France travel report

[Stan Sakai]

A few of my travel reports have been accessible to the Dojo, either in the News section or as a link to another site. I never got around to posting my trip to France and Switzerland back in January, so here it is.

France 2005

Going to Europe three times in four months is a bit excessive, but I enjoy traveling and each of these trips were too good to pass up. I did have a couple of other invitations that I reluctantly had to decline, but, hopefully, I will be reinvited another year.

This time I was off to France. Readers of my reports may remember that the last time I was in Paris, a patron at an adjoining table in a restaurant choked to death on his dessert. Now I was going to the Angouleme Comics Festival by way of Switzerland. This was because 1)I have never been to Switzerland, and 2) my French publisher, Editions Paquet, is headquartered in Geneva.

Angouleme is a small, nondescript town in the Bordeaux region of France, built around the cathedral at the top of a hill. The city has a small resident population, but one week a year its numbers increase by 200,000 when it holds its annual Festival Internationale de la Bande Dessinee. 2005 was its 32nd year.

Monday, January 24, 2005
I arrived at LAX at 5:00 am for a 8:00 flight on American Airlines. That weekend, the East Coast had suffered the worst snow storms in years, and many flights were delayed or cancelled. Looking at the boards that morning I saw all flights arriving from the North East had already been cancelled. Upon entering the terminal, the greeter asked me where I was bound for. When I told ner, “New York”, she asked if I was a hold over from the previous days. It took an hour to get checked in, and another 30 minutes to get through security. The flight was delayed half an hour, but we got to JFK just minutes after our original scheduled arrival time. It was dark and overcast, but not nearly as much snow as I expected. I caught the Air Train from terminal 9 to International Terminal 4 with ease. I expected long lines, but they were almost non-existant.

The Swiss flight was delayed 90 minutes to de-ice the plane’s wings, and we waited our turn in the queue. The flight itself was uneventful, and the scenery of the snow capped mountains as we approached Geneva was awesome. Passport control took a matter of minutes, but baggage claim took almost an hour for the other passengers. For me, it took much longer. I waited. I waited some more, but no bags had come down the conveyor belt for some time. Finally, the carousel stopped completely. I went to the Swiss baggage counter, but they were unable to locate my bag. The Swiss rep escorted me outside where I again met Pierre Paquet, my French publisher, whom I had not seen for three years. He gave the rep his contact information, and she assured us that I would get my bag, though she could not say when. Swiss gave me a computer bag filled with some essentials--toiletries, clothing-- that would last me for a couple of days. It is a very nice bag and fits my computer perfectly.

That evening, Pierre drove three Spanish artists and myself across the French border to Annecy where we did a signing. Post signing, we all walked over to a wonderful restaurant for dinner.

Pierre had rented a large van, and we started for Angouleme at 11 pm. The French landscape was covered with snow, and there were small flurries in the air, but we reached Angouleme about 10 hours after we left Annecy. The festival venues were mostly in very large temporary structures scattered thoughout the city, and connected by shuttle buses. This year, there were 21 venues, including the cathedral and BD museum. We were to stay at the Premiere Class Hotel, about a 10 minute drive from the City Center. We lunched at a restaurant specializing in wood grilled items, then went on to the festival to set up the Paquet booth. I had not gotten over my jet lag, so I took a festival taxi and returned to my room for a nap. The taxi service is free to guests of the festival. As scheduled, the taxi picked me up at 6:30, and took me back to the festival.

We had dinner with the directors of FNAC, the largest media chain store in the country, with 60 outlets selling televisions, DVDs, CDs, electronics, and books. They may expand into the growing comic market. I had lobster pate, roast leg of lamb, and cream puffs covered with rich, dark chocolate. I got back to my room at 1. No sign of my luggage, but I did hear that it was sent to Bordeaux via an Air France flight.

Thursday, January 27, 2005.
The festival opened to the public today, but the bigger news for me is that my bag had arrived. It was delivered by taxi to the Paquet booth. I had bought a TSA lock just prior to the trip. It’s a combination lock that a Transportation Safety Administration officer can open with a special key. The lock was broken as were the zipper tabs that held it in place, and all my socks were gone. Curious. There must be a huge black market for Costco socks in France. Nothing else was disturbed.

Unlike the US, Europe has regarded comics as a legitimate art form, even moreso in France. The French bande dessinee (BD) market is undergoing a growth spurt, with about 60 new books being published every week. The average price per BD album is about 12.5 Euros (agout $16 US). The typical French album is full color, hard cover, with 48 pages. There is a wide range of genres, though not as many humor comics. There are also a lot of translated manga, and a quite a few American graphic novels.

France is the only country which publishes my Usagi Yojimbo in a larger 9x12” format. It is quite nice. I signed from 11 to 1, then broke for my favorite French lunch, a jambon sandwich. I took a walk through the two huge French publishers’ pavilions. Soleil seems to be the hot publisher now. They do books that are very commercial looking. Sort of what Image was in its heyday. Soleil had a room off our pavilion, with a huge screen showing music videios, a light show, and guests from the French version of American Idol. Soleil has bought the license to produce a comic book about the show. It will be interesting to see how a musical TV show will translate to a drawn page.

