Never Leave Your Wingman's Excellent European Adventure - Part 7 - Barcelona & Paris

It was a little difficult for me to leave France (see my last blog) after having such a great time in Nice and then in Monaco, but I felt better once my author told me that we wouldn't be out of France for too many days. We were leaving just long enough to go check out Spain.

I know! Spain! Can you believe it!

Sangria, spicy foods, exotic flamenco dancers, running of the bulls and all that. Well, I didn't actually see or eat or do any of those things… but I did see this –

... a sign that warns of deer rappelling.

Really? Spanish deer are smart enough to know how to rappel off a cliff? Nah, it couldn't be. My author Deana and her husband (Publisher Al) thought this was so funny, but surely, they thought, there must be a Spanish word for ‘rappel’ that means something other than ‘haphazardly jump off the edge of something and throw yourself into the air.’ So they looked it up when we all got home … and they didn't find any other definition... so rappel off a cliff it is. Crazy Spanish deer.

And we saw far too much of this on our travels:

...Road signs that allow you to go 130 kilometres per hour on the highway. In parts of Europe – Germany in particular – we discovered that the speed limit signs were merely suggestions. At one point, a fellow in a little sports car zipped by us so fast that all we heard was the vrooom of his vehicle. He scared the bejeebers out of Publisher Al! The guy – or maybe it was a girl -  was going so fast that we didn't even see the car coming up behind us. Yikes!

We saw these beautiful hills/mountains on our way to Barcelona and we couldn't resist sharing this pretty picture.

Also… We found Nemo!!

Ha ha. Well, maybe not that Nemo. Cute, though.

We also saw this lion. He is very handsome and quite manly, I think. I actually developed kind of a crush on him. My author set me very close to him. I could feel his strong, hard paw. Oooh.

He is one of four lions that guard a very important statue of Columbus near the harbour in beautiful Barcelona - which marks the spot where Columbus returned after discovering America.

Yes, my lion does have three friends who are also fairly handsome and guard the other sides of the statue, but I like my lion the best. With those deep-set eyes, strong jawline and majestic pose... he’s totally in command of his domain. Aaaahhhhh….

Ahem… Perhaps we should move on…

There are tour buses all over Europe, especially in the bigger centres. We didn't ride on this one, but we loved its colours and I loved how my beautiful pink showed off so well against the blue-and-white bus.

And turning our attention back to the Barcelona Harbour, and the statue of Columbus...

...We couldn't resist a few photos of me with some angel friends...

It really felt at times as though we were meant to be in that spot – so we could see and enjoy the beautiful architecture and statues around us, all lined up with pretty angel wings. 

My beautiful Dionne would smile. Except she’d probably strike a funny pose alongside these statues. I did my best, given that I’m just a book.

We saw so many interesting sights in Barcelona.

   

The fruits and flowers along the main downtown street, Las Ramblas.

Plus these sights that we would have expected to see in Las Vegas, but not as much in Barcelona - people dressed in costumes and asking for tips from passersby. It felt kind of strange and out of place for us.

    

 We also saw the typical touristy stuff...

... and we took this fun photo... 

...of some pasta boxes that reminded us of one of my editors, Dani. It made us smile, and that's always a good thing. 

 The most remarkable, astounding, spectacular site we saw on all of our travels through Europe was this incredible structure:

Construction of the Basilica de La Sagrada Familia (Church of The Sacred Family) began in 1882 (no, that's not a typo) and construction continues to this day. (Note the crane on the right side of the structure.) The building may not be finished until 2013, but some believe it may never be finished, as it is one of Barcelona's most popular tourist attractions and may not draw the crowds if work was ever completed.

As we walked up the subway stairs to ground level, we saw people standing at the top of the stairs, facing toward us and taking photos. We wondered what they were looking at... and then we saw the building! Our jaws dropped open. Above is our photos of just a small section of the outside of the building. You can see a bit more of the building in this video.

Inside, the church is awe-inspiringly beautiful. Huge, bright, colourful and beautiful. 

This is a small section of the ceiling. Photos do not do it justice. It has to be experienced to be believed.

Antoni Gaudi spent 10 years working on just the design of the cupola. Creating an inverted version of his proposed design, he hung bags of sand on strings to figure out the perfect configuration that would support his design. Details are shown of this process below, in one of many displays of the building's downstairs museum. Remarkable.

Antoni Gaudi definitely left his mark on our souls during our visit to Barcelona, as did others. After two beautiful all-too-short days in Barcelona, we headed north towards Paris.

I know! Paris!!!!

But first, a pit stop along the side of the highway to have a little lunch – French-style…

...with a baguette, some sandwich meat, a few pickles.

And oh, look at those legs on Publisher Al! Ooh La La! It was still above 30 degrees Celsius, so the shorts were definitely the comfy way to travel.

My author (and co-publisher) Deana loves sunflowers. So do I (and so does my subject Dionne, but she wasn't with us, of course)… so we asked Publisher Al to pull over along the highway so we could carefully walk into this field to take some photos of me with these beautiful flowers.

