Caves/France/Spain 1997
TUESDAY, 6/10/97: HECTIC day, RUSH lunch. LEAVE computer: SHORT notes! One double-page/day! Car 3:30-4:35 in LOADS of traffic. To GATE 4:45 and BACK to check 34½# duffel and weigh 10½# shoulder bag. First "delayed to 6:55", then "OK at 6:20" as people deplane. Decide "no booze." Puzzle 5:05. 5:08 re-verify seat! 5:25 seat OK, sit. Board 6:05 DIRECTLY over wing. Take Rohypnol at 6:20. 6:37 flight: over water but for last hour. 6:30 must unload unaccompanied luggage; 6:40 we're going. 7:05 move out, shade must be up. Off 7:12, three pictures. Charming dinner chat with older Madrilena. LOTS of food and gin and tonic to 9:10PM. Put in earplugs at 9:35PM. 9:40 try to sleep. Wake 10:20, almost an hour. Lose earplug, pee at 11, change to 5AM!
WEDNESDAY, 6/11/97: 6:05AM FIRST sign of dawn. 6:22 chintzy breakfast: yogurt, orange juice, yogurt cake. Dinner was beef, potato, vegs, salad, bland brownie. Bumpy landing at 7:44AM. Drab city from distance, NICE up close! Get bags 8:15 and poor 138p change rate for $80 to bus for 370p, long ride to Plaza Colon by 9:15. Taxi to hotel for 1100p, EXPENSIVE 965 fare 9:30 to room 408 and DAZED! Not much storage space. 9:45 start unpacking. 10:45 finish---obviously too long! Ken in at 11:30, we chat, reconfirm all flights and walk to Gran Via. GREAT facades and down to lunch at Terraza Galayos for 1500: wine, revuelto (omelette) of beans and garlic, swordfish, potato and melon. Melon best. Walk to Parque Atenas (HIGH) and back to Descalzas tour at 4. Then walk to Bodib Egyptian Temple, to the rose allee, and then rest with limeade and horchata to 7:30. SUBWAY (wrong way) to hotel at 8. Have 1800p good Sangria and no Toths, and get out at 9 to Alemana for shrimp, meatballs, squid, and jamon (poor) and good Aguilas beer, and back gloriously tight to hotel at 10:45, both needing sleep, and bed.
THURSDAY, 6/12/97: Ken turns on LIGHT inadvertently in early morning and it's really a SHOCK! Dream, wake, dream (sexy guy shows pissing erection I stare at), wake, dream (Meg H. kisses me passionately), and wake at 8:45 after TEN hours sleep, STILL feel groggy, but OK. Pee while Ken showers. Write, worried about smallness of writing, but it IS clear enough. Thank GOD I'm INTO trip and looking forward to Prado and other Madrid sights. Ken STILL in bathroom at 9:15, so I'll have LOTS of time to do THIS. Unless I can brush teeth at same time. Brush teeth, chat, and breakfast is HUGE buffet for 1100p to 10:30. Give Ken metropass for Toledo. Off to Prado. In at 11, 100p for Velazquez writing. #6 Forge of Vulcan. #7 Greco: Resurrection. #8 San Sebastian. #9 Tintoretto: Judith and Holofernes. #10 CHEERFUL Goya: Summer. #11 Titian: Bacchanal. #12 Raphael: Fall on Way to Calvary. #13&14 Leoni Brothers. #15 Jupiter (uncut) from Antonines era. #16 Apollo and Marsyas, 1770, porcelain. #17 Jupiter and the Giants (1700s, Wedgewood style). #18 Chalcedony cup: Cupid on dragon (1600). #19 Jasper cup, gold, emeralds, and 31 agate cameos. #20 Chalcedony cup and jasper cameos. #21 152 cameos. #22 Snail in jasper. #23 Rock-crystal turtleboat. #24 Jar-top, siren "en el asa." #25 "Salero" and siren. #26 copy of Bernini's "Seneca." #27 copy in marble of Durer's "Adam and Eve" Loy Hering (1550). #28 Pozzi (1810) flagellation. #29 View of Bermeo in pedras duras (1700). Treasures of Dauphin to 1PM! #30 Teniers (one of 3) The Temptations of St. Anthony. #31 Goya: Great Goat. #32: Romeria (picnic!) de San Isidro (detail) #33 Rubens: Holy Family (detail). #34 Juan de Juanes: San Estaban condemned to martyrdom. #35 Cranach: Carlos V hunting. #36 Durer: Adam. #37 Durer: Self. 2:30 film roll NOT in! RETAKE #6-37!! #0 Van Sorcel: Flood. #1 Peter Brueghel (old): Triumph of Death. #2 Bosch: Adoration of Magi. #3 Garden of Earthly Delights. #4 Whole. #5 Temptations of St. Anthony (and back at 2:45 to RETAKE #6-37!!) At 3:45 take Durer Adam as #36 and film ENDS! Only SLIDE film the shop carries is 64 or 100, and my 200 is barely enough---not to mention their $10 price! So look and PLAN pictures for NEXT time? Room 68: Vander Weiden deposition and Brueghel room 61A. Three rooms of sculpture closed permanently (71-73). Upper "Back right" Goya Crucifixion (across from 39). Reni in Room 16, Rooms 7-11 and 7A-11A closed, rooms in BACK closed. All rooms on lower WEST side closed! Namely 40-44! Look through ALL guide books and ALL slide sets and NONE work! 5:35PM decide I've done it ALL. To San Jeronimo at 5:45 and Buen Retiro WITH ticket from Prado. Villamil: Gaucin good; Amores. Socrates finds Alcibiades with a courtesan CUTE! Canova Statue. They have NOTHING in slides that I want! To Retiro Park, to bookfair, to Velazquez Palace to 6:40 for "mod" art to pee and get water. Crystal Palace is glassless (under restoration) and I sit to relax to 6:45 on bench. Back to hotel at 7:07, town IS small, note to Ken "I'm showering (you know what I DON'T mean)" and finish shower at 7:45, read Espana. Read guidebooks to 8:35, Ken STILL not in. Ken in at 8:45, we chat, leave 9PM for La Cabana, and have GREAT $30-each dinner of sweetbreads as DELICIOUS appetizer, GREAT 1¼ house red Reserva for 1400p, and brochette and steak in GREAT grease, and CUTE guy next to us with plaintive eyebrows, and a birthday party for 18, and mediocre dessert with NICE complementary "belloto" liquor at end. VERY funny when CASHIER replaced my napkin after I pantomimed distress on losing mine. Ken had GOOD day in Toledo and we talk our day's stories and have GOOD time and I tear up as I say, "It's been a ROUGH year with Dennis and my mother," and I choke up, and Ken says, "You feel good," and I nod yes. He stays to smoke downstairs and I'm up to pee and fill this in at 12:02AM---we're IN Spain!
FRIDAY, 6/13/97: Bed 12:15AM. Trouble sleeping, wake often, TIRED when Ken is up at 8:30AM, my watch stopped. He leaves, I debate lying there, but up and join him for breakfast and he goes to Escurial, and I'm out to Paseo del Prado at 9:55 and down center strip to Museo Reina Sofia at 10:15---must CHECK camera! Guernica jammed, nice Dalis. Forbiddingly cold jail/fortress ambiance. VERY un-Dali early Dali to 11:20. LOTS of loans to other exhibits worldwide. I try 4th floor at noon. Ride elevator 12:45-1:05, then floor 3. Window screens and collages, both "neat." 1:30 to floor 1, Lipchitz (rough) to 1:45. Shit. Tired. Out 2PM to Botanical Gardens, 200p, three-climate house, palm house, Juan de Herrera (who BUILT Escurial) exhibit to 3:20. Leave 4:10PM. To San Fernando Fine Arts at 4:30, 300p, 100p guide. Pix at 4:45: #1 San Fernando: Chapel. #2 Rubens: St. Augustine between Christ and whore---oops, virgin. #3 Arcimboldo: Primavera. #4 Goya: Casa de Locos (at right: fellatio!). #5 Maella: Christ VERY unbloodied. #6 Lopez Hernandez: El Reflejo! Leave 6PM. #7 Hercules in lobby. Ken's in lobby smoking, and we're up to chat and I nap 7:50-8:10, leave 8:25 to Zalacain at 9 for WAIT, and MEDIOCRE ravioli of foie gras and truffles, Ken's lobster salad better, duck with ginger not great, but puff of pastry around duck "brick" is great. Chocolate volcano and ginger straws not bad with TWO enormous tuiles! 12,000p TOO much. Out 10:55, back 11:25 to look through Grand Tables du Monde. This to 11:56. Bed 12:25!
