France Trip Report
Day 1 – April 30, 2009
With only a week to recover from my Australia odyssey and get fully ready for forty plus days on the other side of the Atlantic, with workshops happening in three locations, I somehow reshuffled the cards and am pleased with the hand I have to play…My travel partner is Ms. Imawishin Iwuzza Parisian…
(above) I just know TSA is gonna love going through my stuff…I’m dressed ready for strip searches…You gotta be carrying junk like that…
(above) Waiting For Something To Happen Shoe Profile # 1…Background carpet courtesy SeaTac airport…
(above) At this point learning new stuff is moot…I’ve been working on the American English thing for a few years now, time to impress some foreigners with my mastery of it, I think so…
(above) First stop…
(above) Manhattan with the Statue of Liberty (a gift from France for us calling them French Fries) on the second little island up on the right…See her, she’s waving…???...
(above) What else could it do…???...
(above) Waiting For Something To Happen Shoe Profile # 2…Background carpet is obviously the fine weave of JFK…
(above) Joke: Where do Canadian alcoholics go…???...AA, eh…I don’t know what made me think of that…
(above) Finally, after 27 seat belt buckling and unbucklings, 31 offers of “Can I get you something to drink”, 96 nod and head bobs, Ms. I.I. Parisian, gets her place on the train to dreamland…The big Pee as it’s know to the blind,who still can smell…
(above) Hotel de Lorraine, our little old home away from home…You’ve seen it on TV …‘Cops: When Good Gendarmes Go Bad’…Not that the neighborhood is bad or anything…
(above) Here’s the big guy in the neighborhood…Train House L’Est…A biggeee…Our room is on the 4th floor, when trains go by deep underground, we rumble, and that’s just one of the free extras you get when staying at the Hotel Lorrraine…
(above) After a circadian rhythm shifted night’s sleep on the plane, check into the hotel, switch clothes and let gravity and our sub-conscious feet get us out the door and we stumble next door to this one in a million cafe for some stimulation Paris style…And Paris is all about style…
(above) Me and travel partner who also answers to Ann, once jolted back to the land of the living, find ourselves outside, cameras in hand, jacked up on caffeine on a super fine spring day ready to see what this City of Light has to show us…Bring on the impressive I say…What do we have here…???...Indeed, it’s a Mannequins-R-Us…Just like Everytown, USA…Not impressed…I want unique, original…
(above) The old Mayor’s office…Looks like every corner store back home…
(above) How about an off the grid’ all-p-lace market zone…Getting warmer…
(above) With a bit of above average graffiti…Good…Extra points for the Heineken can left as an offering…Now we are seeing some examples of C U L T U R E…
(above) High vis sidewalk café seating, I’m liking this…
(above) an Australian themed café…Bonus points, but big points off for not being open now…
(above) Ding Ding Ding…!!!... Jackpot and BINGO…!!!...Game over…
(above) Idle youth wasting the most precious resource…Time…
(above) Our little stroll has us in front of the Opera House…You can what kind of day it is…
(above) Paris is just one freakishly huge museum…more later…
(above) This is a quintessential old school Parisian couple…Little folks…I think I am about 5 feet taller that each of ‘em…They are each both just big enough to fold once and get ‘em in a carry on bag…The perfect souvenirs…Check them out at www.dinkyparisians.com…
(above) Before they had electricity they put huge candles on this to help Napoleon get back to his crib after a night of disco…B I G Candles…That’s what I read somewhere and of course everything I read is true…
(above) Thurs. afternoon, Paris…
(above) Art in the park…Cast bronze…The woodpeckers here seem to have a real pissed off vibe to them..
(above) Lion head sculpture # 547 of 786,396, in just one park…
(above) So how was your Thursday afternoon…???...
(above) Riverboat central…
(above) “Willy” the riverboat…
(above) Ding Ding Ding…EXTRA STYLE POINTS…!!!...Amphibious car…France’s greatest contribution to the auto industry, since Michelin invented the Michelin Man…
(above) If I was on the inside and wanted out, just give me an axe…
(above) There must be thousands of these rings along the banks of this Big-I-Forgot-The-Name river…
(above) Sightseeing barge moving along a whole lot faster than you would imagine…Easily fast enough to ski behind…
(above) Really is a serene as this…Warm, need-some-sunscreen kind of day…
(above) Leaving the river, we are on the cobbles again…Statues inside an iron fenced courtyard…
(above) Cliché café front…Apartments upstairs…
(above) Bistro below…Remember, it’s April, late afternoon, on a weekday…Just like everyday…In the States you can compare it to, well nothing…
(above) Drop a coin, ride a bike…Heavy on the style points…
(above) One of at least a hundred church steeples in downtown Paris…
(above) Me and the kid, I mean Ms. Iamsogladtobebackin Paris, and I have been hoofing around for a few hours or more…Time to get some grub…Sidewalk café style……
(above) How about a wood fired pepperoni pizza…Not anything like you get back home…This would make you drool, and I’d feel responsible if you shorted out your computer…I’ll go so far to say, it was OK…(BTW: that black thing at the bottom of the picture IS NOT my camera strap, no, it’s…scomething else…No way I could have a camera strap in my pictures…Must be some bad pixels…Yeah, bad pixels…In a loop…
(above) D I V E R S I T Y…
(above) While we wandered we went by the place Ann lived while she went to school here…This really means a lot to get back here…
(above) And across the street everyone is waiting celebrate the return of the Tall American Girl…Break out in a dance in 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 ….
