What She Carries

How to amble around as hands-free as possible, with everything I need for the day easy to reach and securely stowed away.

Counter-clockwise, from 11 o’clock

A Longchamps daypack. It’s backpack in style, but much smaller. In it goes my sketchbook, pencil case, half bottle of water, paper map, colored marker, perhaps a few postcards. Ziplocks for walking around snacks of the fruit/cheese/croissant variety, an Ereader, pocket Kleenex  for the inevitable underserviced bathroom stalls, a nylon shopping bag that stuffs into its own pouch the size of an apple. No money. So far, no one has ever wanted to filch my sketchbook or water.  A small carabiner is clipped to the strap. If I buy something too large to carry in the daypack, I can clip the shopping bag handles to the back strap of the daypack. The backpack can be pulled it around  to my front for those tricky Metro rides, or slung tightly under my arm in museums where backpacks of any size are forbidden.

Around my waist  and under my jeans is a money belt. Two zippered pockets divided by mesh. Soft, flexible, reasonably comfortable, and most importantly,  in fifteen years of international travel, unbreached by thieves. Contains passport, credit cards and cash. This year I’m trying out a clip-on pocket the size of a credit card and zippered.

Another addition this year is a sturdy, lightweight, waterproof bag for a larger sketchbook and pencils, something I’ll take to parks. It has a long strap I’ll wear slung across my chest, so the bag is at hip level.

Pockets are indispensable to me. So many advantages! Pockets are handy, within easy reach. You don’t leave them behind on a table or hang them over the back of your chair, an unintentional offering to the poor and temptation to the weak. The small size of a pocket limit curbs the urge to carry around more than you absolutely need.

Pant’s pockets.

Right side: iPhone. Mine is in a Mophie case, which is great for extending battery life. From what I’ve read about pickpockets and snatch and grab, I’ll stay way from the doors of the metro, and never put it on a table. I’m going to try to limit my phone use to secure locations, versus bumbling down the streets with my nose in a text. If I need directions over and above my paper map, I’ll leave the phone in my pocket and let Google maps talk to me through my earbud. On the edge of the right pocket I clip my iPod. Don’t judge.  Music got me up and down many a hilly street of Edinburgh at the end of a long,hard day of touristing.

Left side: Altoid tin, with change, and walking around cash that’s folded up and clipped with a large paperclip. Oddly enough, no one has ever stolen my mints. That’s where I stash my metro cards too.

 Hoodie/ jacket/coat pocket

Right side: a petite Sony rx100 digital camera. Instead of a traditional strap mine has a sturdy elastic cord long enough to reach my pocket without tugging on my neck.  Again – I can’t leave it behind or, as has happened, drop it on the stone floor of a Venetian palazzo.

Left side: a couple of sticks of lip balm, and folded paper map from a master map I’ve made numerous enlarged copies of at Kinkos.  It has everything I’ve researched added by hand– the museums, shops, bistros, and markets. At the end of a day, I mark off where I’ve been in yellow highlighter and add notes (yarn shops, boulangeries, art supply stores,  etc).

Packing, Paris-style

First, make a list.

I do a Word doc, make two columns, and divvy it up into four categories – the clothes I’ll wear on the plane, what goes in my daypack (or tote), what gets stowed in my carry-on, and the main luggage. The day before the flight, I’ll assemble everything on the dining room table and cross off each item as I pack. It saves me hours of ‘did I remember this? Did I forget that?’ Anxiety I do not need.

This is the winter/spring version – mostly layering options. The only difference between this and packing for Chicago at Christmas is some short sleeves tees (instead of all long sleeves), the cotton/synthetic Chico pants options and how many eyedrops I’m adding. My winter coat is impervious to cold and I figure leggings can double as thermal underwear if it’s in raining and in the thirties/forties – or the Louvre turns out to be frigid – or I can sashay around in cotton cargos and short sleeves if the weather leaps into the seventies. If it’s in the fifties/sixties, I can layer a short sleeve tee over long sleeve, add the hoodie and vest, mittens and hat, wrap the black pashmina around me and go anywhere.

