Vive La Revolution!

Image: Part of the massive main building that is the Palace of Versailles

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If you ever needed to be convinced that revolutions – even violent revolutions – are necessary, just visit the Palace of Versailles, in France. Here amongst the opulence and splendor that marked the reign of King Louis XIV (14th), and successive French rulers, the reason for revolution is writ large. Larger than large, in fact. Here is grandeur, extravagance, wealth, and sumptuousness of the highest order. No wonder then, that on the eve of the French Revolution in 1789, it was at Versailles that the citizens of Paris came to demand that Louis XVI (16th) return to Paris to face the wrath of the people.

The Palace of Versailles is a royal château in Versailles, the Île-de-France region of France. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. [Source: Wikipedia…]

The Palace of Versailles consists of 700 rooms providing around 67,000 square meters of floor space. The Palace’s collections include over 6,000 paintings, 1,500 drawings, and more than 15,000 engravings. Add to these 2,100 sculptures and around 5,200 pieces of furniture and objets d’art, and you get some idea of the size and scope of this amazing historical site.

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Image: The massive Hall of Battles at Versailles

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In room after room, luxury and indulgence seemed to be trying to outdo each other. Just when you think the fittings and decorations, the massive paintings adorning walls and ceilings couldn’t get bigger or better, they do. When you think nothing could top the massive Hall Of Battles (see photo above) and the 33 huge paintings located there depicting scenes from some of France’s greatest victories, and which also includes 82 busts of various military leaders who died in action in many of the battles depicted in the paintings; just when you think nothing can top that you walk into the equally massive Great Hall of Mirrors.

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The Great Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles. Image courtesy of Arnaud 25

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Ceiling view of the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles

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The French painter Charles Le Brun, is responsible for decorating the ceilings in the Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces), with a series of stunning paintings only equaled by his other works at Versailles in the Halls of War and Peace (Salons de la Guerreand de la Paix), and the Ambassadors' Staircase. It was not for nothing that Louis XIV declared Le Brun "the greatest French artist of all time".

The dimensions of the Hall of Mirrors' are 73.0m × 10.5m × 12.3m (239.5ft × 34.4ft × 40.4ft). The ceiling decoration is dedicated to the political policies and military victories of Louis XIV. The central panel of the ceiling, Le roi governe par lui-même (The king governs alone) alludes to the establishment of the personal reign of Louis XIV in 1661. Other panels represent the military victories of the king beginning with the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), through to the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678.

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Image: Part of just one of the many wonderful ceiling paintings at Versailles

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Images of King Louis XIV swanning his way down long passageways and through vast rooms, flash through my head. Look! Here he comes now, closely followed by a retinue of handlers, hangers-on, and assorted family members, while courtiers, foreign visitors and gawkers wait and watch to catch a glimpse of his supreme eminence.

Does he pause to admire the monumental work of Veronese called, The Feast in The House of Simon – a gift of the Viennese court? As he enters the cavernous Chapel to attend Mass (where years later, Marie-Antoinette married Louis XVI), does he stop to chat with one or two of the lesser leaders of the day, who are here to curry favor and bask in his attention – no matter how brief or cursory?

I suspect he barely gives them more than a passing glance. It is enough to know they are there, and that he has created a building large enough to house monumental works of art, as well as draw sycophants and other toady’s to his palatial home far from the Paris mob. A palace big enough to satisfy even his overblown ego. For surely that is the point of Versailles. To show that this one person has the power to call upon the greatest builders of his era to carve stone, bend and shape timber, weave giant tapestries, plant and landscape hundreds of acres of land, and to do this all at his behest with little or no regard to cost in terms of either monetary value or the human cost of this monumental construction project.

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Ceiling decorations in the Royal Chapel at Versailles. Image courtesy of Diliff

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I am not sure if we will ever see buildings like Versailles being created again. Not because we don’t have the money, but because there are so few people of vision around who could design, let alone build palaces like Versailles. And if there were? Would people allow such wanton excess? Such extravagance and splendor? It’s not just the scale of the building, but the detailed extras that have been incorporated into the design that impress and shock.

Statues and friezes, fountains and gilded furnishings, landscaped gardens, manicured lawns, broad mile-long pathways and secluded alcoves. Was there anything not included in the scope and design of Versailles? I suspect that pretty much every skill in design and artistry extant at the time the Palace was being built, was used in some way in the extensive building process that went on even after Louis XIV was long dead and gone.

