Last of the Mail Art while traveling - #126 through #129

#126

 I made this card in Grenoble using bits from old maps, magazines and photos. And a bit of bread wrapper.

#127

 The king card ("roi" in French, thus the R) was given to me by my friend, who found it in an old chair that he was refurbishing.

#127a

More old bits. I liked the word "Souplilav." What the heck is that? And what kind of car is that? Do you know?

#128

 I love using old photos.

#128a

 Car and diagram from an old auto magazine.

#129

I made this one on the plane, leaving Paris, using scraps from the airport magazine and from some receipts. Au revoir, Paris! I was pretty pleased with myself that I managed to make daily Mail Art! Now to catch up with my life since returning home 2 1/2 weeks ago. (& I'm still tired!)

End of our trip, France

 A pain aux raisins, my favorite, at the airport (CDG) awaiting our flight back to the U.S. of A.

 View from the train as we sped along between Grenoble and Paris.

 The old water spigot in the courtyard of our friends' abode in Paris.

 Lots and lots of flowers in Paris, lots and lots of tulips especially.

 This is a municipal pigoen coop! The city put it up outside of a small park. It provides food, water, and nesting boxes. The idea is that the pigeons will go to the coop and not the window ledges of adjacent buildings, plus the city sterilizes the eggs or the birds. Can't remember which. It was interesting to see this.

 An angel in the corner of the Ethiopian restaurant we went to on Chemin verte. The food was delicious!

 This is a municipal water station. You can fill up your small water bottle OR large ones. There is a hanging sculpture (see Chuck taking a photo of it?) using plastic bottles. The French appear to be trying to get people to use tap water. Too many plastic bottles in the environment, there and everywhere. The water was excellent, by the way.

 Passing along the street next to the Promenade Plantee, this view, very surprising, a bit of old Paris.

 We stood on the Pont Marie, eating a Berthillon (I had pistache and banane) watching the Seine. Isle St. Louis is to the right.

We spent a couple of afternoons sitting in Place de Vosges. The weather was lovely, people were stretched out on benches and the grass. I was taking advantage of the free WiFi (weefee) and a place to just relax. It was a moment to say au revoir to Paris once more, and quietly saying "I hope I'll be back."

Grenoble and Mail Art #123, 124, 125

#123

#124

 We went to Grenoble by train to visit a friend. I love taking trains, and it was fun to board the TGV (fast train) at Gare de Lyon (say that fast as one word, so French!)

#125

For this card, I used an image from the brochure about the Chagall show at the Grenoble Museum of Modern Art. It was more than Chagall, it was also the Russian Avante Garde. A very cool exhibit. That's a map of Grenoble, showing the round bubble funicular, called Le Telepherique, that we didn't ride.







Our friend gave me some old automobile magazines and a French topo map. You know how I love those tropographical maps.

 In Grenoble, while waiting to post a piece of mail art, I was lucky enough to capture this image of a many posting his mail. I was so happy to be in a country with lots of post boxes and post offices. Really!

 How fun is this? I'm not sure what municipal type building this was in front of, but it sure was a nice way to add greenery where there was only concrete.

 Looking up, across the Isere River towards the Bastille on the top of the hill. When we arrived, there was snow on the mountains, but by the time we departed it was gone, as warm weather arrived with us.

 We passed the Greek Consulate. This one's for Katerina and Georgia in Thessaloniki.

Here's the small brocante that we went to in Grenoble, not far from where our friend lives. We didn't buy anything but saw some very cool things we would have bought had we lived nearby. Big things, like furniture. I had a chat with some sellers, friends of our friend, in French and Spanish, which was quite fun.

More Good Food

A first plate at a nice little restaurant in Grenoble was some salad with a little quiche. The main course was some fish, which didn't photograph as good as it tasted, but the dessert, yum! A pineapple clafouti. I like the way the plates were decorated.

Last night, we were invited to dinner at the home of a Parisian woman we'd met before. She served Mache in the salad. It's a green that is a fairly recent addition in the states and a bit expensive so I've never bought it. Well, I might now, as it's very tasty. We also had a tarte salee, a savory tarte made with lots of caramelized onions. The photo only gives a vague idea of this delicious food. Think of something really savory and delicious, there you have it. YUM!