For clothes, use a simple, color-coordinated scheme that doesn’t show dirt. Paris is easy –  black and white with, in honor of Funny Face’s Kay Thomson, a few Schiaparelli pink accents.

My philosophy is If I can’t do without it, find a way to squeeze it in. if I might use it, leave it behind. I am more concerned with over-packing than under-packing.  If there is something I need that I did not pack, tant pis, mes amis.  I’ve heard they sell clothes in Paris.

I always read a People magazine in the airport.  Dr Paul Farmer, infectious diseases expert and medical anthropologist, calls it the Journal of Popular Culture. It reminds me of transient nature of life, and not to take things too seriously. Earplugs save the day when those ubiquitous people with cell yell are sitting near me, or a baby on board the plane is having a rough trip. My iPod, ditto. And I prefer to read rather than watch movies on board, so my Nook won’t leave my hands.

Here’s le Paris list:

PARIS/ADAM SUITCASE

Wear

Chico black zipper/pocket pants,

black suede Merrell clogs,

long sleeve black shirt
black bra
gray winter coat
dot scarf
black pashmina wrap
black cashmere cloche
black knit mittens
Money belt with passport, driver’s license, health insurance info charge cards, cash

daypack
with earplugs, eyedrops,
Altoids tin for walking around money and change
toothbrush/paste
restasis eyedrops
Bion tears
People mag
B&W Nook glow
iphone
boarding pass
ipod
Small empty plastic water bottle,
pens, small notebook
lip balm
makeup – blush, erase, lipstick/balm, compact

Carryon suitcase
1 pair gray denim pants (+ 1 pr legging)
1 pink & black stripe l/s shirt
1 pair pink dot socks
Chucks
2 pairs panties
Pink hoodie
crochet hook, circle needles, black cashmere yarn
Small sketchbook + pencils
Ziplock quart

1 extra pr black frame eye glasses
eyemask
Aspirin, floss
watch
Meds: HRT, statins, Restasis, Bion tears x 10

ELECTRONICS (oy! who knew I’d be so wired-up?)
Mac air & Charger
Nook & charger
battery pack & phone charger
camera & charger
ipods & charger

MAIN SUITCASE

clothes
lace up shoes (Cole Hann woven leather/black patent accents and NIke soles)
Black Zala hoodie
Black vest with faux fur trim
Leopard mittens
3 pairs trousers – black sueded denim, gray peg jeans, Chico cotton zip cargo pcket
1 black legging
4 l/s shirts – b&w stripe, black spot, 1 black, 1 pink/b
5 s/s tee shirts – b&w stripe, b&w dot, black, pink, band
3 prs winter socks gray
6 pr spot/stripe
10+ pairs panties Blk, beige, pink
1 pink dot bra
large white sleep tee

other
dot collapsible mini-umbrella
wolfie knit hat
gray mittens
Trip folder
Sketchbook bag and sketch books – 2 small 1 large
pencil cases x3
Hairbrush
Nylon collapsible Getty bag

3 bags Orange spice tea/mint tea, splenda
Dreft in zip locks x 4
plug strip box, French plug adapter
hair flat iron
Bion Tears x 30

Ziplocks, Bulldog clips, carabiners
ditty bag
safety pins, rubber bands
comb, brush, hairband
deodorant, mini bar soap, face mitt
nail clippers, hair scissors,
Mini-magnifying mirror bandaids, moleskin

Paris Rig

Went out to dinner with my darling spouse, son, and his current squeeze. Asked Robert to take a photo of me since I was wearing my prototypical Paris rig – black jeans, black & white patterned shirt and scarf, black hoodie and my new Chucks. I forgot to take out my earbuds, but I’ll be wearing them most of time, so it’s authentic.

