Paris & wrap-up

***Note: if you want to read this vacation blog in the order that it was posted, you have to go to the next page and start from the end!***



I finally had the real TGV experience on Sunday night --- that's the high speed train. We went from Avignon to Paris non-stop in 2 1/2 hours. The train was really moving fast and steady, no hesitations or stops! It was cold waiting for a cab outside the Gare de Lyon in Paris, but what a relief! I was at the hotel in no time flat and slept extremely well with the window wide open for the first time in weeks. On Monday morning, I took the #67 bus from the Place d'Italie up to the Montmartre district and did the tourist bit with my old Michelin guide to Paris, but this time included the Cemetery of Montmartre which I'd been reading about...Emile Zola, for instance, is buried there. Paris in August....lots of small stores closed, very light traffic, Parisans gone on vacation, and loads of tourists right where you'd expect them! City looks real clean, there are rows of new city-bikes for the locals to use, the buses are modern and clean and there did seem to be more gardens and green space than before. I flew past the folks eating on the overcrowded, overpriced Place du Tertre at lunchtime, and followed my map to a restaurant recommended by my friend Regine, who is French and owns an apartment in the neighborhood. Lunch was at the Villa des Abesses, which looked just like any other bistro from the outside; in fact the sign was covered up by the awning. I chose from the daily specials and had caviar d'abergine for an appetizer (it's a mix of cubed sauteed eggplant with olive oil, lemon juice and other spices) which arrived with two crunchy toasts and a leaf of endive sticking out of the mound. It was sublime. Can I make this stuff?? I have since actually found two recipes for it. Next, I opted for the whole pan fried trout with green beans. The trout arrived, and it was whole! After I stared him down I chopped off his head and proceeded to dismantle him with this special big flat curvy knife they gave me. It was very good and I had two rounds of goat cheese on some greens for dessert. This was a very good meal and cost about $15 Euro. For dinner I went to the Asian district around Place d'Italie and had a bowl of good old Pho!



On Tuesday morning I went to an exhibition at the Foundation Cartier for Contemporary Art called Rock 'n' Roll 39-59. I'd read about it back home somewhere on some internet newspaper and I had brought the address with me....just in case. It turned out to be just the right thing...it made me laugh and dance and it was easy to get to and very comfortable to appreciate. An hour long, american-made film Rock 'n' Roll The Early Days (subtitled in French) was shown in a room where I watched, lying on a cushion on the floor. The film began with people picking cotton, as did the picture exhibit which continued in the next room! A high point for me was the 'Elvis at 21 Photos' by Alfred Wertheim which I had never seen...real sharp b&w...young Elvis in Penn Station, Elvis french-kisssing some girl....just gorgeous photos. There was a '56 Cadillac on hand, a jukebox to play with and guitars under glass belonging to Elvis, Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins. I do love to observe the French fascination with Americana.



I departed the museum at 11.30, bound for my last french lunch at Le Comptoir at the Place d'Odeon. I had really high hopes for this place, but got an uneasy feeling when I found myself out front at 12.00 in line with ten tourists. This meal was a flop, and it' s my own fault. I ordered the special which was steak. I should have ordered something more complicated like a terrine, and then a vegetarian dish for the main course. Well, I was a fool and a hungry one at that, so I had a tough piece of undercooked meat on my plate which I had to send back. They cooked it some more, it had a lovely sauce but sparse vegetables, and I just ate half of it and bailed out. I went next door and to the creperie run by the restaurant and got a giant hot buckwheat crepe dusted with sugar, folded in quarters, and ate it right on the sidewalk.



In Paris, as in Avignon and all the other cities I visited, I found young men & women in shops, post offices, restaurants, train information booths etc., all polite, and genuinely courteous & interested. Where are all those crones that used to insult us and our french language skills when I was a student?! In the Maison de Retraite, no doubt! Anyway, what a pleasure: not one person made a big deal about my being a non-native speaker of French. It was like they were just interested in my unusual accent. I was quite busy on this trip and I had not counted on the heat factor in Southern France in the summer. Actually I had thought about it, but decided to ignore it when I made my plans! The theater festival (I saw about 20 plays) and the course were wonderful, and that's why I went. I did manage to fit in some good bicycling (I did three long rides, about 140 miles) and tourism, ate local food which I prepared myself & had some fancy restaurant meals, but I think those things could be done more pleasurably in the Spring or Fall because of the heat. I'd love to go back and rent a house in Apt in the Spring and just cycle, eat, tour and cook with food from the markets. And I would avoid Charles de Gaulle/Roissy Airport.