Sadly, I can’t think of any modern political leaders who wouldn’t love to be able to bask in the glory and opulence of a Palace of Versailles. How it would feed their egos and pander to their vanities! How they would delight in being surrounded by fawning acolytes and supplicants seeking to curry favour and win even the briefest of passing attention.

It is exactly for this reason that places like that Palace of Versailles need to be maintained and kept open – as a reminder and proof that absolute power, corrupts absolutely. That if the people are not vigilant, if they are satisfied with bread and circuses, the power elite will happily create their own versions of Versailles, and continue to run the game exactly as they wish to.

Having toured through the Palace, you can either leave Versailles and head back to central Paris, or you can go for a walk in the grounds and gardens that surround the main building. It is here that the grandeur of Versailles really overpowers you, and it was while I was walking around the grounds that the full impact of Versailles hit home. But that’s a story for another day.

The Eiffel Tower – A Promise Kept

Image: Gustave Eiffel’s gift to the people of France and tourists the world over

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On my recent trip to Paris I finally kept a promise I have been holding myself to for over 30 years: namely that the next time I visited Paris I would go to the Eiffel Tower and make the journey to the top. The story behind that promise may be a good example of how the arrogance of youth can change as one gets older and – hopefully – wiser.

Way back in the early 1970s, when I was in my mid-20s I passed through Paris on my way back to London from Greece. I’d met a couple of other travelers on the train ride from Athens, and during our stay in Paris we went to see the Eiffel Tower.

My memory is hazy now about the exact details, but I do remember that I considered myself to be too ‘cool’ to do the standard tourist thing and actually go up the Tower. After all, it seemed such a clichéd thing to do, and even back then I was not interested in following the crowd. Of course, I was happy enough doing that other clichéd tourist activity – posing inanely before Gustave Eiffel’s Tower and getting my, “This is me in front of …” picture (a practice by the way, that I try to steer clear of now).

But then, over the years, somewhere along the way, I began to regret my decision. After all, on that 1970s trip I remember my travel companions and I did visit the Louvre, and we did go and see the Mona Lisa, and wasn’t that as much a cliché as visiting the Eiffel Tower? And just for the record, I did make another visit to Mona during my trip to Paris.

Why do we travel anyway, if not to see and experience as fully as possible the cities and locations we have chosen to visit? Going to the Louvre just to see the Mona Lisa would be a complete waste of time and money, given the effort one has to go through to actually see the painting. There are thousands of other reasons to visit the Louvre (namely the other paintings, sculptures, displays, etc), and personally I think most of them are more interesting and exciting to examine than the Mona Lisa’s whimsical smile.

The same reasoning can be used regarding the Eiffel Tower. If you are visiting just so you can cross it off your highlights list, you are missing some of the real magic of the experience. For me, that magic and wonder involves the groundbreaking feat of engineering that went into building this amazing structure, even more than the view over Paris.

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Image: The bird’s-eye view from the top of the Eiffel Tower

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Image: The Eiffel Tower would be hard enough to build today, let alone over 100 years ago!

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Gustave Eiffel was writing the book when his company designed and built the tower that honours his name, not working out of someone else’s book of instructions.

Eiffel was born in Dijon on December 15, 1832. Graduating as an engineer in 1855, he was soon hired as associate by Charles Neveu, a manufacturer of steam engines and railway equipment. It wasn’t long before Eiffel had started his own company, and for the next 20 years or so he specialized in designing and constructing a range of projects including numerous bridges, viaducts, and other major buildings. From 1881-84 Gustave Eiffel also designed and built the framework of Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty, which now stands at the entrance of New York harbour.

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Image: Gustave Eiffel ‘s metallic structure for the Statue of Liberty

Image courtesy of the Official Eiffel Tower website…

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In 1884, answering a bid to mark the centenary of the 1889 French Revolution, Gustave Eiffel, together with his associates Emile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin, pitch their idea for the construction of the Tower.

Construction involved over 5,300 drawings, and a team of 120 workers to fit together more than 18,000 parts, weighing over 10,000 tons, using 2.5 million rivets, over a period of two years. Despite the fact that the men were working hundreds of metres above the ground, only one man died during the construction of the Tower, and that accident occurred outside of regular working hours.

As you might imagine, almost immediately after its completion, the 324 metre (1,063 ft) Tower began to attract a motley collection of adventurers and thrill seekers intent on trying to be the first to set a range of records associated with the structure. These include Santos-Dumont who, in 1901, won a prize for flying higher than the Tower in an airship, and the Count de Lambert who flew over Paris in an airplane in 1909, and around the Tower for the first time.

