Hi all - its been a hot minute since I have been in touch, but my second semester of school was filled with ridiculousness and fun things - from the school threatening to fire 8 people (and ultimately succeeding for three people), to traveling to Italy, the Netherlands and Germany and places in France, to applying for italian citizenship, to having hand surgery for carpal tunnel, to being scammed & dealing with identity theft and fraud in france and the US, to enjoying my life in Paris....it has been a wild ride....many things are NOT changing for next year...i did not lose my job and i do still love living in paris for all of the different things it affords me....AND i have decided to stay at the school for a FOURTH year....this may not sound like a big deal to most folks, but for me....it's HUGE....this will be the first time in my 27 years of teaching, in 13 different schools that i am making it to a fourth year....kind of crazy 🤪 but i guess that just shows how much i do enjoy living in paris.....
This year in Paris we actually had snow days....we missed the first two days of the semester in January and had to deal with more snow in march....thanks climate change....this first shot is a picture of the lime bikes for rent in Paris, on my street....covered in snow❆
i started a new thing with a particular piece of street art this year....the picture you see below is found on many walls in paris, and i even found one in london, so i have decided to take a picture of me with the image every "new" time i see it....at this point i think i have at least 20 shots of me and this image....love finding it...almost as much as an invader 👾
the shot below is in a cemetery in auvers-sur-oise, france where vincent and theo van gogh are buried....this is the town where van gogh lived the last part of his life and when you see works from that time, they are of places and people in that specific town....he did not have a church service for his funeral, as he committed suicide, but the restaurant he lived above held a service for him...his brother died six months later and was originally buried in the netherlands....but was moved to be with his brother in the early 1900's....van gogh painted approximately 75 works during the 70 days he lived in this small french town.....it is a quaint and peaceful spot....
For February break this past semester, I spent time with my friend Bill in Rome and the Puglia region of Italy.....the region is on the east coast of the peninsula, just around the heel of the boot.....so we were on the adriatic sea, in Giovanazzo, Bari and inland from there in Alberobello & Matera....what a beautiful part of the world....below you see one of the main squares of giovinazzo close to where we stayed....everything in this part of the world is related to the sea in some way, shape or form....
here is Captain Dani, while wandering the old, stone part of giovinazzo....it is a medieval village, with a fortified port....due to everything revolving around the sea, it was challenging at times to find vegetarian food....but most chefs made it work for me, which i appreciated🥦
we also spent a bit of time wandering around and exploring Bari....another port, non-touristy town of the Puglia region...it is the capital of this region....again, it is a medieval town that is like wandering through a maze....there is even a street where you can buy homemade orecchiette from the nonnas who made it (supposedly....it has become a tourist/instagram spot these days)....they also are known for fried polenta and taralli - my favorite crackers in the world....so i had lots of different flavors...this specific location below, had lots of different taralli flavors - with my favorite being cacio & pepe 🍝
The following image is the port of Bari along the Adriatic Sea. It is a beautiful spot to watch the boats and have a sundowner or two.🍻
From one amazing hillside town to another...below is Matera...this is a town on a hillside that is carved entirely from stone....they still have caves where people live....it is considered to be the third-oldest city ever settled, behind Aleppo, Syria and Jericho, Palestine.....it was amazing to wander and climb through this hillside, stone city....
The other fun thing we did in Bari was a pasta and tiramisu cooking class....we made types of pasta I had never made before...gotta be honest, i don't remember the name of the pasta....there is nothing like homemade pasta in my opinion...it was a fun morning with a tasty lunch that followed🍝
Then we headed back to rome for a few days....and stayed in such a kitsch place....called stellar stays....as you can see from my headboard, i stayed in the neptune room....it was very modern and i loved that everything had a space theme...perfect for this science teacher...it was also in a part of rome i had never stayed in, which was really enjoyable🪐
we wandered all over the city, hoping to catch sight of the pope....the one night we stayed in rome before heading to puglia we did spot him coming out of a local church where he was saying mass...it was pretty wild....but the wandering this time did not lead to us seeing him...but st peters square is always an interesting place to wander around....and we had a gorgeous day to wander😎
I have been to rome quite a number of times, so i don't really feel the need to visit the main touristy places, although when you wander through rome, you will see them no matter what...the one place i had not been was the capuchin crypt at the church of santa maria della concezione dei cappuccini....it has several chapels in the basement that are adorned with the bones of friars....the artistry of remembrance in this spot is amazing and the use of the bones is stunning....but make sure you can handle it before going....i have now been to a few "bone churches" and am always amazed at the artistry and the way bones are arranged to celebrate the living and the dead....just incredible💀
back in paris, we went to an amazing light and sound show at the saint eustache church...it involved an orchestra, choir, the images and history told by those images was just amazing!!! in this image you are looking at the ceiling of the church.... the evening even started off with a dude playing a theremin....which are other worldly in my opinion 🎶
in The Hague, we visited the peace palace...it seemed like the correct thing to do during the current state of affairs of the world....this building houses the UN international court of justice....it is stunning....
on the grounds of the peace palace there is the world peace flame pathway....which has a flame that burns inside of a stone garden, and each of the stones around the flame comes from one of the countries recognized by the UN in 2004....it is amazing to see the stones from around the world (197 countries)...the german one is a piece of the berlin wall....the south african one is from robbins island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.....it was an incredible shout out to the world...i loved it 🌍🌎🌏
the image below is me in front of the "welcome map" at the entrance to the peace palace...i loved the combo of the world map and the word "welcome" in the different languages for those countries...so creative ☮
back in Rotterdam, we went to the Art Storage of the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum...it is such a cool building on the outside, as you can see...the style of the architecture is amazing and extremely reflective...it has 7 different levels for people to wander through and you can get tours of the different storage rooms...its wild...the atrium of the building alone helps showcase more of the artworks the museum next to it cannot always have on display...it is a way to showcase more than the normal 5-20% of works generally shown by a museum....so creative...and such an incredible building!
back in france, a bunch of us spent a weekend in etretat, a spot famous for paintings by monet and limestone cliffs & arches....we had a terrific weekend in an amazing french villa in the countryside just as spring was starting to pop!!! it was part birthday and part goodbye party....and all around fun...the image below shows the pop of spring (cherry blossoms) and relaxed atmosphere we all had for this awesome weekend away from paris🌸
in the area that used to be east berlin, there is interesting architecture and a world clock....this clock is accurate and shows time zones for the entire world, found in alexanderplatz....inscribed on the clock is the quote "Time will destroy all walls" and the clock was first seen by folks NOT in east berlin once the berlin wall fell in November 1989....
in berlin, we also went to the top of the humbolt forum....from the roof there is an amazing view of museum island, the canals and surrounding area....we had a brilliant day to do a panorama up on top of the building....the building in the picture is the altes museum....which we did not go into, but this courtyard in front was packed with people on the weekend....
laurie and i took a few day trips out of berlin, because there is so much to see...one of our favorite places we visited was spreewald/lubbenau....known as being the "venice" of germany, with its many canals...of course we took a leisurely trip through the canals on a shallow-bottomed boat, known as a punt....here we are on one of the walking bridges that goes over the canals....
this town and region are known for their pickles....so of course we had to try a few....different flavors and spices....and we found "pickle liquor"....couldn't pass that up...we actually liked it a lot 🥒
back in berlin....after taking the roundabout way back 😉 we went to the top of the tv tower for sunset and MADE IT!!!! here is the view out of the windows of this iconic building in berlin...this also used to be in east berlin....
the image below is me at the base of the tower with a model of what it looks like...i did wear my eagles sweatshirt all over berlin & germany and was amazed once again where i found birds fans.... incredibly, you can be anywhere and hear someone shout out "Go Birds!" love that for my hometown team 🦅
the one below is also one of my favorites....known as "test the rest"...with a trabi (the name of the car), busting through the wall...it was done by Birgit Kinder from East Germany before the wall fell in 1989....my sincere hope is that no more walls are built, but that wish does not seem to be coming to fruition....a disappointing take on the world today....
below is also another important spot in berlin - check-point charlie...this was where there was military and governmental movement between east and west berlin....in 1961 this is where Russian and USA tanks faced each other....it was closed in 1990 after the wall fell....
the final trip out of berlin we took was to the town of Leipzig, which had many different composers live there, including Wagner (who was born here), JS Bach, Schumann and Mendelssohn...Bach is actually buried there....we had a fun afternoon wandering around the city center with some friends.....
back in Berlin we had a lecture and tour of the Reichstag Building....this building is an important historical and current-day governmental seat of power for germany....and it is some amazing architecture....if you head to berlin, i highly recommend the lecture and tour....it is really well done....i love the dome of the building....the mirrored cone in the center rotates and allows the reflection of sunlight to enter the parliamentary room at the base of it, therefore being more environmental....it was built to help move germany away from nazism and into democracy....in this shot, you are looking down the center mirrored cone from the top of the dome....our trip to berlin contained a bit of art, especially street art, music, history, food and culture...it is a terrific part of germany and i have to recommend berlin to everyone...amazing city...
one of the other places i visited for the first time this spring in france, was in the champagne region of france...reims....please, do not ask me to pronounce it for you, because i will earn a laugh from anyone who knows french....while there we visited one of the famous champagne houses - pommery...this is the front gate and garden leading to the champagne house.....
Pommery is a champagne house that was run by widow Louise Pommery...she took it over in 1860 when her husband died and was quite successful, despite the attempts of the other male-run champagne houses at the time trying to bring her down....she turned the caves into an amazing art museum and the chalk cellars where the champagne is aged are one of a kind....we had a lovely tour through the cellars🍾
and of course, at the end of the tour we had to try the champagne that we had just learned all about....tasty.....we had a fun and tasty time in reims, all about an hour away from Paris...i will go back again😜