Any takers for the next trip?


Thanks for all your e-mail and comments! --K

Link to OFF program on line

I just found this-- it's everything in the 300 page OFF catalogue. You can read about all the shows.....I am bringing a copy of this home.http://www.avignonfestivaletcompagnies.com/

Saturday...

Just wanted to quickly mention again that it's hot here, the kind of hot where after lunch you nap with the fan on all afternoon until it's safe to go outside again around 5 o'clock! I leave for Paris tomorrow on the train at 8 p.m.

I took a walk around the part of Avignon this morning contained in the ramparts and it took me just about an hour, so that's about three miles.

My last play (this is the last day and the town has really emptied out --- August is around the corner and that's when nearly all french people go on vacation) was this evening at 6 p.m. It was called Antigone, Tragedia dell' Arte, directed by Carlo Boso (a known person in Commedia circles). It was done as a comedy and mixed greek tragic theater (masks, audience participation) with the commedia. I can't begin to list all the creative things in this play...and it was outside in a courtyard, which made it all the better as a breeze had kicked up. Okay, there were six people playing about 15 characters, they had masks, both painted and sculpted, there was singing, drums, a flute and funny references to french politics. Very clever and very well done. The name of the troupe is Compagnie Alian Bertrand, once again from Grenoble. What a nice note to end on!

I am now off to an end of festival party hosted by CEILA, the place where I took the course.

On Wednesday I saw another commedia dell' arte romp: The Enchanted Flute by the troupe Comediens & Compagnie from Paris. They used masks on all the players, there was some pretty fabulous opera singing and the jokester, or sidekick to the main male role stole the show-- Pappageno was his name and I have never seen a human being move and jump around like that for an hour and a half!!!! Loved it! www.comediensetcompagie.info

This evening I went to an 'IN' show called Nine Fingers. I thought it looked like trouble, but I got the ticket free so--- My worst fears were realized. A guy hitting a dirty matress with a microphone. I had to cover my ears. Not my thing. Some people gave them a standing ovation--- I would have loved to talk to these people & find out what I missed!

Yesterday I put my bike on the intercity bus and went south to Aix en Provence for the day. I rode right through town down the Cours Mirabeau (which is nothing like Champs Elysees as I'd thought from reading MFK Fisher's description of it!!) & came out on the east side of town. Six kilometers later I was looking the Mount St. Victoire, which Cezanne painted many times. I had lunch in the Relais Cezanne and then took a nap under this big line of plane trees next to a field. Refreshed, I went back and explored town for two hours and then proceeded to find a shady cafe to wait for the bus back to Avignon. Aix is bigger, brighter and more southern looking than Avignon.

I've been very fortunate with the weather since I got here--- it has been cool and pleasant especially in the evenings. That's over-- it's hot here now and it makes me tired.

One word about the people and I will close. All month long I have encountered relaxed, friendly, warm people here, even in the stores and banks. People start conversations with you waiting in line, on a bus, in the market. Is it the south? A younger generation that is more relaxed and open than the French we met in th 70's? I don't know --- maybe this will change when I get toParis!

Ciao--- this is almost the end!

The 'Nouvelles'

On Sunday I finally got to take my Luberon bike ride. I got off the bus with my bike in Cavaillon and immediately spotted the signposts for the Tour de Luberon ride which I'd gotten off the internet site of the Luberon tourism bureau. This was a gem of a ride that took me through Les Tailledes, Robion, Maubec, Oppede-le-Vieux, Menerbes, Lacoste, Bonnieux, ending in Apt where I caught the last bus back to Avignon at 4.30. I got to see some hill towns here and I see what all the fuss is about --- they are so high, so ancient! The tough parts about this ride were that I had to start late because of the bus schedule and then follow the signs, not a road map because this ride was designed to use back roads, which it sucessfully did. I was just high enough up in the valley to see over it. Thank god I found all the signs--- what a cliffhanger that was! The big climbs were to the three hill towns & I was not alone out there on the bike. I had lunch in Bonnieux at a carefully chosen restaurant that had a patio overlooking the entire valley and then a totally downhill finish into Apt--- what a plaisir that was. This ride was 47.5 km or about 30 miles but the hills made it harder.

Lunch: I opted for something light. I had marinated uncooked rouget fillets with roasted marinated peppers. The fillets were in the middle of the plate, they were small, light and firm, and three whole peppers were arranged around them: one red, one green, and one yellow. All fresh! Over it was drizzled olive oil and it was garnished with a whole sliced lemon and fresh rosemary. This was not a fancy place, mind you. The people at the table next to me were eating fries and pizza. The lemons taste great here--- different.

On Monday I caught up on my Avignon tourism and saw the Palais de Papes and took in a wonderful play in the afternoon: Le Malade Imaginaire by Moliere, interpreted by Theatre Kronope of Grenoble. These are mature professionals and the show was excellent. It included masks on top of the face, two characters on stilts, a swing (or trapeze), fabulous costumes and a giant bed. The actors were constantly adjusting the height of the bed, etc., a good visual gag. This morning I saw a children's show called Jeux de Fables-- Hommage a Jean de la Fontaine. It was very elementary theater for children, I was dissapointed.

Today I took a van ride with 7 other tourists to see the Abbaye de Senanaque and the hill towns of Roussillon and Gordes. Very nice day in country with a fun group.

I have some time this evening so I thought I would just write a little bit about my day in town to give an idea of what it's like here.

The festival is winding down, this is the last week! Posters still up but tattered, actors still doing publicity --- every time I go out I come back with three or four 'tracts' or cards for shows!

I was planning a bike ride this morning but could not get to the bus depot at 6.25 am (that was a bad plan, I should have known I wouldn't make it!!) so I had to rethink my day. I made it an easy one, to deliberately relax now that I don't have to show up for the course every day. I decided to see two plays and take the bus out to the 'centre commercial', a mall that is, of course, 'extra-muros' (outside of this walled city) First I went around the corner to a miniature supermarket to buy something to cook for lunch. This particular store has a real butcher in the back and I asked the guy if he had any ground beef, seeing none in his showcase. He said 'of course, right here!' and pointed to this groovy machine with some nice lean meat sticking out of the top. I ordered up just enough for a petit hamburger and he ground it right in front of me! It cost 1 Euro.

My first play was at 10.15 am and I started over there about 9.30 so I could just walk slow and enjoy the cool part of the day, the quiet and the clean and empty streets. At the Theatre du Petit Louvre, I had time and was invited to wait in the courtyard restaurant. This theater is in an old church (all churches built before 1789 now belong to the state, which maintains them as they do other monuments!!) The courtyard is beautiful, set up to be a restaurant/cafe. Trees provide shade, beige walls lined with ivy are on one side and the exterior walls and architecture of the church on the other. Underfoot is sandy gravel. There are many tables in the courtyard set in groups of 2 and 4. There is a slight breeze stirring and there are faint sounds of instruments and voices warming up in the background. This is only one very lovely place outside a theater here. There are many like it, some not so fancy but places to gather outside for the patrons seem to be de rigeur, nonetheless. These places are particularly breathtaking at night when you add the clink of glassware, the sound of forks and knives on plates; people's voices and laughter, candlelight and of course the smell of food!! If this place existed in Atlanta, it would be booked solid all the time. Here, places like this positively abound.

The play was Les Temps de Machettes, having to do with the genocide in Rwanda. Recommended by the prof., and this director came to talk to us. Well done, important topic but it was just four people talking and a fellow with a stand-up bass playing from time to time. The next play was Phedre/Jouvet/Delbo--39/45 also recommended by the prof. Two stories here, main one is Louis Jouvet, a prof at the Conservatoire and his secretary Charlotte Delbo. Well done for scenes of Jouvet directing his students in Phedre. Afterward, I hopped on the bus and had a very interesting tour. If I had taken my bike I would have gone straight out there and missed this--- the bus, of course, meanders. There is a main road like a beltway about a mile outside the ramparts with just building after building over 5 miles of neat but depressing public housing, as only the French can manufacture it! Such a shock after looking exclusivley at the center city these last few weeks. I would bet that more people live out there than in the center. New thing on some buildings is graffitti. Plenty of it.