Sadly, in 1912, a tailor nicknamed “the bird man”, died when he jumped from the first floor using a parachute of his own design and construction, and in 1926, Léon Collot, also died when he tried to fly under the Eiffel Tower. Happily, the two paratroopers who jumped from the third floor in 1984 without permission lived to tell the tale, while in 1987, a New-Zealander performed a bungee jump – again without permission – from the second floor.

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Image: Some of the intricate steel lacing and support work at the first level

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And so it continues. A veritable circus of stair climbers and runners, motocross and mountain bike riders, wheelchair users, and yes, Ripley, believe it or not, even a circus elephant (which climbed the stairs to the first floor) have used the Eiffel Tower to add their names to the record books.

For my money, none of those noted above are a patch on Victor Lustig who in 1925 ‘sold’ the Eiffel Tower to a scrap metal merchant after convincing him that the Tower was going to be demolished. And why not? Originally, the Tower was meant to stand for just 20 years, after which it would be pulled down. The fact that it is still around 120 years later is a testament to the design and construction skills of Gustave Eiffel and his team of workers.

Today, the Eiffel Tower is the most visited fee-paying monument in the world, attracting over 7 million visitors each year. Some twenty replicas large and small can be found around the world in countries as far afield as the Poland, Denmark, Belgium, the United States, China, Japan and Dubai. Even in France itself, a 10 metre high tower weighing 3.2 tons was built for the France in Miniature Park. One can’t help but wonder whether Gustave Eiffel, who died in 1923 at the age of 91, ever in his wildest dreams thought his tower would become such an icon, not just for Paris and France, but also for the rest of the world. One that continues to reach well into the 21st century.

For all these and more reasons, I wanted finally, to visit the Eiffel Tower after more than 30 years. If I had made that journey in the early 1970s, it would have only been for the photo opportunities it would have given me. Now that I am much older, and at least a little bit wiser, I have finally honoured that promise to return, and have done so at a time when I have been able to appreciate the engineering skills that built it – as well as to take the photographs and enjoy the great views.

More information

The Official Eiffel Tower website…

The Eiffel Tower page at Wikipedia…

Turbulence

Image: Illustration of turbulence, courtesy of Webskite…

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Turbulence [-noun]

1. A state or condition of confusion, movement, or agitation; violent disorder or commotion.

Well you can’t expect things to go right all the time, can you? If you travel often and far enough, some things are bound to go wrong from time to time, and this past week, following my return to Athens after nine delightful days in Paris, things began to go wrong.

The above definition of the word, turbulence, is a good summation of the current political situation in Greece. Since the massive 110 billion euro bail out by the European Union that may or may not save Greece from financial bankruptcy, the country has been in turmoil as the PASOK government, under the leadership of George Papandreou has turned the screws on wage earners, public servants, and the agricultural community.

For months the people of Greece have been under pressure to bear the burden of pay and pension cuts, loss of workers entitlements, government sector cutbacks, and more. Their response has been a series of strikes and stoppages that have played havoc with the country’s transport systems including road, rail, air and ferry services.

What all this turbulence is doing to the country’s tourist industry is anyone’s guess.

Like I said, after nine very pleasant days in Paris, I flew into this “…state or condition of confusion,” etc, on Monday afternoon, and within thirty minutes of checking into my hotel I received the news that the flight I had booked to take me from Athens to Ikaria the next day (Tuesday) had been cancelled due to planned industrial action by airport workers. Taking the news in my stride, I arranged with Olympic Air to fly to the island on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, while airport workers were back on the job on Wednesday, the train and bus drivers were not. So early Wednesday morning I caught a cab for the fifty minute drive from Piraeus to the airport – at a cost of 35 euros. So far, so good. I had plenty of time to check in, have a coffee, pass through security, and wait for the flight to Ikaria.

It didn’t take long for the thirty or so passengers to settle into their seats for the 40 minute flight to the island, and within an hour or so of my arrival at the airport, we took off into an overcast sky. It was at this point that we ran into another kind of turbulence:

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Image: A De Havilland Canada DHC-8-400. Photo: Vangelis Antonakis. Online: www.airpics.net

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Turbulence [-noun]

1. Irregular motion of the atmosphere, as that indicated by gusts and lulls in the wind.

“…Gusts and lulls in the wind,” my eye! Within minutes of take off, the small, twin prop Olympic Air DHC-8-400 (see image) hit enough turbulence to keep the cabin crew on their toes, and the passengers strapped to their seats. After a quick snack we prepared to land at Ikaria, but if it was there, I for one couldn’t see it. There was thick cloud over the island and the plane was bucking and dancing through severe turbulence constantly. Ten minutes after we were supposed to have landed, we were told we were heading back to Athens due to severe weather conditions and an unspecified mechanical problem.