SATURDAY, 6/14/97: 9AM: Forgot to tell of potato croquettes (creamy and nice), vegetable soup in a cup (OK) and pommes soufflés (which aren't nice when they're cold) as uncharged extras at restaurant. 7AM dream of Chinese girl (like woman at Zalacain) saying she and friend were making banging noise as I was talking with someone about transcribing my old journals. Dream 2 about knocking over dresser through VCR-monitor combo by trying to play a tape I wanted to see. All vague frustrations, as in my trying to shit at 9AM and can't. Up to breakfast, dress by 9:20, vaguely trying to wake Ken, who went to sleep at 12, got up a few times during night, and might be backsliding time-wise. I think a lot. GOT to empty my shelves at home by throwing out books FASTER. Even think of tearing out title pages of hard bound books (as covers from paperbacks) to keep bits of MOST books. Think of two MORE trips to take: China/Tibet and Angel Falls, and about weakening walking and increasing arthritis---maybe extending to big-toe joints now. Maybe get BIGGER notebook for easier note TRANSCRIPTION. Get flashlight batteries! Get more pesetas in large town with bank card. Leave note for Ken and start breakfast! DO that at 9:25AM. Finish breakfast at 9:50 and (now figure this will be THIRTEEN pages, not bad, but get it done FAST!) go to WAKE Ken. He IS awake, coughing mightily, asking, "Jeet jet?" I say I'm going to Thyssen, which has a LARGER line this 10AM. Perfectly clear, mildly cloudy, good-temperatured morning, as last night was HOT in PM, but OK otherwise. In at 10:05, no bag-check. At 11:20 I sit and think: poor Baron: he got such a POOR Bierstadt and Gauguin and Klee and Monet just to HAVE one! Did THEY sit in a room (like Room 29, American visionary landscapes) and soak it all in, like I did? Why are my summary thoughts gloomy: WHY collect art, WHO sees ANYTHING in art, WHY did artists DO these things; rather than cheerful thoughts: what a VARIETY of GREAT artists, how CHOICE each individual type, what a GRAND perspective of human art, preview to cave-art viewing. I should do more meditations, go easier on my body, enjoy EACH MOMENT more, not JUST go to painting after painting, museum after museum, country after country! Awful echo-y HALLS! Dreadful mark-sensitive PINK walls! 12:30PM: in year 1450 skies turn BLUE with CLOUDS in paintings, changing from only gold backgrounds before. How did Giotto do them? Done, tired, at 1:20. Back to Lawrence good-looker (David Lyon) and US painters: Bierstadt, Kensett, Church, and Cole. To Grosz exhibit at 1:35, but it's 300p more, and I don't DO it. To shop and find NOTHING. Out at 1:50, to Paseo del Prado and flowers and netting over buildings being cleaned or remodeled. Withdraw 5000p. NO rate told. Wait for 2:30 Archeological Museum FREE opening. #9 Hermes on stairs. #10 goddess from Ibiza. #11 Dama de Elche 600BC. #12 Ex votos from Jaen Sanctuario de Despenaperros. #13 2nd Century Hercules. #14 Majorca athlete in bronze. #15 Mammoth kill. Mastodons at Ambrona diorama and I see someone with a guide who GIVES it to me! #16-19 Altamira reproduction! Open 3:15-3:30 only! Tomorrow ONLY at 2PM, what luck I stumbled on it! 4PM Fortaleza de Chipade on Gomera had "cabanas de caracter temporal" related to pastoral population of islands. #20 Mudejar ceiling. #21 Crown from Guarrezar treasure from 621-672, found in 1859. Lower cross has sapphires? #22 1069 "marfil" and azabache eyes. Marfil has to be ivory, since "marmol" is marble. Label: "M CC XLIII....in 1206." #23 Great room 33. #24 Gothic triptych, start of 1400s, "probablemente ejecutado en diente de hipopotamo." Leave 5:15---taking my morning pills! 5:20 see sign for DURER exhibit: #25 Durer giant. #26 Men in a bath. #27 Adam and Eve. #28 Maestro LB: Erect! Lots of photos. Leave 5:50, TIRED. #29 Bank of Spain on Cibela Fountain and MOON. To military photo/diorama/painting show 6-6:10, NO picture of fucking horses. Ken in lobby, up to shower to 6:50PM. Down to meet TWELVE passengers, and Nancy B. announces she made FIVE reservations at BOTIN, where KEN wanted to go, so Charlie and Lisa M. go, too, and we walk, I lead us down WRONG exit from Plaza Mayor, and woman TAKES us to place for good egg-garlic soup, suckling pig and awful Briohene (poorly-made beignets). Chatter and laugh and joke and trade stories and I get pissed at Ken for talking so loud, BUT he knows he does it and I should just say "Quiet." At 11:30 he reminds me we should PACK! UGH! FINISH packing at 12:15 and have a VERY hard, the HARDEST shit ever, to 12:42AM.
SUNDAY, 6/15/97: Wake many times, pee about 7AM, his alarm goes at 8:15. I dress, he coughs. Down at 8:45 for breakfast, a few prunes added, and Nancy joins us as I leave, and I'm back up to brush my teeth to 10:05. 15.5 kg shoulder bag. 10:15-10:35 taxi to airport: 1:20 (not 11:20) boarding only because of board-light being out. Join group at Gate D52 EVEN though counter woman says, "No area set." Day is lovely but airport is warm. Twelve of group STAND and chat! Area IS D52, but at our pass's "time limit" of 11:45, we're still standing waiting. Board to seat at window 7A at 11:48, reading in Santillana. Off at 12:20 for 35-minute flight. #30 Large town 22 minutes into flight. #31 Town 25 minutes into flight. Land 12:55. Onto bus 1:30, chat with newbies. Last pee-call at 1:40: bus has JOHN but no roadside facilities to EMPTY it! Off at 1:45. 3:20 arrive in Santillana, having eaten Basque cheese, ham and bread, strawberries, plums, water, and LOVELY Basque macaroons. Walk from bus-park to Parador and have orange juice in patio at 3:40. To room 219 (corner) at 4PM: birds all over. GREAT zoo for 1225p to 6:50, and they're FILMING in town. Tired after tamarins, swans, leopards, birds, walking sticks, grasshoppers, and surprising varieties in zoo. Shame Ken by going down at 7:30 as scheduled, but Laurence is just setting up a circle of chairs on the lawn. They talk of sangria and aperitifs and drinks. Back to retrieve nametag and find group is in party room, THEN they go out to chairs, moving some out of the sun, and Laurence talks, introduces Doctors who worked in China and Africa and are trying to teach primates stone-knapping to teach to their offspring! Then we 25 introduce ourselves: I want to talk to Pat about "Whole Life" movement and Oberhauser (?), and to Steven van Pooky (large-rabbit name for small-animal doctor!) about Africa, and SOMETHING about the sisters. Y. comes to me and says he WORKED with Mildred someplace six years ago and fell out of touch when she moved to New Orleans. Woman praises my liking Pommes Sarladaise. In to dinner with Lula May and her partner Janet, dour and cheerful, and get THIRD bottle of wine from NEXT table. Eat 8:40-10 and not very good: ham hard and melon untasty, haddock OK and potatoes plain, creme caramel and whipped cream adequate. Ken and I out to walk "magic town" until 11, meeting two GREAT horses, and barking dogs, a DEAF cheese woman, and filming in square. Cool and wonderful evening, no view down onto town. Back at 11 to get video and record minutes 17-32 of German music being played for a two-hour MTV tape with "important" singer and cute Canadian with "a hair factory" on chest per Ken, and redo and redo and lights and dance and guitar. Back to room at 12 and argue about light from window.
MONDAY, 6/16/97: Wake to pee, wake to light at 7:20. SHUT doors at 8 and up at 8:20 to record two dreams: 1) set of THREE young, sexy lovers I turn on by loving to touch and stroke their bodies and cocks, always hard, groans of pleasure "You always do that (make me hard)!" LOVE lying next to them clutching cocks! One small-cock cums too quickly and I get mouthful of cum that I spit on rug and get sponge to wipe up, fearing AIDS. 2) Trio of "superstars" drinking at bar (Germans from crew, one with short, white-blond hair), I take SIP of their drink and they spill rest on table, looking at me in disdain, and I fear "If I get AIDS from this, will I REMEMBER it and how long will it take to AFFECT me." Lots of rain on wooden floor when I close window-door. Lie thinking of INCREDIBLE day: bus trip with food after flight with window views, cute bus driver, interesting group intros, orange juice start, fantastic zoo, "magic street," film crew, dreams, need to write, and now at 8:45 need to dress and out to breakfast and meet more to characterize on trip-list! Two tables FULL, so I eat alone till Mr. P. and Nancy and Ken join me. QUART of hot chocolate! End 9:45 and up to unpack. Watch cat leap from balcony to porch. Down at 10:30 to find them GONE! Search for them. (Laurence SHOULD have waited for me!) Slides GOOD 10:30-12, up to find transformer BURNT. Recharge to 12:15 with Ken's plug and down to meet for bus, leaving at 12:25 to Quinta (?) de la Barquero, to lunch of paella and fruit to 3:05. #35 Capricio de Gaudi. 4PM Palacio de Sobrellano. #36 and #1 in Comillas. 4:30 to witchcraft exhibit---poor. 5PM to Diocesan Museum: 5:15: #4 Second floor. To 5:30. To Parador and suit to 5:45, and the bathroom light's been fixed. To Cloister at end of town, record of monks singing; I'm TIRED. Back to hotel, leave key off, buy 4 AA batteries for 595p (and they burnt out when I inadvertently turned them ON when packing flashlight) for the inept Abercrombie and Kent flashlight, just to GET them, and Ken meets me FOR keys. To annex for 6:45 at 6:40, people sitting and chatting. I nod during presentation to 8PM. They ATE reindeer and PAINTED bison, then auroch, and red deer in SOUTH. Up to room, Ken's stomach bad, and down at 8:25 to Laurence saying to Ken she'd LIKE to hear matchings of 5 tourists each day for Altamira, and I ask M.s and Pat if they'd like to join us and the three SIT with Laurence and we TELL her and I eat with Janet and Lula, and Ken leaves during soup, good, and lamb is VERY tender and tasty, and potatoes great, and flaming Baked Alaska dessert and same two bottles of wine. Drunk out at 10 to wander streets alone, visit an unfriendly small black horse, and back at 10:45 to sit with Steve and Joe and two Doctors to chat to 11, then up to find Ken with fever, and bed at 11:25.
