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Welcome to the online blog for traveler/writer/photographer Steven Barber. Come in. Relax. Take off your shoes and socks -- or any other article of clothing, this is the internet. Have a look around. I hope to intrigue, amuse, entertain, and maybe provoke you just a little. I love to find adventure. All I need is a change of clothes, my Nikon, an open mind and a strong cup of coffee.

Saturday, August 27, 2016

GOURDON, FRANCE - A MOVIE MOMENT


This next week I'll be posting a blog entry I've tentatively entitled "Familiarity Breeds Affection" which will discuss the effect of being somewhere versus imagining what it "must be like". If that's confusing, wait until the entry. Should be clearer (I hope).

But in the meantime it's a fun moment when I'm watching a film or tv show which suddenly appears in a place I've been. That I may have a little bit more than passing familiarity with.

In the last couple of months my wife and I have been watching a series of film classics. Movies such as THE AFRICAN QUEEN; PSYCHO; ARSENIC AND OLD LACE; BLADE RUNNER (Director's cut); VICTOR/VICTORIA and others.

This last Tursday night we watched one of my favorites: TO CATCH A THIEF with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. It's a marvelous film in so many ways, and takes place on the French Riviera. And yes, some of the fun is being familiar with the locations now that I've visited the area, an enjoyment not open to me on previous viewings.

One of the most fun is only fleeting, but at one point the camera trains its eye on the hilltop town of Gourdon (below), in the Maritime Alps. It's a wonderful little town, and one of the most memorable meals we've eaten was a lunch in small bistro overlooking the mountains.

It's ne of the best perks of travel: a personal relevance to the locations we see in films.

But more about that later.





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