(above) Here they have massive drinking fountains…
(above) Clever new architectural features…It might catch on…
(above) Did I mention its Spring here…???...Well it is…
(above) I secretly think no one here has any kind of day job…
(above) This some really old building that took a long time to build…The guidebooks all say that…About everything…Well even I can figure out that if you only work at night, it takes longer to get things done…Even if they have a few of those giant candlesticks a few miles away…Work during the day and disco all night…
(above) Palm in a box…
(above) Are you talking’ to ME…???...
(above) I just bring my own sign and PrestoChango, make me a statue…
(above) Toy store window #1…
(above) Toy store window #2…
(above) “Excuse-moi monsieur, o ‘est les Doritos et les Twinkies…???...”
(above) Late afternoon, still warm…Notre Dame…
(above) I think I was the only one out today with a digi-cam …
(above) These folks are all measuring wind speed or something…
(above) OK Another “As Classic As It Gets”…Lovers (lower) getting oblivious while the artist (upper) sets an easel to paint…Can’t make this stuff up or else these are actors giving convincing performances to us clueless tourists…Who…??...Me…??...Nah, I read the guide book…
Day 2 – May 1, 2009
(above) Ask either of us about the lock and key, we got a story, we do…Now if we can just get the wasted time back…
(above) G O O D M O R N I N G, P A R I S…!!!...
(above) We walk 100 meters to the third closest café for a couple ‘express et croissant’…Sit outside and watch the holiday (May Day) street come alive…
(above) After our ‘petit dejeuner we stroll to the canal…
(above) Morning quiet…Very quiet…
(above) A city still 99% asleep…
(above) It gives one an unhurried time to appreciate the details…
(above) Today turns out to be another day of perfect weather…Still pretty early, but no need for a wrap…
(above) Spring colors are definitely here…
(above) Outside another café is this Technicolor sidewalk seating…
(above) Both Ann and I agree that a walk of a few hundred meters makes one hungry…Breaky # 2… Cost 3.50 euro…For both…
(above) Double exposure #1…
(above) Double exposure # 2…
(above) Time to go subterranean…Metro entry…
(above) Escalators and stairs get you into and out of the holes…
(above) Tile wall poster of what will be a show to be at…Too bad we will be in the UK then…
(above) A pause to check if we are heading the right way…
(above) Lovers embrace on the stairs…Yeah…Selective blur keeps it discreet…
(above) One of hundreds of metro stops underground…All look just about exactly like this…
(above) ¼ second of covered femurs and feet heading to the light of day…
(above) Out on the street, parallel parking is redefined, Parisian style…You try it…Just hope the other guys know to not set the parking brake…
(above) Alright, on the way to something popular.
(above) No, it’s not the bag as a boot store…
(above) Choices, choices…How about something simple, like a’ Le Big Mac’…???...Or something from the Americas, like Tater Tots…???...
(above) End of the road, start of the stairs…
(above) One of the classic Paris walks…Up to Sacre Coeur…
(above) As much of a Parisian landmark as the Eiffel tower…
(above) Mind boggling overhead masonry…
(above) I seriously doubt there are enough knowing craftsmen alive these days to do this…With hand tools…And manual labor to place all these elements…Nope, not these days…
(above) Inside, where photography is not allowed…Oops, me bad…Surreptitiously bad…A freakishly good surreptitious snap, if I say so myself…Point blindly and shoot…100% pure luck…
(above) Outside the metallurgy of days past are on display…
(above) Done a century or more ago…
(above) Kind of hidden off the side are details like this…
(above) And way, way up high is Mr. Way Up High…Peace, brother…
(above) Paris Pano…
(above) Being that it’s May Day, a national holiday, and the weather is off the scale, there was a huge pilgrimage to this iconic piece of Paris…
(above) On the way down the hill, we stopped to sit in the shade…It was getting some kind of warm….A nice place to appreciate some of the essence of what is Spring here…
(above) Down at the bottom of the hill this chanteuse was bellowing out the classic French squeezebox classics…She had range and her accompanist had fast fingers…
(above) Guess where I have no desire to go…???...
(above) Instead, on a much quieter side street, these in-trend fashion statements were poised for a quick sale…
(above) Only one thought… “I wish I lived HERE…” (above) This thing is like 3,300 years old…A gift from one of . those countries with more sand than all the beaches of . France combined…
(above) Preview of what summer is like around here…A great time to not be HERE…
(above) Early May and all it’s the stuff or artists and poets, lovers and saints…
(above) I mentioned before that Paris is basically one giant outdoor museum…Exhibit # 830 is further proof…
(above) So much classical architecture… if you simply add up all the man-hours it took to build this city it would equal time well spent is my answer…
(above) Jimi plays Paris…
(above) These street lamps would cost how much these days…???...