We were met at Athens airport by a fleet of fire engines and a mass of ground crew and engineers who quickly surrounded the plane and examined it closely. The pilot explained that the presence of fire engines and ground crew was standard operating procedure when a plane returns to the airport with suspected mechanical issues, and that we had nothing to be concerned about.

Yeah, right.

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Image: Ground crew and engineers rush to examine our plane on landing

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Image: Airport fire trucks after our unspecified mechanical problem

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We disembarked and went back to the terminal to wait for a second plane which would take us back to Ikaria. An hour later, dancing and weaving once again through severe turbulence so bad that even the cabin crew had to stay strapped to their seats, we again approached Ikaria through thick clouds, high winds, and more aerial acrobatics. The island was still nowhere to be seen, and for the second time we turned back to Athens and thoroughly disheartened, gave up on any plans of reaching the island.

Apart from the inconvenience, and the stress of all the travel and bouncing around in the air, I was certainly happy to be back on the ground. I’m even happier after reading one online report while researching information about air turbulence which stated that, "Of all weather-related commercial aircraft incidents, 65% can be attributed to turbulence."

Which brings to mind the old adage: It’s better to be safe than sorry. To which I can only add, Amen to that! Sadly, it didn’t take long before the turbulence in the air was again swapped for turbulence on the ground.

There was chaos at the taxi rank as hundreds of passengers lined up for cabs into Athens and elsewhere. I decided that since I had already spent 35 euros getting to the airport, I would try and save some money by sharing a cab with someone travelling back to Piraeus. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and when some guy agreed to share the cost of a cab with me we both got into a taxi and headed for the port.

Nearly an hour and 50 euros later we reach Piraeus and I get ready to leave the cab. I gave the driver a fifty euro note, and asked for 25 back, thinking the other guy would pay his share of the fee. The cabbie took my fifty euro and said that since the other guy was going a little further, he could pay his share of the fare when he got out, and that since the fare up to that point was 50 euros, he would keep all my money. I tried to explain that we had an agreement to share the cost of the ride. The other guy kept quiet throughout this, and offered no money by way of upholding his part of the deal I thought we’d agreed to.

It was then I realised that I had been scammed by the Greek guy who had offered to share the cost of the taxi with me. With the cabbie refusing to give me any part of my fifty euros back, since as he said, that was the fare anyway, and the other passenger ignoring my request for even ten euros as part of his contribution to the fare, I had no choice but to walk away, chastened by the experience but a lot wiser than when I got into the cab.

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Image: [Hell] This just about sums up my day!

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It isn’t the fifty euros that bothers me. Money comes in through one hand and goes out via the other one all the time. It was the fact that both driver and passenger took advantage of me. It is also a sad reflection on how far the Greeks and Greece have fallen as a people and as a country. That the other passenger could sit there and knowingly screw me over like that is the thing that hurts the most. I was quite happy to share the cost of the cab, and even would have paid more than half my share, but I would never consider screwing someone else over like this man did.

For all I know he got out a hundred yards further down the road, and paid nothing for his ride. If I had been quick enough to think of that, I could have refused to get out of the cab and said, drop this man off first, and me after. That way the tables would have been turned against the other passenger, and he would have had to pay the bulk of the fare. But it was too late for that, and I had no choice but to suck it up and go on my way.

However, every cloud has a silver lining, as the saying goes. Since I was walking past a travel outlet, I went in and bought a ticket for the Nissos Mykonos, the regular ferry that services Ikaria. As it happens the ticket only cost 19 euros, a thirty euro reduction off the normal price of a full fare, which helped improve my mood somewhat.

My mood improved even more after I rang Olympic Air and cancelled my rescheduled, rescheduled flight and was told I would receive a full refund on the plane ticket.

So there I was, at the end of a long, tiring and stressful day, back at the Delfini Hotel in Piraeus from whence my day had begun. I had spent 85 euros on taxi fares; had flown to Ikaria twice and still ended up back in Athens; had been conned and scammed, and had seen an ugly side of Greeks I hope never to see again.

It had indeed been a turbulent day.

Click here... to read probably more than you've ever wanted to know about turbulence and air travel.

Paris, France

Image: The iconic Eiffel Tower late on a winter's afternoon

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Just a couple of quick photographs to let you know I haven't been asleep during my nine day sojourn in Paris. I have much to write, and will do so as time permits, but for now - as I ready myself to return to Greece - these two shots will have to do as an appetiser.

