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<title>They Were All Splendid</title>
<link>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2023/02/25/they-were-all-splendid/</link>
<comments>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2023/02/25/they-were-all-splendid/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[dbarefoot]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Feb 2023 17:59:59 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[The Arts]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Words]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Darren Barefoot]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://darrenbarefoot.com/?p=10128</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Darren Barefoot died on February 20, 2023 following complications from metastatic cancer. Just weeks before he passed, Darren wrote this reflection on his life. I hope you find pleasure in it.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
Darren Barefoot died on February 20, 2023 following complications from metastatic cancer. Just weeks before he passed, Darren wrote this reflection on his life. I hope you find pleasure in it. You can read more about Darren’s life in <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://capulet.com/2023/02/23/in-memory-of-darren-barefoot/" target="_blank">this remembrance</a>. 
When I was a turtle-neck wearing theatre student, if you’d asked me what the purpose of life was I would have said to see the great cathedrals of Europe. And, I’ve seen them. From the dusty spires of the Munster in Cologne to the clay coloured minarets of Ta Pinu and Notre Dame before it burned. They were all splendid. 
Art has been everything in my life. I stood alone in a room of Picassos in Dusseldorf. I saw Rousseau’s, The Dream – a glorious hallucination, for Rousseau had never been to the jungle, he’d only seen it in books. I saw Rebecca Horn’s exploded piano in Dublin, hanging over my head like a premonition.
I saw Waiting for Godot performed on the 75th anniversary of its writing. I came to understand how Irish and hilarious it is. I saw Mamie Gummer light up a grimy Manhattan cellar in a one-woman show. I stood in the wooden “O” of Shakespeare’s recreated Globe.
I saw Van Morrison point towards Bantry Bay and then to Derry Quay on stage in Belfast as if he were “bigging up” a couple local pubs. I saw Elvis Costello startle a crowd of maudlen hipsters with a scorching cover of Cowgirl in the Sand while wearing a gold lamé jacket. I was harangued by Gordon Downie to remember that, “life is forgetting.”
I walked and walked and walked. I was a flâneur meandering around cities. I walked across corners of Ireland, England and France. I loved the solace and the freedom from decision making. There’s particular pleasure in finishing a 20-kilometre day at a thousand-year-old inn knowing there’d be just one dinner option on the menu. 
I wrote a book, I wrote a play and at least six thousand blog posts rife with dumb hot takes and cancellable offences. I ran a newspaper, a theatre company and a business. After a mentor invited me to work on the Copenhagen Climate Talks, I realised I could earn a living and still be on the side of the angels. And so, I helped to change laws that protect nature; I compelled people to get vaccinated during a pandemic; and I shook the hands of Prime Ministers in Paris.
I loved a woman for 27 years, but that is private and not for you. 
This has been my life: art, exploring, work and love. I’m proud of it and sad that it’s shortened. I haven’t seen Asia. Will the Canucks win the Stanley Cup in the next thirty years? Will people walk on Mars?
I have a Buddhist friend who legitimately believes that every person is doing their best all of the time. I’ve finally come around to this idea. I’ve lived the best life I could.
]]></content:encoded>
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<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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<title>Hiking in the Durdogne – Day 4 – Domme to Gourdon</title>
<link>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-4-domme-to-gourdon/</link>
<comments>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-4-domme-to-gourdon/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[dbarefoot]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jul 2022 05:03:29 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Durdogne]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[hiking]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[walking]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://darrenbarefoot.com/?p=10118</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Marcel delayed my start today. When I awoke, I discovered Marcel with his head buried in my chest. Marcel was a tick—I’m just guessing at his name—and judging by his size, he’d been attached to me for a couple of days. Having lived in France, I knew that the pharmacy has an outsized role in […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
Marcel delayed my start today. When I awoke, I discovered Marcel with his head buried in my chest. Marcel was a tick—I’m just guessing at his name—and judging by his size, he’d been attached to me for a couple of days.
Having lived in France, I knew that the pharmacy has an outsized role in the healthcare system. They’re like a kind of junior medical clinic, consulting on all sorts of minor ailments. So, I went to the nearest pharmacy to described how I’d been piqué par une tique.
Two hours and 39 euros later, I’d had the tick removed, visited a doctor for a prescription for some antibiotics–better safe that sorry when it comes to Lyme disease–and had my prescription filled. Everyone was kind and patient with my lousy French. Later in the day I would discover that I’d acquired two of Marcel’s smaller siblings. I removed those myself.
The pharmacy and doctor were down the hill from Domme in entirely the wrong direction. So, I had to adjust my route and extend my already long day.
The walk itself was a continuation of yesterday—walking amongst farms along quiet roads. There was a section down a dirt road, buzzing with insects. I passed a local logging operation where French men looked at me very skeptically. Maybe not an entirely legal logging operation?
I finished listening to Emily St. John Mandel’s charming new novel Sea of Tranquility and staggered into the workaday town of Gourdon in the late afternoon. Marcel was not the only one of today’s surprises.
There’s a thriving tradition of travelling funfair in Westen Europe. They’re basically small-scale Playlands, with children’s rides, food trucks and carnival games. 
Gourdon is hosting one of these fairs this evening. Unfortunately, it’s directly below the window of my room. You haven’t lived until you’ve heard Shania Twain’s “Man, I feel like a woman” sung by an elderly French woman in a house dress.

