Friday, May 30, 2014

summer animation workshop underway!

this was how most of day 1 went:
lemon (min) on the plane from philadelphia to paris. our flight was delayed for three-and-a-half hours due to a thunderstorm, runway congestion, and a defective heat sensor that had to be replaced. but what the heck, we were going to paris.

james had a much longer journey, starting in philadelphia, landing in chicago, then newark, and finally, paris: about a day's worth of traveling. I'll let him fill in the blanks on his own post. the plane itself was not full, so we got to stretch out a bit, which was nice.









lemon (along with james and myself), taking the train into paris from charles de gaulle airport. after preparing everyone to travel safe and smart, the first act I accomplished as we left the airport was to lose my wallet at the rer (suburban train) ticket window, so we had to get out of the train and return to the train terminus at the airport. fortunately, the wallet was there when we returned...whew! so, "do as I say, not as I...do!"












james & lemon in the metro station, getting ready to see notre dame, shakespeare & company, and the exterior of the louvre. they are both good troopers, capable, willing to get on with it when the going gets tiring, and eager to see what they can see. the paris metro is different from the new york subway in that, for me at least, it's easier to figure out: most of the lines only have one train on them, not several, and although there's a lot of walking in tunnels between stations and going up and down flights of stairs, it's a pretty ordered experience. philadelphia street smarts are useful here - watch out for pickpockets!









if buildings could complain about having their picture taken too often, notre dame would be near the top of the list. we walked out of la cité metro station and caught up with this grand lady, nearly torn down at one point but saved in part by victor hugo's novel, in recent years polished clean again, rid of centuries of pollution and other grit.













once inside (and out of the drizzle), it was james who proved to be the most intrigued by the space, the spiritual feeling, and the history. he made an offering and knelt in the pews.

notre dame, as any large cathedral does, represents a complex web of political, social, and technical effort over the course of centuries. back when the church was vying for control over minds and souls along with emperors and kings, notre dame was not symbolic of god, but also of political power.










lighting a calendar after making an offering.


















view of the nave from the central aisle.











Tuesday, May 20, 2014

one week to go

it was a long time coming, and there are still loose ends to tie down, but we're headed to france in a week!

min, james, and tim will be participating in this year's workshop, starting in paris, then heading to a ranch in angouleme for a workshop treating the theme of pedagogical differences between french and american education, and then the festival in annecy to top it off.

lots of obstacles and speed bumps this time, with passports lost in the mail, cranky administrators at the french consulate, paperwork woes, etc., but the sun is shining, we have plane tickets, our reservations are made, and we're going to experience this experience and fill our minds with full days!

in the meantime, time to select things to pack, figure out schedules, and getting everything ready for pre-flight, generally.

more to come...