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Image: One for the romantics - Parisian sunset over the Seine

The Sound of Angels Singing

Image: Choir members taking a bow at the end of the concert
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So this is what the sound of angels singing must be like. Four and five part harmonies; soaring tenors, and deep rumbling basses, pure sopranos and sweet, sweet altos. I’m sitting in Notre-Dame Cathedral on a freezing December night listening to a concert of Marian Polyphonies of the Renaissance.

No, I don’t know what that means either, but by chance I noticed a poster pinned to a board during my visit to Notre-Dame de Paris (French, for Our Lady of Paris), and on the spur of the moment, decided to attend this performance of choral works under the expectation that no matter what language the works were sung in, they would sound spectacular – and I wasn’t disappointed.

Some of the songs performed dated back to the late 1400s, while at least two pieces were written quite recently by the French composer, Caroline Marçot who was born in 1974.

I’m assuming all of the twelve songs performed during the evening were sung in Latin, but could be wrong. It doesn’t really matter anyway. Conducted by Lionel Sow, the director of Notre-Dame’s youth and children’s choirs, the sound of the small choir of around 20 performers (children and adults), filled the cavernous heart of Notre-Dame with exquisite harmonies and fine, clear singing. It was the sound of those voices that made the performance so special, and transcended the need to know or understand what was being sung.

As you would expect, the acoustics in the Cathedral are perfect for this type of concert, and as far as I could tell, no microphones or amplification of any type was used during the night. In fact, the choir left the ‘stage’ and formed a circle right in the middle of the audience (just one or two metres from where I was sitting) to perform the last song of the evening – and the sound was indeed heavenly.

Concerts of choral works are performed on a regular basis in Notre-Dame Cathedral, so it is well worth checking the Cathedral’s website to see if your visit to Paris coincides with one of these events.

The Last Time I Saw Paris

Image: The Palace of Justice buildings overlooking the River Seine
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The last time I saw Paris, was during the summer of 1975. If I say nineteen seventy-five as quickly as possible, it doesn't seem like 35 years ago – but 35 it was! On several very brief visits to France in the early 1970s, I never spent more than a couple of days in Paris itself, so you can be sure I was looking forward to my current ten night stay in this amazing city.

Already I am overwhelmed by the possibilities. Paris is a photographers dream, as well as their nightmare. There is so much history here; so many amazing buildings, streetscapes, wonderful backdrops, and spectacular locales waiting to be photographed that one great image is immediately supplanted by another one, and many others after that. And that’s before one actually enters any of the dozens of famous museums and galleries or visits historic monuments that present tens of thousands of photographic opportunities. Millions, even.

…Image: Motorbikes and scooters disappearing under a cover of snow
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When I stepped off my flight from Athens on Friday night, the temperature was a freezing minus three degrees. I’d forgotten how cold that is, but Paris didn’t take long to remind me.

On Saturday it snowed for most of the day. That may not mean much to many readers, but it was the first time I had experience the magic of falling snow since my last winter in London in 1976! Yes, it doesn’t take much to keep me happy on a holiday as you might guess, especially since we don’t get much snow where I come from in Australia (in point of fact, we don’t get any). That’s why I was happy to slop through the streets while freezing every step of my first exploratory walk around the neighborhood surrounding the Palace Hotel, which I am calling home during my stay.

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Image: View of apartment blocks taken from the Pompidou Centre
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Its far too early to give you any sort of useable impressions, but one obvious change over the past 35 years has been the huge influx of new immigrants into France. I can’t give you a breakdown of immigrant figures, but there appear to be large numbers of Indians and Pakistanis, and migrants from former French colonies in North Africa. Then there are Lebanese migrants and of course, Asians.

I don’t know how much of that often talked about French arrogance still persists, but I suspect even that has been tempered by the new migrants who have opened businesses across the city.

For example, the small Boulangerie that I have adopted for my morning coffee and cake, turns out to be run by Lebanese (whose owner has cousins in Sydney and Melbourne, and who speak perfect English, and are happy to use it). The young woman at the Asian restaurant I ate dinner at the other night also spoke excellent English, which made me think they were originally Hong Kong Chinese. And so it goes. In the face of all these new migrants that speak at least three languages, and sometimes more, the French must surely have begun to adapt and change their attitudes to foreign nationals, and to how they communicate with them.

So far, my very limited French has got me through every important encounter where I have needed to use it, and I’ve managed to bluff my way through others when my language skills were totally deficient – which is most of the time. It’s all part of the great adventure that is international travel, and I’m looking forward to the challenges and rewards ahead.

