Louvre-Lens Museum

Some years back the government decided that the Louvre was too, um, Paris-centric, and that a satellite museum ought to be built, somewhere other than in Paris. The only department to apply was the Nord, and Lens, a very depressed and neglected city of that province, won the competition. Of course, the whole northeast of France has not been doing too well the last century or so, and therefore the decision to locate the new satellite Louvre there was met with approval. Sort of like the Guggenheim and Bilbao. Well, a little tiny bit like the Guggenheim and Bilbao. Louvre-Lens opened in December, 2012, eight months ago. Anyhow, we decided all this needed looking into, anything called Louvre must be good, and the building was very shiny, a little tiny bit like the Guggenheim in Bilbao. We were not disappointed.

Entry; shiny all over

A restaurant near the museum, which I predict will become
known as "Le Camembert"; the mountains in the background,
which are all over Lens and environs, are actually huge piles
of mining detritus; Lens, until the late 20th century was a
big-time coal mining center

As is our custom, we chartered a helicopter to get greater
perspective; yes, the white thing is the museum, Le Camembert
at the top; the whole campus is near a large and famous
football stadium, so there is ample parking (unlike the one in
Paris)

Exterior; still shiny

Another look

And another; interesting, um, landscaping

Anyhow, on the inside, the museum makes very full use of
current technologies...more and better than anything else we
have seen

Thus

And thus

Spare parts; actually, there is a great emphasis on
preservation, restoration, research, education in the modern
museum

The main collection is contained in one humongous room,
a very open concept, arranged chronologically, comparing
the three different cultures and histories of the Near East,
the Mediterranean, and the rest of Europe; this view from
the front

And at the back; everything is very well displayed, very
close at hand; a very enjoyable experience; and, unlike the
one in Paris, very manageable, even including the special
exhibits (which we skipped)

Another Channel Crossing

My 10th, I think, probably a few more for Vicki. We arrived early enough to get "upgraded" to an earlier boat, plus a £10 gift certificate for use on board. We bought a couple of travel ponchos that would have been handy in the UK at times. Anyhow, I still view the crossing as an event....

Farewell, White Cliffs of Dover, including the bit that fell
in last spring

We sailed aboard P&O lines' "Spirit of Burgundy"

Another of the P&O flotilla

On the Pas de Calais

[Reserved For "British Outtakes, 2013"]

Coming to computer screens near you, soon....

[Reserved For "Ye Olde Signage"]

Coming to computer screens near you, soon....

Keeping Calm

When we visited the UK in 2009, the "Keep Calm and Carry On" thing was well established but had not morphed into the international giant that it is now. The only variant I recall was "Now Panic and Freak Out." Of course one sees "Keep Calm" variants everywhere now, adapted to all sorts of contexts. There are even "Keep Calm" books for people in the forties, their fifties, etc. I post below a few pix taken in the UK in 2013.

Return To France, Again, 2013

So we have been back in France nearly a week now, a week too busy for blogging and connectivity dependent largely on McDonald's anyhow. Vicki has five scones left and just enough clotted cream to cover them. The last of my Wells Bombardier and Bulmers are gone, as are the ginger beer and bitter shandy I have grown to love. The Highland Park might last another week if I am judicious, which seems unlikely after the first wee dram. I have enough glorious Dorset Cereals to get me through France and Italy and back to the States. The 125 grams of Marmite probably will last forever. And I have had more than enough all day breakfast, chicken tika, and fish and chips with both mushy and non-mushy peas. We stopped at the first French super-hyper-mercado after Calais and reacquainted ourselves with French cuisine and also with reasonably priced wine and other goods. A 1 liter cardboard carton of something labeled "Spanish table wine" cost £4.99 in the UK, even at the Tescos and Morrisons and Sainsbury's. $8. Here, £1 will buy you swill, but at least it's in a bottle and allegedly from France. And not bad. I could barely keep from hugging and kissing the stockers and cashiers at the LeClercs somewhere south of Calais. We bought 2 kilos of mussels (4.4 lbs, €2.50) and a bottle of Muscadet Sevre et Maine all of which I gobbled up in two evenings.

We drove on to Lens to see the new Louvre-Lens Museum and a rather new kind of museum experience. From there we drove south into the Marne to see a great transitional Gothic cathedral, Laon, and then the last (for us) of the three great High Gothics, Reims; and a tour of its roof; and the art deco Carnegie Library next door. From there we moved on to Troyes, one of the most impressive and beautiful old towns we have seen, a fantastic rayonnant Gothic, its cathedral, and then three other churches of note. And from there on to Sens, just southeast of Paris, and its great cathedral, the first Gothic cathedral, begun in 1155. From there we drove back into Burgundy and to Vezelay and its monumental hill-top Romanesque abbey church, completed in 1155. Today, September 9, finds us back in Bourges, in the monster aire de camping cars right downtown (free and with free city wifi) after having spent much of the day again visiting St. Etienne Cathedral. It was 200 miles out of our "way" (whatever that is), but we had to see it again to make sure: it is our new favorite. Having seen them all now. More or less. 

Anyhow, all this is to say that I have much blogging to do, not least a few affectionate posts reserved for the UK. And we won't have unlimited internet access until we reach Italy, in another couple weeks. Patienz!

