Sasquatch 2012...always an adventure

 

I'm going to take a quick break from my Paris adventure to write about a state side adventure that proved to be exciting even after all of these years...Sasquatch at the Gorge.  We have been going for years now and it is one of my favorite traditions. There is always plenty of great music, new and old friends, sleeping on the hill, dancing, breathtaking sunsets and general merriment that makes my heart happy and content. This year was no different.  

 

What is more beautiful than this venue?

 

Last year we all drove up on Friday and it was semi hectic to get camp set up and ready to go for the night show and we ended up in overflow camping, which is far away from the venue.  So this year we decided to go up on Thursday night to avoid chaos.  We got off to a great start and left P town in plenty of time to get to the venue and save space.  Driving through the Oregon side of the Gorge is so beautiful at this time of night and we cruised by Multnomah falls and through the Gorge as the sun was just dipping behind Portland.  Up through the winding roads to Yakima we listened to our Sasquatch play list and planned our schedules.  There is always a need for ice on this trip, so we stopped in Wapato (on the Yakima reservation). This next part, now that the event has come and gone, seems ironic to say the least.  We had a conversation in the car about how whatever happens in life, getting stuck on the reservation is something we never want to happen to us...and happen it did.  Brandi and Michael's car broke down at this gas station in Wapato.  The 5 of us stared under the hood of the car only to confirm that we did not know how to fix it.  So, Brandi and Michael called a tow truck and went to Yakima to a hotel to wait for their car to be fixed.  Meanwhile I sat in the 2nd car with all of my belonging literally on my lap and we continued our way to the festival. We took the exit to the Gorge and passed the sign that says Gorge ahead 3 miles and then we stopped.  It took us 3 hours to make it those 3 short miles.  It was now 1:30 am and we somehow found our friends from San Fran and found a spot to set up our camp.  We set up 4 tents but the wind was howling through the Gorge so we decided to just leave our big canopy tent in it's bag in between the tents and went to bed.

 

 

 

I woke up the next morning, got out of my tent, and sang a chirpy good morning to Brian who took one look at me and said..."do you see anything missing?"  Someone stole our canopy tent in the 3 hours that we slept.  Hearing these words Matt came flying out of his tent to confirm.  However, all was not lost, we had Whitney pick up a new tent on her way.  She arrived with a new and bigger canopy tent and brought along some new additions to the group, Dylan and Grant.  Soon Amanda, Jared and Chris arrived in their glorious American flag camper only to find that they didn't fit through the fence and had to camp a few spots away.  Brandi and Michael got their car fixed and arrived in plenty of time to get ready for that evening.  As my very wise friend Jenna always says, "Matt and Kasi always over stress, but everything turns out all right in the end."  We went into the venue and saw a great show by of Monsters and Men, Santigold, and Girl Talk.  Of Monsters and Men were one of the bands I was looking forward to and they were everything I hoped they would be.  For Girl Talk and Pretty Lights Amanda, Chris, Jared and myself had a dance party on the hill while Jenna danced in a monkey costume on the walkway.  Back at the camp Dylan and Jared fondly renamed themselves Le Dylan and Le Jared and for the first time in months I looked up and saw the beautiful stars that remind me so much of being home and not in the city.   

 

 

  

 

Saturday we tried to get our act together to go in early to see Said the Whale but only a few from our group made it in time.  We did catch Blitzen Trapper from the floor who as always puts on a rockin show.  The Civil Wars were haunting beautiful and we staked out our spot on hill, straight up from the 2nd pole.  A few of us went to the smaller stage and caught Dry the River and the Helio Sequence which were both excellent shows.  We made our way back to the main stage to the group.  The Shins played a decent show but the sunset behind them equally impressive.  There is nothing that compares to sitting on the side of the hill watching the sunset with your friends with great music playing in the background. Jack White ripped it up that evening as the headliner.  He played Raconteurs songs as well as White Stripes and ended the show with 7 Nation Army.  

