I'm back in Paris and saw off my host family on their trip to America. It was a gorgeous day, and I decided to get out and walk and see some of the sights.

I started by painting the Gare St. Lazare. I found out today that the bus that sails downtown on a Sunday morning is painfully stalled in weekday traffic. So I jumped ship at Gare St. Lazare.

It felt a little silly to tear up in a train station, but I had the poster of Monet's amazing painting of this place on my wall all through middle and high school. It was powerful to be there in person.

After doing the sketch I hopped the Metro downtown and just walked to get my bearings and see the sights. Since I had gone towards Notre Dame last week, I walked down the Champs Élysées this time. It was busy and crowded, so not somewhere I'll revisit often, but fun to see.

I also hadn't seen the Eiffel Tower up close yet, so I found a quieter street and worked my way over.

There was a tiny spring festival going on just at the base, so I dived in to see and came our with a blue polka dot scarf and a little paella.

I walked back away from the tower and towards a metro station that would take me home. I loved seeing all the Parisians out enjoying their parks and public spaces.

After lengthy public transport rides yesterday I decided to stay closer to home and get my bearings in my new neighborhood. It's a lovely place, near both Montmartre and the funky shop neighborhood of Abbesses. I started there, cruising down the Rue Daremont on my way, checking out charcuteries and art stores as I went.

I set up to do my first piece of a corner building covered with vines I'd spotted out with my hosts my first night on France.

Then I walked on, visited the Art Deco church in Abbesses. It has lovely murals and stained glass, as well as the loveliest roll of honor I've ever seen, done in brilliant mosaic.

I wound my way up the hill of Montmartre to the Sacre Coeur and was surprised to find such crowds of tourists. It felt like downtown all of a sudden. That church also had lovely mosaics. I fell for the small, intimate, modern stations of the cross that line the ambulatory.

I finished having lunch at a cafe in a busy square, more for the view and the table to draw at than for the food.

I took a nap, did grocery shopping, and did a smaller circle of the neighborhood before cooling dinner. I now feel quite confident getting myself around the diagonal streets, so different from the grid of Memphis that I'm used to. It's nice to start feeling at home here.

I successfully made it to Chartres the second time. I've remembered this trip how much I enjoy train travel. Unlike plane trips, you show up maybe ten minutes ahead of time, and instead of being trapped in hermetically sealed buildings during layovers, you can just walk outside to sit in the sunshine.

I did the above sketch at Le Mans, and Tours had a gorgeous promenade with a double row of sycamore trees where I spent my half hour there.

Chartres was lovely. I grew up madly in love with gothic cathedrals, thanks to early visits to my mom's school chums (she graduated from the University of Edinburgh). Chartres has the added bonus of many, many intact windows of jewel-like Medieval glass. The deep blues and reds are amazing.

I spent more time as a tourist than as an artist. I pored over each window, trying to decipher the stories frame by frame with the help of two guide books (my totally dorky side).

I also loved the labyrinth set into the stones of the nave. Sadly, it was largely covered with chairs so I couldn't walk the maze, but it was powerful just to stand with my feet on that pilgrage place and, especially at this transition time in my life, think about walking a path that God has laid out for me.

I did finally do a watercolor as well. There's a lovely small garden beside the cathedral, and I'm enjoying formal gardens this trip.

One last night in my room at Azay le Rideau let me sketch it, since it's now much loved spot and something of a haven. I'd forgotten how much I love a slanted ceiling and a skylight.

I also painted the chimney pots at dusk. I don't think I've noticed such literal "pots" as I have on my trip here. Delightful.

So I was supposed to go to Chartres today, but I utterly failed to navigate the public transportation system. I looked up the train schedule on the French rail website, which has been beautifully reliable up until now, hauled my two packs the 20 minute walk to the station, and waited in perfect solitude for a train that never appeared.

Apparently the train website gives bus connections too, so somewhere (not at the train station), a bus was leaving that I needed to be on.

I took it as a sign that I was supposed to be enjoying the delightful Hotel de Biencourt, and my bed with both sun and moonbeams, for one more night. I had been sad to leave, so I'm quite happy for one more night.

I also celebrated by eating lunch from the marvelous patisserie one more time (though I may run get dinner there as well). I had a marvelous quiche and then this lovely tart.