TUESDAY, 6/17/97: Wake at 7AM to pee with memory of dream: I have to collate new names with old directories; a start of transcription of old directory has been made on three sheets of 8½x11 cut and stapled into two sheets of 8½x16, but new interpolations may change even that, and I must consider how to sort additions of names and businesses so they can be merged in sequence. Wake to cool 7:25AM and dress in jeans and a Galapagos tee under weary blue long-sleeves. Still too cool for short-sleeves and get out scarf for cave chance. Bell rings at 7:45AM. Breakfast 8-8:40, to slides (video) to 9:15, to bus to caves by 9:25, and get told we're with Henny, in FIRST group with OLDEST guide. In at 9:35 and out 10:15! He says, "You're specialists, not tourists," and takes us through REST of cave with double animals and GREAT carbon (charcoal) bison at end #9! THEN to main room, MUCH more colorful and detailed than Madrid copy, INTENSE ochre color MOIST, and guide shows incised lines from sidelights and masses of color in DIRECT light and also effect of FLICKERING light. ASTOUNDED on way out to see that it's 10:15! Four groups at 40 minutes would be over 2½ hours---9:30-12 SOLID. LOTS of animals "destroyed by crowds and heat and breath---HALF the ceiling gone!" Also a tourist hand-wipe across one bison, and paint flecks fallen off. He thinks a duplicate will be built nearby and NO tourists, only scholars, will be allowed in cave. He retires soon after 43 years and is MUCH too dramatic, but the SILENCE and dark when he turns light off is ENORMOUSLY impressive. Hearth at entrance, lights are already humid, not THAT cold. Hot with energy. 25-minute video going as I finish this at 10:30AM. Video 10:40-11:15 and I tape MUCH of it. NO slides in shop---get in TOWN. Nick gives tour of museum 11:25-12:30. Next cave 3 to 4:55! 5PM to Las Monedas. She opens door and LEAVES at 5:15. In at 5:20 to 5:50. More slides, these 500p. Wait for second group, then use john at bar in village to 6:45. Monedas has GREAT falls, columns, pits, ceiling holes, good lighting, small animals. Los Castellos more animals but she was chewed out for leaving us in too long. Back at 7:40PM. Out at 8:15 to Les Blasons, GOOD asparagus and cheese, filet with walnut sauce, and flaming Basque cheesecake. Out at 10, bed 11:10. Looking forward to LONG sleep.
WEDNESDAY, 6/18/97: Wake to pee about 7, then at 8:20, feeling SO rested. Down to breakfast 8:45-9:15, up to PACK by 10AM. Find form (which is never asked for) in Spain book. Bag out by 9:40, brush teeth during TV scan by 10:10. Chat about touring and intolerances, out at 10:40 to bus, talk about breakups of Demi and Bruce, and Brad and Gwyneth, and off at 11:03. Mr. O. is a REAL camera bug: $6/big plate and $3.50 for his 4x6 photos. Last tour out of Altamira at 11:45! 1PM stop at Castro Urdiales for GREAT lunch in Casa Marinero. #18 Castro Urdiales and MANY pictures, leaving 2:45 and get to French border 4:40PM. Nice ride: awful apartment buildings in lovely valleys. #26 6:05PM Biarritz. Get to hotel 5:15. 6:45 walk, bank BALANCE doesn't come up in street machine. To room 7:10. Ken bathes, I unpack and shower and dress in wrinkled suit. Stephen does NOT wear jacket and is seated. NOT best meal: salmon, St. Pierre inferior to lunch hake, OK dessert pear in caramel sauce. Try to get out to beach, but must go through southwest gate. Lights from hotel on rocks. Two figures behind us turn into girl angry with guy: no danger. MOST spectacular apartments and closed mansions on key sites. MOTORIZED shutter-lowerers darken rooms SAVE for Ken's light from bathroom. Bed 12:15AM.
THURSDAY, 6/19/97: Wake at 7 to pee, sexy dreams making me wish I were alone to jerk off. Down at 8:30 to hot chocolate and good rolls in Empress Eugenie dining room---spectacular clouds at sunset last night. Dreams vivid on waking, lost now. All asking where we want to have lunch. Outside on terrace to write to 9:35. Then look at bay before 9:55 gathering for slides. "Zinj" is now known as Australopithecus boesei, LARGE-jawed chewers. Question: Geologic shifts versus magnetic-pole shifts? Answer: magnetic-pole shifts take place over TIME, so not possible to predict results or effects. 4PM bus to Basque tour. Look at Chez Albert Seafood at old harbor. Change $100 PAST Rock of Virgin. St. Jean de Luz: Kaiku restaurant. Good slides and questions from 10-noon. Walk. Lunch in Le Bartocq on crepe complete (ham, egg, cheese, mushrooms) and crepe chocolate and ¼ wine for 65F 1:15-2:25. Walk through Arcangues 4:35-5:15. #30-32 Cemetery (Hil Herro) and view from St. Jean de Luz 5:55 (after St. Pee!) #33 Church of St. Jean de Luz. #34 St. Jean de Luz 6:45. Take Kouros-ad male model almost nude, meet Ken paying $30 for two towels. To Kaiku at 7:30 to study menu to 7:45. Terrine de canard not so great, lamb au lait roti OK, tart au chocolate warm, wine OK for 235F. Drive back 10:15-10:45, pay 228F bill with card. Stare at maps to 11:15 and Ken goes to bed and MY light doesn't work so I must go to BED.
FRIDAY, 6/20/97: Wake at 4:30 and sleep fitfully after. Up at 7:50 and pack and bag out at 8:20 and breakfast to 8:50 and we take two seats and some of the passengers seem to fuss. Lots of maps. Sitting in FRONT of Ken, even with earplugs, is NOT a good idea. Parachutists with ENGINES stay up forever. Stop at Aire des Pyrenees 10:48-11:10. #5 Climbing wall! #6 Tour de France sculpture by Metais. Buy Michelin map 85, borrowing 12F from Janet. Off A64 at km 175 to St. Laurent at 11:45AM. Stop at noon at Hotellerie des Grottes de Gargas for Celia's "paid" aperitif: kir royale. Lunch 12:30-1:30: good soup and meat, then lots of salad and cheese and fruit. Walk uphill with Cathy who doesn't know how LONG a magnetic polarity shift took. Buy 17F folder of cards and go in at 2PM-3:30 for 60-75-minute tour. Lots of hands with lost digits, engraved outlines of aurochs and horses and bison, and five PLATES of multi-engraved areas he SAYS would take four people two hours to crawl back to see. Big deal in French and Spanish about tips and he thanks me VERY much for 5F tip. Very WIDE cave, lots of ceiling rooms, large columns, many of which are broken. Odd thick TERRACES on floor, some filled with water. Leave 3:43. St. Bertrand de Commingues 4-4:45. Eychenne is NOT on top of the hill; arrive 7PM. John Clottes: 1) Altamira 1857, 2) Lascaux (from 17,000 B.P.) in 1941, 3) Chauvet in 1995, NOT called fake, as Cosquier WAS. Chauvet important: 1) number of animals (285) as of NOW (ground soft), WILL be 300-400 paintings and engravings; Niaux has 110. 2) ORIGINAL animals: 60% NOT hunted, wooly rhinos, cave bears, mammoths; because of EARLY religion they were not hunted. 3) QUALITY of techniques: stamped drawing to shade for giving relief, spatial perspectives of animals; 4) COMPLETELY protected---traces of animals and humans, 12 flints, charcoal from pine torches; 5) date: 30,200-32,000 B.P. EARLIEST for ANY art. Hands used TO PUSH THROUGH WALLS and reach spirit world. "Animals INSIDE WALLS." Lions: maneless males, females, and cubs. Aurugnacian sculpture from 29-35,000 B.P. MANY rhinos, bears, mammoths, and man and lion head. Chauvet IS published in Abrams' Dawn of Art. Cosquier book in ENGLISH: Cave Beneath the Sea. Dine 8:45-10:15 on smoked salmon salad and tough veal in creme sauce and good wine for 120F. More Clottes-talk with group to 11:30PM, up to clean teeth and bed at 12.