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday was my favorite day of the festival.  We got in for the first show of the festival and the earliest I've EVER been into the venue.  We were on the floor for Hey Marseilles who I have been dying to see for years.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and Trampled by Turtles and Blind Pilot were all next and equally wonderful.  From Blind Pilot, Jenna got us tickets to The Head and Heart acoustic set which was the highlight of the weekend.  Again, what is better than being 10 feet away from a favorite band and having your best friends there with you?  Back on the main stage we parked ourselves for the evening.  I fell asleep during M Ward because apparently one of us falls asleep every year he plays, this year it was my turn.  But the evening shows were what I was waiting for.  Beirut played a decent show but Bon Iver was perfect.  Their music makes my heart beat faster it's so beautiful and sad.  Some went to James Murphy and said it was epic but I am still standing by my decision to see Bon Iver.

 

 

 

Monday is always bitter sweet.  It's the last day so everyone is tired and wants a shower but always wants to make it a great last day.  I am not going to lie, Monday was a hard day for me.  I spent a lot of time sleeping on the hill.  But I did catch Feist, Silver Sun Pickups, the very silly Tenacious D and all of Beck's set.  He played most of the songs I wanted to hear and the songs from Sea Change were so beautiful.  We got back to camp and drank a few more of the delicious Montana beers Amanda brought for me and headed to bed.

 

 

 

Overall Sasquatch was good this year.  We got off to a rocky start but the music and sunsets of the Gorge out weight the negatives every time.  The Head and the Heart acoustic set was perfect and I can still taste the goodness of the Kettle House's cold smoke beer.  I feel like this year I was off in my own little world and I was ok with that.  I look forward to next year...Matt and I said we would do this for many years to come and I think I couldn't ask for a better tradition. 

 

 

 

 

          

Paris adventure Day 3

Paris Day 3 March 31

My first night in a Paris hotel was interesting.  Beside the fact that I woke up at 2am ready to go on my next adventure only to realize it was only 2am, I realized that staying in a 2 star hotel is like the 21 year old version of a hostel.  The walls were paper thin and girls were running up and down the hall drunkenly screaming all night.  It was interesting to say the least.  However, I was up by 7am and took a shower in the smallest shower I've ever experienced, but the water was hot and that's all I could ask for.  I considered eating breakfast at my hotel, but it was 10 Euros to eat at a buffet and I spotted a boulangerie (bakery) across the street.  I ate my first real French croissant that morning and it deserves it's own tribute sentence.  It's flaky goodness melted in my mouth; this is what a croissant is suppose to taste like!  A typical French breakfast is a croissant, orange juice, and espresso; so that's what I ordered.  The orange juice is tangy more bitter sweet than orange juice here but delicious.  The lady that runs the boulangerie looked at me questioning my cafe american but I stuck to my espresso and water even though it was so "American."  After breakfast I was ready to start my day.  

What is better to start an adventure than a trip across the river to Notre Dame?  I walked across the bridge with the hordes of tourists to see this magnificent church.  There is nothing disappointing about Notre Dame; it lives up to all the splendor and glory that is associated with the name.  It's the biggest church I've ever set foot in.  The stained glass rose windows stream light in, basking the church in a soft glow that makes people's voices drop to a whisper.  There are small alters to different religious saints that you can light candles for that surround the main alter.  The ceiling looms above you, over 100 feet tall and looking upward you can only see darkness and the stained glass.  Inside the cathedral are pillars that surround the alter and in between each pillar hangs an dimly lit chandelier that lights the cathedral.  The outside of the church is just as magnificent or perhaps more.  The two towers spiral up into the sky where the Hunchback of Notre Dame lived and the gargoyles that jut out guarding their castle are more incredible than pictures can ever show.  The Gallery of Kings that have now been restored (their heads were cut off during the revolution when they were mistaken for French Kings instead of the Judean Kings) watch over the masses that gather to stare in awe at this historical church. 

View from the bridge

Notre Dame Towers

Back of Notre Dame

Inside Notre Dame

I asked the lady to get as much of the church as possible...this is what she got

 