I love the spirit of these flowers. They make me want to smile and smile and smile.

Paris!!!

What can I say about Paris except that it is perhaps the most beautiful city on earth. Or at least the most beautiful city I’d seen in Europe to that point. There were so many wonderful sights and places to explore and enjoy that a dozen photos wouldn't even begin to explain it all to you. So my author and I have chosen a few of our favourites. We hope you love them as much as we did.

Notre Dame Cathedral is one of those jaw-dropping, amazing sites that has to be seen to be believed. It is so huge and so overwhelming that one could sit for hours and just stare at the front façade and soak in the splendour.

The Paris Opera House is another 'Oh-Wow' kind of building. And that’s just seeing it from the outside! The golden angel on the top caught my eye, of course, but there is so much rich history and beauty to the actual building that we were all astounded. You can see why someone  would use it as the setting for a novel like Phantom of the Opera. Magnificent!

And the Arc de Triomphe. We saw it first from a few blocks away, while on a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus.

The closer we got to it, the more majestic and glorious and spellbinding and incredible the site became. Very, very cool.

You can’t be in Paris without recognizing its history of being a shopping and fashion mecca. We knew that if our Dionne would have been with us on this trip, at this point, she would have shouted for the bus driver to “Stop the Bus!” so she could get off and check out this shop… and quite a few of its friends along Paris’ famed shopping district.

There are several bridges in Europe on which passersby put locks - in celebration of an event, in honour of someone they love, or just because others are doing it. One such bridge is in Paris, and my publishers decided to buy a tiny lock from a street vendor and join the crowd in leaving their hearts and lock in Paris. Romantic, huh?

We spent an entire afternoon walking around the outside and through many of the exhibits at The Louvre, one of the most famous art galleries in the world. It was quite the experience.

 The Louvre, of course, is home to this special lady, the Mona Lisa.

A lot of people are disappointed after seeing Mona Lisa, because they thought she would be bigger or something else. We thought she was beautiful, and we were pleased to get so close to her serious expression.

Then we saw hundreds of other beautiful pieces of art while on our way to see this lady... Venus de Milo.

She is quite exquisite. I loved Venus de Milo. Maybe it`s because of her colour and shape, but it's probably because she looks so content with her lot in life. She's quite magnificent in her pose... looking at the world as if to say, "That's right - I'm awesome!"

You go, girl! You are awesome.

While enjoying the yards of the Louvre, we happened upon this talented musician in one of the archways.

He was tucked away under the pillars, playing his cello and accepting tips. His beautiful music was echoing across the grounds of a beautiful place. A mesmerizing experience.

This of course, was the pièce de résistance… the Eiffel Tower.

Publisher Al couldn't believe that his acrophobic wife (not keen on heights) joined him in riding to the top of the Eiffel Tower and looking out over Paris. But she did it in Florence… and she had to climb those steps herself! Yes, that was an accidental climbing, but still. This was a once-in-a-lifetime (so far, anyway) opportunity to see Paris from atop this phenomenal metal structure, so up they went.

The Arc de Triomphe looked like a Lego piece from this height. A beautiful Lego piece, but still small.

Did you know that Gustave Eiffel had a small office/living quarters atop the tower from which he worked and entertained visitors? This is the replica of that office, as seen through the strong glass windows. Fascinating tower. Fascinating man.

Four days in Paris ended far too soon. We could have walked the Champs Elysee and explored the city for days… but we had to move on.

Further north and into the Normandy region of France, we made our way to a Unesco World Heritage site – the island of Mont Saint-Michel.

It’s a unique monastery which sits on an island. The waterways around it are being restored to prevent erosion and to maintain the status of island..

After checking out the site, we stopped at a local store back on the mainland, and who did we meet there but an author!

Vincent M. is a photographer, actually, who spent several years taking photos of the beautiful Mont Saint-Michel and area at all hours of the day and all year-round. His photos and thoughts about his photos are published in this beautiful coffee-table book, written in both English and French.

My author had a nice visit with him and, as authors should always do. She supported him by buying a copy of his book and asking him to sign it. He was intrigued by me, the Never Leave Your Wingman book, of course, but since there was only one of me on this journey, he could only look but not keep – which is opposite of the advice we give others who meet me.

So that`s it for this part of our journey, folks. Have a good day and I look forward to talking to you again soon.

The next time you hear from me, I will have a very special guest. So stay tuned.

Take care.

Never Leave Your Wingman's Excellent European Adventure - Part 6 - Monaco

Hi, again. It's me, the Never Leave Your Wingman book. I haven't written to you for a long time because... well, because I'm a book for starters, but mostly because my author (who is actually helping me type this blog post) has been very busy this last while doing some travelling and speaking in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. She and her husband, whom I like to call Publisher Al, barely unpacked me from her backpack in early September when we returned from our fabulous vacation in Europe (see my first blog) ... and they were immediately on the road again to a trade show in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, quickly followed by trips to Weyburn, Estevan, Carlyle, Estevan again (a different trade show), Regina (where we live but to a trade show there), Swift Current, Brandon, Winnipeg, Vibank, Avonlea, Moose Jaw, Herbert, Saskatoon, Hague and Prince Albert. Whew! I'm dizzy just thinking about it. And they're not done yet.

