DAY FIFTY FIVE..... UNDER AFRICAN SUN

This morning when I opened the window of the airplane....at 5.20 in the morning, there was the rising sun on my left..... and believe me for this African borne ---- there was nothing like it.... although in Champagne one morning I viewed another sunrise from the bedroom window which was also very beautiful....

But I am home now, I am seeing things differently, I think, experiencing things more intense, and trying to enjoy what life brings.... this past adventure was given to me to enjoy, experience and build on, and to create something better for us all.....

My French sojourn will in event be good for us all, and in future I hope that it will give me and my family and the people we share this with another view on life and appreciation of what it entails.........

- Joie d' vivre....the JOY of Life - a gift from Above

DAY FIFTY FOUR

I am preparing to go to the airport.... totally too prepared....waiting for time to pass....bored....don't want to go for a walk - too sad..... but also looking forward to get home...it is a long flight, but it will also pass I am sure....

somebody wise said i should relax - you cannot hurry on the airplane....and that is so true.... so this is the last time I will blog from Paris..... c'est la vie - bon journey all my friends I got to know here......

DAY FIFTY THREE

The above for my friend in South Africa he knows who he is, - I leave them in the storage room for you to come and use when you will come here....soon I hope.....

The day before my departure....but still a day to go.... my friend who lives here is coming for a visit and we are going to walk a bit and then I have to ready the studio for the inspection...clean the floors again and so on.... but I don't mind - I know they clean it again but it is nice to leave the place like you would like to receive it....or as near to it as possible.

On the left my favourite bridge, Pont des arts - in the middle again, and another bridge on right..... I adore the Paris bridges each with its own "personality"

I thought still to go to Musee de Beaux arts but it appears there is just so much that we saw in any case....so I think I will ask my friend if we can walk the Tuilleries gardens again....at least there the people don't dodge each other the whole time as is the case with the rest of Paris....or so it seems to me.

Left a cafe in the Jardin de Tuilleries - where we had a sandwich and coffee and the wonderful irisses and then people sunbathing at every fountain and no available chairs for us..... amazing sight to see - everybody soaking up a bit of sun

So this is my second last day.... tomorrow I will be going home..... I want to go to the airport early - don't want anything to go wrong on my trip home or at least not anything I can prevent.....

It is sunny, and warm in Paris.... as if she is showing us her best side for the last few days....

Left the last building of the Louvre....one of the most beautiful and so typical French/Paris architectural style and on the right a bit of the path back home/studio next to the Seine

There are several people I have learnt to know who are leaving tomorrow .... throughout the Annex people are cleaning and throwing things away etc.... in a way it is sad, but in another a happy event.... I am sure that when I sit on the plane on my way home I will see it as a happy event, but at the moment it does seem a bit sad....

However, it is not only me with these mixed emotions....there are a lot of us, and last night after the open studio, we had something to drink and talked - and there is a sadness in all of us, but new beginnings is waiting...when something ends something else starts.... it will be a challenge to see other things as exciting as this was, but life is a huge adventure, and we have to keep it that, and do things to keep life interesting..... and we have all the tools to do this.....

DAY FIFTY TWO

A strange character in st germain and the Medici fountain in Luxemborg gardens.

Monday - sun is shining it is Easter Monday, a public holiday in France - supposed to be and most musee are closed on Mondays anyway - a friend warned me that most shops might also be closed today.....

I allowed this day for clearing the studio.....tomorrow I would like to wander through the city in my own way, no particular order, and see one museum Musee de Beaux Arts.... I did not really see it my one friend and I just wandered through the garden....but I think there should be more to it.

On the left the bookkinists, and the right in front of the Shakespeare bookshop....

It is amazing that time flies when you are enjoying yourself.... but now I think I am ready to say goodbye to my very favourite city....

When I finished putting up the photo's from yesterday I will go to the Luxemborg gardens...just have to be back this afternoon at around 5 I am going to fellow South African Mensi's open studio....he is also leaving Wednesday although he had a 3 month stint in Paris.....and after that I went to M and J 's open studio they are writing a opera together...it was truly amazing - so was the Menzi one...I also met Marinda du Toit - new to Cite.... and it was a really wonderful evening.... tomorrow my friend will come for a visit and then it is back to packing and seeing that everything is in order for the inspection....and then to pack finally to go home....

left the 6th and in the middle the st Paul area and the right a gallery picture....

DAY FIFTY ONE

Wow, never thought this day would come.... 51 days. I love the market at Bastille and today it was the last opportunity for me to go there.... it was as always a treat to listen to the different vendors telling everybody their products are better and cheaper.....

Left on my way back from market to St Paul and in the middle a gallery at Place des Vosges and on the right an advertisement for an exhibition - Jeanne this could have been one of your muses!

The amount of colours and products and things for sale are astounding.... and always cheaper than you would find in the shops around paris.

But, from there I wanted to see if I could get a busroute to Musee Branley which I tried to visit in the beginning of my sojourn, but could not, because they open so late in the morning.

