Lyon!

May 30th - Day 7 - Sunday
This morning we got up early, ate breakfast and headed to the train station. where we figured out that our Tram that we needed was actually on the other side of town. so armon quickly got us some taxi's and off we went. it wasn't as far as they implied but we def could not have walked there. we got there and got on the train just fine and for the first time not a single person slept! then we got to Lyon and dropped our stuff off at the hotel (Best Western Baby!) and took off to find food before going to the Lumiere Museum! Which was AWESOME! It was a museum dedicated to the birth and beginning of cinematography. which was invented by the Lumiere brothers in the early 19th century. there was old cameras galor and old films and just all kinds of stuff! if you like movies you HAVE to see this place it was so neat! i have no words to describe what it was like. i will upload photos soon, i know i keep saying that but i just don't want to miss out on anything so i keep going as much as i can before my feet start barking.
i got a new blister today and i figured out why i am getting them, my white tennis shoes that i brought with me...suck, my feet keep sliding and that is what is causing blisters. i am seriously debating on trashing them, they where only 5 dollars. IDK we will see! lol.
Another thing i noticed was how well behaved the dogs are here. they walk right next to their owners with out a leash! not just one dog but a BUNCH! its so cool! its about a 3 out of 4 dog ratio that are not on leads or leashes of some kind.
Tomorrow we are off to the Niepece Museum, which Armon got them to open just for us so we will be the ONLY ones in there! and then on to Paris for 4 nights and 5 days and then LONDON!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so jazzed about London i cant stand it.
Finally i figured out my favorite photography methods i shoot: Motion, Night and Macro. MNM! lol. OH and i finally found some Pepsi and its NICE :))
Love,
Natasha

Day Six

May 29th
Day Six
Saturday

Today's photo is courtesy of Jeremy Himmelburg

Today was pretty laid back and uneventful for me. originally i was going to go with Jen, Jer, Kacie, Hanna, and Matt to bike ride around Avignon. But i was going to rent a scooter. we got to the place where we can rent stuff, and the scooter was 30 Euro for the day but he wanted a 750 euro deposit which i didn't have so i went back to the hotel. On my way there this creepy guy kept following me so i stopped and took some photos and he came up to me and started talking to me and i told him no french (in french, but i don't know how to spell it) and he pointed to his ring finger and asked me if i was a madame or mademoiselle, and i looked at my hand and realized i didn't put the rings on this morning. as well as forgetting my other jewelry. i told him No and to go away and lucky for me the police started heading my way because i know i was raising my voice because he wasn't touching me but he wouldn't go away. finally the police came t me and asked if i was OK and i told him i am fine now that the man left, the police walked me to the street where my hotel was where Dani was waiting outside. as soon as i got there Armon and easton came out, they where planning on trying to find a car to explore in and then they where coming back to get me.

Well 2 hours went by and i got all my photos organized, so i just waited around until Armon and dani came back and we all want and ate lunch. I got a ham panani or whatever lol and tried some of Dani's Beer and lemonade combo. don't remember what it was called but it was GOOD. then we talked to get a Galatti (ice cream) and i had Mango and chocolate....yummy! very odd contrast but oh so good. we walked a lil and saw some art galleries then armon and i headed back to the hotel and got some rest. I started a FB group so family and friends can track us where we are as a group and see photos once everyone starts posting. it has mostly been a chill day, which i need because the blisters on my foot are killing me. Oh and i got to video chat with maw maw and IM'ed with mom all day! and i am talk to my hubby now :)) getting ready for bed as well i am tired! Tomorrow we head to Lyon and i do know what the Internet will be like or if we will have it but i will keep my log going and post as soon as i can!
Love,
Natasha

Random Side Note

a few other group members are also Blogging if you want to read theirs here is the info (they might have diff perspective or remeber things i didnt or what ever)

Abbie Polys - http://takeeuropebycanon.blogspot.com/
Kacie Davis - http://kaciegoestoparisandlondon.blogspot.com/
Hanna Kimbel - i will get her website as soon as i can and place it here