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2562.jpg"><img width="1024" height="501" data-attachment-id="10120" data-permalink="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-4-domme-to-gourdon/img_2562/" data-orig-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2562.jpg" data-orig-size="1200,588" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone XS","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1656099320","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.25","iso":"25","shutter_speed":"0.00022401433691756","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="img_2562" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2562.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2562.jpg?w=800" src="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2562.jpg?w=1024" alt="An Avengers-themed funfair ride" class="wp-image-10120" srcset="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2562.jpg?w=1022 1022w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2562.jpg?w=150 150w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2562.jpg?w=300 300w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2562.jpg?w=768 768w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2562.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>
The rest of the town was empty, so I visited a charming medieval garden and took in the views from the battlements above the main square.
After a funfair dinner of hamburger and churros, I retired to my room to watch Montpellier win at rugby. I really don’t know the rules of rugby. Tomorrow, I sleep in and catch the train back to Narbonne.
]]></content:encoded>
<wfw:commentRss>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-4-domme-to-gourdon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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<title>Hiking in the Durdogne – Day 3 – Sarlat-la-Canéda to Domme</title>
<link>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-3-sarlat-la-caneda-to-domme/</link>
<comments>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-3-sarlat-la-caneda-to-domme/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[dbarefoot]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jul 2022 04:54:43 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Durdogne]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[hiking]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[walking]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://darrenbarefoot.com/?p=10106</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Today was designed to be a transition day—where I went south from one hiking trail and joined another tomorrow. I also wanted this to be a shorter journey. I was feeling the combined 35 km of the previous two days. Because I wasn’t relying on one of the Grande Randonee routes, I just free-styled my […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
Today was designed to be a transition day—where I went south from one hiking trail and joined another tomorrow. I also wanted this to be a shorter journey. I was feeling the combined 35 km of the previous two days.
Because I wasn’t relying on one of the Grande Randonee routes, I just free-styled my way out of Sarlat. Sarlat is a proper town—population 9,000–so it had the suburbs of a town, too. I followed progressively smaller roads and eventually a dirt track. Almost the whole way, there were houses and farmsteads. I listened to an audiobook as I walked. I only do this on paved roads, courtesy of an arbitrary rule in my brain.
The walk promised to be the most unremarkable yet. And then I saw lightning in the distance. There was a threat of rain in the forecast, but I imagined it would be a brief shower.
The darkening clouds and I were converging. I counted the seconds between the lightning and thunder and they got as low as three. As it began to lightly rain, it occurred to me that walking among fields of stubby French corn holding aluminum poles was probably a good way to become a terminal anecdote.
I was close to Domme, a beautifully-preserved medieval town on a hilltop. Would I beat the rain?
I did not. The skies opened with a tropical vengeance. I might as well have spent the next half-hour staggering forward under a shower head. I trudged up the road toward Domme through ankle-deep runnels of water. The wind picked up and, in an abstract kind of way, I wondered about my safety. The torrent did distract me from the steep climb into the town. 
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I would have captured more video, but everything was so wet that I couldn’t operate my phone.
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2518.jpg"><img data-attachment-id="10115" data-permalink="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-3-sarlat-la-caneda-to-domme/img_2518/" data-orig-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2518.jpg" data-orig-size="900,1200" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone XS","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1655989658","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.25","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.0082644628099174","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="img_2518" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2518.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2518.jpg?w=768" src="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2518.jpg?w=768" alt="An unappetizing lunch of fries, an omelette and salad sites on a wet cafe table." class="wp-image-10115" width="384" height="512" srcset="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2518.jpg?w=768 768w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2518.jpg?w=384 384w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2518.jpg?w=113 113w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2518.jpg?w=225 225w" sizes="(max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a></figure></div>
I took refuge in a cobwebby bus shelter just outside of town and waited for the worst of it to pass. Then I sped into town to try to find some lunch. Of course, every tourist had fled inside and the collective indoor capacity of Domme was limited. I found a restaurant with a free table outside. It was damp but under an awning. I asked the elderly proprietor if I could sit there (for indoors was ‘complet’). He gave me a look that said “that sounds terrible, but feel free” and I shrugged and gave him a look that said “monsieur, I’m already saturated”. We reached an accommodation and I had a terrible lunch of a ham and cheese omelette and fries.
The trick with small towns that are popular with tourists is to stay there overnight. Most tourists are day trippers, and these places empty out in the evening.
So, I enjoyed a stroll around a very quiet Domme this evening. This fortress town was founded in the 13th century, overlooking the Dordogne river. It had a tumultuous few hundred years and then declined in prosperity and significance in the 17th century. Which explains why it’s so well preserved today.
Tomorrow, the final and longest day of walking takes me to Gourdon, where I’ll catch the train back to (our sometimes French) home.