Love The Life You Live

Image courtesy of Children At Risk Foundation (CARF Brazil)
CARF Blog...and CARF Website...
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Two years ago I made a decision that continues to challenge and push me in directions that I had always dreamed about, but never knew if I could actually achieve. I sold my house, invested the proceeds, and I’ve been trying to live off the interest and a small stipend ever since. Occasionally, I do some part-time work to help supplement my self-funded retirement, but for the most part, I manage to live on less than AU$1800 a month. In fact, right now I’m getting by on AU$1500 a month.

I do this by trying to be as disciplined as possible with purchases that are not absolutely essential. Therefore, I rarely buy CDs, DVDs, or other home entertainment treats that I used to purchase on a weekly basis. I make do with a 30 year old television that regularly flickers and distorts, but not quite to the point where it is unwatchable. I go to the movies less than I used to, but still manage to eat out once or twice a week. I could have made further savings by giving up my car and using public transport. Come to think of it, I have given up my car. I got rid of my 18 year old Toyota Camry wagon just before I left Australia at the end of June. I could save even more if I cut cappuccino’s and cake from my diet!

My one weakness (apart from coffee and cake), is books. As much as I try to not buy books, I always seem to collect more. At least 80 percent of my book buying purchases are for secondhand books which I guess helps, but still, I just can’t seem to stop myself from accumulating more.

Thankfully, I’ve never been a smoker, regular drinker, or gambler – three things guaranteed to drain your wallet faster than a Wall Street banker! The trade off for all this austerity is that I am able to travel on extended journeys that most people – even those who are retired – are unable to.

For example, as I write this I am five months into a round the world trip that included three months in the United States, two of which I spent in New York City. I am currently into my second month stay on the Greek island of Ikaria, and about to head off to Paris, France for a ten day visit, before returning to Greece.

In March I will return to Australia, but not before I make a stop in Cambodia where I will visit the temples of Angkor Wat and other sites. If I can manage it, I will also make a quick side trip to Turkey to visit the ancient ruins at Ephesus.

Of course, having places to stay at little expense helps my limited funds go a lot further than they would if I was staying at even the cheapest hotels. My New York stay involved me apartment sitting for a friend of the family. In return for a rent free, two month stay in the Big Apple, I cared for two cats, some house plants, collected the mail, and let would be burglars and other ne’er-do-wells know by my presence that the apartment was occupied and being watched over. I also stayed with relatives while travelling through the southern states of America as far as Tucson, Arizona, and I am staying with family here in Greece.

Since I’ve been on the road, I’ve taken to signing my emails, and occasional Facebook and Twitter updates with the phrase: Love the Life you Live.

And why not? I am living the life I’ve wanted to live for many years, and needless to say, I’m loving it. I have little or nothing to complain about. I am in reasonably good health, and at 62 I’m young enough and fit enough to spend hours on my feet walking the streets of New York and other cities, and old enough to not be offended by pretty much anything that comes my way. In addition, I am tolerant of other people’s opinions, broadminded, easy going, and easy to get along with.

You only get one shot at life, folks (resurrectionist and Buddhist theories aside), and there is no time like the present to start planning for the day when you too will have time to travel, or put into train your long held dreams and desires – whatever they may be.

I’ll leave you with the chorus of a new song I’m in the process of writing with the above title, in hopes it will encourage you to pursue your goals with joy and love.

You’ve got to find joy in everything you do,
Follow love and let love follow you.
Let go and remember to forgive,
Give thanks, and Love the Life you Live.
© 2010, Jim Lesses. All Rights Reserved.

The Bitter End All Star Jam

Image: The Bitter End, 147, Bleeker Street, New York City

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Man, I love the internet!

As I write this I am sitting on the Greek island of Ikaria, watching the fortnightly Bitter End All Star Jam in New York City streaming live via my laptop. The ‘house’ band for the jam generally consists of Dave Fields on guitar, Brett Bass on bass, and the organizer/host, Mark Greenberg on drums. I say, ‘generally’, because which musicians play on any given night depends on whether they are gigging elsewhere with their own outfits or with other acts, and tonight Brett Bass is away.

Other regular performers at the jam are the irrepressible Delmar Brown on Keytar (a keyboard or synthesizer hung around the neck and shoulders like a guitar); then there’s Chuck Hancock, a great alto sax player, Lisa, one of the Bitter End’s bar staff who always sings at least one song, Don Cazio the doorman and cashier, and a score of some of the hottest talent that just wants to hang out and jam late into the New York night.