"Garlic in my food? GARLIC? We are Englishmen,
Sara...not savages!"

Five Years On the Road

Sunday, September 1st, we celebrated our fifth anniversary of embarcation. Five years before, we were leaving Missoula, then San Francisco, heading for Tokyo and then Beijing, and six months in Asia and the Pacific. Before another anniversary came around, we were touring Europe in a motorhome. The years have been eventful and memorable--all over Europe and Asia Minor and even a smidgeon of Africa--but the most memorable events were the weddings of our two daughters and the birth of our grand-daughter. Family and travel are not easily compatible, but we think we have managed well.

On September 3 we will ferry back to France, spend a few weeks on its east side and in the Alps, and then spend the rest of the fall in Italy. We'll return to the US in November, enjoy the holidays with our family, and then head off for more adventure. Stay tuned.

Sissinghurst Again; and Good-Bye, UK

We had a hunch that the gardens might be worth a look again at Sissinghurst--our first real stop in June and our last now in August. Only Canterbury and its wonderful aire de camping and then Dover lay between us and our departure from the UK September 3. After Sissinghurst, our last days in the UK were spent resting, reorganizing, returning, repairing, provisioning, and generally enjoying pretty Canterbury.

The oast house at Sissinghurst

The head gardener's notes informed us that
spring/summer work was shifting to autumn/
next year work

Indeed

But the autumn color was coming in well

And there was still much to enjoy

Thus

Thus

And thus

And other things to look at too: the "HN"
pitchfork and the "VSW" spade, for example

Fascinating place

Farewell, UK, it's been great, and we'll be back!

Ightham Mote

Fairly nearby, through ever more tiny, twisty and dark holloways, we drove to the 14th century moated Ightham Mote, the oldest extant English manor house. Apart from its sheer age, the oldest parts dating to 1320, it is significant in that the succession of owners, including, lastly, an American, did very little to remove or destroy the early construction. Indeed, the National Trust spent some $15MM taking Ightham Mote apart and putting it back together, partly for preservation and restoration and partly just to learn how construction was done so many centuries ago. The reconstruction was recorded in great detail. Ightham Mote is a square manor building, ranging around a large central courtyard, surrounded on all four sides by its moat, some 70 different rooms in all. The restoration is aimed at returning the house simply to its 1985 status, when it came to the Trust. Oh, it is pronounced "item moat."

Ightham Mote

Another view

And another

Courtyard; the dog house is the only Grade I listed dog house in the nation

Ceiling of the great hall, oldest part of the manor

Parliamentarian armor, found in the moat in the 19th century

"A Pilgrim Returned," tribute to Henry Robinson, who bought Ightham Moat
after seeing an ad in a country living magazine, in the 1930s, then donated it
many years later to the National Trust

Interior view

One of several places where the restoration left a window, here in the ceiling,
in order to view the original architecture

Old musical instrument

One of the 19th century owners had a connection with Mendelssohn, who
recommended buying this piano

Beautiful old mantle

Ightham Moat has two chapels, the original 14th century,
and this, the new 16th century

Look at the new chapel ceiling planks and you will see the
the rose of Tudor Henry VIII, but also the castle of Castile
and the arrows of Aragon of his then wife, Catherine of
Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella; a pretty
good aid to dating the place: 1508-1533

Although by no means a great house, Ightham Moat has had its share of visitors;
Henry James spent two nights in this room, "in the company of a ghost," he wrote,
leading some to speculate that Turn of the Screw was born here; its' a fascinating
place in any case

Knole House 2013

We moved on into Kent, a place of great beauty and tiny, twisty roads, and headed for Sevenoaks and Knole House. We visited Knole in 2009, and were impressed, but I didn't post much because of the no fotos policy. The policy has not changed, unfortunately, but the place is of such interest, its age and contents and history, we went back. Briefly, it was begun in the 15th century as the palace of the archbishops of Canterbury. Henry VIII acquired it in 1538, and then his daughter Elizabeth passed it on to her cousins, the Sackvilles. It has been theirs since 1603, although it has been in the National Trust for some time now. Among the Sackvilles was a royal chamberlain for William III, basically the guy entrusted with disposing of all the furniture, art, etc., that the new king and queen didn't want. Thus Knole has the best collection of all things Tudor and Stuart; which is well worth seeing. The portraits of Elizabeth, her dad, and all their cronies are well worth seeing by themselves. Although only a smidgeon of the house is open, it is thought to have been a "calendar house": 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances, etc. It was the childhood home of Vita Sackville-West, and it figures in her writings as well as in Virginia Woolf's.

Knole House entrance; it's really big

Interior courtyard entrance

Ha! A clandetine shot of the sculpture of Giovanna Bacelli
(her stage name), one of the mistresses of John Sackville,
3rd Duke of Dorset; he had it prominently displayed, his
subsequent wife had it removed to a stairwell; the house is
replete with Knellers, Reynolds, and Gainboroughs, and
others, some quite famous; but, alas, no fotos!

One of the Sackville leopards that adorn the place

Back outside, a very large English oak

White hart

Afternoon outing in Britland, on the grounds at Knole