Adventures Of The Slightly Tame But Better With Perspective Kind
How can it be that, sometimes, an action so normal and straight forward seems able to take on a life of its own and become the most difficult thing to complete?
Let me try to explain what I mean.
I have been trying to find the motivation to write a particular post since the end of last year. Numerous times I have sat down with the intention of starting and on every occasion the words have escaped me. I, we, took a trip in October, a holiday, something that I had been looking forward to for a while. It was enjoyable. We had fun. We did some wonderful things and visited plenty of cool and interesting places. Yet it also felt like such a disappointment.
Unfortunately I fell ill the day before we departed. And, as the holiday progressed, I gradually felt worse. Not bad, not serious, just worse. And sadly, with a couple of days still to go, we decided to return home early.
Not great, but it can happen, I hear you say. So why the drama?
Well, I feel bad for being unwell. I feel bad for cutting the holiday short and disappointing not just myself but also my wife. And, despite months of ill health following our return, I feel really bad that nothing has ever been diagnosed.
In short, I just feel bad about the whole thing.
And I guess, for this reason, I have found myself unable to write or share anything relating to the trip on these pages.
Crazy? Stupid?
Almost certainly.
I know I shouldn’t feel that way about something that was out of my control, but sadly I do.
So our adventures, perhaps slightly tame at the time but now put into some perspective by our current global situation, have gone unrecorded and, to a certain extent, a little unremembered. And in some ways that’s a shame, because so much of what we saw was beautiful and memorable and, yes, our old favourite, even idyllic.
So perhaps now is the time for me to pause, reflect and remember some of the highlights of our rather art focused trip to Europe. And there were many highlights.
An afternoon walk around Montparnasse cemetery in the autumnal Parisian sunshine. Calm and reflective, with graves and memorials to many of the political, cultural and artistic greats from French history, including former president Jacques Chirac and photographer Man Ray.
A pop-up exhibition of photographs by Peter Hujar at Paris Gare De Lyon.
A stunning rail trip from Paris to Geneva, across the plains of northern France and down through the Alps, leaving in the rain and arriving in beautiful sunshine.
Wandering around a deserted Geneva on the wettest of days. When everything seemed to be closed, we walked, got soaked, found one or two weird and slightly offbeat places tucked away down back streets that were open and settled down in a lovely little bar for beer and roast chestnuts.
Clementine, a sadly beautiful bronze statue by Heinz Schwarz, in Geneva old town. Tucked away in the back streets, it serves as a symbol of solidarity for women and girls, especially those forced into prostitution, all over the world.
Old masters including Rembrandt, Cezanne, Modigliani and Rodin at the Musee d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva.
An exhibition by Malian photographer Malick Sidibe. Noted for his black and white studies of popular culture in the 1960’s in Bamako, this small show was filled with enjoyably positive vibes. The joyous photographs opened a window back to a time and place that seemed so very different but oddly familiar.
Another wonderful train journey, following the lake from Geneva to Vevey, with fabulous views over the water and the moody French mountains. Once a stop on the old Romantic “Grand Tour”, the town is full of history and fascinating connections with the great and the good from centuries past. We also took the lakeside walk into Montreaux, with beautiful views and gardens, passing the legendary Montreaux Casino, home to the world famous jazz festival..
Edvard Munch at Musee Jenisch, a quiet and peaceful little museum in Vevey.
Drinks at Le Train Bleu, an iconic restaurant and bar inside the Gare De Lyon, dating back to the Exposition Universelle in 1900. Used by travelers for over a hundred years, it has been maintained in the style of elegant European travel and looks out grandly over the main station concourse. Expensive, of course, but for the cost of a couple of drinks a unique experience not to be missed.
A very early morning walk along the River Seine in Paris. With the sunrise, just an hour or two before we had to depart for home, painting the city in the most glorious colours, and tinged with a hint of sadness at having to leave so soon.
But perhaps the most memorable moment of the trip occurred in the most unexpected of locations.
We timed our visit to Geneva perfectly as we got to witness the incredible annual stop over of migrating starlings on their way to Africa for the winter. The sight and sounds of millions, literally millions, of birds arriving every evening to roost in the trees in what is a largely unremarkable cemetery, was literally mind blowing.