SATURDAY, 6/21/97: Wake at 4:30 and sporadically after. Breakfast 8:10-8:40 and back to bus that leaves 8:55 for day. 9:20 to Cave of Pujols: Grotte du Tuc D'Audobert, and Vulp, found cave one kilometer long in 1912, 10 October, 12:15PM. In 1914 they found Trois-Freres! Third is Enlene. 975 people in cave since 1912, as many as in Pech-Merle in one day. Slides 9:45-10:40. Featured in National Geographic of 11/85. (The only 1985 that I DON'T have!) In museum to 12:20, GREAT lunch to 1:55. Park Prehistorique from 3:05-4:10, then Niaux 4:40-6:30, told this is a double-length tour, and ride back to 7:40, eyes closed in fatigue and I lie to 8:05 debating NOT going to dinner. Up and dress and down to sit not talking during cocktails and eat in odd French conversation with Ken and Countess Begouine, and GOOD quenelles and poor chicken (Laurence: "all in cream") and frozen raspberry ice-cream-cake dessert and up at 10PM to work puzzle to 10:50 and bed too tired to sleep.
SUNDAY, 6/22/97: Wake 2:15AM and jerk off well 2:22-2:35 and write this to 2:40 and pee and bed. Wake at 4:30 and 5:20 and get up at 6 and pack to 6:40, when Ken knocks (DAMN!) and says his filling from day before yesterday fell out AGAIN. Breakfast 7:10-7:30. Back to brush teeth and look at boring TV: cartoons or Italian Nature on vultures. Heavy shoulder bag full at 7:50. Niaux is HUGE inside, LONG walk back through a SERIES of rooms (except my write-up implies we missed being SHOWN most of the animals) to the "Salon Noir," where he lingers while my knees DIE from stooping. GREAT high narrow road to entrance. Lots of OTHER caves around, too. Missed fire demonstration at Pyrenees Museum, which had TOO many drums and too few commentaries. Lula May lost at 8:03AM. Stop near Toulouse 9:35-9:55. I.s were on Antarctic Peninsula (on the Explorer) in February! #20 Pont Valentre and lavender. 11:07-11:15 stop in Cahors. Eight or nine late people! #21 Les Falaises rainy at lunch from 12-1:15: salad, veal, cheese and fruit. Pech-Merle from 1:40 to 3:10! Fantastic!! Record film 3:35-3:55! Colorful bus ride around industrial Sarlat to 6PM and welcome orange juice on the terrace, with terrine and shrimp and nuts. At 6:15 put on jacket and wait in TV room for keys. Get double room AGAIN, but Ken's TUB bathroom has no TOILET! Down at 7:20 for kir and talk and dine 8:15-10 on vichyssoise, salmon, cheese, and creme caramel. Work puzzle to 11 and to bed at 11:05PM, HOPING to sleep to 8!
MONDAY, 6/23/97: Wake at 3:50 to pee, again at 6:10. Wake at 7:30, feeling rested in LOVELY dark, cozy room and comfortable bed, GREAT for central four nights of trip. Up to shit at 8:15, Ken still snoring, and do puzzles. Lecture produces questions I jot down but can't read now: 1) Lamer OVER summer? 2) Fractous walls? 3) Lines above "tentative" cow? 4) HIND leg of LEAPING cow? 12:15 to bus. Lunch 1-2:35, melon and walnut ice cream and liquor, veal and mushroom souffle, warm apple tart and caramel, chocolated walnuts, meringue and almond cake and Lys de Buzet wine ("Red served cold"). Laurence encourages Ken and me to write to Michelin to GIVE a star to Meynardie and take the star AWAY from Eychenne! Bus leaves at 3:05. Montignac 3:30-5:30: walk, talk, rain in cemetery. Abri de Cap Blanc from 6-7:05PM. Back to Sarlat by 7:35, dinner 8:15-10:10: menu saved, POOR "boiled" pommes and tough confit and too-big napoleon and dessert champagne served courtesy David and Nell. Up to finish my last puzzle, and read paper, and go to bed at 11:25PM, AGAIN closing shutters AS ones below are closed!
TUESDAY, 6/24/97: Wake at 4:40 from dream with cramp in left calf. Up at 7:15 and get up and shower and breakfast and get out sweater and beret for coldest Rouffignac. Out to bus at 8:30, Ken with paper and Celia LEAVING today. Through Les Ezyies to Rouffignac by 9:13AM. Ride train 9:25-10:35, buy 30F book and 25F cards. Leave 10:45AM. To foie gras factory 10:55, Lula May: "Are those Jernseys or Guerseys?" Fleur de Sauvignon wine and two types of foie samples and people buy lots to 11:30. To the site of the dig at 12:05. Both Bergerac flints, the darker is FINER. Out 1:30, CUTE guys, GREAT knapping, three souvenirs. Lunch in Castal-Mere till 3: Maigret of duck, salad, GREAT bread soup, coupe of fraise and raspberries. Museum Castanet. SWEET old man, his daughter-in-law owns restaurant. #0 and 1 from terrace of restaurant. 5:05 Abri of "English Fort" along Vezere after Reverdit. On "Center for Ice Age Studies" WEBsite. I owe Nell 10F for cassis sorbet in St.Leon-sur-Vezere and dentist 5F for card. Leave St. Leon at 6:30. Back at 7:15, dinner 7:45. Finish and rewind 2:02-hour tape #26. Put in #27. Dinner 7:50-9:40, then to night-walk in Sarlat. Start 10PM and end 11:10, many impressed by my video camera's working in semidarkness. Tired back at hotel 11:20, bed 11:28!
WEDNESDAY, 6/25/97: Wake at 6:05 to pee, NEW LATE RECORD! Start worrying about return flight and NYC anxieties. Up at 8:10 and shit and dress. Breakfast 8:30-9. Up to brush teeth, to bus 9:20. Card for I.s' 47th anniversary going by. Nick said he'd write a certificate for me for the hand-axe I won in the lottery last night. Celia STILL here. Bus due back at 12:15. Off at 9:35, take walking tour backward, change $150 for 811F when NO machine works, walk market, take pills, buy 15 4.4F stamps in La Poste, and eat Ken's frais du bois from 12:10-12:30 when bus comes at last. To Domme by 12:50. GREAT lunch: foie terrine, river-fish mousse, chocolate-walnut cake. Leave 2:50 for Cougnac. There 3:30. Into Cougnac 3:40PM to 4:35: INCREDIBLE soda-straw ceilings. 20F for 6 slides. Back to bus 4:45. To Rocque-Gageac at 5:20 for BOAT to 6:15. GREAT videos and pictures, and cute guys rowing canoes. To hotel 6:45, Cathy's talk at 7:15 to 8, on cave FORMATION. Dinner 8:15-10, LOVELY crayfish bisque, dark and briny, then SWEETBREADS compliments of the chef, with lacy potato chips and tomato stuffed with vegetables, then a cheese in phyllo dough, and fruit in Monbazillac. I had some of Sherri's lovely beef and shared Laura's fruit dessert. Dinner over at 10, and I catch up with this and feel like BED! Preliminary packing and map-looking and "10 carnet" looking-for, and bed at 11PM!
THURSDAY, 6/26/97: 5:40 up to pee. Up at 7:55 after an unsuccessful attempt at meditating. Shit and shower to 8:20. Pack by 8:45 and breakfast to 9:15. Brush teeth, down 9:35 to get front left seat ONLY time so far. Find someone's paté in upper storage! Found Nancy's WATCH on the floor of the first dining room. 9:45-10:10 to Font de Gaume, in bookshop and to cave entrance at 10:35. Out 11:55, VERY fast, no idea of such a long time! To bus 12:15 after spending 201F for two books for 88F and 89F and slides for 24F for 6, and THEN find I could have used VISA. Wait for others till 12:30, reading books. Lunch at Centenaire to 2:55: truffle mousse VERY good, veal and sweetbreads and seafood-stuffed mushroom and potato, then cheese (fourme d'Ambert, St. Nectaire, and goat and pepper) and strawberry tart. Monbazillac for 280F and red for 180F---total 415+20F tip, not QUITE as good as L'Esplanade. ODD snooty/funny service. Laurence eats with hostess. Start toward Museum at 3PM, up at 3:20, out TIRED at 4:35, to Cro-Magnon Hotel and ROCK WALL at 4:55. Exhausted! 5:30 the bus arrives, drops Laurence off, and leaves. Nick and Cathy lead with MORE wine out to Abri for "first annual toast" to Paleolithic Man: "Without whom we would not be here." Video and pictures. Change film. 6PM in bus. Ready for bed. To Chateau 6:50. Dinner at 8. HILARIOUS climax at dinner of smoked duck, smoked salmon on pancake, salmon and sandre, and triple chocolate bavarois with Fleunie white wine, AND I tell Janet I'm gay. End at 10:50 with short walk outside and finish sorting papers and bed 11:35, ready for bus tomorrow.