]]></content:encoded>
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<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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<media:title type="html">An unappetizing lunch of fries, an omelette and salad sites on a wet cafe table.</media:title>
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<item>
<title>Hiking in the Durdogne – Day 2 – Carlux to Sarlat-la-Canéda</title>
<link>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-2-sarlat-la-caneda/</link>
<comments>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-2-sarlat-la-caneda/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[dbarefoot]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jul 2022 04:37:23 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Durdogne]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[hiking]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[walking]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://darrenbarefoot.com/?p=10097</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There was rain overnight and more fell on me as I climbed out of Carlux. I hastily pulled out my garbage bag to wrap the top of my backpack. It smelled of bug spray, as yesterday I’d sequestered the busted can of Off in it. But, well, any port in a storm. The rain was […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
There was rain overnight and more fell on me as I climbed out of Carlux. I hastily pulled out my garbage bag to wrap the top of my backpack. It smelled of bug spray, as <a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/10/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-1-souillac-to-carlux/">yesterday</a> I’d sequestered the busted can of Off in it. But, well, any port in a storm.
The rain was intense but brief. The exit from Carlux was the same as Souillac. The path went from busy paved roads to quiet paved country roads to a rutted dirt road beside orchards or fields to a single trail through the woods. The GR 6 led through some local logging operations today. In fact, I had to improvise a detour because the prescribed trail ran through some clear cuts. The official GPS file did not reflect local conditions.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2474.jpg"><img width="1024" height="362" data-attachment-id="10102" data-permalink="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-2-sarlat-la-caneda/img_2474/" data-orig-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2474.jpg" data-orig-size="1200,425" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone XS","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1655895548","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.25","iso":"25","shutter_speed":"0.00075075075075075","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="img_2474" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2474.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2474.jpg?w=800" src="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2474.jpg?w=1024" alt="A van is dwarfed by piles of narrow logs." class="wp-image-10102" srcset="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2474.jpg?w=1022 1022w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2474.jpg?w=150 150w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2474.jpg?w=300 300w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2474.jpg?w=768 768w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2474.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>
I saw a fox on a logging road, trotting along ahead of me. He turned and saw me, took a good look and then trotted off into some brambles.
As someone who must know the origins of their next meal, this trip is presenting a lunch challenge. I start walking about 8:15am and have arrived at my destination at about 1:30pm. Any self-respecting French restaurant won’t serve me at that hour. They close at 2:00pm. So, I’ve been cobbling together lunch from the local grocery store and bakery. This means I’m carrying my food, which is fine, and I suppose it’s fewer calories than your average French menu du jour.
There was no one else on the trail again today. Have I just chosen a terrible section of the GR 6? But when I think back to previous walks in England and Ireland—both in September—I hardly saw anyone on the trails then, either. Maybe I just have an unpopular hobby? I’m grateful, as the solitude is a key appeal of these trips.
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<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2470.jpg"><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="10109" data-permalink="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-2-sarlat-la-caneda/img_2470/" data-orig-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2470.jpg" data-orig-size="900,1200" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone XS","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1655893572","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.25","iso":"25","shutter_speed":"0.00036297640653358","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="img_2470" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2470.jpg?w=225" data-large-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2470.jpg?w=768" src="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2470.jpg?w=768" alt="" class="wp-image-10109" width="265" height="353" srcset="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2470.jpg?w=265 265w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2470.jpg?w=530 530w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2470.jpg?w=113 113w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2470.jpg?w=225 225w" sizes="(max-width: 265px) 100vw, 265px" /></a></figure></div>
I passed <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Paluel">the Château Le Paluel</a>, currently undergoing reconstruction. The 20th century was not kind to it. In the 1930s, a terrorist group stored weapons in it. In 1944, retreating German troops set fire to it. In 1980, the corpse of a Bordeaux drug trafficker was found at the bottom of a well on the property. It changed hands many times. These days, apparently a Luxembourg-based company owns and is restoring it. As you can see, they’ve got a ways to go.
Sarlat-la-Canéda is a charming medieval town. It’s a bit like Dubrovnik or Carcassonne, but in a less impressive setting. While not packed, there are plenty of tourists around and I heard my first North American accents in a few days.
My allegedly healthy knee gave me some trouble today. So now I have two lousy knees. There’s plenty of therapy tape to go around. Tomorrow I leave the GR 6 to head south across the Durdogne river to Domme.
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<media:title type="html">A van is dwarfed by piles of narrow logs.</media:title>
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<title>Hiking in the Durdogne – Day 1 – Souillac to Carlux</title>
<link>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/10/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-1-souillac-to-carlux/</link>
<comments>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/10/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-1-souillac-to-carlux/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[dbarefoot]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 11 Jul 2022 04:05:24 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[france]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[hiking]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[walking]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://darrenbarefoot.com/?p=10088</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I woke to thunder showers, but the rain stopped by the time I left my hotel. As is often the case when you start a walking trip, it took a surprising amount of time to leave the town of Souillac behind. I had one of those classic false starts to a day of hiking. I was following the (old, made by a random French guy) Google map for the Grande Randonnée #6 trail--part of a national network of hiking trails. I ended up stuck to a thorn bush behind a ruined church.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
I woke to thunder showers, but the rain stopped by the time I left my hotel. As is often the case when you start a walking trip, it took a surprising amount of time to leave the town of Souillac behind. I had one of those classic false starts to a day of hiking. I was following the (old, made by a random French guy) Google map for the Grande Randonnée #6 trail–part of <a href="https://www.gr-infos.com/gr-en.htm">a national network of hiking trails</a>. I ended up stuck to a thorn bush behind a ruined church.
I returned to the road and found another spot to join the trail. It began as a rutted dirt road passed walnut orchards and corn and sunflower fields. Eventually, the trail led into the woods, where I was happy for the shade.