Love,
Natasha

Day Five

I need to think of better titles!!!
May 28Th
Day Five -Friday

Today was another travel day! We all got up at “330” am to catch the train at 610 ish. Cuz the drive from La Predix (the manor) to Bordeaux was like an hour and a half drive, of which I slept with a blanket over my head lol., I am sure someone got photos of it I will track someone down and share it with you. Promise! Lol. We got on the train and bascily we all passed out again for the ride to Mont-something to catch and connecting train to Avignon. We got to Avignon around 2 or 3 and got to the hotel, which was really close to the train station. But Avignon is like an old medieval city that has a wall around it. I will take a photo of the map and share it as well. Tomorrow I think we are going to take a bike ride along this wine tasting tour thingy. Anyway we ate at McDonalds in Mont-something and it was….interesting. I got a Coke, only because I am noticing a trend…there is NO PEPSI!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really hope I can find some in Paris or London or I will lose it! Lol. Luckily the coke here isn’t as carbonated ask back home so it isn’t totally horrible. After we got to Avignon and to the hotel we decided to explore a little bit and find some sunglasses and water. We located a store that I think my baby brother would LOVE, its called H&M. totally his style. Then we went to pharmacies so I could get one of those blister thingys for the bottom of my foot. I hope it helps tomorrow. We will see. Anyway we awarded Kacie 2 or 3 DDP and Hannah for one for sure. And TWSS kinda took a back seat we only cut about 15 total for the day. Yesterday we hit over 50 I am sure of it. Lol. After we all met at the hotel we went to eat in two groups, we ate at a recommended local pizzeria and I had a Motz n Black Olive pizza and it was FANTASTIC. The sauce didn’t give me heart burn, so that was a plus. OH and we got COLD H2O for free and ICE for our Coca (which is what they call Coke lol. I guess it makes since…coca-cola.) it was excellent, then we came back to the hotel for our Really quick history lesson in photo. And I am going to try and explain it for you here so you understand why we are in France and England and why they have the most significance for photography.

One of our Founding Fathers is Niepece, he created the Heliograph in 1824-27 and he took the first fixed print which had a long exposure, like ten hours long, it currently resides in Austin tx in a dark room that is vacuum sealed because it is fading. He lived in Lyon, France and we are going to the original spot where the photo was taken, so I will take one and find an image of it and show you the two. Sadly Niepece passed away before he could see the impact his work created on other sciences, for example Daguerre (another founding father) was a French Theater owner who worked mostly for Dioramas, but he saw potential in creating legit backgrounds, not hand painted ones. He created the Daguerreotype, which was a metal plate covered in a light sensitive material that usually sat in the camera obscura. Niepece’s son worked with Daguerre on perfecting the Daguerreotype before its release in 1839. The Daguerreotype cuz shutter from from hours to minutes, anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes per exposure. He packaged them with detail descriptions so that anyone could buy it and create there own picture. If you had enough money. Lucky for Daguerre the French gov’t backed him 100% for the project. And helped him launch the project. On the flip side we also have Henry Fox Talbert who is a founding father of photo, his system is the closes thing to what we use today in the darkroom. He created the kilotype or also called the Talbot type in which you would create images at home like the Daguerreotype, but he always patented his work and didn’t include instructions like Daguerre’s did. Talbot lived in England, Laycock Abbey, yes apparently same place harry potter was filmed. He directed us more toward the light sensitive paper and creation of the negative so that you can reproduce a positive image over and over. Another person important to photography is John Hershel, he coined the term Photography which means light writing. He is the father of photography, so much of what we use today was created or discovered by Hershel. He discovered Fixer, gave us the terms Positive and Negative as well as being the first to use Cyanotype and Vandyke brown like processes years before Niepece or Daguerre did. But he didn’t have any backing. So he isn’t really well known.

That’s the quick quick edited watered down verison of the history of photo what makes it so great is how debatable it all really is and how much we still don’t know. So this trip ties in because we are literally going to the places where things happened but also the first 30 years or so of photography the subjects where landscapes and buildings. Much like we have been taking all week. Eventually it becomes a portrait kind of thing, or because of Bayard , can be seen as an art form. Tomorrow we are going to check out the town and bike ride a few places, maybe even go see where Van Gogh’s studio is and visit it. If we can find it! Lol. See ya on the flip side!

Love,
Natasha

Day Four

May 27th
Day Four
Oh today was just peachy. First icky day here cuz I got “lost” we went to visit a church that was closing at noon and we had ten minutes to get there, and I turned around to take a photo and when I went to look for the group again they was gone. So I tried to catch up, looking for a legit church, not knowing it was a random wooden door that I should have been looking for. Anyway it took me about 20-30 minutes to find the group again.
We returned to the ‘manor’ and had our lunch; I ate left over Kous-Kous (?) and hot tea. Yum. Next we went to Pergueux to check out the down town area and markets. On the way we tried to go around a truck and got the van hard core stuck in the ditch. I have a video of it. Matter of fact I am also starting a You Tube channel to show a few of my videos. Anyway the city itself, It was kinda less than what we expected, but we all got some cool shots. We walked so much, my foot was killing me. I am developing a weird blister on the pad of my foot so it is slowing me town. But I found the post office on my own! Ten points for me, and I was able to communicate with the sales lady and gat a few stamps! Then I met up with the rest of the group and then walked over to get a baguette with ham and a weird butter sauce. It was really good. I was pleased with this.
After a parking garage debacle we started back to the manor and the other van thought it would be funny to stop in the middle of the road and do a Chinese Fire Drill. And Armon didn’t like it! Lol. Were returned to the house and started goofing around with our cameras and did “senior” portraits and “family” portraits. They are great and I can’t wait to upload them to FB! Our final dinner was interesting, we had chicken and salad. Chicken was good! Then we had bread pudding and crème Brule. In the morning we are heading to the train early again to get to Avignon!
Love,
Natasha