FRIDAY, 6/27/97: Wake at 7 to pee, up at 8:15 to coolth and dress warmly for breakfast to 9. Raining and cool and to bus at 9:30. To Les-Eyzies at 10:15, buy Herald-Tribune for 10F, to L'Abri Pataud 10:20, good stratigraphy, to Musee 11:05AM and out 11:35 to bus by 11:45, envying dog-walkers their leisure! QUITE chilly, maybe 58°, current ice-table (?), back to hotel reading Tribune to 12:30, up to room and give paper to grateful P.s, lunch 1-2:15 with VERY fishy appetizer, goat cheese on potato pancake, awful beer and ONE glass of wine before fruit dessert. Leave word for 3:40 wakeup, shit, and doze to 3:20 bus to Le Thot. Stop at Lascaux for penultimate five at 3:40 and to Le Thot at 4 for video, "aurochs," red deer, bison, "mammoth" and "woolly rhino" with animated mannequins. Leave 5PM. Pick up people in Lascaux 5:30, in Montignac at 5:40 and get to hotel at 5:50. I manage to fix end of umbrella: just push DOWN along catch and it springs back up. To bus at 6:45 but Eric and Laurence don't show up till 7. In to St. Amand de Coly at 7:30, tour church till 8:30, in to dinner room and talk with wife of guy who wrote article about Laurence's tours! CUTE husband gets most of my tape, whose battery looks COMPLETELY dead. Leave 12:35 and back 1AM to get bus schedule for 9:30AM tomorrow. Drunk and sated with oak-braised lamb and beans and bread and wine, wine, wine and cheese and dancing. Finish this at 1:15AM!
SATURDAY, 6/28/97: Wake at 7 to shit. INVOLVED dreams: Charles friendly with Phyllis H.; a three-year-old who needs to shit into her diaper to release herself; and a large travel-guide slide cascade. Alarm goes at 8:10 and I'm up at 8:20. Shit SOFT and shower, pack shoulder bag and down for day at 9M. To bus at 9:30. Laurence in at 9:53! To Sarlat parking (busy) by 10:30. 2PM to bus. Wander market, GREAT Rossignol lunch for 270F 12:25-1:40, with walnut aperitif, foie gras in good salad, VERY good duck confit, and Pear Belle Helene! Bus 2PM, walnut-pressing to 3:10PM. To bus 3:20 and to Lascaux for quick pee at 4PM. Laurence chats with guide about future filmmaking. He talks 4-4:30, and in to cave at 4:42 and out at 5:17, 35 minutes exactly. Guide was Burian, or something like that. VERY fast: through "rotunda": twice, and to TWO ends. Only 15 meters high throughout. GREAT bulls, cows, Chinese horses, ONE bear, MANY signs: squares, Y-like bowl. Bus arrives EMPTY at 5:33 to "take us to chateau." 6:30 hotel pictures, 7:30 talk; tomorrow: 8:15AM bags out and 9AM bus leaves. I start "talk" of final evaluations by passing, then said, "I couldn't categorize, some are idealized, but moved by SPECIFICS of Cougnac, Pech-Merle, and Lascaux." To 8:30, dinner of good rabbit tart, confit of duck and potatoes with cheese to 10:10. Brush teeth to 11:10, then pack to 11:25, catching up with Ken, who's set alarm to 7:50 and is almost packed. I'm stuffed and tired and write this and shut light off at 11:53.
SUNDAY, 6/29/97: 7:30 shit. Two dreams: 1) Susan goes into water, climbs seaweed ladder, does smiling underwater dance. 2) older man has erection in crowd, goes down, I watch. On ice he and woman can love in sensual diner and she lies under seat and takes his dribbles of semen as he cums with legs splayed and he rotates for all to see his thick-veined cock. Slight hangover. Thumb-arthritis getting worse. Up at 7:55 and get bag out at 8:07. Small mostly fruit breakfast and, after, pay Charlie 150F reluctantly for Eric's "voluntary" tip. Then give Joe two 50s for a 100. Everyone drooling over David's page for Laurence, shamelessly flogged by Nell---glad trip is one day from climax. Up to get camera for last chateau shot at 8:45AM, still cool and cloudy. Bus off at 9:05, signing David's cards for Eric and Laurence. LOTS of mushrooms, slugs, and snails, and we drive IN rain on hills and look DOWN to sun shining in VALLEY! Up to Beynac at 9:55. #19 Beynac. Chateau Filolie was yesterday's shot, which they visited when we were in Lascaux. #24 Marquisat. Back to bus at 11:30, after GREAT shots through 12th-Century rooms reconstructed with armor and paintings. Noel pushes WC door that I PULLED and thought was locked. It starts RAINING. Bergerac at 12:45-2:30 at Restaurant St. Jacques, 99F menu of poor shrimp cocktail, fabulous entrecote avec sauce Roquefort, and OK chocolate cake in cream. House ½ pichet for 28F, leave 150F including tip. STILL magnolias on trees! Leave 2:35, lots of rain, huge rivers, into Bordeaux at 4PM, crowded, to hotel 4:15, to room 307 4:25. Unpack to 5:15, puzzle to 6:25. Ken dashed downstairs THREE times to check wine tours. I feel VERY lethargic! But DON'T feel like paying $60 for a half-day wine tour! Sit around moaning the M.s' TONIGHT departure instead of tomorrow, but it's later amended so they can come along to the final dinner. Leave at 7PM on bus and walk last blocks to Claret's. Laurence says Androuet in Paris serves ten cheeses per course for ten courses, for a HUNDRED cheeses! 95 Merlot is a GOOD year. SIX cheese types: 1) chevre, 2) paté frais includes soft cheeses, 3) paté frais with crust like brie and others, 4) paté soaked in salt with red crust like liverot and pont l'evéque. 5) paté pressé like gouda, swiss/gruyere (those two are drunk with red Medoc), and beaufort/savoie. 6) paté bleu/green: fourme d'ambert, roquefort. COOKED milk makes ALL cheeses alike, so best are with raw unpasteurized milk. Cantal is from ewe milk (sharp), where Roquefort is more salty. Auvergne cow milk makes forme d'ambert, with more fat. Roquefort is pierced with BREAD so it can form mold in a windy cave---Botyrtis roquefortis---and eaten with Loupiac, 1990 Clos John is best, 60% semillon. Finish tasting at 9:15. VERY wet while walking to hotel at 9:50, everyone but ME saying goodbyes. Puzzle-do while Ken fusses about wine tour. Bed 11:20.
MONDAY, 6/30/97: 5:25 wake from dream of male dancers auditioning for play, including a small Peter R. and pudgy Ken L. "Pick" does not do well, so director asks ANYONE to say lines and audition for part in play AND movie. Up at 8, shit, shower. Breakfast 8:30-9:15, more wine-trip fuss, leave 9:45 for 11AM Beaux Arts Museum opening. #35 Magnasco: Arrival of Galerians in Prison of Genes. #36 Guerin: Aeneas telling Dido about Troy (for BOY). #1 Henri Martin: Chacun Sa Chimere (1900). #2 Isabey: Burning of Steamer Hustler (1859). #3 #2 and Gudin: Bordeaux Capt. Desse saves Holland Ship Columbus. #4 Brascassat: Chase of Meleager (detail) (1875) To 11:30. Galerie de Beaux Arts for Bonheur (30F) till 12. GOOD stuff. Tiring. #6 (at 500) & #7 (at 250) Fountains of Girondins. On waiting list and GET bus tour: 3PM: Segonzac: 32 hectares wine, Swiss owners. Chateau is 110 years old. All reds: 60% merlot, 20% cabernet, to 4:05PM. Tasting rosé, 1994 barrel, 1995 vat: worst, not that great taste---35-47F/bottle. Not much bought. Good two cheeses and mediocre terrine. By corniche road past POINT that divides estaury into Garonne and Dordogne Rivers, to Tayac at 4:40, but not right PLACE. 5PM to Castel La Rose, only reds and little rosé, only machines: 1) 27F 1996 red, pretty poor. 2) 40F 1995 red won silver medal for excellence. NOT my gout! 3) 39F, 1994, red: bronze medal, ALMOST OK. 4) 40F, 1993 red, no big difference. Salami, cheese, potato chips. 5:45 "Leaving in five minutes; if you want to buy wine, do it now." Back at 6:45, walk to hotel by 7:15, meet Y.s at 7:45 for taxi to La Tupina for INCREDIBLE (in quantity, not quality) 300F meal. Leave 11:15, back 11:45 for 89F taxi trip. Pee and write to 12.