After Notre Dame I walked to Sainte-Chapelle, which I was told is just as amazing as Notre Dame.  Being somewhat critical considering I had just walked around Notre Dame barely breathing I was in such amazement, I went to Sainte Chapelle with the mindset that I was about to see another beautiful old church.  This was the first time of many that I was thankful I had a museum pass because I walked past a line of about 100 people and right into the church.  When you walk in, it's small in comparison to other churches but beautiful still.  Dimly lit with arched columns surrounding the alter and a dark but low ceiling that resembles a starry sky and bits of stained glass windows scattered around the room.  The walls and columns are adorned with fleur-de-lis as well.  I walked in, thought, "this really beautiful I wonder why it's so tall but the chapel is so small?"  However, I found a wooden set of creaky stairs that lead up to the upper chapel and as I walked in I realized that I had never seen true beauty like I was witnessing at that moment.  The upper chapel is surrounded by 50 foot high windows of pure stained glass. Each set of windows tells a story and some are still the original stained glass from the 13th century!  The beautiful rose window sends rays of sunlight from one end of the chapel to the other while the window's glass radiates colors.  It was like stepping back in time to a place where the Kings worshiped and stood hundreds of years ago.  I've been told that depending on where the sun is, every time you visit Sainte Chapelle the stained glass looks different.  I can still close my eyes and see the sun coming through the windows.  It was the most beautiful building, church, or palace that I saw on my trip. 

Rose Window

Walls and Walls of Stained Glass

 

After Sainte Chapelle I went to La Conciergerie and the Palace of Justice.  La Conciergerie is where hundred of prisoners during the French revolution were kept before being beheaded.  The Reign of Terror is the bloodiest part of the French revolution and this museum pays tribute to many of the people beheaded during this time.  This is also where Marie Antoinette was held before she was beheaded and I toured the cell she was held in as well.  The Hall of the Guards is eerily lit with arches and is oddly empty.  It's very haunting to walk around in a medieval prison.

Hall of the Guards

 From La Conciergerie I went to another sort of prison.  I went to the Deportation Memorial, in French called La Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation.  It's a simple but powerful memorial to the Holocaust.  You walk down concrete steps into a concrete hole almost level with the river.  It's enclosed by walls whose sole purpose is to make you feel trapped and humbled at the same time.  Goose bumps appeared on my arms as I walked down the steps.  It's designed for only a few people to experience at a time.  You walk down a dark hallway and enter a small underground circular room and look through black metal bars to a narrow tunnel that is filled with 200,000 tiny lighted crystals that symbolize each person that was deported from France that died in the camps.  At the end of the hallway, a flame of eternal hope burns and it's inscription says: "Dedicated to the living memory of the 200,000 French deportees sleeping in the night and the fog, exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps." It's the most beautiful and haunting memorial I've ever witnessed; it's hard to breathe in there but it's so moving you can't look away.  It serves it's purpose well, to show generations of people the evil that happened and that we must remember. 

     

After the churches and prisons I walked up into the 4 arrondissement of Paris which has the Hotel De Ville and the Pompidou Centre and ate a delicious goat cheese and tomato crepe.  After refueling I tackled the Centre Pomidou which has the modern art museum.  I don't understand modern art but can appreciate most of it.  This is the first art museum of many that I went to and to saw amazing work by Picasso, Matisse, Kadinsky, Dali, Frida Kahlo, and Andy Worhol.  I was surprised that you can take pictures with no flash there.  Trying to understand what the surrealist artists were thinking was somewhat of a challenge to me, but I think that's what they were striving for in their art.  

Art outside Centre Pompidou

Not a historical building, very out of place

After the museum my jet lag was threatening so I went back to the hotel and took my one and only nap of the trip.  I woke up feeling refreshed and went to the Luxembourg Gardens where I caught a glimpse of it's beauty.  The Jardin Du Luxembourg is where Parisians come to relax, the Central Park of Paris.  The pond in the middle is full of sail boats, and the fountains and gardens are breath taking.  I found a fountain called the Fountaine de Medicis which was empty unfortunately but still beautiful.  

I went to dinner at a restaurant called Les Editeurs where book lover such as myself eat in a room filled with bookshelves and books.  I ordered the special of the day and to my dismay it was filled with mushrooms.  Apparently no one ever taught me the french word for mushroom. Those of you that know me know my least favorite food on earth is a mushroom, but not wanting to be an annoying American I ate every single one.  In my journal I wrote, "Yep, mushrooms in Paris are just as gross as mushrooms in Portland."  The ambiance outweighed the food and I left feeling full and content.Back near my hotel I ate my new favorite desert which is a simple street crepe.  They make the crepes from scratch on skillets when you order them and my favorite it a Nutella crepe.  Sitting on the sidewalk in front of my hotel with a crepe in hand I contemplated the sights and art I had seen my first full day in Paris.  Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, Picasso and Matisse, I was a happy girl.  I went to my room and planned my next day of adventures...Versailles.  