The Jam works like this. While the ‘house’ band opens with three or four numbers to get the crowd jumping, visiting musicians and singers add their names to a sheet of paper and then wait to be called up during the show for a chance to strut their stuff on stage. At this point anything could happen, and often does. Singers and musicians who have never performed together are thrown into the mix for a night of great music that is always exciting, eclectic and rocking.

I made regular visits to the Bitter End specifically to catch the All Star Jam during both my two month stay in 2008, and my recent two month visit over the summer of 2010. So for the record, here is a profile of four of the greatest musicians you are likely to see gathered together in the same place on a Sunday night in New York City.

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Mark Greenberg (drums)

Image: Mark Greenberg, looking every inch a star!

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Mark Greenberg began playing drums at age 14. In the year 2000, he formed his own band, Pimp The Cat, which performs in the same vein as The Grateful Dead, Phish, and The Allman Brothers Band with which he has toured.

Mark has also played and toured with The Dave Matthews Band, The Charlie Daniels Band, Billy Bob Thornton, Vasser Clements, and The Doobie Brothers to name just five from his musical resume. In addition he had played on albums by Ronnie Earl, Dickey Betts (of The Allman Brothers Band), Otis Grand, Apache Stone and numerous other albums.

Mark Greenberg was born in Connecticut. At age 14, while picking tobacco, (yes, tobacco) he decided to take up the drums, which he ‘took’ to like a duck takes to water and thereafter determined to make music his career. He went to Boston to study music at the world renown Berklee College of Music. While there he was recognized by The National Endowment for the Arts with three fellowship grants, some Berklee Scholarships and other awards.

Mark has shared the stage and/or recorded with artists like Dickey Betts & Great Southern (The Allman Brothers Band), The Dave Matthews Band, Roomful Of Blues, Ronnie Earl, Bob Weir & Ratdog, Jimmy McGriff, Lee Roy Parnell, Billy Bob Thorton, Moe., Tongue n' Groove (Deep Banana Blackout), Roy Hargrove, The Doobie Brothers, The Charlie Daniels Band, Larry Coryell, Joss Stone, Bill Simms, Pimp The Cat, The Dana Fuchs Band, and many others.

Dave Fields (guitar)

Image: Dave Fields
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Watching Dave Fields squeezing note after note out of his electric guitar, you just know he was born to play that instrument.

His father was the much lauded virtuoso pianist, composer, arranger and producer, Sammy Fields. Sam Fields insisted that his son receive a thorough musical foundation before allowing him to take up the guitar by making him study the piano (starting at eight), followed later by bass guitar. He was finally allowed to move on to the guitar (his preferred instrument) when he was 14. Dave quickly became an accomplished pianist and a skillful guitarist who was playing at recording sessions by the time he was 15.

Like Mark Greenberg, Fields studied at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. His musical résumé is exhausting to read through. He has been on tour with Tommy James and the Shondells; was director for the New Voices of Freedom who performed with U2 in their movie Rattle and Hum; he has played with and producing numerous jazz and blues luminaries; and he was a staff member for Look Music and has written CDs for many music libraries. In 1996 he started Fields Music, a company that services the radio, TV, web, film and industrial markets.

There can’t be a note or a chord that Dave Fields hasn’t played a million times over. He can play blindingly fast if he wants to, but understands that the best guitar players don’t just play fast, they know how to play s-l-o-w, drawing one note out so that it fills a whole bar (both the musical measure, and the venue). He can bend a ‘G’ string beyond its snapping point and still push it places many guitarists fear to tread. It is a pleasure watching him play – and play is the operative word. He is not afraid to have fun with his instrument or have fun on stage, and obviously gets real joy out of both, and that joy and enthusiasm is conveyed clearly to the audience.

Here he is fronting his own Dave Fields Band - Live at The Cutting Room – performing Let’s Get Shakin’. That's Dave Fields on lead guitar, with Dave Hughes also on guitar, Hurricane Bob Alfano (harmonica), Rob Chaseman (sax), Andy Huenerberg (bass), and Mark Greenberg, the All Star Jam host on drums.

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Brett Bass (bass guitar)

Image: The very illusive Brett Bass captured on film at the Bitter End

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Brett Bass plays bass. Could there have been any other choice for him? Of course, there could, but it just seems so right that Brett Bass plays bass. The thing I appreciate most about Brett's playing is that it seems to be so understated. It's almost as if he isn't there, but if he was to stop playing, you just know the performance wouldn't sound the same.