There were some bugs buzzing around, so I tried to apply some Off insect repellant. I’d brought an old can from our house in Argeliers and all the aerosol had leaked out. So, like a caveman, I broke it open with a rock and rubbed the inert liquid to my arms and legs.
The woods were the kind I associate with much of Western Europe: small deciduous trees and little ground cover mean that you can see a long way in all directions. They’re the sort of woods you see in every medieval film, where poorly-concealed bandits lurk behind every skinny tree. There were signs—old walls and terraces—that the woodland had once been cultivated fields.
I saw the biggest beetle I’d ever seen in my life. A male stag beetle, out for a walk. Hiking pole for scale.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2428.jpg"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="502" data-attachment-id="10090" data-permalink="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/10/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-1-souillac-to-carlux/img_2428/" data-orig-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2428.jpg" data-orig-size="2101,1031" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone XS","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1655805181","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.25","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.0081967213114754","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="img_2428" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2428.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2428.jpg?w=800" src="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2428.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-10090" srcset="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2428.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2428.jpg?w=2046 2046w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2428.jpg?w=150 150w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2428.jpg?w=300 300w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2428.jpg?w=768 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>
Later I saw this horse, and my mediocre iPhone camera stumbled onto an unexpected exposure, like Instagram circa 2016. 
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2439.jpg"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="568" data-attachment-id="10092" data-permalink="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/10/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-1-souillac-to-carlux/img_2439/" data-orig-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2439.jpg" data-orig-size="1600,889" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPhone XS","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1655820282","copyright":"","focal_length":"6","iso":"16","shutter_speed":"0.0027932960893855","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="img_2439" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2439.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2439.jpg?w=800" src="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2439.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-10092" srcset="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2439.jpg?w=1022 1022w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2439.jpg?w=150 150w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2439.jpg?w=300 300w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2439.jpg?w=768 768w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2439.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></figure>
I didn’t encounter a single other hiker. I was definitely the first person to use the trail today, as I destroyed the overnight work of a thousand spiders (and gave a few of them the journey of their short, arachnid lives). Being alone is big part of why I do these walks, so I was grateful that I only saw the very occasional farmer.
I stopped at a campground for more water—unfortunately, the snack bar was very much fermé. Later I detoured to go to <a href="http://www.lesjardinsdecadiot.com/">Les Jardins de Cadiot</a>, just outside of my destination. They were this sprawling gardens in a valley. I didn’t linger overly long, but did get some more water.
I reached Carlux at about 2pm. It’s a tiny hill town—one bakery, one hotel/restaurant, one store—with sloping, narrow streets. Its population is 627.
I scrounged in the tiny grocery store to assemble a lunch—the morning’s leftover croissants, donut peaches and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laughing_Cow">La Vache qui Rit</a>.
I’ll eat in the hotel restaurant tonight and leave at 08:00 to beat the heat. There’s a forecast of heavy rain overnight, so hopefully tomorrow’s trail section isn’t too muddy.
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<title>In praise of few decisions</title>
<link>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/09/in-praise-of-few-decisions/</link>
<comments>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/09/in-praise-of-few-decisions/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[dbarefoot]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Sun, 10 Jul 2022 05:07:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[france]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[hiking]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[walking]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://darrenbarefoot.com/?p=10082</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In June of 2022, I completed my fourth inn-to-inn walking trip, in the Durdogne region of France. I planned this trip myself and carried all my possessions from place to place. ]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[
Modern life is distended with decisions. At least, that’s how my modern life feels. I’m very lucky I have so many choices in my life. But all those decisions can get a little wearing.
This is why I enjoy inn-to-inn walking. There are so few decisions there are to make. The route is planned—by me or a local company—and all the accommodation is booked. I’m generally following an established trail, so there’s very little navigating to do. I always know what I’m going to wear each day, because I bring very few clothes.
My job each day is to eat, walk, eat some more, walk some more, eat one last time and sleep. That’s it. A whole day can pass where I barely make any choices at all.
Speaking of eating, even the decision of what to consume is sometimes taken out of my hands. When I’m not overnighting in a village or town, my hosts will cook me dinner and breakfast. There’s rarely a choice in the matter—I eat what they provide for me.
I think this is just about the most decision-free holiday you can have. Even a week at a cabin or on a cruise ship is ripe with the question of “how will I fill my day?” The answer for me is always the same: walk to the next place, take a shower and a nap, eat dinner and go to sleep. 
Truly, I have entered my middle age.
In June of 2022, I completed my fourth inn-to-inn walking trip, in the Durdogne region of France. I planned this trip myself and carried all my possessions from place to place (on previous trips, my luggage was taxied to the next destination, lightening my walking load). 