The only thing missing is my little backpack. What you can’t see is that my socks are crazy – they will be my blink of color. In this instance they are still b&w but they have cavalier spaniels on them.
Et voila

In years past I used a small point and shoot Cannon. After dropping and demolishing one camera on a stone floor in Venice, I attached a stout elastic cord for as a camera strap. Long enough to loop across my body, and tuck in a pants or jacket pocket, and stretchy enough to manipulate into any position. That means the camera is always ready to use – not buried in a tote or locked down in a case. It doesn’t get left behind on a table, nor it is vulnerable to theft by pickpockets. This year I’m using a Sony RX100, which I recently acquired thanks to my appreciation of the amazingly detailed images captured by my friend Dan. This camera came with a narrow, adjustable strap that functions like my handmade ones. Bonus! Along with the camera, I’ll bring the charger, and two memory chips. I lost a chip once (Venice again). Nothing like having 400 photos of Rome poof! vanished! to convince this lazy artist to back up or risk losing everything. I’ll back up the chips on my MacAir and an online photo site. I consider my iPhone 5S as much a camera as a communication device. I use Camera Plus, along with Hipstamatic and Instagram apps. One of the advantages – besides the fact you always have your phone with you- is it’s less intrusive than a camera. If you really want to be stealthy, you can attach your iPod earbuds, click the control switch on the cable, and it will take images remotely. Those images will be backed up on the Cloud and on my MacAir. Hooray for photo stream. The downside is the drain on the phone battery, which doesn’t last anything like as long as the camera battery. I have a Mophie juice pack air case (http://www.mophie.com/shop/battery-cases/juice-pack-air-iphone-5) for my iPhone, which doubles my battery life, and an additional auxiliary battery pack for the iPhone, which extends use from hours to days. It fits in my pocket and attaches by a cable. Not quite as sleek an arrangement as I’d like, but invaluable at, say 5pm, when you come across the ideal image or need to call Uber, and the juice has run out. Next post – sketchbook selection

Paris Plan, Week One

I’ve finished the overall plan.  The main doc looks like a month-at-a-glance calendar, with short color-coded notes on where and when to go. Individual docs cover each week with more detailed information.

Let’s  break it down.

Week One

Tuesday evening: 1  April Fools Day – After checking one bag,  I’ll board Air France with a small carryon packed with a change of clothes, all my electronics, and a few toiletries – most important,  a soft padded eyeshade and Boules Quies wax earplugs http://www.quies.com/produit/wax-earplugs/. In a perfect world, I’d snore my way across the Atlantic. More likely I’ll doze in and out a few hours, feeling battered by the rumble and roar of the engines. It’s an 8 and a half hour flight. The first five aren’t so bad, but the last three feel interminable. Add to that the sleepless overnight factor and it’s a grim prospect.  Over the years it’s become more of a challenge, and that’s why I go for a chunk of time.

Wednesday 2 – Staggering off the plane at midday, with gritty eyes and rumpled clothes, I’ll be met by the pre-arranged driver at récupération des bagages and taken to the apartment that will be my home for the next three weeks. Three floors up and no elevator (take that, macaroons!).  I’ll drop off my bags, make sure the plumbing functions, and head out in search of an ATM. I’ll stroll around the neighborhood, noting where I can find bread, fruit, cheese and milk. Perhaps a coffee, definitely a pastry. If the weather is pretty, I’ll meander over to the Seine. Mostly I will take it easy. Early to bed.

Thursday 3 –  Skip out the door to stand at the counter of a café and wolf down a croissant and café creme. Depending on the weather,  I’ll either Uber over or take the Metro to the Louvre. I joined des Amis de Louvre last June and membership entitles me to free access to the museum.  I’ll wave my card, scamper in the Richelieu entrance, check my coat and dive in.  The first destination on  my dance card – the Dutch, German and Flemish painters. Hours of staring and sketching and sighing with pleasure. Lunch at a museum café/restaurant TBD. Afterward, a peek at the apartments of Napoleon III, then follow one of the Louvres museum trails via an app on my iPhone or the museum’s audio tour. I’m thinking The Art of Eating, Rituals and Symbolism. http://www.louvre.fr/en/routes/art-eating  By 4pm I will be dizzy with jetlag/fatigue and ready to trudge back to the apartment, picking up my dinner from a stops at a boulangerie, fromager and charcuturie en route.

