un Voyageur

Feb 17

On what I am seeing with a pass vaccinal in the pocket

“Chers clients, Pour toute venue dans notre restaurant, vous allez devoir présenter un ‘pass vaccinal‘.” –un restaurant

“En application des mesures gouvernementales de lutte contre la propagation de la Covid-19, un passe vaccinal est exigé pour les visiteurs de 16 ans et plus. Les visiteurs de 12 à 15 ans inclus doivent présenter un passe sanitaire. Le port du masque de catégorie 1 (non fourni par le musée) est obligatoire pour tous les publics à partir de 6 ans.” —Musée d’Orsay

In order for an American to enter France today in early 2022, two vaccinations are required and possibly a booster shot if you are over 65 years old. You must test negative within a 48 hour period before boarding the airplane.

It is not clear to me if no booster would prevent entrance. When I traveled to France on February 1, 2022, I was not asked specifically whether I had a booster or not; the authorities at the various airports asked for my vaccination records and whether I had been tested for Covid before boarding the plane in Portland and before leaving the United States.

Three times at three different airports—Portland, Seattle, and Paris—I needed to show my vaccination records and my recent Covid test. Before I could go through passport control at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, I was separated from other passengers and sent to a red area where my recent Covid test was checked. France has designated United States and its citizens as a high risk for having Covid and red is our color. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

Not having the booster shot while in France, if you are over 65, is a risk not worth taking.

France has instituted a passe vaccinal. It replaced the passe sanitaire.

But wait, there’s more!

Feb 14

On being there, or on taking self-effacing selfies

sel·fie | ˈselfē | (also selfy) noun (plural selfies) informal
“a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media: occasional selfies are acceptable, but posting a new picture of yourself everyday isn’t necessary.”

self-ef·fac·ing | ˈˌself əˈfāsiNG | adjective
“not claiming attention for oneself; retiring and modest: his demeanor was self-effacing, gracious, and polite.”

re·flec·tion | rəˈflekSH(ə)n | noun
“1. the throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it: the reflection of light. 2. an image seen in a mirror or shiny surface: Marianne surveyed her reflection in the mirror.”

I do not take selfies with my smart phone. I have yet to point a smart phone my way, when I am alone or when others are nearby, and have not snapped and—voilà—a moment was captured. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

When I think of selfies, I think of an extra-ordinary moment, one that I find amusing every time, that occurs whenever I visit the room in the Louvre where one sees the Mona Lisa.

People must line up and follow a path, partitioned by ropes, before reaching the head of the line. There the tourists will take photos of the Mona Lisa, or they will turn their backs to her, lift their smart phones, and take pictures over their shoulders of themselves with the Mona Lisa behind them. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

But wait, there’s more!

Jan 6

4 Comments

on looking for the vanishing point

1 : a point at which receding parallel lines seem to meet when represented in linear perspective
2 : a point at which something disappears or ceases to exist —Merriam Webster Dictionary

A vanishing point is a point on the image plane of a perspective drawing where the two-dimensional perspective projections (or drawings) of mutually parallel lines in three-dimensional space appear to converge. —Wikipedia

Mary Berry, an English non-fiction writer, arrived in Paris on Sunday, March 14, 1802. At 1:00 p.m. the next day, she went to the Louvre. “To give any idea of this gallery is quite impossible,” she wrote.

“You ascend to it (at present) by a commodious plain staircase, and first enter a large square room [the Salon Carré] … lined with all the finest Italian pictures, very well placed as to light. Out of this room you enter a gallery [the Grande Galerie]—such a gallery. But such a gallery!!! As the world never before saw, both as to size and furniture! So long that the perspective ends almost in a point [emphasis mine], and so furnished that at every step, tho’ one feels one must go on, yet one’s attention is arrested by all the finest pictures that one has seen before in every other country, besides a thousand new ones.”

If I want to impress someone when I visit a museum, I will mention the vanishing point in a painting. I will choose a painting with a single vanishing point, maybe one with two, and they are often obvious, and ask, “Have you noticed that this artist has used a single point to focus the elements in the painting?” (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

Christ_Handing_the_Keys_to_St._Peter_by_Pietro_Perugino

Once I did that while visiting a photography exhibit in southern France. A camera crew happened to be there. As I pointed to this and that in the photo, talking away, and without knowing, I was being filmed. When I looked up and back, I saw what was occurring and someone with the camera crew beckoned me to continue. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.) But wait, there’s more!

Oct 29

on seeing the vieux port in marseille in black and white

The Vieux Port in Marseille is wide open. No trees. The buildings are four to five stories. The highest point is inland, and it is la basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde. It is too far away to cast a shadow on the Port.

That means the Mediterranean sun lights up the Port and reflects light off the water. Many, many boats are moored in the port and they are white. Not all of them, of course, but enough when I write that all the boats are white on the Port. They reflect the light as well.

The buildings that line the port are pale and creamy and look unwashed. When the light is at a certain state, the edges of the buildings are indistinct from one another from a distance.

Go along the coast, let’s say to Martigues, and there one sees a strong, iron blue water, and set against it are the burnt orange and blues and ochre of the buildings. Many of the boats in the harbor are painted with bold blue and yellow hues. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

The color at the Vieux Port really is in the clothing. And that is seldom bold. All right, I do see the occasional red jacket, and the jacket I wear is bright blue, purple maybe. (Click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail. Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.)

But wait, there’s more!