(above) River boats just cruise up and back all day and night…The tour busses of the waters for those who like everything easy…
(above) A lot of overhead glass…
(above) If Boeing made boats…
(above) Just another street in the city, with a view…
(above) Lunch time… had the steak, Ms. I Love Paris had the fish…Mine was mo’ bettah…
(above) Really trying to avoid the cliché… (above) Trying harder still…
(above) No big cliché here, but it’s getting close…
(above) It is darn hard to get a fresh angle here…
(above) OK, I give up…Print six million postcards of this one…
(above) Back along the canal…Simple steps to get you to the roadway…Ding Ding Ding…!!!...Bonus extra points for this abundance of style…
(above) Almost something from an Escher sketch…
(above) Me and the kid are walked out…Time for the Metro home…
(above) End of the line and where we had a simple meal at the closest outdoor café…End of our day and all is very, very well…Very well indeed…
Day 3 – May 2, 2009
(above) After a total knock out night of sleep, and another sidewalk café breakfast, we are going public trans once again…Here on a moving sidewalk towards another subway train…
(above) First stop, the National Public Library…Ann is getting her Masters Degree in Library Sciences and was keen to see France’s finest…
(above) From the library we went here, a big deal Warhol exhibit…200+ pieces…Very, very impressive…
(above) Just a staircase in the exhibit hall…
(above) After Warhol we were famished, so hit the streets and found a wonderful bakery, loaded up on the good stuff, then walked to this park and watched the kids play while we ate…
(above) This guy was a street juggler…The world’s worst street juggler…I was laughing out loud he was so bad…but he could tie a mean balloon dog…An important life skill…
(above) French kids still play ‘Catch Me’…
(above) Saturday in the park…
(above) Next to the part is a pedestrian street, with fresh food stands…dozens of ‘em…
(above) You think they have flavor…???...
(above) Fresh from the trees…
(above) We bought some of these for after dinner tonight…
(above) And some of these for the train ride tomorrow…
(above) Local color…
(above) Fresh cut ready for a vase…
(above) On the street was this church built in the 1500’s…Pretty typical…Paris has this vintage history everywhere…
(above) An elaborate wall mural over one of the cheese stores…
(above) That cheese store…There were at least a half dozen similar cheese stores on the street…
(above) Ann was in cheese shopping heaven…
(above) Someone fits right in…
(above) Shellfish anyone…???...
(above) How about some shrimp…???...
(above) If the walking and shopping get to be too much, there is always a sidewalk café to ease your hunger and a seat to rest your feet…
(above) Pastries with some coffee perhaps…???..
(above) This revolving rack of rotating spits, was cooking up some fine smelling roasting meats…Potatoes at the bottom…
(above) There were wines available…One store’s offerings…
(above) And across the way and up a few places was this one…
(above)This wine merchant and Ann were discussing the subtleties of the vintages…
(above) More cheeses…
(above) This guy had this hand crank player pipe organ thing…The folding paper on the right is cranked through to the left and the device plays some sweet sounding music…The guy cranking sings along…Very, very,cool…
(above) We watched him do his thing while we had an ‘express’…
(above) Street life, Paris style…
(above) After the sensory overload of that street we hit this side street and walked our way back to the Metro…
(above) Paris has these kind of water fountains all over the city…
(above) Before heading back to the Hotel de Lorraine we hit the bakery for some baked goods for the evening and for tomorrows train ride…
(above) Almost there…
(above) No doubt about it now…
Day 4 – May 2, 2009
(above) Today we leave Paris, get on the train and go to Biarritz, but before we leave we get connected and update our computer junk…Also you get to appreciate the décor of Hotel de Lorraine…Check out how wide the beds are…
(above) The train station…I’m still trying to figure out that picture…
(above) All aboard and time for some coffee and munchies…
(above) Some of the cheese Ann bought yesterday…
(above) Watching the countryside slide by…Off the scale rural beauty that is hard to capture on a bullet train...
(above) At Biarritz, Guilhem and Jean-marc were there to greet us…I was disappointed that the Tahitian dancing girls that Jean-marc promised would be there had another commitment…C’est la vie…
(above) Guilhemgave us a quick drive around of the region…Here we are looking at the main break in Guethary…Tide too high, the wind a bit strong…
(above) Guilhem’s CD’s suggest this is a guy who I could do a long road / surf trip with…
(above) A spectacular chunk of Atlantic coastline…
(above) The main surfing beach at Biarritz, with conditions not exactly optimal…
(above) Time for lunch…Biarritz…
(above)” Je voudrais le quiche”…
(above) We went next to Guilhem’s home…This is his recently built board building studio…It will be home soon to the Hollowsurfboard Workshop…
(above) Shaping on the right, glassing on the left…
(above) A serious collection of planers…
(above) The most recent addition…Some guy in California, John Mellor, was having an on-line exchange with Guilhem about power planers, then last week this arrived…Unexpected, no charge…I need to meet this Mr. Mellor and see what might have my name on it…
(above) Every serious shaper’s workhorse, the Slil 100…
(above) Oui…
(above) A few shaped blanks waiting for their day on the glassing rack…
(above) Shaping stand racks soon to be assembled…
(above) A decent collection of vintage boards over in the corner…The board with the ‘fro chick is for the guy who did his logo…
(above) Every board has a story, as they should…
(above) Jean-marc and Guilhem go over tools and materials we need for the class…These guys are well prepared…
(above) Guilhem shows a picture of his first ever surfboard circa 1966…One for the history book…
(above) I’m still figuring out that one…
(above) Time for some sight seeing with Jean-marc as tour host…
(above) Looking straight up from the car, through the plexi roof, the trees here are pruned like this year after year…
(above) Out on the sidewalk, a window display has posters of the big waves of the area…Seriously big waves…
(above) Tree manipulation...
