Remembering France

Dear Diary,

Two years ago at this time I was in France staying in a lovely Normandy farmhouse. This plate was given to me after my trip, a kind of second hand souvenir. I, of course, saw the Eiffel tower, from a distance, while I was in Paris but didn't actually visit it. I think this plate shows the view from the Sacre-Coeur basilica in Montmartre. I visited that amazing building and my view of the tower was very similar. But the plate, on a little shelf in my breakfast area, reminds me everyday of the trip and my long walk up to Sacre-Coeur even though it isn't seen on the plate, that is what comes into my mind when I look at it.

I like to bring back more personal souvenirs when I travel...like the tiny container of sand from Omaha beach where my dad landed 70 years ago. As I look around my house, I can see many examples of these "found" souvenirs. In many ways they are more evocative that the purchased ones, at least for me.

I chose twelve photographs from my trip, my "Good Crop" as Ansel Adams called it, and each one is a visual souvenir, and "icon" of a particular experience that I never tire of looking at. I was still firmly in my "monochrome phase" but in one image, the interior of Mont St. Michel, I let a little bit of color remain. A hint of what was to come?

I made a little accordion book of them but you can see them here.

A great souvenir is a singular tangible memory keeper, an almost metaphysical object.