The Return of Guinguette

Some days ago, a few friends gathered to celebrate the return to health of Nadir Rae, of Ignis Fatuus, and the setting was itself a welcome return to Opensim - Guinguette is back online.

If you're not French, you may not know the term. A guinguette is a sort of open air tavern. located on the outskirts of big French cities, especially Paris - the most famous is probably Maison Fournaise at Chatou, immortalized by Renoir in 1880, shown here. 

They were places where townies could escape the grime of the industrial lifestyle and get a taste of nature, to dance and drink and generally have fun in a pastoral setting. In our self-conscious tourist-centered times, modern guinguettes are often  hopelessly posh - like the one at Issy or good lord the accessible-only-by-boat Chalet des Iles in the Bois de Boulogne - places where your penniless painter couldn't hope to get in. But on Ignis Fatuus grid, the charm of the old guinguette is intact, a place to kick off your shoes and enjoy a tune or two, in the company of friends.

Colored fountains and bistro tables surround the central dance hall, just steps away from the river. Speaking of steps, the region gives the visitor the impression of having many delightful spots for a pleasant walk in turn-of-the century style...

Sybella

Vlad Helsing: on est en voice je ne sais pas si tu nous entend

So, you know how I'm always on at you about 'we have to do the Safari in Local Chat and not in Voice', bla bla bla, because Voice tends to exclude a lot of folks whose English is pretty good but who, in the evening on a weeknight, aren't up to following a full conversation at top speed; not to mention those of us who, for one reason or another, can't join in with anything audio during the tour, and you all secretly (or not so secretly) think that's a terrible idea...  

Max the Guide, on Sybella

That's why it's always fun to meet with the frenchies, who absolutely don't care that the majority of Safari visitors can't follow a thing being said in Voice. It's good for your souls, to see things from the other point of view, and it gives me a delicious opportunity to say I told you so. But that's not the main reason we hopped over to Ignis Fatuus Grid this week. 

Easter Hunt at Mana

Literally speaking, 'Ignis Fatuus' means foolish fire, but there is nothing foolish about the fabulous builds on this outstandingly beautiful French grid. And once again, this spring, grid owners Max Well and Nadir Rae are making imaginations soar with their farfetched fantasies. An Easter Hunt, beginning on 20 April, is just part of the fun! 

Full HG Address at the end of the post, of course.

Here we are on Mana, on of a bunch of new regions springing up on Ignis - this is the region where the Hunt will be held. When you arrive in this intensely blue place, you're immediately reminded of the importance of music in the lives of these two creators, in particular, Nadir's love of piano which extends to her DJ work over in SL, something she's been doing for over a decade. Look at those waterside notes.

Love and the Lake, on Ignis

We are halfway through the current Safari season, so of course, it's already time to start thinking about the next one! If you're interested in showing the HG Safari tour group,  get in touch with Thirza Ember ono OSGrid, but first, read this page for Safari Hosts, it explains in excruciating detail how the trips work, what to expect from the group, and will help you avoid common pitfalls. That said, we have plenty still to see on this season, and our tour of Borderlands on Ignis Fatuus Grid was a treat! The HG Address is, as always, at the end of the post.

Nadir Rae

Best sellers in the 21st century are often fantasy and romance novels, adventures, and life hack books - and ever more frequently audiobooks, as people like to be read to, rather than read. The Middle Ages were pretty much the same! The legends around Viviane, Merlin, Arthur and all the gang of the Round Table are a mixture of magic, love stories and battles, with a lot of contemplative allegories mixed in. Nadir has perfectly captured this on her build, which is as large as it is full of detail. As always, we only had an hour to see it, and so of course there's more to go back and revisit.

We arrived at the church by a great waterfall.

Max Well [fr→en]: good evening to all of you, thank you for coming

Dings Digital: I can see myself live on TV, hooray

Arriving by torchlight on Borderlands

You too can see yourself on live TV if you come on Safari, as Lifted Pixel aka Jessica Pixel often livestreams our events on Youtube - here is yesterday's visit, as seen through her eyes.  The arrival point is an old church, it's the place where Nadir and Max had their big wedding ceremony, so it holds many memories for the virtual as well as representing the departure point in the journey around the region's story. Nadir gave everyone a torch on arrival.

James Atlloud: Thank you for the torch

Venus Love [fr→en]: watch out for the wigs lol

Tosha Tyran: yeah, I already tried to set Mal on fire... but he seems to be of stone

Forest.Azure: i'm very naked... and no face

Venus Love: lol yes forest 

Tosha Tyran: I thought that was your costume

A Spirited Safari

 The spark that sets alight creativity in Opensim can come from lots of sources. A desire to celebrate favorite movie or fictional character, a vivid dream or memory, or perhaps to walk through famous landmarks from around the world and meditate on their history and culture, or relive an idealized holiday landscape. And of course, there are those who eternally orbit the interior of their underwear. 

Our first stop on this second Safari of the season was on Ignis Fatuus grid, and the build we visited is by Nadir Rae, who didn't join us, but instead the lovely Max Well, owner of the grid, took us around the build. 

Off the Chart

 After the big German welcome we got over on Carima Grid, while visiting the Amazoniens, our second stop on this 17th Safari tour of 2023 was to Ignis Fatuus grid, the home of  Max and Nadir. Lots of fellow frenchies were on hand to welcome us, which was lovely especially if you speak French, and if you want to get that full gallic - mayhem feel, you can watch a vid made of our visit by Prodyck Theas over on Twitch. The HG Address of the build is, of course, at the end of this post.

The region, on arrival, is immediately identifiable as an Ignis build - fantastic towers and tranquil seas, and that sense of all not being quite as it seems.