like his graffiti work and the more oddball images. That wasn't surprising because I was already photographing graffiti in Paris as that was the only bits of bright color on the cream and beige stonework that I could find. Then I discovered Montmarte, an area dipped in vibrant hues, so I photographed storefronts there.