Today I felt like I was in a big city…maybe even a European city…in downtown Fort Wayne!!! We were heading downtown for the Art in the Park and saw the Barr Street Market and decided to stop on our way to. It was so lovely! They had fresh, local, organic produce and small, independent businesses, some jewelry and some food all under the bright red tent! I felt very urban as we walked around and got a Black Dog coffee from Madeleines Bakehouse. The BEST part was the jazz music, so we sat and sipped coffee, listened to jazz music and people watched – all on a Saturday morning in the good old Fort! I will totally be going back, for me big city refill soon!
As we moved on to the art booths, we walked up to one and right away I knew it was Paris, a view of the old houses along the Seine river. All of the paintings were parfait, I mean really truly the feel of Paris and I knew they had to have been painted in Paris right in front of each subject! So, I kind of listened as people stopped by and said how nice the paintings were and the artist totally had a French accent. When I asked him if the paintings were done in Paris, he said yes and asked “Vous parlez français ?” “OUI !” I replied…Alain Bathelot, was his name and were I not a recent graduate, I would have bought up a painting right away…but, he said he used to paint in Montmartre – my favorite part of Paris and where all the famous painters like Van Gogh and Monet used to gather! I was so delighted and surprised to be speaking French with a Parisian artist in Fort Wayne at the Three Rivers Festival – who knew?!