(above) Late afternoon, me, Ann, Guilhem and Jean-marc…
(above) One of the many small local harbors…
(above) Still plenty of sidewalk cafes here…
(above) The street to the beach…
(above) I want this place…
(above) with a view like that…
(above) Tradition rules the region…
(above) The church where Louis the Fourteenth got hitched…They say he was the best king France ever had…
(above) The hanging boat represents the importance of the fishing heritage to the area…The boat’s colors are green and red, Basque colors…Again, tradition rules the region…
(above) Coming straight out of the church, hello Billabong…So much for tradition…
(above) Spain is less than ten miles away…
(above) We drove back to Jean-marc’s house for the evening, but we had one more look at one more spot…
Day 3 – May 2, 2009
Bonjour…Today we need to buy some materials for our workshop class, and while jean-marc attaches the trailer to the car, I walk around the outside of his home and take a few pictures…
(above) Here is his garage before it gets plastered on the outside…THIS, is how most of the homes are built…Clay tile blocks stacked and mortared…
(above) How they do it here…
(above) Jean-marc has shaped his share of boards…He runs www.shaperoom..net …Check it out… It is the Swaylock’s for those who speak French…
(above) Home to J-m & family…
(above) Most good homes here have a garden plot…In a month or two they should be eating well out of this one…
(above) Found this dead/going petrified toad out in the yard…No more flies will be in peril from this guy…
(above) on our way to get materials, I saw this postal delivery woman on her authorized bicycle…Purpose built…
(above) Next on our list of things to get: cork for the rails of the boards we will build in the workshop…We stopped in at Aggloloux-CBL one of the two cork ‘factories’ in France, and was given a guided tour by the grandson of the man who founded the company in 1923…
In this magazine cover, it shows a cork harvester cutting the bark from a cork oak tree…The trees have been harvested this way forever, and the bark grows back and is re-harvested every five to seven years…Sustainable resource management, in the best possible way…
(above) Here is the raw cork bark drying out…
(above) One of the ways the cork is used is to grind it up, then add binders to it, put it in a mold, add heat and pressure then let it cook…Here two different densities of grind are compared…
(above) These are the decades old, still state of the art mixing machines…
(above) After the mixture is put in a mold, they are put under pressure then placed in this oven to cook..
(above) Out of the oven come these loaves…Other molds produce cylinders…
(above) Some cork cylinders ready for the next phase…
(above) The lath which “peels” the cork from the roll…
(above) just above the toothed roller is the blade…
(above) The blade…twice as sharp as any razor blade you’ll ever see…
(above) It is in the form of a continuous blade that is just like a bandsaw…The cylinder of cork is set onto a roller then the machine starts, the belt rotates and the cylinder is rotated and “peeled” the same way that logs are peeled of their veneers…
(above) Here monsieur Cave Bernard the grandson of the founder, shows a roll of peeled cork…
(above) That is how thin they can peel it… We will use some sheets that are thicker…
(above) From these…
(above) …come these…
(above) …and turn them into these…
(above) Yes, there is a connection here…
(above) Cork brake shoes for bikes…
(above) It’s done the same way as it has for decade, real people in a family business doing something they believe in…
(above) The chair in the foreground is a new product…It folds flat and has a reinforced cork seat and backrest…The other thing is a prototype play horse for children…
(above) Portugal made a series of stamps using paper thin cork…
(above) the older harvests of cork are more valuable and used to cut the stoppers for wine bottles…
(above) Call me nostalgic of the older ways and I know I am more than a bit of a cork geek, but guys like this, Cave’s father, are a vanishing breed we need to honor their commitment to products they are passionate about…
(above) the tradition lives on… Visit and support generational families like these… More at: , www.agglolux-cbl.com
(above) Jumping from one extreme to the other, we needed to get some epoxy reasin and went to the local distributor, Seabase…If it’s surfboard related, they got it..
(above) Fresh from China…
(above) “Custom” is a word that is seldom spoken…
(above) From there we went to where Jean-marc works… He gave us an insiders tour, but I kept my camera in pocket out of respect…
(above) But I did get one shot of a poster of the Big Cheese of rip Curl Europe sliding a monster wave…The guy has some serious cred…
(above) Our tour continued, to visit Michel Molino, and artist, shaper, visionary, veneer board pioneer…Here is a ‘fin table’ he had on display…
(above) Michel has been building these style of veneer covered foam boards for over twenty five years..
(above) A peek into the shop..
(above) He was gracious enough to let us into his home and show some of the pieces he lives with every day…here is a decade old countertop…If you understand wood, you understand how nearly impossible it is to do this…
(above) A simpler table, but just as impressive…
(above) Shape a chair then veneer it…
(above) Michel has a lot to smile about… Check out more at www.monsite.orange.fr/woodconcept/
(above) Next stop, over to see Jeremy Ferrara one of the guys who will be in the class…
(above) he wasn’t there when we got there but was gonna be back at a quarter after…
(above) So I walked around and snapped a few…Resin drips…
(above) An experimental (aren’t they all) finless board...
(above) Something to think about…
(above) And another concept with validity…
(above) I admire this kind of thinking…Jeremy came on time and we had a nice visit then we had to go…
(above) We went to the main surf break at Hossegor and found the surf looking like this…Nice day though…
(above) Around a jetty these adventure seekers were heading out…
(above) To this…Wow.