Friday 4 – If I manage to sleep in – unlikely, but possible – and the weather is mild and fair, I’ll explore the Marais, my neighborhood, with the audio tour Walk and Talk Paris . I’ll stop for lunch at one of the multiple possibilities I’ve saved on my TripAdvisor map. app. http://www.tripadvisor.com/apps-icityguides  and then  try for a big fat nap. My experience in the MFA in Boston taught me that my eyes will give out – feel burry, gritty, dry and weak – by 8pm if I  stalk the museum halls all day. Thus the long nap. The Louvre is open until 9:45 tonight, so  I’ll drift over around 4pm and do the Still Life audio tour, then eat dinner in the museum.  Afterwards I’ll follow the Italian Renaissance audio tour. I think it’s my best shot to see the Italian works in the Denon wing without being crushed underfoot by the throngs of determinded tourists making a beeline for the Mona Lisa.

Saturday  5 – FIguring the Louvre will be jam-packed on the weekend, I have alternative plans. First, browsing at a street market, the Marche Bastille (Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, 9-6, arts & crafts), around the corner from my apartment. If the weather is fine I’ll go there first. If it’s foul I’ll go straight to  The Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (open 11-6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_de_la_Chasse_et_de_la_Nature.  A museum that ‘celebrates the relationships between humans and the natural environment through the traditions and practices of hunting’.  I’m paintings a series with similar elements (Catch & Release series)  and I’m curious to see how other artists have approached this material.

Sunday 6 – By now I should have my feet under me. So, if it rains, I’ll go to the Musée Carnavalet (23 rue de Sévigné, 10-6) http://www.carnavalet.paris.fr/en/homepage  which “tells the story of Paris from a bygone era (a prehistoric dugout canoe dating from 4600 BC) to the present day, in all its immense variety…in keeping with the spirit of the genius of Paris.” It will be a pleasure to visit a compact, curated museum after walking miles in the stone and marble halls of the Louvre.  If it’s a pretty day, I’ll do a couple of the Walk and Talk Paris audio guides: La Huchette and St Julien le Pauvre. If my stamina and the weather holds out, I’ll walk to the Pont Alexandre III at sunset. (8:30pm)  and watch the lights turn on each of the bridges in succession, until the Eiffel tower lights up. Pow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Bespoke Travel Guide

I like an organized trip folder for maps, info about my accommodations, lists of places to eat, parks and museums, transportation particulars, itineraries (by day and week, rain and shine versions). I include tips and tricks re: local customs, copies of important documents like my passport and insurance card, and a short list of courtesy words, since I am pathetically monolingual. You may think I am wee bit on the compulsive side of data gathering. I prefer to think of it as a bespoke travel guide.

A couple of days ago I spread out all the information I’ve collected on  Paris and Amsterdam.  I used our biggest coffee table, since Robert commandeered the dining room table for taxes.

I consolidated and discarded and snapped holes for a three ring binder, my usual MO. After a few days of sorting, it looks like this (below). Upper left is the Amsterdam folder, the Paris folder is open on the right. Newly printed maps in the center.

Today I compiled and cross-referenced lists of cafes, restaurants, bistros, and foodie street markets from my sources – recommendations from friends, Time Out Paris online, TripAdvisor, memoirs, blogs, and random suggestions. I created a personal Google map of the most promising places in the areas I expect to frequent.  I printed out a couple of versions – one with the detailed list of name address and description, one that’s just the venue name and address.  While I was in the ring with Google maps, (which I can make work, but it’s not pretty) I made another for parks and small museums. If I had better Google Map skills, I’d figure out how to do this in layers, but comparing the printouts side by side gives me a decent overview. If there is a church, a museum, a park, and a bisto/cafe all nearby, I’m golden.

I’ll have one or the other with me when I hit the streets. Sure, I should be able to find the map using my phone, and work out navigation, but – you never know. Batteries run down. Also, staring down at my phone is the opposite of being present in the Parisian moment. I can glance at a bit of folded paper in my hand and go forth, taking it all in. Belt and suspenders, that’s me.