Europe 2016: Trip Notes # 14

Europe 2016: Trip Notes # 14

Rueil Malmaison, France

Fully energized with delish French pastries and strong coffee, our plans were to take a side trip to Auvers-sur-Oise - known for the town where Van Gogh spent the last part of his life. Our map and GPS indicated that travel time would be about 35 minutes. However, we lost quite a bit of time between a traffic accident somewhere on the freeway ahead of us and the GPS ilk's.

Please Turn On - Please Activate!

How can we get to our destination when our other GPS is "too sleepy" to turn on?

Okay - It's Been 15 Minutes. How Do We Get To A86. Lost Satellite? 

Now What?

How does one choose the right detour when three devices tell us to "Bear Right" when there are three choices and each device directs us to take a different street? Or, at the same time, another device tells us to "Turn Left!" Ugh!

In any event, we found Auvers-sur-Oise - a charming town filled with beautifully designed period homes and buildings. Van Gogh's home (actually a boarding house where he rented a room before he died) has scheduled tours. We were fortunate enough to arrive at a time where there was a tour in French and English. 

 
                   Van Gogh's Bedroom Unchanged After His Death

While waiting for the tour to get organized, we had a chance to wander around a gift shop. We were very surprised to see so many Van Gogh's paintings - paintings that we never saw before on prints, coasters and other items. 

Following  an excellent slide presentation about Van Gogh's life, we visited the nearby Château D'Auvers-Sur-Oise. We knew that the chateau emphasized  "The Impressionists." Upon arrival, we found that the tickets were extraordinarily expensive for visiting a chateau. 

Normally, tickets range from "Free" to $10. These tickets were around $25. To compound our surprise, the chateau offered no paintings by the great Impressionists. So, what was the deal?

The deal was: This was the best presentation of the Impressionist era that we have ever seen. Every chateau room (and there were many) had a sophisticated and professionally created audio-visual presentation of the era. Each room presented a different theme about the Impressionist Period.

We are used to seeing in museums the Impressionist's paintings that we love so much and cannot get enough to enjoy. However, we did not know that caricature drawings were very popular during this era. 

"Cartoons"were also popular

With technological advances during that time, advertisements became more complex, more mature as well as more interesting.

Typical Poster

Risque situations were very popular 

Looks Real? It's Not. This Is A Holograph!

Let The Show Begin! 

Can-Can Dance At The Follies - Another Holograph

Time to learn about late 19th century fashions - In real life...

Or, we can learn about fashions from the paintings...

Everyone enjoys time on a river or lake.

Social get together

Beer Anyone? 

A Festive Time

We can also learn about life styles from paintings

A Man Joins In With The Festivities 

Sunday By A River

Guess what this is...

Sewer Cover 

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As we finished our eclectic trip, we had two wonderful picnic evenings - one along the Siene, the other outside our hotel room. 

So Serene

Toasting To Health, To Good Friends and To Our Wonderful Family. Cheers!

The Closing Of A Wonderful Day 

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Our last evening in France...Dining on our hotel balcony - overlooking a beautiful park.

Clever Jerry - The Romantic!. .When the hotel clerk was not looking, he "borrowed" a heavy table in the reception area. He then got hold of place settings from the nearby restaurant. A bottle of wine was purchased from the bar and, with the finishing touches, he "found" a pretty flower in a vase. 

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One of our favorite lounges happens to be in Paris. Air Tahiti Nui shares a lounge with Cathay Pacific. A variety of Asian dishes are prepared non-stop. Between the congee, noodles, satays, good champagne and other unique dishes (along with watching planes take off and land), Jerry could not be happier... 

Yum!

 This is Our Plane To Los Angeles

Sadly, This Is The End of The Trip. 

Hopefully, There Will Be More Opportunities...