(above) So we went and got some more materials, saw some more history and then headed back to Jean-marc’s place for the evening…Life is feeling pretty good, I hope you appreciate yours too…
Day 6 – May 5, 2009
(above) Today was kind of a free form day…Prep for the class is further along than usual so first ting this morning Jean-marc and I did a surf check in the Hossegor area…
(above) The swell was small and the wind was becoming a greater factor…Leave the wetsuit dry for another day…
(above) wee went back to the house where J-m demonstrated his home built CNC router…it is run off of his laptop computer…
(above) It took him about a month and his investment is near $1,000…
(above) The thing is amazing in it’s capabilities…I won’t get too detailed out about it, instead I’ll just say that one is in my future…
(above) With the afternoon open, we decided to go into Spain for lunch…It is only about ten miles from where we will do the workshop…Not a big deal at all…Zero border security…Here is where we parked the car near St. Sebastian…
(above) On the walk to the village, this character came literarily whizzing by on his way to fish…Have you ever seen such a long fishing pole…???...
(above) Just strap a 90 Yamaha on it and lets go check out the islands…
(above) St. Sebastian had a very different vibe than France…An even slower, more measured pace to the way things are done…
(above) Stacked stone architecture is a common method on the old ones…
(above) Bricks inlaid into plaster is another way things used to be built…
(above) For lunch Jean-marc led us to this place…
(above) You want options, they have options…
(above) We started with a beer…
(above) Then considered our options…
(above) and more options…
(above) “Hmmm, the queso y membrillo or the brocheta d’txipiron…???.... Wish I could just get a cheeseburger…”
(above) Here’s what we got and split among ourselves…Very interesting, different flavors…Not French, not merxican, but a blend of those with a fresher ingredient feel to it…
(above) After that we wandered the village streets then hit this pastry store for a palate freshener…Chocolate croissants are mandatory…
(above) Back along the ocean front…The place is rich in history…I just don’t have a clue to what it is…
(above) Looks important to me…
(above) The sidewalks are all like this…
(above) Impressive no matter how many cathedrals you’ve seen…
(above) Still an active port…
(above) Everyday is wash day…
(above) Kind of what I was expecting to see in Spain…That and bullfighters everywhere…
(above) Just another super scenic area on the Atlantic…
(above) We came back to France and went and helped guilhem clean and organize the shop….After we went to this café here overlooking the surf in Guethary and enjoyed adult beverages…Life is indeed good…
Day 7 – May 6, 2009
(above) After I sent out the last trip report, we had dinner, at home, prepared by Amondine and Jean-marc……Food and it’s enjoyment is so much of the way of life here, that to not record it would be to overlook a huge part of the overall French experience…
(above) For dessert, hot French toast, unlike anything I have ever had...So good….
(above) Marion wonders, “Did you really eat all that by yourself…???...”
(above) Go ahead and ask the cat, he saw what went down…
(above) Wednesday morning…Heading west…
(above) The road to the beach…
(above) The beach …A river meanders through here…
(above) Not much wind this morning…
(above) Beyond the beach the swell was doing its thing on the sandbanks…
(above) So we decided to go out and get a few waves before Jean-marc had to be at work…Here my board is five minutes away from being ready to ride…
(above) It felt great to get wet, paddle pretty hard, get a few waves and put another pin on the mental “I surfed here map”…here we are, on our way home, with Jack Johnson on the radio, and a chocolate croissant from Spain yesterday in my belly…Life is good…
(above) Ann and I had some time to do laundry while jean-marc was at his meeting…Drying things the old fashioned way…As if clothes grew on trees…
(above) J-m brought us back to Guilhem’s where we will stay for the rest of the week…After dropping off our stuff we went for lunch…This place, closed today, is where we sat and had our adult beverages yesterday…Today we eat in the place across the street that was in yesterdays picture…Confusing…???...Oui…
(above) Below the restaurant is the rail line that runs coastal…Passenger and freight both run these lines…
(above) After lunch I did a short walk to see the surf a little better…
(above) Another incredible, warm day…
(above) Controversial even after he is gone…
(above) The main focal point of surfing in Guethary…
(above) Compared often to Sunset Beach, Hawaii…The similarities are obvious, even on this less than five star day…
(above) This afternoon it was time set aside to go here and help Monsieur Rainfray (AKA: Balsa) cut and plane some balsa for the workshop, which will be starting on Friday…
(above) Guilhem, wearing a tee shirt from a very inclusive surf club…Good vibes, spread it like you get it…
(above) In the hands of the master…
(above) We worked for several hours cutting what we needed, then called it a day…
(above) Guilhem suggested we go out for dinner…There was good news and bad news…The bad news was the restaurant he wanted to go to was closed today…The good news was we would go back to where we had lunch…Some champagne before sunset…
(above) The restaurant has a view overlooking the surf…
(above) Guilhem explains the menu items…
(above) And the daily specials were presented…I went with the Porcelet a la Plancha…
(above) Au revoir soleil …
(above) Bonjour vin…This one had Guilhem almost drooling when he saw it on the wine list…
(above) Bonjour Pourchet…We had a great conversation over dinner…We talked about family, food, wine, surfing, surfboards, surfers, travel similarities and differences, and a lot about the best era of music…The late 60’s early 70’s…Guilhelm in a lot of ways is a long lost soul brother…After dinner Ann and I went to the house we are staying…The house where Guilhem’s was raised…One of the oldest houses in Guethary…Another fine day was done…
Day 8 – May 7, 2009
(above) While in Guethary we are staying at the home that Guilhem grew up in…A house built in 1854…It says so on a carved stone embedded in the outside white plaster wall…Here’s the room I’m using…
(above) From this window you can see over the village house to the Atlantic…Although today had little swell with not much to see, you can look straight into arguably the best waves in France …
(above) The house is three stories tall…Up is to the third floor…Virtually all the artwork on the walls throughout the house was painted by Guilhem’s grandmother…
(above) The dining room…
(above) The kitchen…
(above) In Guethary you can paint your house any color you want as long as it fits with the village plan…The village plan allows for white homes with red trim, white homes with green trim, and if you want white with blue trim you have to ask…Roofs offer fewer choices… Red clay tile, period…
(above)The back of the house… They used to tax homes here based on the number of windows you had…Some think it might return to that…
(above) The back yard with a hammock just waiting…