You see, my publishers received a wonderful grant from the Saskatchewan Arts Board (thank you, Saskatchewan Arts Board!) to help them market and distribute their books this fall - including me, of course. I'm their 'pink book'... and I just became even more wonderful (if I do say so myself). I am now a National Bestseller in Canada, and I have been recognized with an Honorable Mention award in the Biography/Autobiography category of the 2013 Great Midwest Book Festival. Nice, huh? My friend Letters to Jennifer From Maudie & Oliver won an award this week, too - an Honorable Mention in the Cats category of the 2013 Animals, Animals, Animals Book Festival. Yay!

Anyway, my publishers are marketing and distributing their books this fall through extensive book tours that include trade shows and a pile of author/publisher presentations and events at schools, libraries, book stores, seniors' homes and more. My author Deana told me she has 22 presentations to make this week alone in east central Saskatchewan. They have the Canadian Western Agribition trade show and one in Saskatoon still plus some promotion planned in Alberta still. Pretty exciting, huh?

So before I get back to talking about my wonderful trip to Europe this summer, I want to show you what my author/publisher Deana and Publisher Al have been up to this past month and a half.

Here's Deana, ready to speak at the Weyburn Public Library.

She's talking to students at an elementary school in Estevan, Saskatchewan here.

Here's Deana and Al with a customer at an Estevan trade show.

They also helped Regina author Shae Therrien launch his book Interrupted with Bipolar. Shae has received more than 150 electroconvulsive therapy treatment to help his mental health stay stable. His book includes his journal entries and tips on understanding mental illness. My publishers had a lot of fun at Shae's launch. He has a great sense of humour, so you should check out one of my new friends, Interrupted with Bipolar by Shae Therrien.

The older students at Avonlea School were an interested bunch, listening to Deana talk about her writing career, the writing process, the books that she has written and the books that DriverWorks Ink has published and helped other authors self-publish.

Deana and Al travelled to Brandon, Manitoba in October and happily reconnected with Audrey Hanlon (on the right) and Elaine Rounds during Deana's presentation at the Daly House Museum. Audrey's late husband John Hanlon is the subject of Deana's book The Sailor and the Christmas Trees. You should really put this book in someone's Christmas stocking this year. It's a wonderful true story that will bring tears to your eyes.

And last but not least.... they've spent some time with our beautiful Dionne Warner - our favourite eight-time cancer survivor. (She was fighting her fifth, sixth and seventh cancer diagnoses when I was written. She's a walking miracle, for sure.)

Here, Dionne joined Al and Deana to sign and sell books at the Moose Jaw Whistlestop craft show.

The Riders lost that day, but that didn't stop them from having fun with Dionne's head gear (she had soft balls, I was told).

Here they are in Saskatoon, where they promoted me, the Never Leave Your Wingman book. They're having a little fun before their CTV Noon News interview (above)...

... and with host Jeff Rogstad, who enjoyed their pink get-ups in celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, of course. 

They signed books at Coles Midtown Plaza and then ...

... Deana and Dionne talked with the audience after Dionne spoke at an event at the Alice Turner Library.

And finally, Deana spoke to elementary students in Hague, Saskatchewan one morning. She says she is looking forward to the many other presentations yet to come this fall.

But now it's time to put the focus back on me and my Excellent European Adventure...

When I last left off, we were in Nice, France and I was loving the water and sand. From there, a day trip to the municipality of Monaco was one of the best days we'd had to that point. 

Some of the world's wealthiest people own yachts that they dock in Monaco's harbour. The fees can be ridiculously expensive, but Monaco is home to more millionaires per capita than any other place on Earth.

 

 I was so excited when the tour guide on our Hop-On-Hop-Off bus told us that we were travelling the same route that the Formula One race cars drive for the Monaco Grand Prix! I know that our friend Graham Warner (the Wingman of my story) loves NASCAR, so I could only think of him and how much he would have enjoyed being with us as we turned corners, went up and down the hills of Monaco... albeit quite a lot slower than the actual Grand Prix cars.

 It was pretty darn awesome!

And speaking of AWESOME... Publisher Al could hardly believe his eyes when he saw this red Rolls Royce convertible just sitting out there on the street in Monaco.

He asked my author to take a photo of me and the angel hood ornament so we could show our angel Dionne and her wingman Graham the cool car we saw. Imagine Al's surprise when he lifted his head up after this photo was taken, only to see two more Rolls Royce convertibles within a few seconds. You don't see that on the streets of Regina... or too many other places really. Wow.

Well, that's enough for this post. I'll get back to you soon with the next adventure in this series. Take care, everyone.