Europe June 2019: Toulouse museums

Le vendredi 7 juin. Friday 7 June.

This is my last full day at the Cité St Pierre, Lourdes, before I travel to Toulouse, and I have taken it as my jour de congé (day off).
It is very hot, and so I caught a bus to Tarbes, with my swimsuit in my bag, and trekked up to the Piscine Tournesol only to find it closed. I repaired grumpily to the Jardin Massey (the Massey Gardens) where I soon had my good humour restored. The couple running the buvette settled me at a table, after asking me whether I preferred sun or shade, and bought me a cup of black coffee with a little jug of hot milk. I watched gardeners vacuuming up leaves, peacocks strutting with their tails in full display, and people wandering the paths under huge trees. Later, I walked through the Gardens, sat on a bench to eat my picnic; then I went into the Musée Massey and enjoyed the display rooms featuring hussars, a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. I believe this is the largest collection on the subject in the world. The charming woman at the reception pressed these souvenir tickets onto me: 

Entry tickets for Musee Massey, Tarbes. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

I spent my last morning at the Cité St Pierre, cleaning and making up my room, so the next person to use it would find it immaculate, and saying my good-byes with a promise that perhaps I would see everyone again. Two weeks had passed all too quickly. I felt my French improved during that time – so much of that language is hard-coded into my brain, and it is just a matter of bringing it to the surface.

On the train trip from Lourdes to Toulouse, a woman from Martinique, who was seated opposite me, came across to chat, fascinated by my crochet. Crochet is a craft I have taken up again after a 25-year break. My first motif was full of errors, but I’m back into my stride now; it's good to use one’s hands, twinges of arthritis and all, rather than always using one’s head. 

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The Gare Matabiau at Toulouse was a mad crush of people, and it is fortunate my hotel, Ambassadeur, is not far away. The hotel has a beautiful winding staircase but no lift, and a young fellow traveller helped me hoist my suitcase up to my room on the top floor. The hotel is a little shabby, but the staff are friendly and helpful, and the bed is comfortable. I was weary, and since I had eaten a large midday meal back at the Cité St Pierre – calamari entrée; main course of trout and green beans; then cheese and cherries – I contented myself with consuming the picnic I had brought from the Cité, reading Paris Matches, watching CNN News, and then enjoying a bath. It is fortunate that I brought my travelling plug with me (Bill and I bought it in Fiji years ago). I love baths – our whole family does – and I will find it hard if I ever live in a place without one.

Le samedi 8 juin. Saturday 8 June.

This is my third visit to Toulouse, and this time I bought a 18€ Toulouse pass and visited several museums, enjoying the walk between them in the sunshine.

Child enjoying a quirky merry-go-round on a sunny Saturday in Toulouse. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

The highlight, for me, of the four museums I visited today, was Les Abattoirs; Musée d’Art modern et contemporain. This museum is in Toulouse’s old slaughterhouse. The current exhibition, which runs from 15 March to 25 August, is Picasso et l’exil; une histoire de l’art espagnol en resistance, and it extends over all three floors of this generously proportioned building. It is rich in its elements. There are works by Picasso, and by many other artists who either knew Picasso or were influenced by him. 

Pablo PICASSO, La Célestine, 1968. 66 etched copper plates. Les Abattoirs; Musée d’Art modern et contemporain. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

Josep PONTI, Les tailleurs de pierre, oil on jute canvas, ca. 1939. Les Abattoirs; Musée d’Art modern et contemporain. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

Babi BADALOV (Republic of Azerbaijan), Visual exile, Installation: painting on fabric. Les Abattoirs; Musée d’Art modern et contemporain. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

The exhibition also included numerous installations. For example,  there was a rather disturbing video by a woman artist wishing to portray violence inflicted on women: dressed in a pristine flamenco dress, she systematically stabs herself with a needle, in time with the flamenco music, until the snow white fabric is stained with blood. Another video portrayed two male police officers wearing uniforms complete with helmets and visors, guns and heavy military boots, dancing a graceful tango. This brought to mind my father’s description of how he and my mother, in their courting days during WWII, would practise their dance steps on the pavement outside her parents' house in St Kilda, he in his military boots.