TUESDAY, 7/1/97: Bed 12:40AM. Up at 7AM to shit. Up at 9 to shit and shower. Brush teeth and get melatonin directions. Leave 10AM. (12:08PM TGV Bordeaux-Paris, need to get ticket ½ hour before departure: St. Jean station to Montparnasse. Reservation made 10:05-10:15. TGV cheaper than local, which takes three hours longer, reserved window seat 12:08-15:23.) Call Jean-Jacques to say I'll be arriving on 15:23 train tomorrow, but it's only a phone machine. Counting days. Ken INSISTS on having breakfast---astounding! I'm STILL feeling full, having shit TWICE. Packed bag with jacket for restaurant tonight, but no raincoat, though it is now (10:30) cloudy, where it was mostly blue skies at 9AM. To Aquitaine Museum 10:35-12:20, out to eat, buy "Menu USA" for 20F for baguette of ham, egg, lettuce, tomato and 20 cl orange juice. Sit at St. Catherine and watch people pass. Wait for bus, where tickets for those over 60 are 130F! So I only "stole" 50F yesterday. AND guide today is Dominique. Leave 1:43. Bus NOT full. #12 Porte Caillhu. 2:40 arrive at Gamoge, 3:30 STILL not tasting: ENDLESS talk! By 4PM one white 95/96 still in vats, and one red 94 (poor and acidic) and NO goodies. Bus still half-empty, but leaves by 4:10. 4:30 #15 Chateau de Mouchac. 4:45 #16 Norman Tower on church. #17 Chateau de Mouchac from side: storeroom on right. More pictures, all talk, owner asks Ken to ask me name of "Begouine," and I get a label from him. Australians loll on lawn at 5:15, we may never leave. I figure to jerk off after Ken leaves at 7AM tomorrow. Leave 5:24 and back to St. Jean Station again and off near church 6:10. Climb tower for 25F 6:12-6:32, then to videotaping of organ recital in Cathedral Sainte-Andre till 7:30. Christ on Cross by Jordaens! To Chapon Fin for 1140F dinner for 2: gazpacho de homard, bar under veggies, DIVINE wild mushroom ravioli with veal stock sauce, red wine granita, and pigeon and foie gras with celery bits and salad, with 4 wines: Sancerre, Marques de Riscal white, Spanish red, and Medoc 1993, with 10-year-old port: 400F prix fixe and 120F winetasting and 100F tip. Then home in rain from 11:10-11:20 and pay hotel bill and I end up owing (and paying) Ken $15, and we're completely square. He packs and I charge my battery and write this and feel full but not TOO full at 11:45. Put stuff away and try to shit but only fart. Bed while Ken still writes at 12:17AM.
WEDNESDAY, 7/2/97: Wake at 3:50 to shit, but can't. Up at 6:50 and shit a bit. Ken gets up, finishes packing, corrects melatonin-taking time, and leaves at 8:20AM. Cum VERY weakly 8:30-9, my shoelace not kept tight enough around base of cock and balls. Read paper and shower to 9:55, start packing and get downstairs 10:25 after phone rings: to see if I'm awake? Get change for 200 note and cab, wait 10:30-10:35 and problem with lights. 80F + 15F tip BUT I had THREE 20-centime pieces and now have ONE, so I THINK I gave him 75.40!! Poor guy---hope he doesn't follow me into station! Gare St. Jean clock says 10:42, so I was five minutes off. Get ticket for 281F with Visa and write this to 20:53, train boards about 11:53, so I have ONE HOUR. Get 23F tuna, egg, crudité "Breton" sandwich and 11F 4% alcohol cider for breakfast and pills to 11:20. Do all crazies in France VOCALIZE? American mom with three well-behaved kids. Paper salesmen. Quiet, tired without reason. Write 14 cards for 11:45. To car 17 and it's WAY at far end. Damn! Bag is heavy! To seat at 11:52. Off at 12:08, stops in Libourne, Angouleme, and Poitiers, where I have to change seats at 2PM. Chatelleraut, Tours, and Paris at 3:45. Taxi to JJ's at 4:15 for 55F, talk, unpack, set my schedule, out at 8 to Chaumiere, not as great food or wine as last year. At 10:15 for GREAT ride through nite-Paris to 11:15. Bed 11:35PM.
THURSDAY, 7/3/97: Wake 6:15. To pee, up 8:45 for breakfast, out 9:55 for 19F shirt laundry by 6PM tomorrow. To Gobelins Metro for 45F carnet of ten subway tickets and to Louvre 10:30, 45F for day. 10:37AM: #24 Cour Marly. #25 Grand Salon Napoleon III. #26 Sevres plaque. #27 Jeannest: Napoleon I. #28 Thiers Collection: Hercules. #29: 11:10 end: staircase to four pictures above. 11:30 #30: Four captives by Pierre Francqueville. 11:50 DOZENS of Teniers la Jeune! French sculpture and Northern painters to 12:30. #32 Part of Rubens/Medici series. #33 Rubens: Hercules and Omphale. #34 Cornelius van Haarlem: Baptism of Christ (!). A ROOM of Holbeins, Cranachs, Durers! #35 Perrier: Orpheus and Pluto. FIVE De La Tours! #36 Drouais: Wounded Roman Soldier. Lunch 1:30-2:15. #0 Wounded Gaul. At 3:15 after "History of Louvre." #2 "Lutteur" 100AD. #3 Again. #4 "Deformed" persons. #5 Sol: 300AD Belgium. #6 Collection DeClerq. #7 Apollo 100AD, found in Piombino Sea. #9 Flandrin: Nu Assis. Finish ALL floor 2 by 4:45! #10 Ur: 2000BC. #11 Susa 2300BC. Basement 5PM to 6:20. 5:05 up a flight to Mesopotamia. #12 2300BC Akkad. #13 Rude: Theseus. #14 Rude: Mercury attaching wings. #15 French sculpture. #16 Bouchardin: Sleeping faun. #17 Chavert: Oedipus and Phorbas (shepherd). 18 #Bosio: Aristé. #19 Bosio: Hercules and Serpent. #20 Foyatika: Spartacus (1830). #21 Puget: Christ on Cross (1690). #22 Desjardins: Captives. Out 5:50, to metro to JJ's at 6:20, try to get my video on his TV, no good. Dine at La Girondine, good for 364F and slow walk in white night. Back 9:30-10PM. Music. JJ BOUGHT me a plug! Listen to Donna del Lago to 11:20, when I'm too tired to stay up and go to bed.
FRIDAY, 7/4/97: Pee at 6:30, up 8:40 to shower, breakfast, computer to 12:40. (24 Concert Hall, Cité de la Musique. JJ recommends two 1995 films: Moretti: Journal Intime and Kripisch: Chaque-Un Cherche Son Chat.) Drive to 1:45 to La Villette and to Cafe de la Musique for winy-sour bourguignon to 2:40. To Cité de la Musique for sounding clocks, leaky roof, and nonworking metronome piece, raining. To galerie past playgrounds and circus to Cité des Sciences for HUGE library, CDs, magazines, films, leave 5:30 to pick up laundry 6:30 and back to no message from Paul. FIND my written schedule (WED 7/2 La Chaumiere des Gourmets 8PM; THU 7/3 Louvre [Cafe Marly 1:30], 8:30 Le Girondine; FRI 7/4 Lucas Carton 8:30PM; SAT-SUN 7/5-6 Fondacion Cartier and Marne-le-Vallée, JJ busy at night, choose among Les Ambassadeurs, L'Espadon, and Lassere; MON 7/7 Taillevant 8PM; TUE 7/8 NYC) and finish this and puzzle to 7:30, read La Villette stuff. To Lucas Carton at 8, tasting menu only for BOTH, JJ takes courgettes and pastille de lapin (he LOVES it). My foie gras in cabbage---odd and good, not great, and noix de ris de veau, good, not great, and his tart au rhubarb disappoints and my orange zest good. "Too delicate wines" for 1710F, out at 10:30 and drive to Ile St. Louis and have apricot sorbet from Berthillon for 10F, back at 12 and bed 12:15AM.
