Louvre-Lens Out-takes

Giavanna Rascalli, mistress of the 4th Earl of Dorset

Wait, no, it's St. Hermaphrodite

Self-portrait in titanium: this is what everyone wearing the
smart-guide looks like...

"Sheesh! 205 years in Paris! And now...Lens?!"

Cafeteria tray

"Now go away or I shall taunt you a second
time!"

Nobody's perfect

Louvre-Lens Collection

The main collection is displayed chronologically, with different cultures side-by-side. It is, I presume, all or nearly all from the Louvre's vast collections. Frankly, I expected to see a whole lot of Watteau and Fragonard and not much else at Lens. I was pleasantly surprised to see a great array of objects, perhaps stronger in the ancient and archaeological areas, but still many of the great Louvre artists represented. Apparently, moving the Delacroix to Lens created an uproar in Paris, but I trust the Louvre has survived and the people of Paris will come to deal with it. Perhaps I'll feel differently as a Paris resident next year.

From an Egyptian tomb; not Xian

From the palace, Ninevah, Assyria

Floor mosaic, Roman Carthage

Fresco, Pompeii

Roman, one of the Mithra mysteries; I occasionally wonder
how things might have turned out if St. Helen had opted
for Mithra instead of Christianity: bad news for bulls

Christian, Medieval reliquary box

Medieval Muslim astrological globe

Damascus, 17th century unknown painter

Rafael's Baldesar Castiglione

A beautiful Botticelli, emphasizing, I'd guess,
the humanity of the baby J

El Greco

Never miss a Poussin

Nor a Rubens (they had a huge Rubens exhibit going on,
but we were Rubens'd-out in Antwerp) 

A great Claude Lorrain...you can see Turner evolving right
out of it...

Rembrandt's Matthew; an angel whispering in
his ear; sure it's an angel...

One Fragonard

One Watteau

A sweet Sir Josh Reynolds

And Delacroix's 28 July, 1830: Liberty Leading the People

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.