Musee de l'Imprimerie

Friday was an absolutely wonderful day! Alison and I went down to the Printing Museum that is in the Mediatheque, right by our school. I was a little worried that she would think it was kind of dull, I know not everybody gets as excited about museums as I do. Turns out we're a good match, she thought it was all really neat! The beginning of the museum is really just a collection of artifacts kind of spread willy-nilly behind glass cases. At this point, the French is pretty advanced, so we were really struggling to translate some of it. We ended up giving up at that point, and I explained what I could about what I saw. She seemed like she really appreciated it, she calls me her walking encyclopedia. The set-up of the museum was a little confusing. We walked out of the room with the cases and into what looked like a giant work room. After a couple of minutes of standing around looking lost, a woman came up to us and asked, in French of course, if we were there for a tour. We said yes, and she led us through the history of type, then the history of presses. It was really cool! The neat part for me was seeing the past and future of the type and presses that I used at Living History Farms. 1875 is a pretty specific year, so it was neat to see what had led up to and come from my machines!

The neatest part is when we got to see the process of creating etchings. The artist draws on a marble slab using a wax crayon, being extra careful so their hands never touch the surface of the stone. Once they've finished the drawing, it is taken over to the curing table. Two different powders are poured over the drawing, then oil. The process is repeated, then the drawing is wiped away. This process actually engraves the drawing into the stone. The ink is added, with turpentine spread around the parts where ink isn't wanted. A wheel, similar to the proof press at the farms, is pulled over the stone and paper and the image is transfered. The really neat part about all of this is that we got to see actual art being created. There were an English man and his wife there, and the man is an artist. He had drawn a design on the stone in record time, and they made six copies for him. Alison and I stood by to watch, and ended up doing some translating, which was really cool. Much harder, as you have to know specifics instead of just the general idea. Anyway, long story short, after the artist had signed and numbered all six copies, he gave one to the museum, one to Alison, and one to me!!!! I feel like I stole some great work of art, its so pretty! Alison and I agreed that it was a really awesome day. Yesterday I stayed home for the most part; took the dog on a walk, went on a run, got a ton of reading done. We were all supposed to meet as a group to watch the big rugby match together, like we did last week....but there wasn't anybody at the cathedral at the designated time. And, of course, I'd forgotten my cell phone. I checked the bar we'd gone to last time, then stood in front of the cathedral for about thirty minutes, but nobody showed up. I ended up hopping the 21/23 bus home, which takes the same route as the night bus and isn't too far away from my house. I figured I'd check to see when the next bus was. There was one three minutes after I got off, and one an hour and a half later. I gave it up for broke, walked home, and called Caitlin. She and Christine had gone out to dinner at the creperie we'd gone to earlier, and had gotten tied up. They'd tried to call, but, of course, I didn't have my phone. I ended up watching the match with my dad, kinda. Everybody (myself included) expected New Zealand to win, they have been the overall favorites....but big surprise, FRANCE WON!! WOO!! It was really awesome to watch. My dad was downstairs, and every time France scored he'd come running up the stairs, yelling at Charlotte. It was really funny. Today at lunch (which was AMAZING, carrots that tasted like they were from pot roast, rice, chicken, and mushrooms, plus an apple tart!) he kept hitting the table and singing "we are the champions" in French and "La vie est belle". It was really funny. And you know what? He's right. Life is pretty darn beautiful.