I took a break halfway through my viewing of the exhibition to have lunch at the restaurant behind the museum. My entrée was créviche de poisson au sesame, duo de brocolis et legumes fraicheur (a delicious raw fish and vegetable salad with sesame seeds and a dressing), and my plat principal was Râble de lapin, façon chasseur (saddle of rabbit with a ‘hunter’s sauce). On my other two days in Toulouse I will have the menu du jour at La Meunière restaurant-bar-brasserie opposite my hotel. Unpretentious food, good value at 13€ for three courses.

The other museums I visited today were:
Fondation Bemberg, which has a rich collection of objets, furniture, and paintings in a hôtel particulier (townhouse of a grand sort):

Fondation Bemberg, Toulouse. Venetian Room. Photo Ann Barrie 2009

Le musée du vieux Toulouse, which is in the historic quarter of Toulouse, difficult to find, and has exhibition rooms set up like cosy salons of the 18th Century; 

Le Château d’Eau, which is a gallery of photographic art, including a comprehensive library, housed in a former water tower; and 

Matou; Musée d’Affiche, which has large collection of posters, and also temporary exhibitions: 

Matou; Musée d’Affiche, Toulouse, Photo Ann Barrie 2019

Matou; Musée d’Affiche, Toulouse, Photo Ann Barrie 201

Le dimanche 9 juin. Sunday 9 June

Breakfast at my hotel is good value at 8€. There is a little truc (thing-a-me) for cooking one’s own eggs, and I set the timer, which you see sitting on the table behind my croissant, to 5 minutes. 

Breakfast table Ambassadeur Hotel, Toulouse. Photo Ann Barrie

Staircase at Ambassadeur Hotel, Toulouse. Photo Ann Barrie

This morning I visited the Muséum de Toulouse, the second most visited museum in France. Today it was swarming with children, and adults young and old, enjoying the imaginatively mounted displays. Founded in 1865, the museum has more than 2.5 million objects in its collections. The permanent exhibitions feature more than 8000 objects and are grouped under four broad themes: Terre, planète active (forces and movements of the planet); Ordre du vivant (explosion of life, the notion of species and classification); continuum et ruptures (life through geological periods); grandes fonctions du vivant (reproduction, feeding, moving around, communicating and self protection).

The first of my photos below shows a tiny portion of the wall of skeletons with the museum's botanic gardens through the glass behind; and the second an interactive game for children involving sorting and classifying. The third photo is a portion of a long wall display featuring natural elements according to their chemical properties: gingembre (ginger), igname (yam), bois de cerf (deer antler), boyau de chevreuil (goat’s gut), mandragore (mandrake), herbe de grâce (grace grass), orchidée (orchid ), ginseng, cabosse de cacao (cocoa pod), café (coffee), bois-bande (wood strip).

Muséum de Toulouse, Wall of skeletons. Ann Barrie 2019

Muséum de Toulouse, Sort, arrange, classify. Ann Barrie 2019

Muséum de Toulouse, Natural elements – fecundity. Ann Barrie 2019

Le lundi 10 juin. Monday 10 June

Valerie, my friend from New Zealand schooldays and university, has joined me in Toulouse. Today, the two of us walked along the Canal du Midi to Musée Georges-Labit. This museum was founded in 1893 by Georges Labit, a passionate traveller from a wealthy business family, to house his collection of objets d’art from Japan, China, South East Asia, India, Tibet and Nepal. 

Doukkar from Mongolia, end of 18th Century, Musée Georges-Labit, Toulouse. Photo Ann Barrie 2019

The collection, which subsequently received other Asian pieces by bequest or purchase, plus an Egyptian collection, is housed in a building with Moorish-inspired architecture. The layout inside is clean and uncluttered, the walls are painted in colours sympathetic to the collection, and it was a pleasure to walk around. One of the many delights is the collection of Japanese prints, accommodated in drawers, and grouped under subjects such as theatre, beautiful women, travellers. The museum also has a programme of workshops on subjects associated with the collection: for example, initiation to mah-jong; the art of wearing a kimono; and the tea ceremony.