The mall felt very American! I got what I needed and got back in time to have a simple, light dinner in an outdoor place before coming in to check my mail. Thanks again for your notes!

This week's plays & other things

It's Friday afternoon and my theater course of two weeks is over. It was really worthwhile in terms of meeting people and figuring out the festival. Honestly, I can't imagine that I would have gotten as much out of the festival as I have without some guidance, and in many ways this was some pretty high quality guidance. At least three directors of OFF plays came to speak in class and just told us how they came to be here-- the work, the contacts, the good luck, the financing; of course we had the wonderful actress for the first three days who knew everything and in addition, had us imitating chickens, writing two page plays and excercising our jaws besides listening to her stories! The second fellow was much more organized/academic but I did learn a lot from him. What is a PAIN is the french language when everyone is at such different levels-- most of it not great, either. More people joined our course along the way and we were about 10 today. I am making a point of never taking another course for non-native speakers of french!!

Plays this week: The Chess Player by Stephan Zweig---very well done; Les Monologues du Vagin (that's right!) and Nicole Croisille, a great dame of Chanson Francaise was one of the 'readers' -- very good; film for the class 'The Miser' starring Louis de Funes (the french answer to Jerry Lewis) very funny; Rendezvous au Chat Noir-- social politics in Montmartre, songs and satire--- good but hard to understand.

I will be spending the next week touring around and seeing plays before I leave here on Sunday July 29.

A note on the fish dish I mentioned the last time -- I found out from the deli lady that sells me my lunch everyday that the fish is actually 'worked' with olive oil as you would work a mayonnaise. That may explain the flavor. I am eating brown rice from the Camargue region just south of here with salt from the same area; the heirloom tomatoes are positively BODACIOUS! but they have the ordinary ones too; the famous Caviaillon melons are totally in season and are selling for 3 for 2 Euros and ordinary garlic is super crisp and powerful. I'm not buying anything that is organic.

That's all she wrote....for now.

A busy weekend

On Saturday I went out for my second bike ride, this time all cycling, no trains. I went east of Avignon this time, passing by St. Saturnin les Avignon, Pernes la Fontaine, L'Isle sur Sorgue, Fontaine de Vaucluse and then back to Avignon. The I used viamichelin.com, which is just like mapquest, to figure my distance traveled-- 83km which is about 50 miles. It goes by fast when you are looking at interesting things and following the signs CAREFULLY so as not to get lost. At Pernes I happened on a Saturday market where I sampled nougat and proscuitto-like ham from Spain. In L'Isle I had an unremarkable lunch next to the astounding 10 block long canal which is just beautiful. I went to Fontiane and was surprised and delighted that the whole 4km ride was on a road completely shaded by plane trees...once I got there I figured out why. The place has been occupied forever because of the abundant water that comes from the 'source' under the Vaucluse mountains. The river winds all thru the town... just beautiful, despite the tourists. I promptly found a green shady spot next to the running water in a park and took a nap!

On Sunday I took the train with my bike to Nimes, to see the some well preserved Roman architecture-- the Arena and the Square House. Both of these attractions were really well organized -- Arena had a portable tour guide that was like a cell phone --- even had sound effects of screaming crowds!! At the other place there was an IMAX like film and 3-D glasses--- some of the scenes were flights over the whole area around Nimes, notably the bridge at Pont du Gard which I visited last weekend. The bike allowed me to get around the town quickly and I had lunch in a park....not just any park...it was called Les Fontaines; leading up to it was a long canal on a street shaded by plane trees. There were fountains galore, but I was kind of suprised to see that there were not gardens. Lunch was a local specialty: La Brandade de Morue. Salt Cod in a casserole. It was great; I never tasted anything like it. A layer of mashed potatoes, then a layer of the fish pulverized with cream, then a light layer of cheese, browned slightly.

No rain here, and nobody is worried. Apparently all the water comes from underground springs.. remember Manon of the Sources and Jean de la Florette? That's what they're all about.