We held a staff retreat in France this month, and then we worked from <a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2012/02/19/we-moved-to-france/">our old house</a> for a couple of weeks. My walking route was determined by proximity to our home base in the Languedoc, and I wanted to start and finish my walk at a train station. These are the emails I sent to friends and family after I finished each day’s walk:
<ul><li><a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/10/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-1-souillac-to-carlux/">Day 1 – Souillac to Carlux</a></li><li><a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-2-sarlat-la-caneda/">Day 2 – Carlux to Sarlat-la-Canéda</a></li><li><a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-3-sarlat-la-caneda-to-domme/">Day 3 – Sarlat-la-Canéda to Domme</a></li><li><a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2022/07/11/hiking-in-the-durdogne-day-4-domme-to-gourdon/">Day 4 – Domme to Gourdon</a></li></ul>
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<title>I’m an accidental pitchman for Mobi’s new bike-share service</title>
<link>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2016/08/07/becoming-an-accidental-pitchman-for-mobis-new-bike-share-service/</link>
<comments>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2016/08/07/becoming-an-accidental-pitchman-for-mobis-new-bike-share-service/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[dbarefoot]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Aug 2016 01:37:25 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Vancouver]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[bike-share]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[cycling]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[mobi]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[sharing economy]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/?p=10011</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The most notable part of using Mobi, Vancouver's new bike-share program, is how many Vancouverites want to talk to you about it. ]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[The most notable part of using Mobi, Vancouver’s new bike-share program, is how many Vancouverites want to talk to you about it. I’ve had at least five people approach me while I was getting or returning a bike, and at least that many cyclists chat to me while in transit. They want to know how much it costs, how the bike feels and how the helmets work. One old man patted me on the arm and praised, what, exactly? My heathy choice of transport? My civic pride? It was unclear.
Regardless, as an early adopter, I find that I’ve become an accidental advocate for the service. Not because it’s flawless, but because people keep asking me about it and I want it to succeed.
<h2>How does Mobi work?</h2>
I signed up to be a founding member, paying $99 for an annual subscription (<a href="https://www.mobibikes.ca/en/offers-subscription">the regular price</a> after August 15th is $180). That provides me with unlimited use of the bikes for up to 30 minutes per trip. I pay an additional $2 for 31 to 60 minutes of riding and $3 per half hour over 60 minutes. In the near future, users will also be able to buy a one-off day-pass for $7.50.
There are about 40 bike stations sprinkled around the city. Each station holds about 15 bikes–there are <a href="http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/new-bike-share-program-proves-wheely-popular-right-out-of-the-gate">apparently 387 bikes</a> in service at the moment. You can see any station’s current inventory on <a href="https://www.mobibikes.ca/en#the-map">Mobi’s website</a>. The company promises that “by the end of summer 2016”, there will be 1,500 bicycles and 150 stations available. Speaking as a marketer, that phrase “end of summer” has a handy vagueness.
I’ve felt somewhat limited by the stations’ locations. I was visiting some friends at Macdonald and 4th, for example, and the closest station was about 10 blocks to the south-east at Arbutus and 10th.I’ve taken about 20 trips on Mobi bikes, and only exceeded the 30-minute time limit once. This isn’t because I’m frugal, but rather because the stations aren’t far enough apart to support longer trips. I look forward to the autumn when we’ll have nearly four times as many pick-up and drop-off locations to choose from.
You obtain a bike by entering in a seven-digit code and then a four-digit PIN. Mobi has also provided a little fob you can use, but it didn’t work for me or my partner when we tried ours. The bikes themselves are chunky cruisers designed for casual city riding. They have seven speeds, which is enough for all but the steepest of hills, and a chain guard and rear fender.
<h2>Like putting your head on a bike seat?</h2>
But what about helmets? In BC, we’re required to wear helmets while cycling (though, in my experience, at least a third of all cyclists ignore this law). Mobi provides a helmet with each bike. It’s connected to the bike by a cable, which also doubles as a lock if you need to secure the bike somewhere. As one colourful commenter put it, isn’t this like putting your head on a bike seat? Maybe, but Mobi says<a href="http://www.news1130.com/2016/07/25/shared-helmet-bike-share-health/"> they clean every helmet</a> every day.
<figure data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_10015" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-10015" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/752bf-gotovan1.jpg"><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="10015" data-permalink="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2016/08/07/becoming-an-accidental-pitchman-for-mobis-new-bike-share-service/gotovan1/" data-orig-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/752bf-gotovan1.jpg" data-orig-size="1024,683" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Mobi bike with cable for helmet" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="The helmets are secured to each bike with a cable. Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gotovan/28043415554/">GoToVan</a>.
" data-medium-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/752bf-gotovan1.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/752bf-gotovan1.jpg?w=800" class="size-large wp-image-10015" src="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/752bf-gotovan1.jpg?w=1024&h=683" alt="Mobi bike with cable for helmet" width="492" height="328" srcset="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/752bf-gotovan1.jpg?w=492&h=328 492w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/752bf-gotovan1.jpg?w=984&h=656 984w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/752bf-gotovan1.jpg?w=150&h=100 150w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/752bf-gotovan1.jpg?w=300&h=200 300w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/752bf-gotovan1.jpg?w=768&h=512 768w" sizes="(max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-10015" class="wp-caption-text">The helmets are secured to each bike with a cable. Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gotovan/28043415554/">GoToVan</a>.</figcaption></figure>
One downside of the helmet system is that the cable unlocks as soon as the bike is activated. The weight of the helmet tends to pull the cable free, and the helmet drops to the ground and rolls away. This has happened to me several times and I’ve seen it happen to others as well.
Being a germaphobe, I bring my own helmet. Unfortunately, this means that I need to carry the Mobi helmet in my basket. This makes the ride more rattly, and means I can’t put much else in the basket. More recently, I’ve been able to find at least one bike per station that doesn’t have a helmet. I don’t know if these helmet-less bikes are happenstance or intentional, but I hope it continues.
