7.25: Trip to Paris, Photo essay, Giving Day, more

IN THIS EDITION  |  APRIL 28, 2015  |  Number 7.25

BRACK: Trip to Paris enthralls, inspires and enchants
IN THE SPOTLIGHT:  Morris Financial Concepts, Inc.
GOOD NEWS: Lowcountry Giving Day is May 5, more
FEEDBACK: Send your letters
CALENDAR: April 28+ — Swedish ship, street party
REVIEW:  The Martian
PHOTO ESSAY: Monet’s gardens
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Redcliffe

COMMENTARY

Trip to Paris enthralls, inspires and enchants

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher

APRIL 28, 2015 | For all of last week, my wife and I walked and walked along the streets of Paris, thrilling one day to an especially wonderful museum and basking on another in the colored light of centuries-old stained glass in a church older than our country.

This surprise anniversary trip recharged our batteries and gave us a chance to enjoy each other’s company over fine meals, casual lunches and a country bike ride to explore Monet’s gardens.  Yes, we missed children, dogs and Charleston, but it was refreshing to be away too.

We’ll let the pictures below highlight some of our journey.  But we also offer some insights to help those who may travel to France … and perhaps inspire others to take a trip to a place where the language and different culture offer pleasant but daily surprises.

On the language

This woman performed opera on the streets of the Marais district — quite a different kind of busker.

French is a daunting language.  French speakers talk fast, making it difficult to comprehend.  But there’s a trick that the guidebooks outline — and that most people just don’t believe:  If you learn a few rudimentary French phrases and try to speak French just a little, you’ll find that most French people will quickly turn to English to help you.  Their English may not be great, but it is a heck of a lot better than your French.

Throughout our week in Paris, we had no problems with the language difference.  When entering a store or restaurant, say, “Bon jour” assuredly.   When trying to get a table for two, say, “Un table pour deux, s’il vous plait.”  In general, if you put a “s’il vous plait” and a “bonjour” anywhere, you’ll get along just fine.  When you don’t understand what folks are saying to you, just tell them you don’t speak French and ask if they can help you in English:  “Je ne parle pas Francais.  Parles-vous Anglais?”  And then you’ll be off and running.  (An added tip — you can learn a lot of basic French for free at www.DuoLingo.com.)

On waiters

The Sacre Coeur in Montmartre is filled with beauty.

One often hears about rude Parisian waiters, but we generally had good experiences when we dined in cafes and restaurants.  Again, if you try to speak the language a little, French waiters, professionals who are paid salaries, will try to help you.  But if you barge into a dining establishment and speak gruff, loud English — the French cliche of the ugly American tourist — you’ll likely get the cold shoulder you’ve heard about.

On things to do

In Paris, prepare for a lot of walking.  The city has an outstanding Metro system that’s fairly easy to learn.  If you use it, you’ll save your feet a lot of aggravation.  Still, you’ll walk a lot, which will help shed the pounds you gained from the great food you ate.

We found that trying to do too much in a day will make you so tired that you won’t want to do much the next day.  In general, we ate a light breakfast in our apartment and set off around 10 a.m. to do something, like visit a famous church or museum.  We’d find lunch somewhere, such as the memorable mussels and fries at a neighborhood joint near the Sacre Coeur.  Then we would do some other small tourist thing in the afternoon, before heading back to the apartment and resting.  For dinner, we’d go to a place along the Left Bank near where we stayed.

This dog, rolling around to get smelly in the grass at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, seemed to be having the time of his life last week in Paris.

Hint:  One big museum a day is enough.  On the day that we went to the Musee d’Orsay, a grand train station renovated into a museum housing the world’s best collection of Impressionist art, we also went the Musee Rodin to see Auguste Rodin’s sculptures.  While the latter was a smaller museum, we probably didn’t give it enough attention because we were getting tired.

Another museum hint:  You won’t be able to do all of the museums because there are too many and because you’ll eventually suffer from image overload.  Pick the few that you really want to see and concentrate on those.  (I, for example, didn’t go to the Louvre, while my wife went for a couple of hours to see a few paintings she wanted to view live.)

On people-watching

This park offered a place for students, workers and tourists to relax at midday.

The next time I visit Paris, I will bring the good camera — the one with the long lens that can take good close-up shots.  Why?  Because I want to spend a day or two walking around and shooting faces of hundreds of people.

France gets the most visitors of any country in the world.  Add to that an inclusive society that is all shades of black, brown and white.  The result is a place that is outstanding for people-watching — from haute couture women with expensive shoes to caricatures of American tourists wearing white tennis shoes.  Looking at the variety of noses, eyes, cheeks, chins and mouths is even better than going to the dozens of art museums (although those aren’t bad either.)

