Trail Ridge Timber Frames, Inc.

France Tour 2007

(the mystery of the famous peg burglaries)

Paris and Le Mans
 
Early morning Paris is wonderful, well, except for the traffic and those motorcycles! I hear they have one fatality a day. It's the side streets that are wonderful- people walking to work, markets opening their doors - everything is cool and fresh. (However, at fresh fruit markets don't squeeze the produce -I got my hand slapped!) Look at this young man - I bet he's an artist making his way to the Louvre for a day of painting.

Here is the location of that famous scene from my favorite movie, " "Ratatoulle". If you remember the scene: Emelle is being chased by.... Disney has actually, more than once, been a source for timber framed inspiration for me. Watch "Snow White". I have, countless times- I have a 8 year old daughter.
What a lovely street by the Louve - hold it, I think I just saw Tom Hanks, who, probably was scoping the site for Da Vinci Code II- "Da Vinci meets Terminator". Darn, I wasn't fast enough with my camera. "Tom - wait, Tom - can I have an autograph?"
Here is the Louvre and some glass triangular thing - spaceship maybe? It was at the Louvre that I first came across the path of the peg bandit. It happened like this:

I was ambling along looking at paintings, chewing gum, looking for a bathroom, getting tired of chewing gum, looking for a trash can. No bathrooms and no trash cans were in sight so I thought, "I can stick my gum behind one of the paintings." But there were so many people. The Mona Lisa was definitely out. I finally came across an uncrowded hallway leading to closed double doors. There was a sign with red writing in front, a red light above, and a rope barrier. "I wonder if there is any art down this hall," I thought. Then "bam" as soon as I opened the door all hell broke loose. To be continued...
Who else? No, not the peg bandit, but John the Baptist.

The case of the peg bandit; the story continues...

...all hell broke loose. Alarms went off, the red light flashed, someone was saying something in French over the loud speaker. "My God, there must be a burglary in progress," I guessed. "Oh my, I better get out of here." So I ran down hall after hall until I was far away. It was then it hit me, "Maybe it was the peg bandit trying to steal a painting!" Wow, what a close call.
Having fled the Louvre I sat by this fountain and calmed myself. The stone lip was a great place to put my gum.
The Arc de Triumph, which we all know, was erected in honor of Lance Armstrong. After all, he did win 8 times!(or was it 7 times?) and of course he finished each time on this very street - The Champs Elysees. Viva la Lance!
Notre Dam. (Unfortunatly Louis Holtz wasn't in. Go fighting Irish!) On my first visit it was raining. What I learned from this was that the entire upper roof funnels water into the flying butresses, which have gutters atop each. The water then pours out of the mouths of the gargoyles. I deduced three conclusions: First and most obvious - what an ingenious way to deal w/ rain! Second, the hideous gargoyles spewing forth were metaphorical for the wrath of God above and instilled the proper amount of fear and humility in those that walked by. Lastly, it was a clever marketing strategy the catholic church employed to bolster its umbrella sales.
On top of the only hill in Paris is Monte Marte. Known for its windy shady streets, roving bands of abusive artists (they harass you in hopes of painting a picture), and cheap art, it is also the site of Sacre Core, which can be seen in the background at left. I entered the church while the nuns were singing mass in Latin and found the experience to be one if the most esthetic experiences of the trip (seriously). Well that, coupled with the experience of watching the priest escort a young lady tourist out of the church. She was wearing a revealing tank top that was not exactly appropriate for mass. But that is Sacre Core (and Monte Marte) - a high holy place with slot type machines in the church foyer where tourists can buy tokens commemorating their visit, and ... just a short stroll away is Moulin Rouge, the topless dance capital of Paris.
I believe some of these painting are original Monets - and for a great price!
After meeting up with my fellow timber frame ambassadors of goodwill, we headed south to the city of LeMans. Having arrived in LeMans the day of the "big race", we went, instead, to this sensational medieval church, with its stunning array of flying buttresses! There we were greeted by several enthusiastic young compagnons from the local carpenters guild school. Because of the language barrier the enthusiam quickly died down and we ended up just looking at each other.
From there we started a grueling nonstop walking tour of the church and historic LeMans, with narry a stop for food or drink. You can see the fatigue in the tour member wondering aimlessly away at right - poor chap! Oh, I might also point out the fine example of a "Norman style" roof in the background.
Imposing buttress above the church entrance. Notice the umbrella motivating gargoyles at the top.
Another opportunity for improving cross cultural communication by staring at each other. (I think mostly I took this picture because the little girl made me think of my little girl back home.) However, after I took this picture the horse peed on the girls feet and we were able to share that universal language know as..."laughter".
Here is Bruno talking to the town guide. Bruno, a compagnon graduate and citizen of France, has been working in the U.S. for differant timber frame shops, where he has proven how unsurpassed the skill level of the French compagnon system is. We were hoping to access the church's timbered roof but instead we see the town guide here, telling Bruno that the authorities heard that the peg bandit was near. Who could he be?
A solitary flying buttress - for many people , flying buttresses are the archetypical medieval form. Its primary purpose is less form and more function - it keeps the roof from spreading the walls, collapsing, and killing all the people inside. Proper design sequence should always be: fear, function, form (which, unfortunately, is often followed by "forgetfulness"- "now why were those flying buttresses important?" For timber framers today this is the primary problem with modern hammer beam designs - no flying buttresses.) I think that is enough technical preaching for now.
Feeling a bit footsore we staggered down this lovely medieval street. I don't read French but its my guess that the shop to our right has something to do with pianos -just a guess.
This looks like a wonderful place for a quick respite, but no - we must see every timbered building in LeMans, or else!
The original city wall, perhaps another nice spot for a break?
"Oh the twist and turns we took,

down many a lane and street,

as I from faint, thought of food to cook,

and our leader, going on and on, I conpsired to beat!"
What is this? Something worthy of stopping for? An old Puegot bicycle. My first racing bike was a Puegot, the same one ridden by Eddie Merkx - well not exactly "the same one" - the same type...
After a long awaited rest we start the next day at the compagnon school where those enthusiatic students were from. We visited several schools on our trip. Each student spends around 7 years learning the trade and are required to live full time at the school. In the U.S. we learn vocational trades in a different manner - me for example: I learned by watching "This Old House", "Tool Time", and "Oprah." The Timber Frame Guild of North America and some of the French compagnon schools are now starting an exchange program - will the French pick up on some of our learning techniques?

But wait! - who is that person taking the picture? Is that Greg, the famous international peg bandit sleuth? Could he be closing in on the peg bandit? Is the peg bandit one of our own members?

 

One particular highlight of the trip were the "masterpieces" that each compagnon student was required to do to graduate. Each, typically, was an exact scale model of a historic building. Imagine the hours spent! Every year the best masterpiece throughout France is chosen and recognized. In Angers we would visit the comagnon musuem where we saw the "best of the best"...ever!

 

 

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