Return

We are safe and sound back at Jodi's house in Scotland. Spent the day on trains- pretty uneventful but thought i'd share that information anyways.





Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Goodbye, googly eyes

We continued our quest to spread joy to random people through street art today. We have faith that those who come across our googly eyed beings will be blessed... there's no way to know how much a life could be changed by our random acts of personification.
In a Montmartre alley way:



Outside the amazing Pompidou center: (however we're not so fond of this place because we accidentally waited one hour in a line that we thought was to get into the museum but was really just for the library. There was no line to get in)



A friendly tomato-or-pepper-like-veggie:



A jovial subway station chair:



And we stopped by the Louvre just to spruce up Mona:


We even put some eyeballs next to invader at the Sacre Coeur:




Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Rue Simart,Paris,France

Basilica Sacre Coeur

After visiting Notre Dame yesterday, we found a gem of a church that seemed to inhabit God's blessing. Beautiful. That's all I can say about it.





The spirituality of this place was soon confirmed when we encountered an original "Invader" outside in the church's courtyard.



And then we found another one less than a minute later!!




Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cultural Observations

French people have more quirks than English people

French people like us more than English people

French people speak a different language than English people

There is a reason it is called "French" kissing- and it's because the French like to do it a lot in public.

Americans talk about stupider things than English or French people.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Surprise, surprise, googly eyes!!

Up until this point, we do admit that we've been slacking on our goal about googly eyes. But today we faithfully hit the streets of paris with the goal of spreading joy to many people through our street art.

Paris seems to be full of these metal poles with ball-shaped tops. They make great heads for our eyeballs:








These two poles were at the "Belleville Zoo"- an alley way dedicated to street art of many forms- mosaic, childrens toys, among many other things (and now googly eyes):









These googly eyes made a great foreground subject at the eiffel tower:





A hungry mail box:





A subway poster advertisement:




A friendly recycling container:




And, ofcourse, the Notre Dame telescope:






Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Rue Simart,Paris,France

Refuge des Fondus

Refuge des Fondus was the weirdest restaurant I've ever been to. Everyone sits at two long communal tables so when new people arrive, they step on the table to get to their seats. Appetizers seemed to be a platter of a variety of anything you might find in a jar in the refrigerator. Wine was served in baby bottles. Then there was delicious cheese fondue with a bottomless bread basket. Fellow customers were friendly to the EXTREME the fact that we hardly could understand a word between us. People were encouraged to graffiti on the walls before leaving. This was the first place we left our mark.
Me drinking from a baby bottle (notice the googly eyes over my shoulder)





Our new very best friends in the world:



The bottle:




Our first of many marks left in Paris:




An overall success for our first day getting around in Paris!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Hello Paris

We booked the cheapest hotel within the Paris metro system. But that is no problem. We had to carry our luggage up six flights of stairs to get to our room. Looking down:


By the time we got to the top we were so tired we couldn't figure out how many steps we'd climbed. We just know there were three steps to the first level and then 6 sets of 17 steps each. I wish I had Rocket here to help me figure out how many steps that was....
Our room is the size of a luxury closet, and you can stand up straight without hitting your head in half of it.
This is the view out the windows:






Depending on where you are standing, the room may smell like pee, poo, rotten eggs, or old carpet. But, hey, we're not complaining- we are in Paris....

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Goodbye London

If it weren't Amy and Jeff, we wouldn't have been able to experience London at all in the first place. Amy and Jeff are Steve's aunt and uncle and they welcomed us into their lovely little home down a charming little London alley. We had so much fun with them and they gave us so much more than just a bed to sleep in. We can't even begin to list all the many ways they made or London experience so much better! This is the view of their house this morning as we departed in a cab at the unreasonably painful hour of four am!!!


So, Amy and Jeff, if you are reading this, thank you for the bacon and eggs, tips on Paris, French pocket book, belly dancing, helping us get around London, filling our tummies with food water and wine and the fantastic company!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Can't post!!

Helloooooo


Never mind. We are back in business. I thought that France wasn't allowing blogging but it was actually a problem with blogger worldwide.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Yesterday

Some of yesterday was spent at the Tate Modernism Museum. There is art from artists with important names there, but sometimes for me, it's more interesting to look at the plaque with their important name on it than to look at the ugly artwork they created. However, there were still some gems to be discovered there. Mostly because of the personal memories they stir up in me about home...





This looked like Roxanne's chalk board art to me. I miss making art with her!






This is what I look like on any given day at home. I don't miss laundry, but I miss my family who creates it!






This is me in my back yard picking weeds. Just kidding.




And this one I just loved. It was called "the pigeon chested man and the black dove"


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Last Tuesday Society

It is very very rarely that you experience two places as weird as the two places we went to yesterday in one day. You are lucky if you experience one place half as weird in just a month! But running into two places this weird in one day just doesn't happen randomly without divine intervention.
The Last Tuesday Society is a place... it's just hard to describe. Its a shop, a museum, a club. It's full of strange oddities and whatnot- I mean really- whatnot- is the best word to use (isn't it weird that whatnot is one word not two?) Conjoined skeletons, conjoined teddy bears, narwhal horns, medical supplies, antique toys, taxidermy having dinner together, and whatnot.






This little video kindof gives you and idea of what it is like, but there is just too much to stuff to get into a video:

Then we participated in the drawing club at the Last Tuesday society, which was a mixture of classic life drawing and exotic taxidermy. About 20 Londoners sketched a lovely nude model as she snuggles with a dear head... And whatnot. And we sipped gin and tonic from fancy tea cups!
Here are some of my drawings:















































And Jodi felt inspired to write a poem:

From the house of dreams to last Tuesday society
By Jodi

Morning bells in London
Sunshine and city swells in London

Bits of a new day found
Broken pieces and lost ones on the ground

Questions linger enter here
Years and hands work out life's fears

Chaos comes to order
Still, sanity meets brilliance right at the border.

Enter strangers, exit friends (a new friend?)
Changed now forever by the beauty they lend.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Street Art

This is the only piece of street art we've been able to identify so far (by "stik"):








After seeing "Exit through the gift shop", I was excited to go hunting for "invaders" and (!) "banksys", but they're not as prevalent as I envisioned them being- actually I think London is just bigger than I realize it is. But we did see a candy wrapper stuck to a tree and contimplated whether or not Banksy had anything to do with it. Still keeping my eyes peeled though. But more importantly, we've yet to display the newest medium of street art.... googly eyes.... stay tuned!!



Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

British Eyes

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The House of Dreams!!!

We had tea and chatted with an amazing artist in London today! I've got some amazing pictures on my real camera but hopefully these videos will help you get an idea of what his "House of Dreams" is like!

And by the way, he seemed to genuinely like the doll eyes and immediately added them to his doll eye drawer- his drawer just for doll eyes.

We also visited a museum with the largest collection of conjoined twin related items I've ever seen! And we participated in an odd life drawing class at that museum.
And Jodi wrote a poem.
So stay tuned until tomorrow when I will upload pictures and videos of those cool things!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Train Bound for London

A Poem we wrote while on the train today:

This is my reflection in the train window taken with my newly decoupaged iPhone:


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone