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Stan Sakai wrote: February 10, 2014

Travels with Foggy Bear -- part 1
I was talking with Sharon about some of the trips he had taken, and we started to talk about the times that Foggy Bear would go with me.
Sharon used to accompany me on some of my foreign trips or a festival may invite Sergio Aragones along with me, but, for the most part, I used to travel alone. When the kids were younger, I would sometimes take Foggy along. We got Foggy in Northern Spain so he already had some experience in Europe. Here he is in Ghent, Belgium in 2006.


Foggy enjoyed walking along the streets of Ghent.


We even walked up the stairs of the Belfry of Ghent, though he complained a lot.


But the view from the top was worth it.


Here he is in front of the castle. There is a medieval torture museum, which scared him a bit.


So we had to get him a cup of coffee and chocolate to soothe his nerves. Ghent has at least one chocolatier on every block.


"Ghent" means "confluence", and three rivers meet here. We decided to take a boat tour of the city.

A little bit of trivia--The city, at one time had a huge rat problem, so they painted the building with cow's blood. It controlled the rats, but the smell was a bit overpowering. Nowadays, they just use paint.


Foggy even got to pilot the boat, but had a hard time seeing over the steering wheel.


He even got his picture taken with the boat's captain.


We walked up the stairs of the Ghent cathedral for another great view.

Stan Sakai wrote: February 11, 2014

Travels with Foggy -- part 2
In 2007, Foggy and I had traveled to Belgium to help celebrate the 40th birthday of my Dutch publisher. Brussels is the capital of Belgium, and of the European Union. This was my second time in that city, the first was when I had an art exhibit in the Japan Tower, a national landmark. Here are some of the city sights that Foggy had seen.


We stayed in the top floor of a quaint hotel with a skylight that opened up. This is the view we had if we stood on a chair. We could imagine John Robie the Cat, from To Catch a Thief prowling the rooftops between the chimney pots.


This is the central plaza, surrounded by the fancy guild houses.


More of the elaborate guild houses.


The world famous Manneken Pis. Sometimes he would be dressed up in various outfits--gaucho, soldier, or even Elvis. I've only seen him naked though. Giant buses would navigate these narrow streets so tourists can see the awesome wonder of a statue of a little boy peeing.


Foggy wanted this photo of himself with a lion because it made him feel brave.


Ever helpful, Foggy helped this little old lady look for her keys.

Stan Sakai wrote: February 12, 2014

Travels with Foggy -- part 3, Lyon, France
Years ago, I did a couple of signings in Lyon in central France and Foggy Bear was nice enough to accompany me.


We took the train from Paris. Foggy always takes the window seat because he like the view and so he doesn't get car sick. We almost got off at the wrong station. Lyon was the only town on the route with two stations. I got off at the first one, but Foggy insisted we stay on, and he was right.


That is Notre Dame de Fourviere on the top to the hill.

Foggy likes to photo bomb my pictures. He can be a nuisance that way.


Lyon was built on the confluence of the Rhone and Saone Rivers.


We took the funicular to the top of the hill for a panoramic view of the city.


At the cathedral.


Foggy likes to play in leaves.


Lyon was established as a Roman colony, and there are ruins there.


Foggy does not like the dark, so waited outside while I explored.


He was glad to see me again.


Foggy likes to climb, and there were many opportunities to do some rock climbing.


or column climbing.


He waited patiently at the amphitheater waiting for the show to start.

It never did.


After an exciting day, Foggy always enjoys some cafe and and chocolate

Stan Sakai wrote: February 12, 2014

Travels with Foggy Bear -- part 4

Continuing with Foggy's France Adventure from about 7 years ago, we make it to the City of Lights.


Outside the opera house. This was our first time staying in the Opera District, and we got lost one night. To make it worse, I had forgotten the name of my hotel. We wandered around for awhile looking for familiar landmarks. We finally went into a random hotel, and talked to the concierge who directed us to, what he thought from our description, was our hotel. I usually make it a point to ask for a business card whenever we check in to a hotel, but just forgot that day.


Photo bombing the Grand Arch, the largest of the three arches in Paris


We took a tour of the catacombs. The bones are arranged to make very elaborate patterns and designs. Foggy was pretty brave, considering he does not like the dark. We had to go back to return a thigh bone he had picked up.


One of the best views of the city is from the Sacre-Coeur, the church on the top of the Montmartre, the highest point in Paris. We arrived just as a choir of nuns were singing, and it was one of two most memorable choirs I have ever heard. The other was at a party hosted by Tezuka Studios in Tokyo when they had a choir of school children dressed in uniforms and white gloves singing the Astro Boy theme.


