Sacramento Walk Part 2

So, after exploring the campus we headed back toward downtown, but on the way we stopped at whatever seemed interesting. One such interesting place was an art gallery called Fe because it housed the Ironworks we had passed on the way in.

They had a beautiful courtyard area with lots of iron pieces and a fountain.

 

 

It was quite an appealing place with its dappled shade and objets d'arts. The exhibits inside were also interesting, including some black light paintings (not pictured) and various sculptural pieces.

  

This artist liked to use doll's heads or pieces of cherub's bodies in his work.

 

  

 The iron artist had this statement about his work (unfortunately I don't think the website works, but contact Fe Gallery in Sacramento if you are interested in something - they are wonderful people and eager to help.)

 

They gave us a chance to take a look at the back room where the iron work is done. It was amazing.

 

Here was a piece that was evidently being worked on. Very steam punk with all the twisty-pointy things.

Look at these marvelous tools - each one is a work of art in itself!

We rode the train home. There are always such interesting people on the train. In Sacramento you are allowed to ride the the train with your bike. In fact often there were as many bikes on the train as people.

We decided to have lunch at this marvelous little place on the way home. This place had terrific food and the best carrot cake I have ever tasted. (Link will be added here soon I promise!)

 

(The patio had a woman with an adorable little dog, so they are pet friendly too!)

It looked like there was some kind of disco or dance place on the upper level. I was fascinated by the red lights hanging from the ceiling in front of the sound "booth".

Here's what that fantastic cake looks like. They use lots of fresh ingredients that are locally grown. The carrot soup is also quite delicious.

And then it was time to go home.  This is a shot out the window of the train. It says Sacramento to me, because of the palms and the style of the houses.

A Walk in Sacramento (part 1)

So the next day we were all tired. We had gotten in late because of weather delays, and so the first part of the morning was spent in getting organized.

That gave me a chance to explore the grounds of my friends' new digs.

 We did the morning paper ritual.

 

and then it was off to explore....

 

We took the train to Sacramento State Campus so I would know where to go.  There are all kinds of lovely murals around the city. I snapped this one out the train window.

 

After we got off the train we passed this "ironworks".

 

To me this just screams "California" with the long strips of buildings, the bright colors the traffic lights and the sun.

 

The campus was fairly large and planted with lots of beautiful redwoods.  This is the library where I will be starting my conferential journey tomorrow

 

 Since my family is library focused, (Many people in my family are or have been library workers), I wanted to see the library.  They have all kinds of interesting art in the library as well as a gallery (which alas was in between shows).

 

What a way to spend eternity, reading in such a pleasant art filled environment.

 

"I sense books!!"  (Look at that determination! )

One of the walls of the library had this very interesting technology inspired wall piece.

 

There is also a little Japanese tea garden alongside the library.  This may be where I wil celebrate the tea ceremony.

 

Near the buiding where my conference is being held there was a rock garden. (Literally a rock garden. The rocks were all labelled with numbers - perhaps for the geology department. It was quite lovely actually. I'll have to try and get a better photo later.

Then it was off to explore the area.

Trip to Sacramento

So off to another conference, but this time flying with some friends to Sacramento. I had to get the last plants into the garden before I left.

The early day lilies are staring to bloom even with the late onset of Summer.

It was off to the airport with a kitty named Sophie in tow.

 

She was the best behaved feline traveler I've ever seen. My friends could open up her carrier and she would peep out but stay in her little nest. Even though there was possible danger nearby.

 

It was stormy when we left and dark when we arrived, so I couldn't get good pictures, but this was our arrival in Denver.

 

There were some lovely cloud formations because of the weather.

We got in late, but safe, so we were happy.

Bird T.V.

Our cats love to sit  in the window and watch what I call bird T.V.  We like to watch it too.

The garden is coming along fro being a huge mess to being a little bit more under control.

It's taking me a long time to dig out all the Creeping Charly.

Au Revoir, Paris!

So I had one last little errand to do in Paris, back in the day when Eric and Jack had attended the Sorbonne for their semester abroad, I had visited them in the 18th Arrondissement. So although the weather was turning bad, I wanted to  briefly stop by Montmartre to reminisce. Of course this is what I arrived to see - throngs of tourists heading up the road to...

Sacré Coeur.

There they were all those steps, but I climbed them anyway, because they were there.

It was warm and people were out on the lawn enjoying the weather, but I climbed on.

 As could be expected, there were buskers (and I'm sure plenty of pick pockets (I heard about one from a woman on the train on the next day). This guy did acrobatics at the top of a lamp post with a soccer ball.

I don't know why, but I couldn't resist going inside, but it was fearfully crowded and there was a mass going on. The nuns were singing in beautiful crystalline voices, so I stopped and listened for a while, but it was crowded and claustrophobic so pretty soon I headed out to the yard.

From the top you could see the skyline of Paris. Here is a part of it with the Pantheon vaguely visible in the center.

Some scouts were sitting at the side of the church enjoying their dinner.

Aren't their uniforms super cute?

Then I decided to head back down into the guts of the area...

but there were still a few pictures to be taken along the way.

There was one of those living statue guys down at the bottom the stairs as I headed east into the tenderloin.

And soon enough, there it was Pigalle.

Le Chat Noir has certainly seen better days.

…And of course everyone wants to visit ...

…the Moulin Rouge...

After that I wandered South taking a picture here and there of a beautiful building

or interesting crowd.

I had started off my first walk with an American band and so too I ended my final walk with one standing on the steps of the school of music.

I headed home to the hotel and packed up for my flight home on the morrow.  There was another full circle experience for me on the subway to the airport.  As I rode on the train from Charles DeGaulle, it was entered by a woman busker who sang out the songs of Edith Piaf.  On my way back to the airport the same woman came aboard. This time the train was extremely crowded, so I couldn't really get much of a picture of her, but there she is, that little face with that giant voice singing Milord and Besa Me Mucho.

 

Of course I had left my change for the chamber maid, so she remained once again unrewarded for her work.

Pretty soon I was at the Airport Charles DeGaulle (a full five hours early in fact, because I wanted to be sure that the subway didn't break down on me.)

This gave me the opportunity to have one last little slice of Paris before my departure. I had a Coffe creme and a slice of cheesecake and sat in the little Natural Coffee shop, knitting and sketching people until it was time for my plane to depart.

This time my seat mates were uncommunicative, but the video functioned so I finished up watching the Monuments Men and slept and before I knew it I was back home trying to recover from jet lag.