Friday night I saw L'Hymnus, a play presented by Roumanians in French. Last night I went over to the Palace des Papes to see about getting into the real keynote play in the 'IN' theater (my first IN) altho I did not have a ticket. I stood around holding a small sign 'Cherche 1 place pour Feullets d'Hypnos' and had one in about 20 min. Rene Char is the poet who wrote all of the short peices that the Artistic Director of IN put together into this play. I wouldn't really call it a play, as they just read the pieces, in a very modern decor. I think this author is well-loved by the french, but sorry, I didn't get much out of it, except perhaps it awakened some curiousity in me about his work.

More next time!

News from Avignon & the festival

First thing is, it's really cooool here, I mean it seems to go down to about 55 degrees at night. People are wearing long pants and sweaters!

I just finished the first week of the course. The wonderful actress who started us off was only with us three days-- her name is Catherine Alias and she has a theatre company called 'Attore Actor Acteur' as her specialty is working with authors from Spain as well as France. She also speaks Spanish. I told her all about Theatre du Reve and she was very interested--- more on that when I get back. Our new prof is not in theater, he is just a big fan and very knowledgeable (sp?) about history, shows, people etc. Every day we do an hour on history, an hour of reading out loud, taking parts, some diction excercises and we are preparing Moliere's L'Avare (the Miser) in an abbreviated form that the prof developed himself, which they will perform without yours truly as I did not sign up for the last week of the month. It's fine, but Catherine was lots more fun and knows all the inside stuff on the festival, etc. as she has worked in & around it since 1990.

Plays I've seen: The Unbelievable Voyage of Pytheas (story telling); Le Voyage de Capucine (story telling); conference & reading on the book 'In the skin of the Actor' which has just come out in French; Le Medicin Malgre Lui, a musical version that was an absolute SCREAM; Fluide, a dance performance from South Korea; and finally Antigone (there are 3 versions of A in this festival!) which was the only show I've seen so far that I did not like-- Creon was wearing platform boots, a full-length black leather coat and he was sporting an Al Sharpton hairdo. I didn't mind his appearance, he was just not a good actor! Must be somebody's brother-in-law! By the way, I won't go into great detail here on this subject, but if one has the money, one can pretty much buy a spot in this festival. The price of a time slot varies between 3 and 7,000 Euros. Most of the actors in OFF are working every day for 3 weeks in the show and out in the streets, generating publicity by talking to people, performing and handing out cards. A lot of them are not paid. All this in the hope that the show will be picked up by organizers of other summer festivals, big theaters, etc. It's a market.

I have been eating very well and cheaply by picking up delightful prepared meals from the Traiteur (like a three star deli) in the market early in the morning and reheating it at lunch time. Today I had a wonderful piece of firm white fish like cod but better and a big slice of braised fennel with mirepoix. The day before I had what I guess you could call lamb's trotters, that is to say--- feet. It is a dish from Marseille called Pieds and Pacquets--- there are also little stuffed packages that go along with it.

I've about had it with this keyboard so I zill sign off for noz! thanks for the messages and e-mail!

The Report !!

I've been keeping busy.

Friday - Saturday I saw four OFF plays: Cris du Choeur (musical), Les Fees Railleuses (storytelling), Respire Betty (Drama) and Barbara, Les plus belles histoires (musical).

On Sunday I finally got out on the bike. I didn't do what I expected to, but I had a fine day (breezy, at times overcast) and several kind folks along the route to help with directions. I went to see the Pont du Gard which is the Roman aqueduct triple decker affair over the Gard River. Only when I got out there did I realize that I had to take a very circuitous route to avoid the main road which is a four lane highway. So I meandered thru Rochfort du Gard, Domazon, Theziers, Fournes, St. Hilaire, Castillion du Gard, Vers-Pont du Gard (that was a mistake) Remoulins (this is where the bridge is located) Collias, Cabrieres, St. Gervasy, Marguerittes and finally Nimes where I got on the train and went back to Avignon. Pont du Gard is so huge in person! I walked on the bridge briefly and observed the locals who were kyaking, swimming, hanging out in the park or eating in a fabulous outdoor restaurant (I had eaten earlier and it was terrible), and I took a nap under a tree for half an hour. I had to cross a mini mountain with a 15 percent grade for 4 km. It sounds like a pain but for some reason it was really cool. I was very glad to pull into that train station at 4.30. This ride totalled 77km/48 miles. I will plan future rides to be shorter!