On the food

Lovers fasten locks to a pedestrian bridge over the River Seine. The practice has gotten to be a weighty nuisance for local authorities.

Despite weeks researching good restaurants and deciding on which to visit, most of our plans got thrown out of the window pretty quickly.  Simply put, it is hard to get a bad meal in Paris.  We had lots of French food (imagine going to Charleston’s Rue de Jean every day and having a great meal).  But we had picnics of cheese, sausage and wonderful bread.  One of the most memorable meals we had — and it didn’t cost much — was Tibetan food, a cross between Chinese and Indian.

If there’s one dining tip to share it is to try to order something different than you’re used to.  On one night in a Norman village, Courtenay ordered something we had never had — sting ray.  It was different, but good.  We could not, however, get the courage to eat snails.

One place we would suggest to anyone to eat is the restaurant (not the cafe) inside the Musee d’Orsay.  The restaurant is in a grand ballroom where frescoed ceilings soar with pictures of angels.  It is a place truly fit for a king.

On smoking

A favorite place is the Luxembourg Gardens on the Left Bank.

A lot more people in France seem to smoke these days than Americans.  While smoking is banned indoors, cafe dwellers freely smoke while sitting around cramped outdoor tables.  It often seems hard to get away from cigarette smoke so be prepared to deal with it.

On clothes

These days, neither Courtenay nor I are particularly fashionable beyond a classic or preppy wardrobe.  But we packed things to try not to look too American.  We didn’t wear T-shirts, jeans or white tennis shoes — all signs to the French that one might be an American.   Our attempts must have worked, because on several occasions one of us was asked whether we were Finnish, Swiss or English.  And several times, people started talking with us, mistaking us for French.  The big giveaway, of course, was when we opened our mouths and blurted bad French with Southern accents.  Boy, the looks on those people’s eyes!

On traveling

St. Augustine suggested that traveling is a way to broaden your life when he wrote, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

Travel is good for the soul. It’s refreshing. Americans can learn a lot from what Europeans have been doing for years. Now with the euro at the lowest point it has been in a long time, go as soon as you can, absorb the culture and enjoy.

Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Charleston Currents.  Send feedback to:  editor@charlestoncurrents.com.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Morris Financial Concepts, Inc.

GOOD NEWS

Lowcountry Giving Day set for May 5

FEEDBACK

Rant.  Rave.  Tell us what you really think.

If you have an opinion on something we’ve offered or on a subject related to the Lowcountry, please send your letters of 150 words or less to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com.

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CALENDAR

April 28+: Swedish ship, street party, more

(NEW) Swedish ship: The tall ship Gunilla will visit Charleston through May 2 at the Charleston Maritime Center. It’s the 10^th visit for the 160-foot-long ship, which carries 50 students and crew. While here, the students are planning several outings, including trips to Capers Island Patriot’s Point and more. The public is invited to see the ship and talk with the crew and students. Tours are available if there is time on the group’s schedule.

La Belle Epoque: 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., May 7, Meeting Street in front of the Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston. The museum’s street party this year ($150 per ticket for members; $175 for non-members) will transform Meeting Street into Paris of the early 1900s as top chefs serve French food and guests enjoy live music. More than two dozen top restaurants are participating. More.

(NEW) Free cancer screening: 9 a.m. to noon, May 9, Folly Beach City Hall. The Hollings Cancer Center’s Mobile Health Unit will offer free skin cancer screenings. No appointment is required. More: 792.0878.

Drood:  Through May 10, Footlight Players Theatre, 20 Queen Street, Charleston. The Footlight Players will offer a musical version of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” Charles Dickens’ final novel, for a two-week run. The Charleston premiere of the musical performance is said to engage the audience in creating the ending, which is appropriate because Dickens had not finished the novel when he died in 1870. Tickets are $25-$35. More.

Fashion Flashback: Through May 10, 2015, 360 Meeting St., Charleston. The Charleston Museum will offer a new fashion exhibition, “Fashion Flashback, 1920s-1960s: Five Decades of Style that Changed America” in its Historic Textiles Gallery. A light-hearted look at 50 years of fashion, viewers will enjoy exploring clothing styles from the swinging 1920s to the hip 1960s. Learn more here.

Natural history exhibit: Through Aug. 10, 2015. “From Land to Sea: 35 Million Years of Whale Evolution” will be featured in The Charleston Museum’s lobby gallery with displays of whale fossils from millions of years ago. There’s limited availability for an overview by Natural History Curator Matthew Gibson on opening night. Learn more. 