(above) “Our place” is the second from the front, in the middle…As it looked a long time ago…
(above) Guilhem’s mother as painted by Grande-Mere…
(above) Enough nostalgia…Today was about getting ready for the first day of the workshop…Sorting wood, cutting wood and planning wood… about a half day of work…
(above) In the work zone…A busy, non-photographically rich day as a whole…
(above) Except for this shot of my travel partner, official translator and culinary consultant…
Day 9 – May 8, 2009
(above) Today it starts…
(above) Inside the twenty participants/students get started by laying out the wood strips that will be the deck and bottom of the boards…
(above) The strips are taped in place almost ready to fiberglass…
(above) Mix up some resins and…
(above) …spread it around…
(above) Not looking too bad for the inside of the board…
(above) Halfway through the day we are right on schedule…
(above) Everyone goes home with a set of templates to build their own boards, and a CD “book” to fully explain the whole process…
(above) Between phases of the process we stop for lunch, south France style…
(above) And style is what France is known for…
(above) About half hour into the hour and a half lunch break…Sorry no detailed food photos, you would just get jealous…
(above) One traces templates while the others unwind from a hard half-day of collaborative taping and squeeging…
(above) “The imaginary waiter “delivers the tray of drinks… A typical French pantomime…I think its funny too…
(above) Back to hollow surfboards…A frame is assembled…
(above) The Zip Ties are selected for their photogenic qualities…
(above) A frame 99% ready for the exterior skins…
(above) But first some fine tuning of the nose thickness…After this, I / we got 150% busy getting everything aligned, glued and clamped in place…I had not 1/125th of a second to take any pictures…Sometimes it really feels like work…At the end of the first day we are where we need to be with everything as it should be…Everyone is to say the least, stoked…
Day10 – May 9, 2009
(above) In the early morning….The view from my room…Far away through the thick, damp air, the surf has grown overnight…
(above) France does get some bigger waves…Today we have the second day of the workshop, so for now I can only mind surf these…Sometimes work must come first…
(above) Back in the shop…Everything is looking really great…
(above) The clean up crew has obviously been here…Give the Australian’s their names…
(above) 10:00 am…Back where we left off…
(above) These “hands-on” pictures best summarize the collaborative feeling in these wood board workshops… 
(above) As things looked when we stopped for lunch…
(above) The sun was out, the grill was hot, the beer was cold…
(above) Another time to share food, drink, stories…
(above) One of the guys brought his self designed thin plywood paddleboard…Fantastic transitional curves…
(above) 12’ of fast wood…I’m really impressed…
(above) Guilhem pulls out this board…
(above) Cedar strips inlaid into the deck…
(above) Custom inlaid resin nose and tail blocks…Guilhem does it all…Design, shaping, color, inlays, glassing, everything…Back in the States he would have a following as big as any of the big names…No doubt he has the skills…
(above) Lunch now over, the rail are being put on…
(above) Collaboration…They got the rails about 80% done when we stopped for the night…
(above) The night sky…
(above) An Atlantic storm roared through with a bang…
(above) Another day done…Bon soire…
Day 11 – May 10, 2009
(above) Sunday 10:00 am…The third and final day of the workshop…
(above) Easing into the morning’s activities, one of the boards is analyzed with mental notes being taken…
(above) Time to get busy…
(above) Eyes on the lines…
(above) Total concentration…
(above) Fin panels are glued up…
(above) This man translated the “How To” into French…Here he adds some notes to further understand the process…
(above) Guess what time it is…???...
(above) You guessed it…The hour plus lunch break…
(above) Freshly fueled by BBQ and some beer or wine, things get moving fast again…
(above) The blending of surfaces is looking great…
(above) Guilhem demonstrates the Master’s touch…
(above) Everyone, myself included, can learn a lot by simply watching Guilhem…”Flow” is his middle name…
(above) Jeremy (holding the planer) has over 600 boards behind him…Here he gets his hands on a Skil 100 for the first time…
(above) The right tool makes a big difference…Here you also see the perfect combination of tradition and contemporary…South France has a bright future in the hands of these two custom shapers…
(above) Pass #20 of 754…
(above) Half way through, Guilhem explains water flow and design concepts…Listen and learn…
(above) The fine tuning continues…
(above) 5:00 pm, getting close to finishing… I get the feeling that these workshop days could have gone on for five more hours each day and all the participants would have still been forced out…
(above) The 7’3 is 98% done, just add a tail block and fine sand it…
(above) From the side it has a great foil…Old school all the way…
(above) The Fish stands proud with it’s bigger brother…
(above) The siblings, all from the same trees…
(above) Everyone has a lot to be proud about…
(above) After we finished, three drawings of names was held and each board was raffled off…
(above) Getting ready to transport it back home…
(above) She has a full day of train travel to get home…From here to Paris, then a train to Brittany…Extra fun with a full size surfboard…
(above) I finally got out of the workshop, got cleaned up, got Ann, then went five houses up the hill to this restaurant…
(above) This is what a five ‘golden forks’ restaurant looks like…
(above) Guilhelm and his daughter Juiliettte listen to a detailed explanation of what exactly the ingredients are…
(above) I have the beef…I won’t even try to describe how good it is…
(above) Ann had the lamb…
(above) My desert…
(above) …and some sweets with the coffee…Everything is made fresh, made here…
(above) A perfect way to cap off the three fairly intense workshop days…
(above) The chef and owner of what has once been described, by one knowing culinary connoisseur, as “The Waimea Bay of Restaurants”…I just know it’s the best meal I ever had…Thanks to all…
Day 12 – May 11, 2009
(above) With the workshop completed, I had some time in the morning to see about getting some surf…
(above) Although this looks perfect, and it is, it was the only surfable set that rolled through in a half hour, and the tide was moving quickly the wrong way…
(above) Wish it was more consistent doesn’t make it so, so I was content to simply appreciate the fine quiet morning…C’est la vie…
(above) Back up the workshop, Guilhem had a board he wanted to get started on…
(above) Using the plane that was gifted to him, he starts a 12’er for his friend Pierre…
(above) A vintage tool for a vintage board…
(above) Guilhem really likes the power of this tool…Something that is needed when doing these kinds of big boards…
(above) He tells me his impressions of the differences between it and the other planes he has…
(above) A few more passes on this side…
(above) A master shaper in his domain…
(above) Still a long way to go…
(above) Reset the weight and ….