A few of our artists did not make it to the festival today because, as commonly happens, the French railway went on a sudden strike. It is the second day of the strike, and it would go on for another.

The festival closed at 7, and we went out for a tapas-style buffet. Wanting to leave earlier, 4 of us--Peter Kuper, Valentin (Valp), Peter de Seve, and myself--took a festival taxi back to our hotel. We got back by 11. The rest of our party returned at 2:30.

Friday, January 28, 2005
I woke up to an overcast sky, and a light powdering of snow on the ground. There were light showers all day, but, thanks to the cloud cover, it was not as cold as previous days. I had two interviews in the morning, and one scheduled for the afternoon. Senor Bottero, my Italian publisher, dropped by the Paquet booth. He gave me a copies of the latest Italian Usagi books, the last of the King Comics editions. The series will continue unter the Bottero imprint. Tomek of Egmont Poland, one of my two Polish publishers, also stopped by. He and Mandragora had sponsored my visit to Poland a few months ago. We scheduled to have lunch on Saturday. Pau, my good friend from Mallorca, stopped by to say hello. I last saw him two months ago in Madrid. I also saw Stuart Ng, a dealer who I usually see in San Diego, on a buying trip. I took a walk in the afternoon to see a couple of the other venues. First, though, I stopped off at the department store and bought some socks. A minor snag was that I did not know what size I wore. European clothing is measured differently than in the US. A size 38-44 sounded good to me, though it turned out it was a little snug. With the security of knowing I had clean socks, I continued touring the town. There was an Uncle Scrooge exhibit featuring artwork and memorabilia of Scrooge’s adventures, including the #1 dime and his suit down to his spats and garters. Curiously, they had photocopies of art framed on the walls, but no originals. There were people waiting in a line at the end of the hall to get a sketch from Don Rosa. I went to the dealers’ pavilion, a long structure with book, art, and toy sellers. At the end of the hall, self publishers were selling their books.

The festival closed at 7, and we went off to dinner. I had mussels in white wine, garlic, mushrooms, and saffron. These were European mussels, much smaller than the New Zealand Green or Manila Black. I was taught how to eat mussels the French way. After eating the first mussel, use its shell as tweezers to pinch the flesh out of the others. It works very well. I could not leave France without eating creme brulee, so ordered that for dessert. Again, a few of us took a festival taxi back to the hotel while the others continued to party. Man, am I getting old.

Saturday, January 29, 2005
As usual, we left for the convention at 9 for a 10:00 opening. I had a magazine interview to do, then signed until lunch at noon. Przemek Wrobel, of Mandragora, arrived with some large posters from my Polish tour. Tomek came by later, and we went off to lunch at a seafood restaurant. It was nice to get reacquainted, though it had only been a few months since last we had seen each other. We passed by the Uncle Scrooge pavilion. Yesterday, I had just walked in, but today there was a very long line waiting to enter.

I returned to the booth to find that my good friends Arnaud and his wife Zoki were there. They now have a son, 18 months old, named Milan. I continued signing until closing at nine. At 8:30, the Soleil room cranked up the music, and at nine, Pierre opened the champagne bottles. These French know how to party at a festival...and it’s not even closing day.

We went across the street to Au Bureau, where I again had mussels, this time traditionally in wine and garlic. Tiramisu was dessert. Tomek and a small Polish contingent were there, and came by. The director of the Lodz festival invited me to return. It’s a standing invitation, and I may take him up on it in a couple of years. I would like to spend more time in Cracow. I caught a ride back to the hotel with Arnaud and Zoki.

Sunday, January 30, 2005
I had a final interview to do at the start of the con, then signed until 1:00 when I broke for lunch. I left our pavilion at 3 to stretch my legs. I had wanted to see the Clair Wendling and Zep exhibition at the museum. I caught one of the free shuttle buses to the museum, but the lines for the special exhibits were much to long. Even the museum bookshop was very crowded. My main reason for going through the shop was to see if a new volume of Michetz’ Kogaratsu had been published. There were none, but I will be going to Belgium at the end of August to a comics festival at which Michetz will also be a guest.

I was back at the booth at 5, and signed until 7 when the festival closed. All during the day, we were saying good-bye to friends. We went to dinner at a seafood restaurant where I had musses with cream, tartare de saumon and tarte de tatin. We got back to the hotel at 1:30. I started packing, as we wanted to get an early start in the morning. I had traveled to Europe with one suitcase and a vow not to buy any BD. But the temptation was too great to resist, and my suitcase was already overweight with the number of albums I had gotten. Fortunately, I usually prepare for this, and pack an extra bag when I travel.