So, although I looked, the no 72 line Hotel de Ville was still the best option to L'ina, but I was daydreaming and missed the stop, so I had to pay an extra ticket because I had to return there, but no problem, I wanted to finish my tickets no use taking them home.

The bus no 72 and people sunbathing on the edge of the Seine and the bridge after the Eiffel.... across from Musee Branley

The museum was a huge surprise. I really was astonished at the huge selection they have of artifacts and other things of the various continents they address. There is also a Christian Lacroix fabric/textile exhibition.

The front of the Building and the back and then when you are walking to the exhibition area, the installation art is called "River" - it is amazing....

An impressive museum which I think a lot of people miss and with lots of valuable information and artifacts.... a pity they have so very little of south africa...perhaps I am biased? (obviously I am)

Then I took the bus back home..... almost 6 hours after I left this morning..... I carried my heavy backpack with things I bought at the market the whole day and was tired, and warm..... when I passed Hotel d' Ville, I saw the Ben and Jerry shop - have seen it since I came and thought I would have a scoop of ice cream... my 3rd one in the 2 months.... so it was a "white chocolate" version..... and it was very good .....

Hotel d' Ville the townhall on the left and on the right, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream
have seen it the 2nd day I arrived here, and my daughter said they had excellent icecream so todayI had one

This evening I started worrying if my suitcase would take all the things that had to go home....so I started to pack..... I think I will make it work...... - so for the next 2 days I need not worry about that..... I can gently say goodbye to this amazing city ----- tomorrow most musee are closed and its a public holiday.... I think I will try and spend some of it in a park or just walking - perhaps go to the Luxemborg gardens and walk in St Germain.....

DAY FIFTY

Left the first turn to the left the market and to the right the view you have here, the supermarkets and the metro....all the motorbikes in front of the boulangerie Petit Versailles and the market stall with scarves in the middle and lots of tourists and cycles on the road....

I have been in Paris for 50 days. It is and has been a true blessing. I have learnt so much - seen so much, heard a lot and travelled a bit.... but most of all I once again know who I am.... and what I want from LIVE...... and what I would like to do with my art.

The area above Rue de Rivoli and a shop window....too beautiful to miss

This morning and afternoon it was sunny and warm and I went for a 2 hour walk - went through the Saturday market in front of the MARIE , searched for Square du Temple in Rue de Temple, which I read about in my DK Eyewitness Paris book....and which I realised I passed one day when I got very very lost... somewhere in the beginning of my stay.

The notice board at Square du Temple and the park in the middle and then a "real" fromagerie on my way in Rue de Bretagne the one in St Paul near me is so small you can miss it if you sidestep another person, but this one is a fullfledged shop

DK PARIS says about Square du Temple: A quiet and pleasant square today, this was once a fortified centre of the medieval Knights Templars. A state within a state, the area contained a palace, a church and shops behind high walls and a drawbridge, making it a haven for those who were seeking to escape from royal jurisdiction. Louis xvi and Marie Antoinette were held here after their arrest in 1792 - the king left from here for his execution on the guillotine.

Then via the Marche de Enfant Rouge and then to Hotel d' Sully which borders on Place des Vosges my favourite local park.... - sat and read there for a while, but the pigeons were so noisy and it was hot....

Inside the Hotel Sully.... a beautiful old house which borders on Place des Vosges

According to the DK Paris : It is a 17th Century old house which was built for a notorious gambler in 1624, Petit Thomas, who lost his whole fortune in one night. The Duc de Sully, Henri iv, chief minister, purchased the house in 1634 and added some of the interior decoration etc. Today it is the head office of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.

Left an artist selling her paintings - they were actually very nice and the middle musicians playing on the corridors of Place des Vosges and the Park of Place des Vosges which stole my heart....

I came home and rest a bit and then onwards for another walk..... to the 6th Arondissemont, Rue du Bac Area....

Left, Pont Marie, then a street musician, and the busy little road on Ille st Louis and then the coffee shop where my husband and I had a coffee before we went away from Paris the very first time we came here..... Cafe St Andre

Gopnick writer of "Paris to the Moon" mentions that if you take Rue de Seine it ends in a tiny passerole which goes to the front of the French Academy at the Pont des Arts I think I got it, I thought it would be a long corridor, but this was all there was......when I got on the bridge it started to rain heavy drops....like the 4 o'clock rain we get in Pretoria....only this was around 5.

Left bank....very busy Rue st Andre and the Rue Bac crossing, and the small entrance from Rue de Seine and then the French Academy from the front side

I decided to turn back home..... the tourists and Parisians does not like the rain they hide away and run to the busstop but I enjoyed it tremendously.

It rained huge drops and everybody was hiding from it.....

Tomorrow shops are closed and also on Monday - so I will get some baquette at the market if there is one at Bastille or Rue Veille du Temple boulangerie and then have something for Monday as well.