To be continued. 

                 

Post Paris life? I'd rather be in Paris.

Post Paris Life:  It's not nearly as fun as In Paris Life, however, it's been a month since I stepped foot in the Paris airport and I can still see Notre Dame clearly, and smell crepes cooking on the street in front of my hotel.  How do I summarize my visit?  I loved every single second I was in Paris.  I've never experienced or seen anything like it.  To stand in a place with so much history, beautiful art and amazing food was a dream come true.  There is so much history there, it's hard to explain the feeling of standing in a palace built in the 1600's like Versailles or trying to explain how my heart stopped when I walked into the room where Monet's water lilies surrounded me.  But I'm going to try and give it a shot.  

However, I think it might be the longest blog on earth if I did it all at once, so I'm going to break it down by days with some pictures as well.  So, if you have time and are willing, here is the start of my adventures in Paris.

Day 1.  March 29th.  

My little sis S came to take me to the airport and send me off on my adventure.  I left my house on Thursday morning at 5am.  My flight to LA was at 7 and sometimes I don't have the best luck with airports so my sister made sure I was there on time.  My flights were easy and I went from Portland to LA to Amsterdam to Paris.  Note to self, flying on airline miles allows airline carriers to fly you around the world just because they can.

     This is what I brought with me.

 

 

Day 2. March 30

I'm going to break my previous statement and do 2 days in this blog because let's face it, my trip to the airport was not that exciting!  I woke up about an hour from Amsterdam.  The Amsterdam airport is so clean and easy to find your way around.  There are tulip bulbs at every store!  I went through customs with flying colors and got my Amsterdam stamp in my passport.  My first stop in Europe was...drum roll please...Starbucks.  Seriously?  But there were no other coffee shops in the wing of the airport I was in and I needed coffee!  After drinking my Americano and vowing to avoid any US stores for the rest of my trip I got on the plane to Paris!

I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport which is HUGE, but I just kept walking and somehow found my way to the tourist counter.  I purchased my museum pass in my first broken attempts at French.  Turns out after 6 years of not speaking French I was rusty.  From there I made my way to the RER, which is the public transportation train.  My hotel was a half a block from the RER stop, so it took me straight there.  I got off the RER at the St. Michel stop.  It is amazing how far underground you are on the RER and Metro so me and my backpack headed up the multiple sets of escalators to the exit.  I walked out on the street and tried to get my bearings.  There were people walking everywhere and I couldn't tell what direction I needed to go so I just kept turning around and then I saw Notre Dame.  There it was across the river and this was the first of many times my mouth dropped open in complete amazement.  I figured out where I was and walked around the corner to my hotel, the Hotel Du Mont Blanc on Rue Huchette and checked in.  My hotel was on the border of the Latin Quarter and St. Germain neighborhoods, the Boulvard St. Michel separates the two.  I was literally in stones throw of the St. Michel Fountain!  My room was the definition of TINY! 

 

St. Michel Fountain 

 

 From here, I decided to go and explore around my neighborhood.  I just started to walk down the street that follows the river.  I found Shakespeare and Company book store (the 2nd version of it, the original store was bombed in WWII).  Seeing Shakespeare and Company inspired me to do some of my Latin Quarter artist walk that was scheduled for another day.  I walked by Picasso's studio, George Sands house, a hotel where the Beat Poet's stayed, found a statue of Voltaire, and the Institut de France which houses the oldest library in France.  They wouldn't let me in the library, but I snuck under the barrier to take a picture.

 

Shakespeare and Company!!

Voltaire

Picasso's studio

 

  After this I started to get a little light headed and so I went back to my hotel area and decided to eat dinner.  I ate a croque monsieur (which is a ham and cheese open faced sandwich).  After eating my food and people watching for a while I realized I was incredibly tired and it was only 6:30.  My jet lag had set in.  I went back to my hotel room to plan my day but ended up falling asleep before I could even open my backpack.  I slept until 2am when I woke up ready to start my day and realized it was still the middle of the night.  Thank goodness for benadryl which always makes me fall asleep.  

That's the end of my day 2 but there are so many more adventures to share.  Reading what I wrote transports me back to Paris...this girl from a tiny town in Idaho on the trip I've wished for all of my life, wandering the streets of Paris in complete awe.