I’m just getting into my new trip. This time I’m in France — working on TV shows and updating our France and Paris guidebooks with my co-author Steve Smith.
I’ve spent this past week in Paris working on the guidebook. With the luxury of an entire week to settle into one place, I’ve been able to connect with this city like never before: sipping a kir before dinner (a genteel-feeling way to begin a meal)…spending enough time to really “be” in the Orangerie so I could take a virtual stroll around the edge of Monet’s lily pond with the artist himself…developing a taste for pistachio macaroons…looking forward to hearing the folk troupe of Russian musicians that plays in the Métro station nearest my hotel…and getting used to setting my nighttime clock by the Eiffel Tower doing its top-of-the-hour, crazy-twinkle routine.
Last night, outside of Paris, in Chartres, I had some quality time all alone with the Gothic statues of Chartres Cathedral. The setting sun brought life to the expressions on their delicately carved faces. As I stood there, quiet and unrushed, it almost felt as though they were struggling to share with me the stories they’ve told eight centuries of pilgrims. I took some of the best photos I can remember — then celebrated with a salade de gésiers of bouncy lettuce and chicken innards, washed down with a life-is-good carafe of red house wine.
Back at my hotel, as I sorted through my intimate moments with those statues through the viewing screen of my camera, I accidentally erased everything on my memory card. Lesson learned: Never cull-out photos with a wine buzz.
Considering the images I’d lost, at first I was depressed. Then, I decided to let my memory of those images be a reminder of the richness of the travel experiences I’ve enjoyed in just a few days so far on this trip: Biking through the vast and fanciful garden of Versailles…tasting duck and mango at the same time…thrilling at mountain climbers rappelling down the side of the Eiffel Tower…learning to open a crayfish properly with the chef at a great new fish restaurant on the Left Bank…visiting the army museum and empathizing with Napoleon’s gloom after Waterloo and France’s enthusiasm for de Gaulle after WWII…checking out the new, lovable little electric car Renault has on display on the Champs-Elysées…taking a virtual stroll with Monet along the banks of his water-lily pond, painted lovingly onto a vast canvas at the Orangerie…and thinking how impressive it is that little tiny children here already speak French…
Yes, my photos are gone, and from now on I’ll back things up more carefully. But, photos or not, memories like these will stick with me forever, and vividly.
Tomorrow it’s on to Amboise. My trip is just starting and it’s so clear, the memory stick that really matters is the one atop my shoulders.
Happy travels!
Thanks for a beautiful post, Rick. I felt as though I was in Paris having the same experiences. Please keep writing more of these longer posts — I really miss them, and I`m sure others do too!
Your photos are not permanently gone! I`ve used PhotoRescue several times (Mac or Windows) on a camera`s memory card (with the card inserted into a card reader in my computer) and have managed to retrieve deleted photos for several friends. No affiliation–just a satisfied customer–unless you really would like to have those photos consigned to memory as you said? It must be a real treat to be able to savor the moments instead of rushing around!
I`m a professional photographer who just wants to add a quick note for anyone who sees this post but doesn`t see the more extensive Facebook discussion: The most important thing to do if you inadvertently erase images from a camera`s memory card is *don`t record anything else onto that memory card.* Buy another card — they`re cheap everywhere now — and use it until you get memory card recovery software (Google it) or until you can have a professional recover the erased images for you. (Don`t give up if only one person tells you they`re unrecoverable; talk to another expert or ask at photogoraphers at photo.net.) Images that have been “erased” from a card are almost always recoverable via a variety of means (if the card hasn`t been physically crushed, that is), but if new images are recorded onto that card all bets are off and the images are often unrecoverable.
Readers, replace those “[INVALID]” notations with em-dashes, please. (Baffling bug in this blog software.)
Last year had the brief pleasure of meeting Steve Smith in Colmar. He helped me in catching the correct bus to Riquewihr. I just returned from Solvenia and Croatia ( Ljubljana, Lake Bohinj and Bled, Rovinj, Plitvice, Split, Dubrovnik, Mostar) two weeks ago. You and your writers have not failed me in all my travels! My adventures have been life changing! I look forward to going to Istanbul in October. Downloaded your book on my nook. Will be interested in your new France “discoveries”. cheers, mary louise ventura CA
They aren`t gone. Just don`t write anything else on that card and bring it home to a nerd who will recover them for you. I wiped out a couple shoots right before a photography midterm once. It took a few hours, but I got them back.
Was able to finally visit the Orangerie on my last visit to Paris last September…Monet is so brilliant!! Anyone who`s fortunate enough to visit Paris should get to the Orangerie.
Looking forward to hearing the folk troupe of Russian musicians that plays in the Métro station nearest my hotel…and getting used to setting my nighttime clock by the Eiffel Tower doing its top-of-the-hour, crazy-twinkle routine. _____________ Steven Map of London
I don’t know if Rick or others in his organization read our comments but if there is revision of the France book taking place, I would hope that he adds information about Brittany, the Central Massif area and the Pyrenees. There is so much in each of the areas to see. I realize that not as many tourists go to these areas but some of us do and would appreciate information from RS. Thanks!