SATURDAY, 7/5/97: Pee at 6:10 and up at 8:50 for breakfast and JJ makes reservations for me at L'Espadon at noon and Les Ambassadeurs at 8:30 tomorrow. Foggy AM. Leave at 10:50 for Marne-la-Vallée, Cartier Institute not open until noon. (#29 Guermantes Chateau at 2:40.) Drive through busy Paris and to Marne-la-Vallée and ride and ride and stop at round building and at EIAA building and look ALL around and return to La Taverna Bleu at 1:30 for GOOD sauerkraut and wurst and ham and beer to 2:20, then to Chateau de Guermantes with LOUD German fivesome at 2:40, only one guide for 28F tour from 3:15-4:15, wearing Mickey Mouse socks. TIRED back to apartment at 5:30 and nap till 7:10, getting a call that my 10:30 reservation at Guy Savoy can move to 9PM. Play FreeCell and jump at 8:15 to dress and get to door JUST at 9PM. Shown to back room (for tourists) and get TWO amuse bouches: tiny, light chicken dumpling and intense cream of celery soup, soup of shrimp and peas with brandade (fish, potatoes, spices), served with a glass of elegant Vouvrey that isn't refilled; fish cutlet with mashed herbed potatoes and two lovely fried potato disks, with a mediocre Corbieres; a forgotten seafood dish with another forgettable white wine; DYNAMITE artichoke soup with truffles and a half-brioche with truffle butter, with a red wine that I left for the following: pigeon (tough) and spinach; cheeses: Brillat Savarin, which wasn't ripe enough (poor and dry), Saint-Marcellin (wonderful) and Epoisse, made in Burgundy with alcohol, MOST wonderful, AND Roquefort, served with Rivesaltes, which is LIKE port, but "natural" from the south of France; followed by strawberries "served like cappuccino" with thinnest slivers of dried berry, pamplemousse with tea, a LOVELY brick of non-grapefruit yet indeterminate flavor, then a warm chocolate tart, followed by mignardises, followed again by tea sorbet with black pepper and a hot apple tart slice. HUGE meal for 1210, exactly $200 at 5.5F/$, to 12:25, to metro for next-to-last train, to 12:40, bed at 1:10AM, and JJ isn't even home yet.
SUNDAY, 7/6/97: Wake at 7 and 8 to pee, and up at 8:45 to NO breakfast. JJ leaves, I do the day's schedule and onto Metroline #7 at 11:30 after shower. Sit in lobby of the Hotel Ritz for a bit, walk shops, in at 12:10 to LOVELY garden, cod brandade on jelled tomato aspic, GOOD warm foie gras in delicate pastry-cup with HUGE truffle slices, with truffle-dotted aspic, then TOUGH milk-fed veal with caramelized onions and turnips and sauce. Maraul cheese is a HARDER version than Epoisse, maybe not aged enough. Forgot what dessert was! Lots of mignardises. GREAT tall blond with almost lashless azure eyes sits with his pert-nosed "mother" and man old enough to be HER father. He KEEPS looking at me as I KEEP looking at him and FANTASIZING! Leave at 2 to pee and discover PILLS. Back for glass of water and they offer to bring mignardises back! GOD, I hope they pass me in hall and he comes back to talk to me. WHAT a lovely, young face, with small-area, dark beard-hairs and even tiny birthmarks attractive. Lots of model-types back in Gianni Versace (and as I type this, 7/15/97, heard this morning that he was SHOT, at 50, coming back to his Miami Beach home after breakfast!) area. Elliott Gould and his woman pass and house dick tells them they can't wait for anyone this far back! Do I have a tag from lunch? Lots of scruffy people pass. Oh, dessert was carpaccio of peach with pistachio cake and LOVELY coconut-filled ice cream. Maids pass and butlers with trays, and THEY pass, going out, at 2:15PM. They LEAVE building. I take pictures of my main meal with HIM, in background, looking uncomfortable. I now have HALF the restaurant stamps: 5, and two MORE today and tomorrow and three in NYC! Wait till 2:45, "he doesn't come back" and I walk to festival in Tuilleries, mostly watching people, tired by 6PM but still 2½ hours to go (and I'm NOT hungry!). Pay 2½F to pee and at 7PM 20F for La Grande Roue de Paris with video. Walk back to west end, getting cooler and exit to Hotel Crillon about 8PM to go to john to shit the slightest bit, drink some water, wash my face and hands, put on my tie and jacket and go up to Les Ambassadeurs lobby at 8:20 to hear, "Would you like anything, sir?" "No, I..." "Very good, sir." So I don't even have to make excuses! Now 8:25. In to CENTER table for cauliflower soup with caviar and lobster roe, lobster medallions GOOD with mediocre potatoes and GREAT-looking sauce. Bar (sea bass) croustillant (like CORNFLAKES) with almonds, and capers. Unassuming Sancerre ½-bottle for 165F, $30! Ask waiter: is group of 6 in left corner American? French! Loudish group to right ARE Americans and as they get last course I ask to VIDEO it. They agree! Waiters LIFT the cloches! They're returning to L.A. Tuesday, and she and he say they are FROM Brooklyn when they look at my card. They want a copy. Later, women leave. "Escaping without paying?" They fall all over me in glee: almost RIGHT: no pocketbook, don't want Visa charge "to go to hotel." Best meal YET, though almond tart isn't very licorice-tasting, but FRUIT is GREAT and mignardises are good. Leave at 10:10---shortest yet! Women return at 10:17 and burble at me about $14,000 AmEx charge! Leave happy. Ride and video Grande Roue again, long ride and to Grand-Palais #7 line at 11:08. In at 11:40, getting ready for bed as JJ enters at 11:50 and I get to bed at 12:05AM.
MONDAY, 7/7/97: Wake at 4:30 to pee and 7:45 to shit and 8:45 to dress and brush teeth while maid arrives. End this at 9:07, getting ready for tomorrow. Check flight, melatonin, and charge battery by 9:50. Play FreeCell while JJ phones to 10:30 and we leave for "France Miniature," my angst getting us off highway too soon and taking an hour to finally get through exhausting chateaux, villages, cathedrals, ports and airports and ferries and trains and boats and huge fish and lots of use of water. Quick lunch for 50F of quiche Lorraine for 27F and 50cl beer for 22F from 1-1:20, then shit a bit and continue filming till 2, when we drive back via individual houses around Parc Montsouris and I take breakfast pills and first melatonin at 3PM. Pack while JJ goes to doctor "for a checkup." HOT for first time in apartment. Panicked hunt for my HOUSE keys, finally found at bottom of rock-souvenir bag at 3:20. Pare toenails and pull earhairs and trim beard to 3:50. Home in 29 hours after 29-day trip! Pack and shower to 4:45. Phone on machine keeps ringing and BEEPING: Paul? Games till 8PM. To Taillevent 8:35. Foie mousse, great 1970 St. Emillon for 480F, cresson/caviar soup, sweetbreads, farandole of desserts: chocolate slab in pistachio sauce, peaches in vervaine, and red-fruit tart, going with JJ's rabbit tart. Tables of four Japanese and one US, three Japanese speaking English, and nice couple with two little girls (one of whom breaks glass in sleep) and waiter who stamped my Ambassadeurs pass ("You videoed group; WAW!---I'm going to be in New York to stamp your book THERE!") LAST night stamped again tonight! Home at 11:20 and bed at 12:40AM.
TUESDAY, 7/8/97: Wake at 2:40 to pee, 6:30 to shit, and finally at 7:20, lying thinking to 8:30. Up, dress, wash. Final packing of duffel at 8:55 at 24 kg or 53 lbs. Shoulder bag at under 6 kg or 13 lbs. [This is page 39, maybe 13 typed? Not bad guess, this being the fourth line of page 14.] At 9:07 I'm ready to leave at 9:15, JJ shaving. Leave at 10:20, fire truck pulling up. He says, "We'll drive through Paris; we have time." Nice ride, busy streets, big St. Augustine Church. To peripherique to pass new 80,000-person stadium. To CDG#1 to cops FORBIDDING people to stop at gates 18 and 19. Stop at Gate 20 at 10:20 and there are NO signs. OTHER TWA flight is at Gate 32 and I SHLEP bag long way. Black guard says, "Away around to left." I get CART from him, go "way around" and get LOST. Ask at satellite gate as SAME guard says, "Back around." I say I trust HIM, but the SYSTEM is crazy. HE checks "Did you pack yourself" and puts 5-6 security stickers on all bags and leads me to SAME desk I met him at! Check and weigh bags: duffel at 23.2 kg or 51 pounds (it sure feels HEAVIER!), up 13 pounds from departing 38 pounds, and shoulder bag 5.6 kg, at 12 pounds a pound up from departing 11 pounds. From 49 total to 63 total! Took $604 and came back with $299, so I spent $305 in cash, too. At 10:45 I'm told "satellite 2 at 11:15." "Where do I go TILL then?" SHRUG! Write this to 10:50, HOT! To satellite 2, LONG passport check (not stamped) and TWA 925 is now listed at noon from area 240. Through at 11:05. NO info in area 240 at 11:15. Other guys going back for BETTER duty-free? Check and find NOTHING to buy. Filled out "Embarcation card." "Don't need that." 11:22, gate 26 has TWA 925 12:15 board. I read and board about last at noon, backing from dock at 12:25. Flight announced at 7 hours 34 minutes. Showers and 80° in NYC. #6 Jersey or Guernsey, whichever is the northern and smaller one. 1:45, land below. Bloody Mary drunk, smell of food. Dine (breakfast!) on awful beef and spinach from 2-2:25. Debating taking Rohypnol and melatonin. Drugged! 2:30 take 2mg Rohypnol. Trays picked up. I'll try to sleep. AND take melatonin at 2:37PM. Now to pee! Do. 2:50 earplugs in to NAP. Look at watch every half-hour, but time DOES pass. 5:30 shows rocky Newfoundland shelf. Clouds and at 6:30 more land; snack announced. Lemonade refreshing. At 6:50 I move clock back to 12:50. Snack is bun and juice and sweet yogurt and two glasses of water. Listen to baroque, then classical music. Cross over Maine, fairly clear. Pee again at 1:15. One hour left! GREAT views over Long Island. Land at 2:08PM. Dock at 2:15, quick luggage pickup, no checking, grab cab at 2:42PM. Home at 3:25, paying $35 for cab. WARM! End of notes! Phoned John at 3:30; talked to Pope 3:31-4:12, LW Spartacus 4:12; Sherryl busy, LW Vicki; Charles 4:14-5:07: he's going to Long Island Thursday for 3-4 days. Mildred 5:10-5:32. John OVER 5:32-6PM. Marj 6:01-6:42. I j/o 9PM, puzzles 9:15-10:20, bed 10:20PM!