Photo bombing Notre Dame. There was a long line to climb to the top so we skipped that, having done it on another trip.


There was a long line to stand on Point Zero, the spot from where all distances in France are measured. It is considered good luck to stand on the spot and spin on one heel.

Stan Sakai wrote: February 13, 2014

Travels with Foggy Bear -- part 5

Continuing Foggy's France Adventure from about 7 years ago. I've wanted to visit Mont St Michel ever since I first heard about it. It is at the boundary of Brittany and Normandie, an area of extreme tides. It is said that the tides could rise faster than a horse could run. The abbey off shore used to be accessible only at low tide, but now it is connected by a permanent causeway.


From Paris, we took the train to Rennes, then a bus to Mont St Michel. As usual, Foggy wanted his own window seat.

Stan Sakai He paid for his own seat, so it's good.


We stayed about a mile away, and walked over the causeway to the town of Mont St Michel and to the abbey. I carried Foggy all the way, otherwise he would run after the sheep.

Stan Sakai The sheep feed on brine grass, so have a great taste to them. I had similar lamb in Croatia, and they are delicious especially roasted over an open fire.


Looking out of the abbey.


Foggy liked the details of the architecture.


I was pretty nervous when Foggy climbed onto the wall.


It is low tide. When the tide comes in, the abbey is surrounded by water.


Inside the abbey.


A local apple for a treat. I bought a bottle of calvados, the local apple brandy, to bring back home. It's really strong, and most of it is still in my cupboard.

Stan Sakai wrote: February 14, 2014

Travels with Foggy Bear -- part 6

Continuing the French adventures of Foggy's trip to France about 7 years ago. St Malo is a walled city on the coast of Brittany in France on the English Channel. It was the home of the corsairs, privateers, or, in other words, pirates. There small islands just off shore, many of them occupied by small forts. There is a great comics festival there every October, and that is why we were there.


Outside of the city walls.

There was a great restaurant in St Malo, where we ate as much as possible. They had a great dessert of poached pears drizzled with chocolate. Delicious!


On the beach, just across from an island fort.


On the city walls.


Foggy likes the walls.

You know that castle from the Tony Curtis/Kirk Douglas movie The Vikings? It is just down the coast. You can take a boat ride past it. We did not have the time for that, though. We did go to the WW 2 German fort.


Here he is in front of a guard house. He is a little too short to be a lookout.


Photo bombing the French flag.

Stan Sakai wrote: February 15, 2014

Travels with Foggy Bear -- part 7

This concludes Foggy's French adventure from 2007, as we explore the Emerald Coast of France. Special thanks to Fanfan de Sigognac who took off a week from work to act as our tour guide. Foggy and I had a great time, and it was one of our most memorable trips.


Our first stop was the Rotheneuf carved rocks. A hermit spent 25 years carving out the rocks of this beach into fantastic figure of men and monsters. Foggy thought the profile of this guy look like him, but I think Foggy's nose is much bigger.


Foggy liked this sea monster capturing this guy.


This was in October, the start of the mussel season. We had great mussels and oysters. Yum!


This is an area called "the point of the pig's nose". There is an old WW2 bunker here.


The town of Cancale, known for it's oyster beds. The tides are very extreme here. In about an hour these boats will be floating in deep water. Booths were selling fresh oysters, as cheap as $5 a dozen. You could eat them there, then discard the shells on the beach which were covered with them. You can't get them fresher than this.


Overlooking the French countryside.





Posing in front of a standing stone in a farmer's field. The ground was being furrowed, and the tractor would circle around the stone.


Another standing stone. There is a legend around this one--the world will end when it eventually sinks into the earth.


I would not let Foggy climb to the top of the stone. You can see how upset he was.


This part of France--Brittany--plays a significant part in the King Arthur legends.

Stan Sakai wrote:
February 15, 2014

Travels with Foggy Bear -- part 7 (addendum)

Ellen Eades wrote: February 15, 2014

This is cool! Thanks to Stan Sakai for sharing his trip there and getting me interested.

Day Tripping: Rothéneuf’s Rock Sculptures

Thank you for the link. I had forgotten that the priest/sculptor was deaf, mute, and partially paralyzed. The weather has taken it's toll on the sculptures. I am glad I got to see them before they are all worn away.


Here is another photo of Foggy among the rock sculptures.