Day Three

May 26th
Day three
Today started off interesting from the word go. We woke up and had croissants, some plain with chocolate. They were very good. We started giving everyone nick names, but most of us have one. I am MaMa T, Jeremy is J-Dawg, Hanna is HK, Matt is Mexi-Can’t, Jen is Jenicle, Abbie is Grabbie Abbie, but we don’t have one for Kacie, Armon, Dani or Easton. Very sad. But I am sure that by the end of this trip we will get it done, (that’s what she said). We are also starting to keep DDP, Daily Dork Points. So far Kacie is totally winning with Hanna and Jer in close 2nd. Currently I only have one. Lol. And I think Jen has a few. Apparently last night after I went to bed Matt ended up totally drunk and they had to walk him to his room and he kept banging into things and making all kind of noise, and I slept through all of it.
We went and explored Brontome and saw the prehistoric caves of the area. The caves where so neat! Heavy on the Calcite, but beautiful. We also some cave paintings which where breathe taking, yes even for cave paintings. Sadly cameras and video where band, so that was sad. I am beginning to enjoy this group, we are constantly joking and laughing and pulling out that’s What She Said jokes, today we have hit over 45 and only 2 or 3 have been questionable. Right now I am writing this in the kitchen and there is apparently a formula for being a cougar, for someone to be too young they have to be half your age plus six years. Yikes. Earlier we had a huge discussion about cannibalism, and Armon had a very interesting view point.
Back to the events of the day, Brontome was simply beautiful. It had a river running through it, ha-ha, and waterfalls and the oldest bell tower in France. The church was one of the last surviving Romanesque styles in France. And it was so neat. There was a random torrential down pour while we was exploring the town. Another thing I noticed are that Calla Lilies grow EVERYwhere here. They are so beautiful! Tomorrow we are going to visit the local churches and some museums and maybe some local markets. I am looking forward to our day trip in Avignon, which we can take a train to Nice and see the medaterrian sea. Which I have on my bucket list. I am enjoying being able to mark things off my list. Finally today it kind of settled in that we are here. Jeremy said something and we both kinda ‘screamed’ with excitement. Oh and I saw CHICKENS! GIANT CHICKENS on the way to the caves. Lol.
Peace,
Natasha

Day two!

May 25th day two
Today was not nearly exhausting as the last two. It was almost a breeze. We got up around 4 am and we all meet in the lobby by 445 so that we could walk to the train station, which was all downhill so it was easier, but my hand still kept falling asleep after pulling my bag. We finally made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare and waited for the track number to be called. We talked and giggled about random stuff, that I can’t even remember now. We got on the train at about 545ish and it reminded me very much of when we took the train in DC, but at a little bit of a faster pace. We all sat down and almost as soon as we did Jen decided we needed to find the food cart, so her matt and Jeremy went on a journey shortly after we left the station.
The first thing I noticed about the French country side is that from far away it looks a lot like Kansas, but more trees. And instead of farm fields they have vineyards. Old did you know that wine is cheaper than water here? Lol. Anyway it was a four (ish) hour train ride and we got to Bourdrex around 10 am and waited for Johnny to come pick us up. We are stating at his establishment until Friday. We all pile in the van and head to his Chetue which should have been an hour away but the traffic was horrid so it became more like 2. But it was worth it! It is so beautiful here! Photo opps everywhere you look. After we got a tour of the house and picked our rooms we toured the grounds and snapped photos and talked. We played a game called Set, which was FUN, and then after Johnny got back from the airport with the rest of the group (Easton and Dani flew in from London and Johnny had to go get them) we all played catch phrase and it was just over from there. Around 3 o clock Johnny started feeding us wine and beer and many kinds of cheeses. I saw seven new types of chesses today and I even tried 3, and liked one! FYI I don’t like goat or Gouda. We made us a snack that was interesting, it was bread with goat cheese on top covered in a vinegar and wine and maple syrup and put in over to melt. It was interesting, until I tasted the goat! (That’s what she said) then he brought out this feta, cottage and something else mixture wrapped in vine leaves and it tasted like something my mom would try I might try to get recipe from Johnny. Finally after we visited the horses we had dinner, which was chicken (on the bone) and potatoes and green beans and bread. And wine, I mean come on its France! Lol.
Oh and there are three dogs here! Ralph is like a bulldog/pit looking pup. And he is soo smart! He took his lead off the wall next to the door and drug it around, finally Jen caved and took him on a “walk” and he “walked” her to the front gate and she didn’t know how to get out, so she came back and he wasn’t happy, but he is smart and a bit of a daredevil! It hops in to a window on the 3rd floor and just sits there. Like ON the window seal!!! It’s amazing, then there is Bundi – which we call Father Time because he is sleek, grey and wise looking. He is part grey hound. The last dog is Luka and he smiles at you, which looks like he is bearing his teeth and you should run, but his butt was moving so fast it looked like he was smiling.
Oh and while we was outside eating dinner, it started to down pour and we had to run all into the house really quick and munch. After dinner we walked to the cemetery which was next door to the chetue, and took some photos then came back in to have dessert and more wine and just talk. It has been a great day and I still cannot believe we are here! In France, it blows my mind. Tomorrow I think we are going to visit the caves and some local museums and more interesting food! So far I have tasted everything that has been offered to me because I don’t want to miss any opportunities!

