C’est moi, le Katie!
So we’ve got a lot to catch on.
Fountainebleu:
We had a lovely day
trip/excursion with Rachael’s lady to the countryside that left me with Black
Beauty flashbacks, as those that saw my Facebook may have noticed. I have since
watched the movie and sated that craving. Anywho. Fountainebleu was gorgeous
and the skies decided to grace us with sunshine, although it was a bit chilly
for my liking. If only I had known what was to come…We made quite a few stops
throughout the day, including the Chateau de Fountainbleu, a nearby village
that hosts an old boarding house for the Barbizon school of artists which is
now a museum, the gardens of Fountainebleu, the Chapel for Jean Cocteau, and
then the Cyclops structure dans le bois de Fountainebleu (the woods).
I have pictures of Jeremy passed
out in the front seat on our way back to Paris. I would have been the same had
I not been consumed in a book. I love that it doesn’t matter where we are,
Rachael and I can always make time to read. It ties us to our sanity and makes
sure we don’t drift too far.
We ate sandwiches in front of the
reflecting pool in the gardens and some swans (cygnes) decided to keep us
company. They made lots of fun noises that one would typically not associate
with the grace of the animal. We had fun feeding them scraps of our lunch and
they seemed to appreciate it.
There was a smaller house (and I
mean small in a relative fashion to the huge mansion right next door) off to
the side of the garden. We didn’t get that close to the building, but I decided
that it would be awesome to live there. Well in that kind of setting in
America. Not that I would be opposed to owning a little secondary residence
here in France, provided I had the finances for that. Actually, a second house
is typical for French families here. They might have their apartment in the
city, with a vacation home in another location, usually near typical vacation
spots, like the Alps or by the ocean. But that makes sense, since they have
vacations in August or fall that last a month.
The Chapel was a quick pop-in and
pop-out but I loved the art work. It was almost childish in formation but
undeniably adorable and alluring. Jean Cocteau is one of the big names in
French Cinema culture, his big work being a version of La Belle et La Bête in 1946. Speaking of which, please forgive me
for a minor flashback. Earlier that week, before the voyage, Rachael and I went
to the MK2 theatre to see the film.
France has a branch of government
dedicated to preserving and supporting French culture, so it’s not uncommon for
the theatres to play classic films, sponsored by the government. The style of
acting was all sorts of special, the costumes were over the top (but perhaps
more accurate than I’d like to admit), and there were no subtitles. But we had
a great time and our pre-knowledge (because Rachael and I are both obsessed
with all things BatB) in the story line helped us fill in the gaps. Belle was
definitely a sassy character and the beast sort of stole the face/body of the
arrogant wannabe suitor of Belle’s in the end, who’s name in this version is
Avignon, not Gaston. Although ironically, the name Avignon translates to Prince
Charming. But it’s okay because that happened at the same time that Avignon
decided to jump into the Beast’s treasure room through the glass ceiling and
subsequently died. What added to our delight of this overall experience is that
there was this one guy in the theatre who was really amused by certain events.
And certainly they were funny, but it sounded like he was dying of laughter.
But it was nice, because his obvious enjoyment sort of created this group
appreciation, instead of all of us individually appreciated the movie. I don’t
know if that makes sense…Anyway… Back to the moment at hand!
So Jean Cocteau was buried in
this Chapel that he had the opportunity to paint at some point…I think that’s
what was going on there. They were his drawings in any case. Inside the little
tourist shop nearby there were reproductions of his artwork on a variety of
things, and I was tempted to buy something with his cat drawing, which I am
henceforth referring to as Jean Cocteau kitties.
The Barbizon school is a
collection of artists preceding the Impressionist movement. They were inspired
by the movements before them of Romanticism and Realism, technically
contrasting themes. There technique, in my opinion (because I’m an art guru now
guys) is more realistic than the impressionists but their subject matter is
more Romantic and closer to the Impressionists. They started to paint paysages
or countryside scenes instead of portraits. But that’s an interesting
development in and of itself, because the invention and spread of photography
as an art form actually freed up the artists to paint things other than people.
So in this little village near Fontainebleau there is this old house where a
few of them lived, modified and restored as a museum. It was really cool, very
intimate and the paintings throughout the upper floors were amazing. The
Barbizon painters I think remained fairly exclusively in the area, and quite a
few of them used the surrounding forests and gardens of Fountainebleu for
inspiration. So it was pretty cool to look at these paintings and then look
directly (well almost directly, there is the blur of time to account for) at
their subject matter.
The Cyclops…it is definitely one
of the stranger things I’ve seen in my life, but there is something so alluring
about it. When I was looking at it, my brain kept saying, this doesn’t belong
here at all in the middle of the woods—it’s completely out of place! But there
was something so right about it, like the foret de Milly had claimed it. It’s a giant
construction/statue/museum that from the outside, looks like the head of a
Cyclops. But there are floors within that display various kinds of artwork,
based around a theme of modernity or recycled products. It took years and a
crapton of money to build, and all of the work put into it and displayed within
was the brain child of Jean Tinguely during the 20th century.
Eventually though he turned it over to the government and they were able to
finance and protect the work of art until its completion. See how they like to
support their artists…? Anyhow to see more information this site has all the
goodies à
http://www.lecyclop.com/
Or you can google it. It’s pretty cool.
After Le Cyclop, we piled back in
the car to venture back to Paris. This day was a special day because it helped
remind me/give me more reasons to love France. Yes there are many things that
frustrate me about living in this country, but I think a good portion of that
is related to the program of Hollins (so nothing new there—they are wonderful
people for being able to send us here but they could use just a smidge of an
overhaul to increase efficiency) and living in a city. I’m just not a city
person. This is my kind of happiness…
After that adventure, Rachael,
Jeremy, and I met up with a few others from the program to go to dinner. We had
some wine and good food, and by the end of the night, we were all feeling
pretty warm. I had to skip out a little early on everyone because I had a Skype
date with my family. Which meant I had to find my way back to the metro by
myself. And it wasn’t a disaster! I only ended up one street over from where I
was supposed to be, finding my way fast enough so that I didn’t even have time
to reach any sort of panic-lost mode! I’m pretty proud of myself.
After all of this excitement, we
had the voyage to Champagne the following weekend, but I think Rachael or I
will have to cover that in another post because this one turned into a
monster. Classes are going decently I
think. We have good days and bad days, as far as speaking French successfully
goes. When I’m in Architecture and Impressionism, I feel like they’re trying to
instill information into a block of wood that is my head, but some of it must
be sinking in because I can recall certain parts of it when I’m out and about.
You, dear readers, have received a bit of Impressionism learning. And I’m sure
you’ll get some Architecture in the next post on Reims because there’s a
Cathedral there that’s kind of majorly important to French history. First
French king was baptized there. But I’m not saying anything more, you’ll just
have to wait for the next entry! I know you’re all dying to know about the
historical background and architectural significance of this piece of our
visit.
A demain et avec l’amour!
Katie
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