Today the course started and it couldn't be better. The woman leading our group of four in "Le langage a travers le festival" is an actress in her mid-forties. Very expressive and kind. Today she expained the history and politics of the festival--- cleared up a lot of mysteries for me. She also invited two young women who are in an OFF play to talk about thier experience. More on this at another time. Tomorrow we start the readings. No other anglophones in the course and all have pretty good french skills.

Lunch today was late. I was about to faint waiting for it to be served. The prof recommended a place outside the Palais des Papes and I had one of the specials. Started with mousse de courgette (zucchini) with raw salmon bits on top, then had the rouleau de volaille (chicken breast rolled around proscuitto and just a bit of cheese in a stunning sauce) next to a pile of well - dressed greens. I expected the chicken to be dry--- it was NOT. The dessert was fresh cheese (no translation) served with chopped chives that you toss on yourself. The price for this marvel was exactly 20E. I am learning not to order the bottled water. Just so you don't think I am living too large here, I eat omlettes and sardines back in the apartment most of the time.

Thanks for your e-mails!

The Festival is here!

It's Friday and the town is starting to feel crowded. People are in the outdoor cafes thumbing through the giant catalog and there are young theater folks on every street corner handing out cards and flyers for their shows. There are a total of 110 theater locations in the 'OFF' part of the festival and each of these is showing about 6 different shows, more or less, through the 28th, to give you an idea of how many shows there are. And they start as early as 8.50 am and go thru 10 at night! There are about 30 shows in the 'IN' side of the festival.

Yesterday I retrieved the bike, fixed perfectly, and had a great lunch over by the Palais des Papes (right near where I picked up my 'OFF' discount card this morning) It was at a restaurant called La Fourchette (the Fork) and it was GRAND.

On the table before the meal was a bowl of very smooth tasting black olives accompqnied by 3 mini-biscotti flavored with tomato. I ordered breast of duck (magret de canard) in a curry sauce and zucchini. The diced sauteed vegetable was piled in the center of a perfect square white plate and the rare duck sliced were arranged on it. All was surrounded by a pool of this caramel colored curry sauce thqt hit just the right notes of sweet, hot & curry taste. Oh, there was a small elegant salad frist, and these big flat slices of potato on a separate dish grilled with cheese on them served with the meal. Instead of dessert I chose the tray of 4 cheeses and even the french couple at the next table were envious when it arrived. Same white porcelain; a small mound of bitter greens in the center, red peppercorns, some oil and dark vinegar dancing around the outside and four perfect peices of really smooth tasting cheese. I impressed the waitress by asking 'where do I start?' because you have to eat the mildest one first. She gave me a delightful explanation and repeated the names of the cheeses but of course I can't remember even one! Each was different, each perfect. My neighbor, who had ordered a dessert that turned out to be a veritable WALL of meringue, may have been regretting her choice. The lunch cost me 28 euros. Worth every centime.

Okay gotta go right now--- there is an opening parade I don't want to miss! Bisous!

I never want to leave!

Some impressions---

This city is loaded, I mean LOADED with charm. It is compact with lots of narrow streets, many of which have been transformed permanently into pedestrian streets. In many of the not-quite so narrow streets there are lots of very old, tall and leafy plane trees-- the ones with the green spotted bark. At every turn there seems to be tables outside shaded by trees or large umbrellas--- and people eating, drinking and lounging outside.

So far the weather has been ideal--- cool breezy and sunny.

I am so glad I came a week early to get situated and oriented before 250,000 visitors arrive----is that possible????

My bike arrived today qnd will be fixed by tomorrow afternoon. Charlie; you were absolutely right, they will just rebuild the back wheel. They didn't bat an eye about it.

There is an indoor market place right around the corner (I bet it's indoors because we are in the south) with a startling display of charcuterie, cheeses vegetqbles etc. Today I got those skinny french green beans, a fresh tomato, a tranche of pate and some salade de museau (sliced head cheese in a dressing) and that was lunch::: The beans were so good, they squeaked when I bit into them. Yes, I had bread with the pate--- mea culpa! Tonight I am going out for oysters with the landlord!

The plays are at most 1 1/2 hours long. I will see my first on Friday night. I guess they can run more that way: Every day there are more posters up!!! I am constantly distracted by them when I'm walking around--- maybe I shouldn*t use that term--- there is so much to look at and take pleasure in. It seems that every where I look there is something beautiful or interesting:::: really nice. Must go now. Send comments or Q to my regular e-mail address which I can't post here.