Blog by Ann Barrie

Europe June 2019 - Paris to Lourdes

On my European trips, I never believe I am really going until the plane lifts off the ground. At 1.30 pm on 21 May, SQ248, Wellington to Singapore via Melbourne, did not lift off the ground. We were in our seats, and had taxied out to the runway when the captain announced a mechanical problem that would require us to return to the gate. It seemed hopeful that a part could quickly be found, but in the end our flight was aborted and rescheduled for 8 am next day. Singapore Airlines provided us with hotels and taxi chits. I chatted with a Sikh couple who were taking their grandson to New Delhi; and with Mireille, who coincidentally was on the same flight as me – she once came to our house for dinner, and she vividly recalls my late husband, Bill, telling her which New Zealand potatoes are best.

In Singapore, we were provided with hotel accommodation for our 6 to 8-hour layover. I teamed up with a young Englishman whose French grandmother had just died – he would now arrive too late for her funeral in Nimes Cathedral. He and I were both placed at Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy on East Coast Road, where there was an excellent buffet. A waitress called Susan, delighted that I wished to try the pig stomach soup, took me under her wing. I told her my late husband would equally have enjoyed it, and that he and I had a very happy 10-day holiday in Singapore more than 15 years ago.

Our flight SQ336, Singapore to Paris, was so quiet that I was not aware of the plane taking off. Possibly this was extreme tiredness. I had a generous amount of foot room, and the German-made pressure stockings, which I had resorted to for the first time, stopped all swelling of the legs.

At Paris CDG airport, despite considerable trepidation – I seem to be losing travel confidence as I age – I caught the RER regional train to Cité Universitaire, and then the tramway to Porte de Vanves in the 14^th arrondissement from whence I walked the short distance to my friend Dominique’s apartment in Rue Vercingetorix. We had a late breakfast of patisseries and strawberries on her balcony, which has a view of the Eiffel Tower, and we caught up on two years’ gossip.

Later, we walked to the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was a mild, Spring afternoon. The trees were clad in light green, so different to our dark foliage down under. There were people playing tennis and boules; and others seated at small tables playing bridge and chess. We visited the exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg, Les Nabis et le décor. The Nabis were a group of young artists including Bonnard, Vuillard and Maurice Dennis, who came together in the late 1880's to assert their opposition to impressionism, which they considered too close to reality, and to give painting an essentially decorative role. They referred to themselves as Nabis, which means ‘prophets’ in Hebrew and Arabic. 

Maurice Dennis, Arabesque poétique, 1892

In the evening, we walked out again, to the leafy courtyard of a crêperie in Rue Daguerre and a reunion with Pascale, who looked after me when I spent three months at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in 2005.

Breakfast on a Paris balcony. Photo Ann Barrie

Next morning, I walked along rue Vercingetorix to Gare Montparnasse where I caught my TGV to Lourdes. I always enjoy this trip, this transition between Paris and the foothills of the Pyrenees.

Lundi le 28 mai. Tuesday 28 May

2019 is the 7^th time I have served as a bénévole (volunteer) at the Cité St Pierre which is on 32 hectares and is located 20 minutes' walk from the sanctuaries at Lourdes.  I am here for a fortnight. The six pavillons (residences) each accommodate about 50 people – parish groups, and others making pilgrimages to Lourdes. Bénévoles are need to help run the place. I am based at Ozanam this time. This photo, taken from the balcony of my room, looks across at the neighbouring pavillon, St Vincent de Paul, where I was based two years ago. 

Pavillon St Vincent de Paul, Cité St Pierre, Lourdes, 2019.  Ann Barrie

I always personalise my bedside table when travelling overseas. The photo is Bill in our early days; the handkerchief was mine as a girl; and the pebble is from a Wellington nun, a reminder that many people's prayers and good wishes go with me:

Bedside table, Lourdes, 2019.  Ann Barrie 

I was surprised to learn there is a shortage of bénévoles this year. Belgian Linda is here with me at present, but when she returns home on Wednesday, I will be here alone. Bénévoles from other pavillons are rostered to help me with the permanence (reception duties) from noon to 10.30 pm. Here is a photo of the office:

Acceuil (Reception) at Pavillon Ozanam, Cité St Pierre, Lourdes, 2019.  Ann Barrie

I already know some of the other bénévoles from my previous visits to the Cité St Pierre – for example, Raymonde, who is very efficient with cleaning, all the while wearing enormously high heels (haut talons). She presented me with this beret she had knitted, and she showed me how to wear it with French flair:

Ann Barrie modelling beret knitted by Raymonde. Cité St Pierre, Lourdes, 2019. e

When cleaning and making up rooms, we work in pairs. (There is a planning meeting each Friday, which a permanent staff member and a religious sister also attend). This photo shows some of the tools of our trade. The produit blue is used for the dusting, and the produit rose for the sanitaires (toilet, shower and wash basin), and there are appropriate rags for each of these. The knife and toothbrush are useful for the showers. We also use large industrial vacuum cleaners, and chariots containing two buckets for mopping the floors.

