NOTES FROM THE ROAD


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A cafe pause…


Taking a break at a favorite cafe…


23 June 2018: Lots of great opportunities to go walking around and just exploring the neighborhoods nearby. And always time to stop at a cafe for a refreshing cool drink…



Summer skies…


A great transition to summer…


22 June 2018: The summer solstice has brought us more beautiful weather and longer days to appreciate it. With daylight lasting beyond 10pm we have really been able to enjoy the city…



Fete de la Musique…


Paris streets alive with Music…


21 June 2018: Great weather for the annual Fete de la Musique and around the 10eme there was a festive party atmosphere in the streets as people of all ages enjoyed the day. While there were many larger free concerts around the city, the best part was the small groups playing diverse music in different corners of the neighborhood. The whole city seemed to be celebrating the start of summer well into the night…



Associations working with Refugees…


A day of information for volunteers…


20 June 2018: Around the place de la Republique today associations came together to share information and encourage more people to volunteer to help refugees as part of the program for the International Day for Refugees…



Around Chateau d’eau…


A favorite crossroads…


19 June 2018: Taking a break at the cafe Chateau d’eau, Paris 10eme. A favorite cafe at a favorite crossroads in our neighborhood…



Fun with Fashion…


Playing with fabric…


18 June 2018: One cool aspect of our favorite Paris neighborhood is that everyone here makes their own style, and it is truly a place where we can see so many variations of street fashion. We had a little fun with that today in the passage des petits ecuries…



An unusual site…


Rare to see an empty building site…


17 June 2018: Came upon a strange image today in the 10eme. It is something one rarely sees in Paris. An abandoned empty building and a weed-filled lot right in the city center not far from the Canal St. Martin…



Busy streets, Paris 10eme…


Vibrant street life…


16 June 2018: Beautiful early summer weather is keeping the street life vibrant in our neighborhood and all around Paris this week…



Paris 10eme…


Cafes and street culture…


15 June 2018: Another beautiful day to be out on the streets or cafe terraces of Paris 10eme. Spent a little time in a few favorite spots watching the crowd then back out to explore some more…



Paris 2eme…


Lively streets and street art…


14 June 2018: Nice weather brought out a crowd around the rue Montorgueil. Got to explore a bit and enjoy some of the random street art in the neighborhood …



Timeless Paris Streets…


Around the 10eme…


13 June 2018: Exploring favorite neighborhoods and discovering the timeless side of Paris with random street scenes that could easily belong to the last century. There is a continuity here that is very different from the desert, but it is a strong current of the eternal in an always ephemeral city …



Grey skies…


Turbulent skies over Paris today…


12 June 2018: Rainy day and grey skies again, but hoping for some good weather soon. Settling into the old neighborhood and reconnecting…



Paris Arrival…


Arriving to a wet and rainy day in the City of Light…


11 June 2018: Crossed the “pond” overnight, and woke up to as we touched down in Paris, where outside a steady rain left the city of light veiled in grey. Still, was great to be arriving back in Paris, and looking forward to reconnecting with good friends and familiar places here…


PREVIOUS NOTES FROM THE ROAD >


THIS MONTH:

Headed back to Paris to connect with friends and favorite places and lay some groundwork for upcoming projects…


COMING UP SOON:

Joining the folks from the New York Adventure Racing Association for a day of intensive navigation and strategy challenges at Fahnestock Rogaine state park in Cold Spring, NY. Participants will travel on foot through the vast acreage of Clarence Fahnestock State Park searching for checkpoints scattered in the woods over a wide area. With over 30 CPs of varying point values, participants have a time limit to collect as many points as possible, requiring strategic choices to determine which checkpoints to chase while making it back before the time cut-off…


Heading to DC Dirt Camp for a chance to learn how to ride the trails on two-wheels in July. DC Dirt Camp is a Dirt Bike School sponsored by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation offering training at two locations outside Washington, DC, to prepare riders to hit the trails on small displacement, off-road bikes, as well as larger street-legal, dual sport and adventure bikes…


Participating in the Ladies Offroad Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, 2-5 August 2018. The Ladies Offroad Convention is an action-packed, interactive 4-day weekend educating, motivating, and guiding for ladies involved in all aspects of the offroad world. Presented by Charlene Bower and the Ladies Offroad Network, the event creates a space to learn more about offroad activities and share experiences with like-minded women from around the country…


Trail Guiding at the 10th annual Topless for Tatas Charity Wheeling event at Rausch Creek off-road park 11-13 August. TFT brings together off-roaders from all over to raise awareness about Breast Cancer and raise funds for the American Cancer Society. The annual event raises over $30,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation each year …


PARIS: FETE DE LA MUSIQUE



The Fete de la Musique is an annual event that takes place on 21 June, the summer solstice and longest day of the year. The event was created by the French Minister of Culture, Jack Lang in 1982. All around Paris (and France) there are concerts and impromptu street jams outside of cafes, in public spaces and parks. The concept is that everything is free. The concerts are free to the public and the musicians play for free. Amateur musicians are also encouraged to join in the fun and one of the best aspects of the event is the variety of music heard in the streets. Today not only musicians play, but also DJs and even people just bringing out their own speakers and blasting their music outside with dancing in the street a frequent sight. Though more and more larger concerts have been organized, the smaller informal street gatherings remain a highlight of the day. It is also the one day that “noise” ordinances are ignored by the police until around midnight, so music and dancing spill out into the streets everywhere in the city, creating a fun and festive atmosphere unparalleled elsewhere.


WORLD REFUGEE DAY



World Refugee Day, an annual international observance on June 20, is dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees throughout the world. Each year on June 20 the United Nations, United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and countless civic groups around the world host World Refugee Day events in order to draw the public’s attention to the millions of refugees and Internally displaced persons worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict and persecution. The annual commemoration is marked by a variety of events in more than 100 countries, involving government officials, humanitarian aid workers, celebrities, civilians and the forcibly displaced themselves. Individuals and community groups are encouraged to mark the day by attending a local World Refugee Day event, watching and sharing World Refugee Day videos, and raising awareness for refugees on social media.


PARIS REFUGEES AND TENT CAMPS



Lately the tent camps that had sprung up in open spaces around Paris have been forcibly emptied by police actions as part of a policy that is trying to respond to the growing crisis. This latest move came after deteriorating conditions at the encampments led to violence in recent weeks, with a man drowning in the Canal St. Martin and a huge brawl near Porte des Poissoniers. Europe has faced a migrant crisis since 2015, with more than one million people from Africa and the Middle East attempting to reach the continent. Last year, France received a record 100,000 asylum applications and granted refugee status to about 30,000 people, official figured showed. According to news reports, the current round of camp shutdowns is moving the “evacuees” to emergency shelters where they will be interviewed to determine their refugee status and directed to appropriate services. Over the past three years, Paris police have “evacuated” 28,000 migrants from tent camps and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has repeatedly called on the government to build a new migrant reception centre in Paris as an alternative to the informal street encampments.


PARIS STREET ART


In Paris Street Art is everywhere. The whole city is an open-air museum of sorts, where many concrete surfaces are covered in graffiti, stencils, poetic collages, posters or monumental murals. Street art can be found all around but here is one great guide to a few of the most notable examples…


CHATEAU D’EAU



Château d’Eau, on the Number 4 Metro line, is a unique spot in the heart of 10th arrondissement at the intersection of Boulevard de Strasbourg and Rue du Château d’Eau. The metro station and the street were named after a fountain at a square to the east of the current station that was known as the Place du Château d’Eau until 1879. The fountain, known as the Girard Fountain, served as a water tower until it was absorbed into the new Place de la République in 1880. Today the area near the metro station is well-known for the cluster of African hairstylists, where groups of young men outside encourage passers-by to come in to one or another of the shops. Further along are plenty of cafes and bars making for an always vibrant cultural mix.


RUE DU FAUBOURG ST. DENIS



The Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis is a street that crosses the 10th arrondissement of Paris from north to south, linking the Porte Saint-Denis to the Métro station of La Chapelle and passing the Gare du Nord. “Faubourg” indicated that it was an extenstion of the street, in this case rue St. Denis, outside the the city walls of the old Paris — marked by the arch of the Porte St. Denis, which was the entryway to the city itself back then. This was once the main route into Paris from the north and was the processional route of French kings from their crowning ceremonies at the Cathedral of St. Denis. The modern neighborhood started taking shape in the 18th and 19th century with new cross-streets filling gaps with the familiar Parisian buildings that housed apartments and ateliers. From this start the quartier became a bit edge-y fringed by music halls on the Grands Boulevards and the old red-light district along the rue St. Denis. Today the neighborhood is vibrant with a still gritty feel despite the gentrification that has spawned a plethora of cafes, bars and restaurants catering the the bobo crowd. The neighborhood has retained something of its multicultural melting pot character, and that is a main attraction the many visitors who enjoy the eclectic selection of ethnic eateries available in such a compact space.


WALKING THE CITY OF LIGHT



Paris is a city made to be wandered on foot. The slow exploration of winding streets with plenty of stops to spend time on cafe terraces is a timeless experience. There are many great guides or suggestions available for Paris walking itineraries. Some of the walks focus on the touristic areas of the city or its history, while others offer different perspectives. Walks can focus on some of the city’s great street art or the “village” atmosphere around Montmartre. Or why not a meander across a swath of multi-cultural Paris? Walking the city is free and the very best way to discover the unique character of a quartier.


SUMMER IN PARIS



Summer in Paris is one of the best times to enjoy the city of light. The lazy days of summer bring out the best in Paris—long days and languorous nights are perfect for outdoor enjoyment, whether its sipping a cocktail on an elegant terrace, dining al fresco, or enjoying a picnic while taking in a movie en plein air. Outdoor cultural events abound, with an exciting lineup of summer arts festivals, featuring classical music, jazz, or rock in some of the city’s most spectacular gardens.




Nesconset | Paris | Shamokin | Butler



MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
7-10 June – Bantam Jeep Festival
1-6 June – Roadtrip to Bantam JeepFest
May – Wheelers Overland
16-30 April – New York
4-15 April – Sudan
29 March – 3 April – Egypt
22-28 March – Paris
16-21 March – Paris
1-15 March – New York
February – Coal Country
January – Vegas to Glamis Roadtrip
December – East Coast Roadtrip
16-30 November – Paris
1-15 November – Florida
October – Rausch Creek
18-30 September – Kyrgyzstan
1-17 September – Rebelle U
15-31 August – Arizona
8-14 August – TFT9
1-7 August – Serbia
July – NY and Serbia
Archive


REFLECTIONS

EGYPT: CAIRO REFLECTIONS

A quick overview of impressions from a stop in Cairo during our recent scouting mission in Egypt and Sudan … [read]


SPECIAL REPORT

ALGERIA SCOUTING

A look into south-eastern Algeria on the border with Libya and Niger: overlanding with the Tuareg in one of the most remote corners of the Sahara … [read]


SPECIAL REPORT

INTO THE MAZE

Detailed series on a solo scouting journey into some of the remotest backcountry around Moab. The six day 450-mile off-pavement trip into the Maze district of the Canyonlands National Park offers insight into the challenges of expedition planning… [read]


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