France 2012

I received a phone call yesterday from Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp asking me if I would be interested in returning to France for summer 2012. (Yes, please!)

I am excited to start my 6th year of touring with Blue Lake and my 4th time in Figeac! How wonderful.

I am hoping that I can, perhaps, arrange to stay one day in Paris so I can visit the Louvre and Notre Dame.

More info as I receive it!

Delta pays up

So I had a very bad experience with the checkin agents at terminal 2 at the JFK airport. They were really rude and mean and refused to help me with my luggage problem - I was trying to be nice, but they were not being nice in return. It ended in me having to run from terminal to terminal to sort out the problem and having an agent roll her eyes at me say rude things when I said (nicely) "I'm just asking because this is what i was told to do and I want to make sure my suitcase doesn't stay in NY".

I ended up writing a letter to delta after I got past security. I heard from them today and they are offering me a $100 voucher to be used in the next year. While this doesn't really help, I was happy to get an email from their head people saying sorry.

I'm kind of bummed because so much of this could have been avoided with just a little kindness, understanding and care from the agent at delta. I remember a gentleman in London last year saying something very nice:

We were standing in line and having to purchase 20 one-week ride passes for the subway. Due to the computer system, they cannot just punch in 20 and be done - each had to be paid for and activated separately and it was taking a fair bit of time. The people waiting in line behind us starting to complain that we were taking too much time - they actually starting using fairly bad language and then walked away. I felt bad that we were holding up the line and apologized to the ticket agent.

He said, " you have nothing to apologize for. We are trained that our line is only one customer long. We take care of who is in front of us and don't worry about anyone else until you are satisfied."

I thought that was nice.

Sent from my iPhone

Watching the plane

I discovered that you could also watch the plane in flight thanks to a camera in the tail. So cool!

On demand

Look how nice this is! My own tv with on demand movies, tv and games!!

My plane

This is an airbus a380. HUGE!!

I've never ridden on a double decker plane before. It was massive with lots of space. There were three seats on each side and then four in the middle. I was on an aisle seat in the middle and the other aisle seat was occupied by a man. He said something about getting the two seats between us "blocked out" - I dont really understand, but those two seats were empty the whole trip. It was nice to stretch out on an eight hour flight!!

Finding Nemo!

In French!

Hotel in Paris

I got to stay in a hotel in Paris. It was just yards from the airport and nowhere near any tourist stuff or shopping. In all honesty, Paris is rather scary to me and the subway system is really confusing. I opted for locking myself in my room. :)

I had a good dinner at the hotel, called family and then watched Finding Nemo in French on the television. I understood some of it!

Sent from my iPhone

Finally back in the USA

Currently sitting at JFK airport in New York City. It's a rather terrible airport. There was a fiasco with my luggage which resulted in me getting yelled at by the ticket counter lady -'I was being kind and reasonable, but she was just plain mean. Oh well. Perhaps she was having a bad day... Still doesn't excuse being rude.

I have a long layover in NY and then I fly to Burlington. Yay! I am excited to be going home.

One of my favorite things....

Sunflower fields in France. So pretty!!!

Back to the USA!

Just landed in New York City. As much as I love my trips and seeing my French friends, I am very very happy to return to soil where I can understand signs and don't have to rely on sign language to make my point. (This could all be helped with a good French language class, too!)

Pictures are probably out of order on the blog because gmail was having trouble connecting, but you get the point!!

Happy summer!

Sent from my iPhone

Military at the airport

The Paris airport is just riddled with military men in uniform and carrying very large and formidable guns. This is a security measure.

I will never forget a student two years ago complaining to me ( as we were waiting to check in) that the guards were "too close" and could I "talk to them about putting their weapons away?" Uh. No. Airport security doesn't like to be spoken to!! :)

Sent from my iPhone

I landed in Paris last night. I had to stand around for a long long time waiting for the bus to the hotel to arrive. I have free wifi here, but my emails that I drafted with lots and lots of pics to send to this site are no working - something mahout how the gmail app works in france. Oh well.

All is well and the hotel is nice. I watching finding Nemo last night in French. I thought it was funny that in the volcano scene, they still kept the "Wannahackalugie" but in a French accent. Lol.

Time for le petite de jeune (breakfast!)

Vineyards!

Its a bit difficult to see, but this is a vineyard - this is where they grow grapes to make wine. The white sheets keep birds away. There were also apricot trees and sunflower fields.

Driving the Mercedes!

Here I am driving in France in my fancy schmancy Mercedes rental.

About the concert

I meant to take pictures, but things are always so crazy and busy that I didn't dare take out my iPhone for fear that I would put it down and forget about it. Earlier in the day, I left my clarinet in a market when I bought water - I all truthfulness, if given the choice, I'd give up my passport first!! (it's cheaper to replace!) I got my clarinet backs fee minutes later but it was a heart stopper!!

The concert started at 9pm - quite late by American standards, but apprently common for French. We had to wait for the representative from the American consulate to arrive and he was a bit late, so we actually started closer to 915 at night.