Cleaning products, Cité St Pierre, Lourdes, 2019.  Ann Barrie

The groups of pilgrims, after their stay of three days or so, depart in the mornings, and they are responsible for bringing their sheets to the reception and returning their security cards by 8.00 am: 

Reminder for departing pilgrims, Cité St Pierre, Lourdes, 2019.  Ann Barrie

The day before Linda returned to her Belgian village, she and I walked down the hill to the sanctuaries in order to participate in the international choir for the Procession des malades (procession of those who are ill), which takes place each day at 5.00 pm. We chatted about her country. I told her that in 1919, the King of the Belgians honoured my Scottish grandmother with the Médaille de la Reine Elisabeth (Queen Elisabeth medal) for her work with Belgian refugees in London. Linda said – and it is true – that one of the beautiful things about Lourdes is the rencontres, the meetings. Who would have thought that a New Zealand bénévole would have this special Belgian connection?

It is not all work at the Cité St Pierre. The programme of social activities has already included apéritifs and bouquets for Fête des mères (I had two Mothers’ Days this year) ; film evenings ; and a festive dinner hosted by the Italian and Romanian bénévoles.

Apératifs laid out for Fête des Mères, Cité St Pierre, Lourdes, 2019.  Ann Barrie

Chicken dinner and bouquet, Cité St Pierre, Lourdes, 2019.  Ann Barrie

We have one day’s leave a week (pressure of work permitting). On Thursday, I accompanied Annie, Ginette, and Véronique on a five km walk to the village of Bartrès which is strongly associated with Bernadette Soubirous. It was a glorious day with temperatures of 28° (it was cold and wet for my first few days at Lourdes). Here we are against a backdrop of the famous basilica before we begin our climb out of Lourdes:

Annie, Ginette and Ann Barrie at Lourdes, May 2019

And here we are in front of the bergerie where Bernadette would often shelter with her little flock of sheep. We had a gourmet picnic, because Véronique's parents are agriculteurs near Dax and she  brought along some of their terrine made from pork, foie gras and salt and pepper. We ate this with melon, crusty bread, and salads.

Picnic break at the Bergerie of Bernadette Soubirous, Bartrès, 2019

Samedi 1 juin. Saturday 1 June
Back at the Cité we are taking advantage of the sunny weather and eating our déjeuner (lunch) at the long tables outside. I had a long chat to Maria, first generation Italian French, who is energetic and vivacious, lives in Strasbourg and was widowed young. 

After dinner last evening, Ginette, Yvonne and I walked along leafy paths flanked with luscious wildflowers here at the Cité, and then we continued around the lake with its white swans and ducks. Yvonne, like me, married a man considerably older than her (in her case 9 years rather than 16). She, like me, is a fast walker, and so she needs to stop regularly to wait for her husband to catch up. In my case, when Bill and I walked up Cuba Mall on our regular sorties to the Lighthouse Cinema, I would get ahead of Bill and then wheel round and walk back to join him, and then take off again. Bill was amused at this, but it worked.

There is a New Zealander named Glynne staying at Ozanam for two days. He works for Youth for Christ in Biarritz, and is in Lourdes for a Pacific Island rugby weekend. He said it is a huge adjustment for these players to settle in France; the single men seem to pick up French quicker than those here with their wives, as they get French girlfriends. Yesterday, there was a France vs Pacific Island rugby match, and today there was a social gathering with an umu in the park next to the Mairie (town hall). I wandered past, and it was a colourful sight with adults and children speaking French.

Excuse errors (French keyboard). I will blog again after I have been to Toulouse.

Blog by Ann Barrie