We're here!

May23/may24th
Day one

I left Manhattan around 1200 pm, that flight was relatively simple; If you don’t count the snoring man next to me. I arrived in Dallas/ft worth around 110 and went straight to subway to get food, as my nervous had calmed down from saying good bye to my husband and doggies. After I got subway I went to the gate and waited for about an hour for the rest of the crew to arrive from KCI. They didn’t find me until about 4 o clock Central Standard Time and we just chilled for about thirty minutes while we waited to board the plane; which was HUGE! It was a Boeing 767 and it was crazy huge. Jeremy, Armon and I sat in the middle section of three seats while Casey and Hanna sat to the right of me about 2 rows back. At first Jer and I played games and talked then I napped and then we talked then we napped. All in all a LONG but smooth ride, we had beef n mushroom with mash tatters for dinner and a yummy dinner roll and interesting brownie. Shortly after dinner they turned the lights out and kinda hinted that we needed to try to sleep, and the map showed that we were over Nova Scotia. Which I thought was pretty neat 
We landed around 940 Paris time which was around 4 am Central Standard Time and there was no way to contact anyone’s family yet. Next we had to get on a subway for about 30 minutes to the main subway station where we were support to meet Jen but there was so much confusion that we kept losing each other’s paths. The first thing I noticed after getting on the subway was the amount of graffiti that was everywhere. Some of it LAME and some of it was just beautiful. Yes even for graffiti while on the subway, which they call a metro I think, an accordion player came in to our car and started serenading Abbie and it was very funny. After we made it to the main station we walked forever in both directions trying to find the place where we needed to meet Jen. And fail, we finally parked at a lil bakery inside the station and ate some food, and Hanna had a very dark black man start to hit on her. He asked her if she was married and a few other questions then he told her he loved her and wanted a photo with her! So we played it safe and she is in position of said photo. Anyway Armon took off to try and locate Jen and figure our best route to our train that we needed to catch at 235 pm and we left out area at 206, so we had to RUN basically carrying our bags up and down stairs and all over the place, today I have had to encounter the worlds smallest elevator, as well as a dozen or so escalators. I for one am happy to have my feet planted on the ground right now. Sorry, back to the day, we got on the next subway and it was worse than canned sardines! Man it sucked! Everyone pushing and shoved you here and there, super lame. But when we finally got to the train station we had missed our train by like 3 minutes, which I feel is my fault because I lagged behind because my ankle started hurting so bad. So we had to book a new train for 5 am and we are staying at the hotel ibis tonight. After walking forever to try and find it. I am tired and exhausted and ready for food then shower then bed. See you on the flip side.

Ready to go!

All my bags are packed....i'm ready to go!!! lol. Dontcha love it when random songs get stuck in your head?!

in less than 48 hours i will be on a plane that is headed for Paris! I am so excited! I am nervous thou, never having traveled very far from home until this last year makes me a little nervous. the closer it gets to Sunday at 11 am, which is when we leave for the Manhattan airport, the stone in my tummy gets a little bigger. I am going to miss my husband and kiddos, but this opportunity is so great and i am glad i get to take it.

I am not trying to be rude or gloat, i am just excited. I want to get on the highest mountain and shout, thats how excited i am! I hope you enjoy the photos i plan to post, as we all know i will be taking a BUNCH!

Rock and Roll!
Love,
Natasha