(above) …shape some more…
(above) While Guilhem shaped, I packed my tools and parts and stuff then went to the village for lunch…I ran into Ann at a café and we ate together…One of the guys there rode in on this and Ann tried it on for size…Looks perfect…
(above) We said our goodbyes to all in Guethary, then went and got a rental car, and soon Ann and I were on the road…
(above) We spent the night at Jean-marc’s house… In the early evening another lightning and thunder storm rolled through…Here is a hailstone from that storm…It sounded like there was a train on the roof…Power was flickering on and off, the sky was flashing, the thunder was rolling…It was just crazy…
Day 13 – May 12, 2009
(above) 5:00am…Connecting with the one who we wish was along with us…
(above)8:00am…Ready to roll…
(above) First destination…
(above) Dentist…
(above) While flossing, Ann popped a cap off her tooth…Count three continents where she has logged time in a dental chair…A distinction she would prefer not to have…
(above) On the highway…France has countless miles of pine forests, here is some of the harvest of the trees that were downed in last year’s major wind storm…
(above) Wide open France…
(above) We went to have lunch, and see some boards that Pierre Both has built…
(above) Pierre unpacks his travel board…
(above) All that in a bag the size of a regular suitcase…
(above) All designed and fabricated by Pierre…
(above) Including drilling out the connector bolts…
(above) Another board…An early experiment with building insulation foam and lots of thin glass on the rails…Here Pierre demonstrates durability by hitting it repeatedly with a hunk of firewood…
(above) I call this “advanced rustic”…
(above) Another experiment…Wood over foam, no glass…Strong, light, waterproof…
(above) Lunch time in the shade…Miriam checks out Ann hittin’ the nylon on one of Pierre’s ukuleles…
(above) “Five foot two, eyes of blue….”
(above) He claims he’s not good, but he is…Very good at very many things…
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(above) Picking wines being one of them…If you ever see this, buy it…You’ll thank me later…
(above) Pierre brewed this dark stout…I love the genre and loved this one…
(above) Pierre is also a gourmet cook…
(above) About 45 minutes into lunch when this hit the table…
(above) Another hour later and it’s time for desert…Pierre’s creation…
(above) Light from a few drops of wine remaining in a glass…Pierre showed us at least another dozen past and current projects and passions…If you think I get a lot done, reset the standard and spell it Pierre…
(above) Back on the road on the way to the beach…
(above) The beach…The tallest dunes in Europe…1/4 mile high…
(above) Without the fiberglass steps it would take you ten hours to just get half way up…
(above) Truly amazing, impressive, choose the superlative…Those are tall trees at the bottom…
(above) Me and the kid…
(above) The sand has been rain washed forever, so it doesn’t stick to you like salt water sand…So soft, simply the best…
(above) Panorama of the view…
(above) We ran, hopped, and jumped our way down…Much more like snow than sand…So much fun…
(above) In the parking lot…
(above) A short way from the dunes was a town, where we found a place to stay for the night…
(above) Hotel Orange Maritime…
(above) Balcony room, patio with fountain below, ocean view…
(above) A warm calm afternoon…Paradise…
(above) A minute’s walk to the bay…
(above) We walked around for about an hour, found some bread, cheese, desert and wine, then walked back to our room…
(above) Late afternoon shadows…
(above) Coastal France home and springtime flowers…
(above) The end of another fine day…
Day 14 – May 13, 2009
(above) After a great night’s sleep, a hot shower and a small French breakfast, it was time to get the suitcases down these stairs, and for us to move on…The surf had dropped to 0.5meters…Basically flat and was predicted to be that way for several days…
(above) Our plan for the next few days is to migrate north, see some wine country and enjoy some aspects of France away from the coast…
(above) First stop is Bordeaux, home to plenty of towers, cathedrals, tall pointy stone things, etc…
(above) One of many historically noteworthy monuments…There is just so much of that built here…
(above) Mind blowing, the size of these things…
(above) What you do with twenty-two million tons of stone….???....
(above) Cathedral floor….