WEDNESDAY, 7/9/97: Wake at 3 to pee and shit. Up 3:20AM to j/o to 3:55. Finish New York Times #1 by 6:50AM. Breakfast. Talk to Sherryl 10:20-10:45, LW Ken, Marilyn 11-11:15, Carolyn 10:50-11 (SHE wanted the McDonald's shots!) Tony calls, Paul C. calls, will arrive Friday-Sunday! Look at mail and magazines. Call Shelley at 5PM and LW with Y.s J/o 9:15-10. Bed 10:10PM.
THURSDAY, 7/10/97: Pee 4:25. Up 5:15 (birds started). 11:15 finish FOURTH Sunday Times. Finish mail; first gym; mail 5 items. Bed 10PM, TIRED from day!
FRIDAY, 7/11/97: Pee and shit a bit at 4:20. J/o 5-6AM. Type first CAVES page. Paul arrives 5:45. Bouterin 6:30-8:45. Talk to Mildred; bed 11:30PM.
SATURDAY, 7/12/97: Wake 5:30. Up 8:20. Type 7 CAVES pages. Dance at Hunter and dine at Dallas BBQ, Buy Times and bed 11:30, not getting enough sleep!
SUNDAY, 7/13/97: 5:45 Paul's shut alarm off. 6:35 he's gone. Read Times. Go to Games Group. Finish Antrim The Hundred Brothers and INDEX it. Bed 9:50PM!
MONDAY, 7/14/97: Up 6:45AM. 8:55 sleep AT LAST! Play 54 FreeCell games 3:30-8:50. Win 40, lose 14, for 74%. Watch TV. Bed 11:05PM, 81° out. Exhausted.
TUESDAY, 7/15/97: Up 6:55AM. Finish last 6 CAVES pages by 3:10PM. Gym!
SUMMARY PAGE
TUESDAY, JUNE 10: TWA flight to Madrid 7:15PM.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11: 7:45AM landing, to Hotel Suecia, lunch at Terraza Galayos, Descalzas Nunnery tour, Egyptian Temple, flowers, tapas at Alemana.
THURSDAY, JUNE 12: Buffet breakfast, all day at Prado and Buen Retiro. Church San Jeronimo, Retiro Park: Velazquez Palace and Crystal Palace, dine La Cabana.
FRIDAY, JUNE 13: Museo Reina Sofia, Botanical Gardens, San Fernando Fine Arts Museum, Michelin three-star dinner: 6000P at Zalacain: Grand Table du Monde.
SATURDAY, JUNE 14: Thyssen-Bornemitza Museum, Archeological Museum (Altamira reproduction), Army art show, meet group, dinner for five at expensive Botin.
SUNDAY, JUNE 15: 35-minute flight to Bilbao, bus to Santillana, Parador, zoo, group introductions, dinner, walk and German filming in town, bed midnight.
MONDAY, JUNE 16: Cave-slide show, Quinta de la Barquero lunch, Gaudi caprice, witchcraft exhibit, Diocesan Museum, Cloister, lecture, dinner and stroll town.
TUESDAY, JUNE 17: Slide-show, first into Altamira, tape video, Museum tour, El Castillo for Las Monedas and Los Castellos caves, dinner at Les Blasons.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18: Great buffet lunch in Castro Urdiales, Hotel Palais in Biarritz in enormous room, dine in grand La Rotonde, walk town, bed tired.
THURSDAY, JUNE 19: Breakfast in La Rotonde, "evolution" slide-show, lunch in Le Bartocq, walk Arcangues, tour St. Jean de Luz, Kaiku dinner, bus Biarritz.
FRIDAY, JUNE 20: Aire des Pyrenees stop, Hotellerie des Grottes lunch, Gargas cave, St. Bertrand de Commingues, Hotel Eychenne dinner, John Clottes talks.
SATURDAY, JUNE 21: Pujols for Begouine Museum, slides, great farm lunch, Park Prehistorique huge, Niaux double-tour, poor Eychenne dinner with Countess.
SUNDAY, JUNE 22: Pont Valentre stop, Les Falaises rainy for lunch, Pech Merle cave 1.5 hours, bus tour of Sarlat, Hotel Meysset dinner, tired and bed early.
MONDAY, JUNE 23: Lecture, good lunch at Meynardie after animals and wild strawberries, walk tiny Montignac and cemetery, Abri de Cap Blanc, sleep early.
TUESDAY, JUNE 24: Train ride through Rouffignac cave, foie gras factory, Nick knaps, great bread soup on Castal-Mere cliff, Castanet Museum, Reverdit digs, Abri of "English Fort" along Vezere, St. Leon-sur-Vezere, Sarlat night-walk.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25: Won hand-axe lottery last night, walk Sarlat, great Domme lunch in L'Esplanade, soda-straw Cougnac cave, Rocque-Gageac for boat ride, talk on cave formation, sweetbreads special dinner and fruit in Monbazillac.
THURSDAY, JUNE 26: Font de Gaume cave, buy books and slides, Centenaire lunch for 435F, Les Eyzies Museum, Cro-Magnon Hotel, toast at Abri, Fleunie Chateau.
FRIDAY, JUNE 27: L'Abri Pataud, Musée Pataud, poor Fleunie lunch, Le Thot for "prehistoric" animals, St. Amand de Coly: church-tour and town-dinner to 1AM.
SATURDAY, JUNE 28: Sarlat for market day, great Rossignol lunch for 135F, walnut pressing, Lascaux cave top of trip, "Fin du monde," final evaluations.
SUNDAY, JUNE 29: Sign cards for Eric and Laurence, tour Beynac, St. Jacques Restaurant for Bergerac lunch, to Bordeaux Hotel Burdigala, Claret's cheeses.
MONDAY, JUNE 30: Burdigala buffet breakfast best, Beaux Arts Museum, Wine Tour #1 of Segonzac, stop at Tayac, and Castel La Rose, with Y.s to La Tupina for incredibly salty, fatty, "local" Spanish meal, much over-stuffed.
TUESDAY, JULY 1: Make TGV reservation, Aquitaine Museum, Rue St. Catherine's lunch, Wine Tour #2 of Gamoge and Mouchac with Ken, climb Cathedral Tower, videotape organ concert, Chapon Fin for 570F great dinner in rocky decor.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 2: "Breton" sandwich brunch, TGV St. Jean to Montparnasse 12:08-3:23, set schedule with Jean-Jacques, dinner in Chaumiere des Gourmands.
THURSDAY, JULY 3: Louvre all day, lunch: JJ in Cafe Marly, dine La Girondine.
FRIDAY, JULY 4: Computer games, La Villette and Cafe de la Musique lunch, Cité des Sciences, to Lucas Carton for too-much 855F: "too delicate" wines.
SATURDAY, JULY 5: Tour Marne-la-Vallée, lunch at La Taverna Bleu, tour Chateau de Guermantes, dine alone at Guy Savoy for 8 courses for 1210F, $$$$$.
SUNDAY, JULY 6: Brunch at L'Espadon in Hotel Ritz, relax in Fun Fair, then to Les Ambassadeurs in Hotel Crillon for great dinner (best until Taillevent).
MONDAY, JULY 7: "France Miniature" for tour and lunch, around Parc Montsouris and pack. Taillevent with great 1970 St. Emilion for 480F. Same-waiter stamp!
TUESDAY, JULY 8: Ride through Paris; fly to NYC 12:30-2:08PM. Home to relax!