I'm here...!!!

Had a great crossing including a ligntning-fast trip to the airport courtesy of Von, and a seven hour flight due to a good tailwind. Things bogged down at the CDG airport where the train for Avignon left an hour late-- but my hosts were waiting when I got there, and they whisked me, my suitcase and my bicycle wheel into centre-ville.

Town is more charming than I had imqgined and the aparment is just fine. I picked up the two festival catalogs yeseterdqy-- the 'OFF' is 270 pagzes long!! Will write again soon: This french key board is reqlly a problem.

K

PS weather is cool/clear/dry!!!

What's an Avignon Theater Festival?

I didn't know about the Festival until 2004, when I visited Angers, France, and attended several plays that summer. A french teacher told me about both the Festival and the Theatre de la Huchette in Paris. I started plans to take this trip three years ago, and originally had expected to go in 2006--- in fact, I'd prepared a folder and called it "Avignon 2006" but job problems intervened. This year the scheduling works better.

Here's a english language description of the festival from the website (http://www.festival-avignon.org/) :

"The Festival is a more modest event than it used to be, but it is still an annual rendez-vous for theatre-lovers, new or old audiences and people from the stage professions.

It is difficult to know exactly how many spectators come to the Festival because one person may see several shows in the "In" and several more in the "Off" each year. However, it is possible to say that the audiences are big, enthusiastic and open because they attend the Festival at their leisure, and to be entertained. If we were to look more closely, we notice that the Avignon Festival public is made up of several types of visitor. Each has their own view of the city and has their preferred quarters. There are regular visitors and even those for whom coming to the Festival is like a pilgrimage, and who organise their stay well in advance. At the other extreme, there are people who just like to wander, explore and follow their whims. Some people come only to the "In", others to the "Off", but most invent their own special mix. The public gets into discussions, criticism, criticising the critics, challenging and debating in the Cloître Saint-Louis like they did previously in the Urbain V orchard, where they can now meet the artists in the Festival. It is a place where theatre-lovers can build on their knowledge, where they can even take part in workshops organised by CEMEA (an educational institution particularly oriented towards young people and visitors from abroad). However, much of what people learn at the Festival is gleaned in an informal way, through chance meetings and casual conversation."

Sounds like fun to me!!

The walled city center will become largely a pedestrian zone and performers who didn't make it into an "On" or and "Off" play will be mime-ing, juggling, eating fire and doing spontaneous theater in the streets. Weather is said to be like the southwest, hot but dry, and lots of the plays take place outside, at night under the stars. And yes, the plays are all in French; that's why nobody signed on to do this with me!!

I will be at a small school which teaches language/culture for two weeks, taking a theater course in the mornings which will consist of play readings, a study of some of the plays in the festival, and some insider stuff like meeting actors, directors, going for backstage tours, etc. It is mainly a course designed to teach french language skills through theater, but the courses during the festival do a bit more. See the school (C.E.I.L.A) (another French acronym, surprise!!!) at http://www.ceila.com/

The big thing the school did for me was solve the main problem of the summer festival visitor, namely, finding a comfortable/safe/affordable place to stay. The CEILA evidently has a network of locals who rent to their students, and I got an apartment for the entire month of July thru them. All I know about it is that it's right in the center of town and it's on the fourth floor of a building -- I phoned the owner when it was proposed to me.

What does this cost? Well, the course is 750 Euros for two weeks, and the apartment is 700 E for the month. I got frequent flyer seats on Air France both ways which I reserved back in December. The Euro costs $1.30 now, more or less, and that's expensive!!

What am I going to do? Well, besides going to lots of plays and attending the course, I intend to eat heartily of the Provencal fare and take some interesting bike rides (that's why I included the map.) I may take a quick one-morning cooking course. At the very end, I will spend two full days in Paris before returning home. I'm blogging this trip to provide details on the food, the plays & the bike rides that certain of my armchair traveler friends would find interesting. I don't think I will be writing a lot, or every day, but from time to time. Check back a few times a week and see what I'm up to. Comment if you feel like it & think about coming with me next time!

Salut!

- K