The concert started with a ridiculous number of long speeches - mostly in French which meant that most of us on stage could not understand. It was easily closer to 10pm before the actual music began. The group played well. My French friend, Manon, played a clarinet solo (Rossini theme and variations, for my friends who know music). It was good. We had an intermission and then played again.

At the end of the concert, it came time to give gifts - Blue Lake honors all who help with hosting students by bestowing gifts of mugs, plaques and plates. This meant more speeches. We then played our last piece. The audience stood and clapped in unison - this basically means "one more, one more!"... So we played an encore (Stars and Stripes Forever) and they stood and clapped AGAIN, so we played a second encore. It was MIDNIGHT!!

After, the stage had to be cleaned, music collected and instruments put away. This involves getting all instruments, equipment and luggage into the trailer that the bus pulls behind it.

We also had to load boxes and boxes of food for the kids to eat on the bus - they would eat both breakfast and dinner while on the road.

We all said good bye and the bus left at around 1am.
Sent from my iPhone

Beluga planes

You will need to expand this pic to see, but if you look in the far background, there are funny looking planes - these are the new "beluga" plane that airbus put out a few years ago. I dont understand the reason for the shape, but they are really really big and I think meant for cargo transport.

This was at the Toulouse airport.

Dropping off the rental

Here is a pic of my fancy car. It was big. (especially for France! Most people here drive tiny cars like my Honda.

Street concert

Our concert in front of Optic 2000 - the shop of one of our host chairman.

This is totally chaotic and you have to be very flexible - it's rare to run on time and there is a market day going on around us. Shoppers pass by and it's great marketing for the concert tonight!

The chapel

This is the chapel. In the case with the red background is the statue of the black virgin. It is very old and sacred, but I am not quite sure why. I bought a book to find out but haven't had time to read yet.

Rocamadour

Rocamadour is an old monastery. It is now a sacred pilgrimage place for Catholics to see a statue called "the black virgin" which is a statue of Mary and Jesus.

The chapel is built into the cliff. Very cool.

The dorm

This is the dorm. It's very strange in its setup with halfwalls and strange doors. It reminds me of pictures I've seen of prison!

Flat peaches

I have never seen these in the US but they are yummy!!

Les Chats!! (the cats!)

On other days there have been 6 cats sitting out here, but today only two.

They yowl at night and keep me up.

Beautiful things

I pass this door knocker every day on the way to the village. I have admired it for years. I love how you can find beauty in small things and strange places.

Rosetta stone

Figeac is known for a guy named Champollion. This guy translated the Rosetta Stone - a stone tablet that was found that had Egyptian hieroglyphics on it -he was able to translate the stone which led to being able to translate all hieroglyphics.

Figeac does not have the Rosetta Stone anymore - it lives at the British museum in London. Figeac DOES have the largest Rosetta Stone - which can be found in "le place de ecrites" (place of writing)

The blue lake international southern winds

This is the band - 65 American musicians and 25 French. Huge!!!

Figeac est chaud!!

Figeac is hot!!! It has been hot here for the past few days but it seems to be cooling a bit. This is the first time I've had Internet in a couple of days.

I will take and post pictures around figeac for you!!

C'est la vie!!

Yup. This is the life.

If I don't show up for the first day of school, chances are I'm still right here. LOL.

Arrived in Figeac!!!

Bonjour; mon amis!!!   Hello my friends!!

i have arrived in Figeac minus my suitcase which is somewhere between here and NYC. oh well.

I am using a French computer and the keys are all in different places. Excuse the typos. All those years learning to touch type go to waste as soon as you enter a foreign country!

Ok here is the latest :

On the skywalk to get on the plane to Toulouse, i met a woman who makes cheese.... in CRAFTSBURY VERMONT!! how crazy is that!  The flight was fine but my luggage did not arrive. i am hopeful that there is no huge problem because abuot twenty others were told the same. Oh well.

About ten years ago i traveled to Mexico and they lost my luggage - i learned then that you always should pack a change of clothes, spare socks and underwear, a toothbrush and medications in carryon luggage (which i did!!) so while i have no blue lake uniforms, i do have two sets of clothes. my biggest disappointment is that my bathing suit is in my suitcase and its supposed to hit 100 today - my host has a lovely pool i cannot use!!

my rental car is a fancy Mercedes (oohlala) and i drove to Figeac with little trouble.  people drive very fast here and i am a slow poke. The road signs are all in French and i cant always tell what the speed limit is.

when i got to figeac, i did nt know where to go.  i have only ever walked in this town. through some lucky guessing and finding of a poster, i discovered that the blue lake jazz band was in town and performing  - i knew how to get to the performance space and met my hosts there.

Today i relax in the French countryside! we have a big lunch planned and then a reception dinner for the jazz band tonight. Tomorrow the Southern Winds will arrive and the real fun begins! another thing about lost luggage - my clarinet reeds were in there... now i have a clarinet; but cant play it!!!

The big plane!

View from the sky

Don't the clouds just look like cotton?

So pretty!

You know, painters in the 1600 and 1700's painted pictures of what they imagined heaven to look like and I think a few of those kind of looked like this. (I'm thinking of, for instance, Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel...)