Most bass players tend to keep out of the limelight and just lay down that groove that (along with the drummer), helps hold everything together – and Brett Bass is no exception to this. In fact, Brett seems to have taken keeping out of the limelight to the extreme. Of all the musicians profiled here, Bass is the one who doesn’t appear to have his own website or MySpace page, and is all but invisible online. There are a bunch of music clips available via YouTube, which include Brett somewhere in the lineup, and some references to him appearing on other artists recordings, but that is about it. I couldn’t even find a decent photograph of him online, so had to make do with a screen shot from a video recording to illustrate this introduction.

Thankfully, I did manage to find one article online dated, Tuesday, April 15, 2003. Headlined 'Ace of Bass', the article written by John Davis for the Lubbock Avalanche Journal talks about a young Lubbock*, Texas bass player who is making it big in New York City. The bass player of course is Brett Bass, and from the article we learn that Brett’s interest in the bass guitar started at about 11 years of age. In 1998, at the age of 18, Brett moved to New York City with the help of his parents, and has been living there ever since.

"I find it to be sonically satisfying," Bass said of playing bass guitar. "It takes up a lot of room, sonically. It kind of supports the whole thing. It's the bridge between the harmony and the rhythm. It moves a lot of air. You feel it in your chest and in your legs."

I would add, and in your heart and soul.

On stage, hair down to his shoulders and sporting a pork pie hat, Brett rarely says a word, but you know he is there every note of the way. When a brief smile occasionally passes between Brett and Mark Greenberg, you are aware that he is loving every minute of the performance, and that right at that moment, there is nowhere else he would rather be.

In 2001 and 2002, Brett toured through the United States, Europe and Beirut with Enrique Iglesias, and has performed with numerous musicians since. On the following clip - from the DVD "Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth," - Brett joins Bernie Worrell (Talking Heads) for an improvization which includes Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, and the Allman Brothers) on guitar and Will Calhoun on drums. The track is available on the CD, Improvisczario.

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*Lubbock, Texas, is the birthplace of rock and roll legend Buddy Holly.

Delmar Brown (Keytar)

Image: The inimitable Delmar Brown

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Delmar Brown (the creator of the Illuminator Keytar.) has performed with some of the greatest names in jazz, including Gil Evans, Miles Davis, Quincy Jones, Jaco Pastroius and many others. He has toured with Sting, Youssou N'Dour, and Peter Gabriel to name just three top acts. When Delmar steps into the Bitter End spotlights, he eats up the stage like no-one else I have seen in a long time. He coaxes notes out of his Keytar that makes you wonder if he is just a frustrated guitarist as his fingers fly across the keys in an attempt to keep up with his vibrant personality.

Here is a rare clip of Delmar Brown recorded in 1987 at the Free Jazz Festival with the Gil Evans Band in São Paulo, Brazil. The quality of the footage may be a bit rough, but there is nothing rough about the stunning performance Delmar gives in this nine minute video.

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I don’t know if Delmar Brown can hit those high notes anymore, but I do know he has a voice that is so powerful and dynamic it could stop a runaway freight train in its tracks! And you can quote me on that. You will find numerous videos through YouTube of Delmar performing, simply by searching his name. The man deserves wider recognition in his own right, and I’m happy to help that happen.

So how much would you expect to pay to see these talented musos? Twenty dollars? Twenty-five? More, or less? The really amazing thing about the Jam is that you can see these guys for Free! That’s right. Apart from the ‘two drink minimum’ you are asked to purchase during the night, there appears to be no cost to catch the show.

I deliberately said “appears to be”, because I have never been asked to pay to watch the show. I should explain however, that I have always attended early in the evening to catch part of the weekly Singer/Songwriter Sessions that kicks off at 8.00pm. There is a $5.00 entry fee for this, and I’ve always stayed on for the Jam which follows. I’ve never been asked to pay extra for this, and neither do the Bitter End website or the All Star Jam website give an indication of an entry fee. So I am assuming entry for the ASJ is free (If this is incorrect, I would appreciate someone letting me and other readers know by posting a comment below).

If you can’t physically be in New York to catch the show, you can always tap into the live stream and watch it from the comfort of your own home. To do that you will need to first work out the time difference between New York City and your home location, and the best way of doing this is the world clock feature on the Time and Date website.

So there you have it. My ultimate Bitter End All Star Jam lineup. You will see at least two of these four amazing musicians at each fortnightly gig, although you are more likely to see three of them – if not all four. If you are in New York City on the second and/or fourth Sunday of every month, do yourself a favor and head down to Greenwich Village and visit the Bitter End at 147, Bleeker Street, for a great night of live music. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.