Monday, January 31, 2005
I rode back to Geneva with Arnaud and Zoki. It would be a nine hour drive, but I can think of worse ways to spend a day than motoring through the French countryside with two good friends. We drove north toward Paris, then straight east to Switzerland. About a quarter of the time was spent driving through thick fog, which gave the landscape an eerie feel with the many leafless trees and standing silhouettes of people indicating where a fatal accident had taken place. The black cut outs would appear, like phantoms in the mists. Creepy. We continued on our way through small towns, and past the occassional castle. We lunched at a cafe in a small twon, which served the only bad French meal I had ever eaten. We traveled on small, two lane highways for about half the trip, having to pass many trucks. Because trucks pay a much lower gasoline rate, they are an economical method of transportation. And, because of the uneven economy in countries, trucks are used to transport goods often for silly sounding reasons. For instance, potatoes that are grown and harvested in Germany are often sent to Italy for washing. They are then sent back to Germany for processing and distribution.

Tuesday, February 1, 2005
I explored the Old Town section of Geneva across the river from the Hotel Cristal. It was snowing in Switzerland. How appropriate. Geneva is not a large city, so walking it is not a problem. I also strolled through the lake side park. There is no Floral Clock this time of year, of course, and the Jet D’eau, the symbol of Geneva was turned off. However, I got to walk the 100 meter causeway, covered with about an inch of ice to where Europe’s tallest fountain sat in the lake. I’m a fan of the reality series The Amazing Race, and the Jet D’eau is one of the places contestants had to go to and retrieve a clue. When we were guests of a convention in Mexico City, we went to all the race stops, including the “fast forward”.

There were a lot of icicles formed around the port--on the quay, and the boats, even on the Jet D’eau. I learned that while we were in Angouleme, Geneva was experiencing terrible winds. Icicles had formed on many of the boats, sinking thirty of them.

Thursday, February 2, 2005
My last full day in Europe found me on the road to Lausanne, being driven by Gilles de Diesbach, the attache de presse for Paquet. He is to report for military duty on Friday. All male Swiss citizens 18-32 must serve two weeks a year in the army. He is now a lieutenent.

Lausanne is the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee and its museum. It is one of the best museums I have ever been to. The building itself is well designed, and the gardens and sculptures are beautiful. The ponds outside were frozen solid. I was amused by a sign at the ticket desk that read “Only Visa and Cash accepted”. Just like in the commericals. There is a hall telling the story of the classic Olympic games of Greece, and one of the Modern Olympics. There is also a display of the torches throughout the years. The second floor is mainly comprised of memorabilia donated by athletes--medals, signed uniforms, shoes, equipment, etc. One display has Jesse Owens’ shoes, made by the man who would go on to found the Addidas Shoe company. Another display held the swim trunks of the slowest man to swim the 1000 meter freestyle--he came in a full minute after the winner. There were also monitors throughout the museum showing classic moments from Olympic history. One screen might show Mary Decker falling on the track in the 1984 LA Games, while on the next screen Katarina Witt is winning her gold at Sarajevo.

We had lunch at an Italian restaurant with Phil, a reporter for the Swiss newpaper. I had the best pasta carbonara I have ever had. It came with a raw egg. Delicious.

Gilles took me on a quick tour of the city, then I had a three hour signing at the Librairie Glenat Lausanne book store. There were not many people there, but they bought out the store’s Usagi inventory and I was kept busy the entire time. One fan gave me a large box of handmade chocolates.

We went to a dinner party at Arnaud and Zoki’s home in the countryside. Also there was Pierre and his girlfriend, France.

Thursday, February 3, 2005
It was a beautiful, sunny day in Geneva. Pierre picked me up at the Hotel Cristal at 8:30. That gave us a lot of time to get to the airport for my 10:15 flight. Geneva has a small international airport, and there was no waiting to check in. I got a window seat on the flight to Zurich, and the scenery was magnificent. The peak of Mont Blanc, however, was was covered with clouds so I have yet to see it. Perhaps I will on another visit.

Zurich International is a much larger airport. I thought I might have to take a train to another terminal, but my gate turned out to be just a five minute walk from my arrival gate. The flight was delayed for half an hour to wait for a couple of connecting flights, still the plane was not very full. Zurich had a heavy cloud cover which prevented much of a view. I had a bulkhead seat which gave me lots of leg room and the adjoining seat was unoccupied, so I was very comfortable. There was a scheduled lunch at the beginning of the flight then a snack at the end, but Swiss cabin attendants came through the aisles every half hour offering drinks, chocolates, or cookies. Every seat had a personal DVD monitor with a nice selection of movies and TV shows. I was also able to get some work done. Flying over to Switzerland, I had managed to thumbnail Usagi Issue 84. Returning to LA, I did UY 85.

We got to LA just 20 minutes after our scheduled arrival time. I quickly went through passport control. I was a bit disappointed that my passport did not get stamped at all on this trip. Bags were coming down as soon as we got to baggage claim. I waited. I waited some more. The crowd was starting to thin. I was getting worried. It was such a relief to finally see my bags coming down the conveyor together, as if keeping tabs on each other. It was nice to be home.