I painted it as well, since I can't actually take it with me. That's it at the top of this post.

Her's a chocolate tart I had several days ago. Everything I've tried has been marvelous.

So tomorrow I'll try again for Chartres, but today I'm happily enjoying the sunbeam from the skylight over my bed.

I walked out from Azay le Rideau yesterday to visit a chateau garden. It was maybe three miles out there, which was good for burning off all the marvelous food I've been eating. It was a slightly less than pleasant walk, however. There was no shoulder on the road whatsoever. Pedestrians get great respect in towns here, but this road, at least, did not offer a good space for them.

It felt great to stretch my legs, however, and the gardens were fun. The French don't seem to have the robust topiary I'm used to in English gardens. I'd hoped to paint some of those funky shapes. The gardens do reflect the long history of delicate, courtly French art, which makes sense now that I think of it. And I found a high enough viewpoint to get some good pattern in my composition.

It was chilly and kind of late, so I only did one. Here are another couple of photos of the garden.

I loved that they had a garden of dance.

I'm so enjoying my stay here (basic things like a lovely room at the Hotel de Biencourt and some marvelous food) that I spent a third night here. I walked out this morning to sketch on the town and found the weekly market going, so I bought some apples and did a sketch.

For lunch I ate at a cafe just up from my hotel, mostly for the view, and sketched my street. I become a self indulgent urban sketchers in Europe and gravitat to sidewalk cafes for comfort and refreshment while working. Not generally an option in America, sadly.

There's a skylight above the bed in my room. I'm up under the eaves in a delightful space, and I was even more self indulgent after lunch and took a nap in a sunbeam. In a supreme act of will, I pried myself back out around 3:30 to revisit the chateau grounds before leaving tomorrow. I love the trees there and did twofer sketches of them. Overall, a lovely day.

I took the train to Azay le Rideau today. I'm staying just beside one chateau, which I toured and painted today, and there's another chateau with more gardens two or three miles out of town that I can walk to tomorrow.

For some reason I was just worn out today, and I don't think the top painting is one of my best, but I was more happy with the pair of sycamores I painted. They are just lovely and are also on the chateau grounds.

Here's a photo of the chateau, since I didn't do it justice.

I took the bus from Amboise to Chenenceau today, and it was stunning. Those who know me will be slightly surprised I made it past the sycamore-lined boulevard to the house. What a lovely approach! But the house was a knockout, with beautiful carvings and details and an overall gorgeous situation.

The light was just right as I got there at ten, so I painted first and then toured the house during the midday flat sun. That took quite a while, and afterwards I explored the rest of the gardens and painted lines of tulips in the cutting garden while waiting for my train.

I finishes the day having dinner in the main square below the chateau in Amboise. I keep painting the Leonardo chapel, but it's in such a stunning situation.

I haven't met many people here interested in my drawing, but a girl at the next table, Laure, was an avid artist herself and watched me work. It was fun to practice my French talking to her and her family. And lovely to have a bit of company when I'm traveling alone. I hope she keeps drawing.

I walked into Amboise from the railroad station across this  bridge over the Seine and was met by the chateau towering above me. I found a hotel and headed there immediately to both tour and sketch. I felt such a closeness to my Grandmother Wellford as I toured the place. The summer I was 17, she took me on a six week trip to England and Scotland. We got Britrail passes, got off the train at each stop, wheeled our suitcases to the tourist information place to find a place to stay, and rolled our suitcases there as well. We were a month into the trip before we had a firm place we knew we would stay that night (with a friend of hers in Edinburgh).

We also toured many stately homes together, she looking closely at every piece of antique furniture and me spending extra time in each garden. She would love seeing these chateaux with me, and I'm so grateful to her for giving me the early can-do feeling of traveling on trains in a foreign country. It was a wonderfully powerful thing to do for a 17 year old girl, and I am eternally grateful to her, as well as to my parents who traveled with us early and often.

I did my first sketch after touring the chateau and finding my way to the top of the garden.

This is the view over the walls and down into the square below.

Here's the stunning old tree in the garden that caught my eye.

Quick watercolor of the sunset last night. I was done for the day and taking a walk after dinner, and this view caught my eye.

The chateau where Leonardo spent his last years.

A very quick sketch done at dinner tonight. They were closing and wanted my table and chair.