My question: how could they have guessed what it looked like ABOVE the clouds when planes weren't invented and no one could go this high?

Take two!!

We've boarded again. Hopefully we get there this time!

And the delay continues!!

So this is what it looks like when two planes to New York get delayed again! We were on the plane and they pulled us off because of more bad weather in New York.

Waiting waiting waiting!

Getting on the plane!!

Boarding my plane in Burlington - just a bit behind schedule, but my original flight was completely canceled. This flight that I am taking now was actually scheduled to leave around 3:15pm - they put me on this flight so I wouldn't miss my flight to Paris.

So... About 2 hours on this itty bitty plane and then I'll be in NYC!

Cancellations and delays!!

I haven't yet even gotten out of Burlington and already all flights to JFK have been canceled due to weather. Right now I have been rebooked on a flight that was supposed to leave at 315pm but has been delayed until now.

So this is what a busy, Burlington airport looks like full of cranky people who have been sitting here for a long time:

Uniforms!

There they are. Aren't they just gorgeous? (not at all!)

White are for concerts. Blue are everyday wear.

The Adventure Begins Today!

My flight leaves Burlington at 17:55 today (that's 24 format time for 5:55pm - as soon as my plane leaves the ground, I have to switch to 24 hour/military time because that's how they tell time in France!)

I am going to fly from Burlington to New York City:

Then, I have a VEEEERY long layover in New York. I will be stuck at the airport for about 6 hours. This will give me time to eat dinner, go through the extra security required for international travel and I will most likely end up in a corner somewhere sleeping or watching a movie on my iPod - unfortunately, JFK airport isn't that exciting. 

At 1:20am (that's right - in the morning!!) I fly from NYC to Paris: 

When I land in Paris, I have a VERY short amount of time to run from one plane to the next - I have to catch another plane to Toulouse, France!! 

FINALLY, I will have to drive from Toulouse to Figeac, France. (If you have read previous posts, you know that Figeac is where Blue Lake en France is taking place....) 

A note about driving in France:   I own a Garmin GPS thingy - this little device and I get along very, very well but I discovered last night that getting European maps for the device is very expensive and quite technical. So, alas, I will be driving without Garmin. Seems easy, but I haven't had to use a map in over four years and now I'll have to be reading French signs to boot!!  

If I'm not there on the first day of school, please contact the French authorities and request that a search be done in the general region of this map: 

So, for now, that's it!  I travel to Burlington in a few hours and the adventure officially begins. I will post until I get to France and then it all depends on whether I have WiFi or not - it's too expensive to use my iPhone in Europe, so the cell phone functions are being deactivated. 

Happy Summer! 

Musical YouTube video (family friendly!)

Not on the travel subject, but this is what I find when I browse YouTube because I'm awake late at night before I fly...

The music is Bach - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desirings. Very cool!

View from atop the bridge.

View of the bridge.

Visit to Ausable Chasm!

I fly out tomorrow night but we decided to stop at Ausable Chasm - I have always wanted to see it, but never had the opportunity.

Test

Just a test to see what happens when I leave my phone in airplane mode.

Sent from my iPhone

Nautilus

This the nautilus at th submarine museum in Groton, CT. I took a weekend trip to Connecticut to visit my grandmother - my sister was there too so I took my nieces to the museum. My youngest niece didn't want to be in this pic!

This is a pic test

Just a test to see of mobile pic uploads work via email.

This is my new niece kady - trying watermelon!

A little bit about Figeac, France...

Here's a little history and description about Figec: http://france-for-visitors.com/lot/figeac.html

And here's my summary... :)

Figeac is a little town of about 10,000 people. While it has larger "main" roads, most of the roads are very tiny and wind about through lots of houses. The streets are very narrow and yet people still manage to pass two cars through. (I'm not sure how, but I guess I'll find out since I'll have a car this year...)

The house look old. They don't look like houses here. In the town center, they are crammed close to each with no space in between and many have these little alleyways that lead into a courtyard that is hidden from the view of the road. There are tons of tiny little shops filled with lots of goodies - from crepes (a thin pancake) to candy to jewelry.

There are also churches with beautiful stained glass windows. On Saturday, there is a HUGE outdoor market - like a farmer's market, but much, much bigger. It stretches on forever and you find things like food, clothing, housewares and even kittens for sale. On market day, the performing group I am working with will perform in the streets. (More about that later....)

One Week Til Liftoff!!

Welcome to my travel blog - I am glad that you found me!!

I will be traveling to Figeac, France on June 24th and wanted to give my students, friends, family and colleagues an easy way to keep up with my travels.

A bit of introduction:

I work with Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. There are a HUGE arts camp that sends about 6000 students through their camp each summer. In addition, they have a wonderful international program that sends about 600 students to Europe to perform and stay with host families. It's an amazing experience.

Last year, I was asked to be the Camp Director for Blue Lake's French program, Blue Lake en France. This is a week long camp that the International Southern Winds attends in the middle of their month long tour.

I can't wait to share the experiences with you!  I fly out next week - once I get to France, I will post often, so check in regularly!

Best wishes for a happy, happy summer.