<h2>Pas de sportif</h2>
I’ve lived in Vancouver for roughly half my life. Yet last week was the first time in my life I rode a bike downtown. You might uncharitably observe that that’s probably due to how un-sportif I am. You’d be partially right about that. While over the past five years I have ridden <a href="http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2013/12/cycling-the-canal-du-midi.html">a great deal</a> around the French countryside and on the bike-friendly streets of Germany, I haven’t owned a bike in Canada since childhood.
Much like <a href="https://evo.ca/">cars</a> (and <a href="https://twitter.com/dbarefoot/status/761629693443387392">cats</a>), I don’t want to own a bike. I don’t want to worry about maintenance, storage and rampant theft. Mobi has its shortcomings and my usage will probably decline with the winter weather, but it’s a good fit for my lifestyle.
UPDATE: You know, after doing a little additional research on pricing, I think Mobi’s regular price of $180/year is going to be too high. Some pricing from some other bike share programs in similar cities:
<ul>
<li>Seattle: US $85/year for unlimited rides up to 45 minutes</li>
<li>Toronto: $90/year for unlimited rides up to 30 minutes</li>
<li>Montreal: $87/year for unlimited rides up to 45 minutes</li>
</ul>
Puzzlingly, Ottawa’s bike share program, with only about 22 stations, is <a href="http://velogo.ca/#memberships">priced at $180/year</a>. Maybe they just sell a ton of memberships to the federal government?
Photos by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gotovan/28376279600/">GoToVan</a> on Flickr.
 
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<media:title type="html">Mobi bike with cable for helmet</media:title>
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<title>Understanding public opinion on autonomous vehicles</title>
<link>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2016/08/02/understanding-public-opinion-on-autonomous-vehicles/</link>
<comments>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2016/08/02/understanding-public-opinion-on-autonomous-vehicles/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[dbarefoot]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Aug 2016 03:44:16 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[self-driving cars]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[studies]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[surveys]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/?p=9996</guid>
<description><![CDATA[How do people really feel about getting behind the absence of a wheel?]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Robot cars are having a moment. They’re approaching the Peak of Inflated Expectations on the venerable Gartner Hype Cycle (though Gartner <a href="http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3114217">had them peaking</a> in August, 2015). I was curious to understand the current state of public opinion on the topic of autonomous vehicles. I regularly see studies, polls and surveys come out, but haven’t seen them collected in one place. Plus, south of the border, it’s election season.
Here is a summary of the credible surveys of the public I could find on the topic of autonomous vehicles:
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.umich.edu/~umtriswt/PDF/SWT-2016-8_Abstract_English.pdf">A study (PDF)</a> by the University of Michigan found that 43.8% of drivers said they didn’t want any automation at all in their next vehicles. 95% of drivers said that they would still want access to a steering wheel and other controls even if their vehicle was automated.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/volvo-survey-attitudes-to-self-driving-cars/">68% of Americans surveyed</a> by Volvo said driving a car manually is a “luxury that should be preserved”.</li>
<li>The Pew Research Center found that <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/04/17/us-views-of-technology-and-the-future/">48% of those surveyed</a> would like to take a ride in an autonomous car, more than would eat meat grown in a lab (20%) or augment their brain with an implant (26%).</li>
<li><a href="http://www.kpmg.com/US/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/self-driving-cars-are-we-ready.pdf">A focus group run by KPMG (PDF)</a> found that women were slightly more receptive to autonomous vehicles than men, with women rating their willingness to ride in a self-driving car at 6.5/10, and men putting their willingness at 6/10.</li>
<li><a href="http://arxiv.org/pdf/1510.03346.pdf">A study (PDF)</a> in the journal Science entitled “The social dilemma of autonomous vehicles”, found that “76% of participants thought that it would be more moral for autonomous vehicles to sacrifice one passenger, rather than kill ten pedestrians”. In the same study, respondents were asked to indicate how likely they would be to buy an autonomous vehicle programmed to minimize casualties (instead, sacrificing themselves and other family members in the car) and how likely they would be to buy an autonomous vehicle programmed to prioritize protecting its passengers, even if it meant killing 10 or 20 pedestrians. 50% said they would buy the self-preserving model, while only 19% said they’d buy the former.</li>
<li><a href="https://blog.gfk.com/2015/01/safety-first-the-road-to-self-drive/">A GfK survey</a> of 5,800 consumers in six countries found that people identified safety as the top benefit of self-driving cars. Other benefits, given equal weight by respondents, were reduced costs, easier parking and more free time.</li>
<li>An <a href="http://newsroom.aaa.com/2016/03/three-quarters-of-americans-afraid-to-ride-in-a-self-driving-vehicle/">American Automobile Association (AAA) survey</a> showed that 75% of respondents would be afraid to trust a self-driving car to drive itself with them in it. Women (81%) were less trustworthy than men (67%), and baby boomers (82%) were less trustworthy than younger generations (69%). One does wonder what purpose the AAA will serve once the robot cars takeover, but that’s a consideration for another time.</li>
<li>Bucking the trend, AlixPartners found that <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-30/three-quarters-of-u-s-drivers-say-they-d-cede-wheel-to-robot">73% of respondents</a> would be willing to cede all driving activity to a self-driving vehicle. The company’s, head of the consulting firm’s automotive practice, Mark Wakefield, said that “autonomous driving increases the economic utility of the commuter.” That’s a worrying phrase, isn’t it? Is he imagining “drivers” moonlighting in call centres while being carried to their day job.</li>
</ol>
Of all the studies I looked at, only one demonstrated a clear majority of people ready to jump into a fully-autonomous vehicle. The rest show a clear reluctance to give up control, with concerns focusing on safety and cost being the primary stated barriers.
Photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/photographingtravis/16229969146/in/photolist-qJbQof-cvhYgh-dW5TrG-ppBceZ-hRrw8M-rnuuX7-HiBTWi-rwG37j-ohAYe7-rDXkjk-qqK71e-rDX1f9-dPKtnt-qe86hn-rnuvj9-qtVjbQ-oorCEE-J7YYQ-8XUCAY-oQLPXk-okV4hS-dLznp8-7wBEb5-druBYw-rCnGFs-embVPp-92iCEB-gTzd3u-rDX1kQ-9naAuR-pFNNL6-dAtLrm-qHgpxM-9neV1W-rnuv1o-cDdb3y-p4SeEU-2qfdfY-9sWSNe-eXkmrJ-e5dxkr-9neYJS-a4EhoN-dUQ5qV-diJQue-92iCS8-ro6ECE-92iCJv-f9CfA6-92iCVr">Nvidia Corporation</a>.
]]></content:encoded>
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<media:thumbnail url="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/201f4-peoplecars.jpg" />
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<media:title type="html">People at a Car Exhibition</media:title>
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<media:content url="https://1.gravatar.com/avatar/7f6b7fd71de7b9776d479893b75767c36577633250100e63950f971dca528cc3?s=96&d=identicon&r=G" medium="image">
<media:title type="html">dbarefoot</media:title>
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<title>Set List for the Tragically Hip at Rogers Arena in Vancouver</title>
<link>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2016/07/25/set-list-for-the-tragically-hip-at-rogers-arena-in-vancouver/</link>
<comments>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2016/07/25/set-list-for-the-tragically-hip-at-rogers-arena-in-vancouver/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[dbarefoot]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 2016 21:43:56 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Vancouver]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[concert]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[gordon downie]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[manmachinepoem]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[rogers arena]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[tragically-hip]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/?p=9997</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Last night I saw the Tragically Hip in concert, presumably for the last time. I didn’t enjoy the show nearly as much as the previous two times I’d seen them–when they played in Toronto and Vancouver on the same day in 1992 and at the Ambassador Theatre in Dublin in 2002. But I was grateful […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Last night I saw the Tragically Hip in concert, presumably <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/gord-downie-cancer-1.3596839">for the last time</a>. I didn’t enjoy the show nearly as much as the previous two times I’d seen them–when <a href="http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-tragically-hip/1992/thunderbird-stadium-vancouver-bc-canada-3cc3d17.html">they played in Toronto and Vancouver</a> on the same day in 1992 and at <a href="http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2002/11/the-hip-conversely-rocked.html">the Ambassador Theatre in Dublin in 2002</a>. But I was grateful to watch what felt like a historic show in a historic tour.
I took note of the playlist, which was organized into blocks of songs from different albums. I also made a Spotify playlist of the set list:
<iframe src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify%253Auser%253Adbarefoot%253Aplaylist%253A24Mj3Oc9gCGAEOmxjpotyp" style="display:block; margin:0 auto; width:300px; height:380px;" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" loading="lazy"></iframe>
Twist My Arm 
Three Pistols 
The Luxury 
Little Bones 
Machine 
Tired as Fuck 
What Blue 
In a World Possessed by the Human Mind
(Break for the band)
At Transformation 
Man Machine Poem 
The Lookahead 
We Want to Be It 
Membership 
Fireworks 
Bobcaygeon 
Poets
(Short break for Downie)
Daredevil 
So Hard Done By 
Thugs 
Grace, Too
Encore
Fully, Completely 
Wheat Kings 
Locked in the Trunk of the Car
Second Encore
Opiated 
New Orleans is Sinking
]]></content:encoded>
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<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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<media:content url="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/27416-fullsizerender.jpg" medium="image">
<media:title type="html">Tragically Hip at Rogers Arena</media:title>
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<media:content url="https://1.gravatar.com/avatar/7f6b7fd71de7b9776d479893b75767c36577633250100e63950f971dca528cc3?s=96&d=identicon&r=G" medium="image">
<media:title type="html">dbarefoot</media:title>
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<item>
<title>Visiting Auschwitz and the Schindler Museum</title>
<link>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2015/06/01/visiting-auschwitz-and-the-schindler-museum/</link>
<comments>https://darrenbarefoot.com/2015/06/01/visiting-auschwitz-and-the-schindler-museum/#comments</comments>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[dbarefoot]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2015 15:33:01 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[auschwitz]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[krakow]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[poland]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[schindler]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[world-war-two]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/?p=9963</guid>
<description><![CDATA[To get to Auschwitz, you take a 90-minute bus ride west of Krakow, through suburbs, exurbs and, finally, the Polish countryside. The camp, officially called the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, is on the outskirts of a town called O?wi?cim.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[To get to Auschwitz, you take a 90-minute bus ride west of Krakow, through suburbs, exurbs and, finally, the Polish countryside. The camp, officially called <a href="http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/news/">the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum</a>, is on the outskirts of a town called O?wi?cim. Your first hint that you’re getting close are the train tracks, overgrown with grass and disused by the side of the road. For anyone who knows the history of Hitler’s Final Solution, they are ominous.