Bird walks: 8:30 a.m. to noon, every Wednesday and Saturday. This is the time of year that a great variety of migrating birds fly through the Lowcountry so what better time to take part in one of the regular early morning bird walks at Caw Caw Interpretive Center in Ravenel. Pre-registration is suggested. Cost is $5. Walks also are conducted on James Island and Folly Beach. Learn more online.

If you have an event to list on our calendar, please send it to editor@charlestoncurrents.com for consideration.  The calendar is updated weekly on Mondays.

REVIEW

The Martian

A novel by Andy Weir

Mark Watney is pretty much the perfect man: a problem-solver with a wry sense of humor, he thinks on his feet and is cool under pressure. Unfortunately, he’s an astronaut stranded on Mars and left for dead with literally the entire Universe working against him. Fortunately, he’s Spaceman MacGyver and can build a new spaceship out of canvas, duct tape and potatoes. Ok, I exaggerate, but not by much.

There’s a lot of science in this fiction, and according to friends who are much smarter than I, it is all spot-on. It certainly seems meticulously researched and detailed and frankly, miles over my head. I did skim over some of the more technical bits, and the fact that I loved this book as much as I did in spite of failing to understand large parts of it, should tell you what a strong story it is. In short, never in my life have I understood so little of a book and yet enjoyed it so thoroughly. It will appeal to fans of science fiction and those who enjoy a thrilling survival story.

I highly recommend this as an audio book. The narrator is excellent. It’s not always easy to find audio books that my husband and I both enjoy and that keep our interest for hours; this did the trick and kept us entertained on our road trip to the mountains and back. The movie version, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon as Watney is coming out in November. Read it now, so you can tell everyone that the book was so much better.

– Andria Amaral, Main Library, Charleston, S.C.

Find this and similar titles from Charleston County Public Library. This item available as a book. To learn more or place a hold, visit www.ccpl.org or call 843-805-6930.

PHOTO ESSAY

Monet’s gardens

You might not believe the bountiful color found in gardens open at the Giverny, France, home where Impressionist Claude Monet painted many of his most famous paintings. This tulip, flanked by tiny violet forget-me-nots, is just one of hundreds of flowering species at the gardens, about 50 kilometers northwest of Paris. Below are more April 21 pictures of the beauty in Monet’s gardens.  Photos by Andy Brack.

These flowers popped with bright magenta throughout the garden that inspired Monet in the late 19th century.

The variety of blooms in April is breathtaking.

You can see open windows of the second floor of Monet’s country home through the tangle of flowers in bloom.

Here is a pond made famous by Monet’s paintings of water lilies. You can see the blues and purples of sky reflections in the pond.

This is a close-up of two blooming lilies in one of Monet’s paintings housed in the Orangerie museum in Paris.

In the last edition, we showed the photo to the right as our Mystery Photo.

Hats off to several folks who identified the April 13 mystery photo — a close-up of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Among those correctly guessing were Charleston Realtor John Tecklenburg, Judy Carberry of Charleston and Chris Brooks of Mount Pleasant.

Thanks to others for guessing too.   We’ll be back next week with a new photo mystery.

S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA

Redcliffe

Constructed between 1857 and 1859, Redcliffe was the homeplace of South Carolina Governor James Henry Hammond and three generations of his descendants. Located in western Aiken County near Beech Island, Redcliffe served as an architectural and horticultural showplace, as well as the center of domestic life for the Hammond family. By 1860 it functioned primarily as a headquarters for Hammond’s extensive cotton plantations, which were sustained by more than three hundred slaves.

Redcliffe Plantation, now a state historic site.

Hammond worked closely with contractor William Henry Goodrich to design and build the two-story, frame mansion at Redcliffe. Transitional Greek Revival in style, the house also displays restrained Italianate elements, unusual in South Carolina. Greek Revival features include a series of rectangular frieze-band windows, exterior doors with transoms and sidelights, Doric porch columns, square, two-story paneled corner pilasters, and pedimented windows. An Italianate cupola, or observatory, once capped the mansion’s hipped roof. A spectacular center hall, fifty-three feet long and twenty feet wide, dominates the interior. Much of the interior woodwork, including doors, library shelves, banisters, and mantles, was crafted from local sycamore trees. The grounds were designed by landscape architect Louis Berckmans and include terraced hillsides. One of Redcliffe’s most dramatic features is a long avenue of southern magnolias.

In 1935, John Shaw Billings, a Hammond descendant and an editor of Time and Life magazines, purchased Redcliffe and began extensive restoration. Shortly before his death he donated the property to the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. In 1975 Redcliffe State Historic Site was opened to the public as a house museum.

– Excerpted from the entry by Al Hester. To read more about this or 2,000 other entries about South Carolina, check out The South Carolina Encyclopedia by USC Press. (Information used by permission.)

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