Switzerland to Avignon to Venice, August '93

After about 5 days in Switzerland, I piled into a small double engine plane with Sibylle's family to fly to their summer place in Avignon, France. With her father, Mr. Thomke, at the controls, I was given the honorary co-pilot seat. As depicted in the top image we passed directly over the Alps. When we got close to Mont Blanc, Mr. Thomke dipped the controls and the plane took a sudden diving arc down toward the mountain. As our stomachs rose against the g-forces, his normally stoic face broke out into a big child-like grin. The little black specs on the Mount's white face turn into climbers who waved to us. Sibylle later told me he never did that for anyone else.

I was a bit star-struck staying at their beautiful home in Avignon, since this was during a period when I was in love with the French film "Jean de Florette" (still one of my favorites), which was shot in the region.

After a few days getting very pink in the Mediterranean sun , I jumped on an overnight train to Venice. I remember feeling a bit proud of myself at Avignon's central station when a young Frenchman approached me, asking for directions in French. I got to bust out my only French at the time: "Je ne parles pas le francais", and was feeling rather smug at not being mistaken for a tourist.

Switzerland, August 1993

In 1993, two years out of school, I was living in NYC with two friends from RISD. One roommate, Sibylle, was flying home to Switzerland for a few weeks before starting Columbia grad school, and my other roommate, Elizabeth, was already in Venice for a summer program as part of her NYU graduate studies in painting. Having never left the country I was suddenly feeling very, very provincial. I decided I was missing out on something and planned to visit several friends in Europe, starting with Sibylle in Switzerland, then Elizabeth in Venice, and finally my friend Andrea, in Munich.
The sketches above are from the time I spent in Switzerland. Sibylle's family lived in a gorgeous 300-year old converted farmhouse on a hillside with a distant view of the Alps. Next door was an old one-room chapel.

Sibylle's middle-aged aunt, who's youthful appearance she credited to hiking the Alps , got excited when she saw my sketch of the cathedral in Bern, since it was where she had her Confirmation as a little girl.