The site itself is enormous, nearly 200 hectares spread over two separate camps–Auschwitz and Birkenau. Auschwitz looks as I expected–barbed wire fences, red brick barracks separated by muddy roads. Once you pass through the famous gatehouse building, though, the site is mostly an enormous, swampy field dotted with brick chimneys and foundations. Almost all of the buildings at Birkenau were of simple wood construction, and were burned, plundered or otherwise destroyed after the war.
The whole museum is so sprawling that we felt we made the right choice in booking an English-language, three-and-a-half hour tour. While you can explore the site on your own, the guide enriched our understanding of the camp’s grisly mechanics.
The museum takes a very particular perspective on the tragedy its buildings witnessed. Its exhibits seek to convey the scale of the Nazis’ horrible crimes. You enter a room and gasp at an enormous pile of hair–two tons of it–cut from their victims. Another room houses a mountain of suitcases, many with their owners’ names painted on them. Another features eyeglasses, another crockery and so forth. There are also maps and diagrams illustrating the Germans’ reach across Europe, and statistics cataloging their ghoulish efficiency.
<a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/468f5-17056692191_9494609149_k.jpg"><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="9973" data-permalink="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2015/06/01/visiting-auschwitz-and-the-schindler-museum/17056692191_9494609149_k/" data-orig-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/468f5-17056692191_9494609149_k.jpg" data-orig-size="2048,1365" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Crockery at Auschwitz" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/468f5-17056692191_9494609149_k.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/468f5-17056692191_9494609149_k.jpg?w=800" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-9973" src="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/468f5-17056692191_9494609149_k.jpg?w=1024&h=683" alt="Crockery at Auschwitz" width="492" height="328" srcset="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/468f5-17056692191_9494609149_k.jpg?w=492&h=328 492w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/468f5-17056692191_9494609149_k.jpg?w=984&h=656 984w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/468f5-17056692191_9494609149_k.jpg?w=150&h=100 150w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/468f5-17056692191_9494609149_k.jpg?w=300&h=200 300w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/468f5-17056692191_9494609149_k.jpg?w=768&h=512 768w" sizes="(max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px" /></a>
Oddly, the museum doesn’t tell any individual human stories. There are few, if any, quotes from guards or survivors. In fact, there are hardly any subjective reports at all–it’s a museum exclusively comprised of facts. In this way, it seems like a collectivist rendering of history, a very Soviet approach to a memorial. I can also imagine that every decision around the site is fraught, and party to many deeply-invested stakeholders. As such, change is probably hard to make.
Despite being at, literally, one of the saddest places on Earth, I shed no tears. Nor did I see any tears among the hundreds of other visitors I saw.
<a href="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/12728-17031517616_6c98116e95_k.jpg"><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="9975" data-permalink="https://darrenbarefoot.com/2015/06/01/visiting-auschwitz-and-the-schindler-museum/17031517616_6c98116e95_k/" data-orig-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/12728-17031517616_6c98116e95_k.jpg" data-orig-size="2048,1365" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="17031517616_6c98116e95_k" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/12728-17031517616_6c98116e95_k.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/12728-17031517616_6c98116e95_k.jpg?w=800" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-9975" src="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/12728-17031517616_6c98116e95_k.jpg?w=1024&h=683" alt="17031517616_6c98116e95_k" width="492" height="328" srcset="https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/12728-17031517616_6c98116e95_k.jpg?w=492&h=328 492w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/12728-17031517616_6c98116e95_k.jpg?w=984&h=656 984w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/12728-17031517616_6c98116e95_k.jpg?w=150&h=100 150w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/12728-17031517616_6c98116e95_k.jpg?w=300&h=200 300w, https://darrenbarefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/12728-17031517616_6c98116e95_k.jpg?w=768&h=512 768w" sizes="(max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px" /></a>
<h2>From a Mausoleum to a Ghetto</h2>
The next day, we visited <a href="http://www.mhk.pl/oddzialy/fabryka-schindlera">Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory</a>, which has been converted into a museum about Krakow under the Nazi occupation.
Stylistically, it stood in total opposition to Auschwitz. The museum guides you through a series of immersive, specific experiences. Some were very naturalistic–you might stand in a replica of a Krakow train car or a period barber shop, listening to the distant gunfire. At other times, the experiences were more abstract, as in the moving circular chamber in Schindler’s office. Its walls were filled with pots and pans manufactured at the factory, and the inner walls were lined with the names of the people he saved.
The section on the liquidation of the Jewish ghettos were particularly effective, as you walked through (or under, it almost seemed) through a narrow, labyrinthine corridor to visit a typical Jewish apartment.
The museum is overflowing with objects–guns and uniforms as well as razors, pens and a thousand other everyday items. There were photos, diary entries and letters everywhere–it is a factory that makes stories.
The two museums confounded my expectations. I assumed that Auschwitz would be a profoundly moving experience, and yet it was more of a mausoleum than a monument. The Schindler factory, on the other hand, felt alive and overflowing with history.
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<media:title type="html">Gate at Auschwitz</media:title>
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<media:title type="html">Crockery at Auschwitz</media:title>
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