Raise your hand if you knew that the Louvre had a second location in France. Anyone? The much less known and equally awesome Louvre in Lens, France was our destination today and we were ready for action after a much needed break yesterday. Lens is about an hour's train ride from Lille, and it was that train we found ourselves on this morning. It was an impeccable train and a very scenic hour spent watching the landscape of northern France roll by. Transportation trouble started when we arrived at the Lens station, rain pouring, and a daughter unable to open an easy-open umbrella, resulting in a very soaked mom. Always pack and wear quick dry clothes for vacation, folks. It came in handy today. We were unable to get an Uber driver to pick us up from the station and then had no luck trying to get a taxi. Calling taxi services in a town where almost no one speaks English (and really, why should they? They're in France and so are we) was not working out very well. Fortunately, a taxi arrived dropping off a passenger at the station so we were saved. In said cab on the way to the Louvre, there was an incessant dinging sound. Turns out Mom didn't have her seat belt on. The driver and I proudly showed off our belted selves while Mom tried to stop the dinging. Then, to everyone's surprise, the dinging continued after she was successful. Why? Because I had belted my seatbelt into the wrong slot. Alas, I was the loser in the seat belt ding-off.
The Louvre Lens is a modern building and relatively small. It has a permanent collection in one large gallery and then it hosts a temporary exhibit in another. There was also a very small photography exhibit on the lower floor showcasing the mining history of the city. It is across from this spectacular view of the Louvre's storace facility, which can be seen through a huge glass wall. We had to buy tickets for the special exhibit (otherwise, the Louvre Lens is free!) so I was being helped by a kind young man who knew a bit of English. He was asking if Mom (who was by now comfortably installed in a wheelchair) had any kind of disability card so that we could receive a discount. In my attempt to make my English very clear and also because I'm really just flummoxed most of the time I said, "no but she does have an old lady card!" - by which I meant AARP, an organization that I'm sure is not recognized in the sovereign country of France. The man started cracking up and so did I. Mom had no idea what was so funny but I'm happy to report that she appreciated the joke. Now I want to make Old Lady Cards ™ and hand them out to unsuspecting strangers.
The special exhibit at the Louvre Lens was such a gem. Apparently the Louvre Paris is renovating its Roman art and sculpture rooms, so they moved the collection up to Lens. Lucky us! The designers of the exhibit did a fantastic job making cohesive spaces, filled with light and decked out in contrasting colors, making the sculpture sing. It was a photographer's paradise, and since both Mom and I enjoy a good photo here and there, we spent quite a bit of time wandering through Roman history. Oh, also, there were MANY school children also enjoying the exhibit, and they were really a good group to hang out with. No aimless running around for this group. They were, however, photobombing quite a bit.
After lunch, we checked out the permanent exhibit. Again - kudos to whoever designed this museum. The exhibit inhabits one enormous room and all of the art and artifacts overlap each other into the distance, creating this massive visual expanse of art through the centuries. On the wall, way up at the top of the room, there are the centuries marked off to show the progression from 500 BC to perhaps around the early 1900s. Again, photographing in this set-up was dreamy. You could take a photo of one eye popping sculpture and have in the background an array of equally mesmerizing masterpieces. It's hard to beat the Louvre, Paris or Lens, when it comes to museuming.
When it was time to leave we asked the info desk folks to help us call a taxi (after the very unsuccessful time we had that morning). This staff was unbelievable. One of the women called SIX cab companies (every one in town) and no one would come pick us up. Apparently it's a problem that's common for the Louvre, because the ride from the museum to the train station is short and not profitable and there are other, more lucrative opportunities for cabbies. While all this telephoning was happening, Mom and I were hanging out with Celine, another Louvre info person. We talked about all things French and American, she admiring the freedoms in our country (??? I mean, maybe?) and we admiring the universal healthcare, 35 hour work weeks, 5 weeks of vacation, free college, and being paid an entire year to stay home during the worst of the pandemic. Seems kind of nice. But, grass is always greener. When the taxis refused to come, Celine amazingly, walked us 10 minutes down to a bus station so that Mom could use the wheelchair, then helped us buy our tickets (all in French of course, what with being in France) and then explained exactly how to use them and where to get off the bus. Without her, we would have missed our train home and would still be in Lens this very minute. She and her coworkers were so kind, and I just wonder what would happen to a foreigner in America facing the same situation. I hope they'd find as much care and concern, but I dunno. It feels pretty rough in the USA right now and hearing about how the French take care of their citizens makes it hard to see the good in America. Broad brushes and all that, I know...
We are now home, preparing for our day trip to Paris tomorrow. How lovely! A day in Paris. We'll be meeting up with friends and also meeting a 4th cousin who is Parisian. Can't wait!
One more note: for reasons I don't know, the actual, one-of-a-kind Orient Express was parked next to our train heading out of Lens. It costs thousands of dollars to spend one night on that train, and voila! there it is, just hanging out next to us. It was kind of like spotting a favorite movie star, only if the movie star was pulled by a locomotive,
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