(above) Organ pipes…I would just love to be here when they play “Inagadadavida”…
(above) Guess who, on the street…
(above) Inside the French Resistance museum….Dedicated to the WWII underground French Freedom fighters….Somber and disturbing on a lot of levels, but I won’t go there…Here is a mini motorcycle used to get around quickly and be hidden easily…
(above) Type from an underground printing press…
(above) From the top story window…Typical mid size French city at mid day…
(above) Back on the street, another architectural surprise every few blocks….
(above) Ann the Uku aficionado checks out some variety in the window…
(above) Inside we check out some guitars…How about a real Olympia Guitar, made by Tacoma Guitars (???) in Indonesia…
(above) With more to see we headed out to the countryside…Wine region…Bordeaux….
(above) Home to vintners for centuries…
(above) One of dozens of villages along the way…Most of them look something like this coming into them…
(above) Vines in every direction as far as you can see, and if you drive to the horizon, it looks exactly liker this again…
(above) Pictures just do not convey the scale of this resource…
(above) The wildflowers are really popping…
(above) One village has a walled city…kind of cool…
(above) One thing France does better than anyone else…
(above) We hit a café for refreshment…These guys were into their daily dose of “live from the track” horse racing…There was a betting machine at the bar…
(above) We chilled out here for a while then found a place for the night and another meal at a sidewalk café…
Day 15 – May 14, 2009
(above)Yesterday we stopped briefly at a village and knew we needed a few hours to see it, so we made it our first destination today…This is a stitched together vertical panorama of the cathedral’s main area…
(above) The cloisters outside the cathedral…A lot like what we saw a few years ago at Mt. Saint Michel…
(above) Our first day of consistent rain…
(above) The sandstone walls have been made this way by similar rain…This place dates back to around 700AD…
(above) A medieval village still inhabited by a couple thousand people…
(above) Timeless Europe…
(above) A shopkeeper clears an umbrella…
(above) Sure it’s a cliché, but it’s real…
(above) Nice and quiet on a drippy spring morning…Mid summer this place is packed with tour bus riders…
(above) The roses in the region are going crazy…
(above) The funny thing about these places is after a while you see so many of these absolutely incredible chunks of history, you start taking them for granted…There are just sooooo many similar examples EVERYWHERE…
(above) Wild roses…Again everywhere…
(above) Driving out now, as peek over a stone wall…
(above) Bordeaux, heart of the wine country…
(above) Just a place along the road…
(above) We drove the backroads for about six hours on our way north…This is 93% of what it looks like…
(above) Here’s another 1.5%...
(above) …and the rest of it is like this…
(above) Our stop for the evening is a harbor village on the Atlantic…Tomorrow we explore…
(above) Tonight, we eat…
Day 16 – May 15, 2009
(above) The morning finds us on the waterfront, in the wind…forget looking for surf today…Raining on and off too..
(above) A Pano shot of the historic waterfront stuff…
(above) Big, old, stone…That’s the tech specs…Historically it has value too…
(above) Some serious money it the water around here…
(above) They were setting up for a big carnival this weekend…There is a universal truth about those who work these things…
(above) Ann in front of some VIP “ride” thing…
(above) In the calm, out of the wind, a swan…
(above) Ann says these things have been known to kill people…Perhaps…
(above) Another big historic stone arch tower thing from many, many moons ago…
(above) The old town has these covered walkways…Pretty cool…
(above) The cathedral…I’m liking the camera’s panorama feature…
(above) The street market…Plenty of variety…
(above) The wine merchant…Another classic from days gone by…
(above) Back on the road north…We traveled about 89% of rural France so far on roads like this…Staying off the major highways as much as possible…
(above) We drove a lot today and didn’t stop a lot and take pictures…Most of these were shot using a shutter speed of 1/2000th…You get lucky every one in a while…
(above) I shot a few using the double exposure feature in my camera…First a landscape shot, then a shot of the map…
(above) I like this one…Random luck…
(above) This one too…
Day 17 – May 16, 2009
(above) Today we wanted to see the place where that famous French painter dude, Gauguin, did some of his stuff…
(above) I call this “Lone Cyclist On A Hill”…If Gauguin was a really fast painter and there were guys on bikes like this, I am sure this is exactly how his painting would have looked…
(above) A river runs right through the village… (above) The flowers were busting out everywhere…
(above) Inspired by the ghosts with brushes, I set my camera to “pin hole” and shot these on that…
(above) I know, too groovy for words…
(above) Oooooh…..
(above) The place really is photogenic...Something about the light…
(above) Still moves easily with a couple of fingers…
(above) Under foot…
(above) A mini peloton was on the road…So French…
(above) Lunch along the river…Regional specialty…Some kind of crepe deal, with a hard local cider…And of course it’s good…
(above) Mid-level housing…
(above) Future prediction…350 degrees for 45 minutes…
(above) It’s pretty easy to see why this area inspired some of the greats…
(above) With a few hundred kilo to cover, we said “Sayonara” to French Village Of Great inspiration, and hit the cobblestones…
(above) The GPS was set to ‘shortest distance’ which was not the fastest, but easily way more scenic…
(above) Somehow we ended up on a bike race course and was given this ‘road pass’ to allow us through and around about six major check points…It was really weird…
(above) Somewhere in the great wide open…The predominant scenery for the past few days…
(above) Over a bridge we stopped to enjoy serenity…
(above) When you need to get to that ‘cool, green place” in your mind, visualize this…
We rolled on to Saint Malo, the ferry port to Jersey, found a hotel and got ready for the second part of our trip, Jersey…
This will be continued on the Jersey Trip Report…