The Travel Writing of Heather Classen
Finished after two years… originally intended to be finished for a yarn festival in Montreal that was ultimately cancelled because of the, you know, pandemic.
Used yarn I bought on a previous trip to Canada: the Belfast Mini Mills Specialty Sock yarn (husky fur!) doubled to match the blue Island (PEI) collection.
Got my own husky at home in the meantime.
On our last day we visited the Petit Palais Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris. So much art to see all over the city. Taking a day in between art outings really helps you take it all in.
The front entry way was lovely, of course.
The Petit Palais has art from many different periods. This art nouveau portrait is “Woman wearing gloves” by Charles-Alexandre Giron.
A book of printing samples.
A delicate brocade wrap.
A behind the scenes painting of a music party.
The CSO had just played the Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz before my trip. I was delighted to see the original score in the museum.
This one is so peaceful.
Jean d’Arc est partout.
Art Nouveau furniture.
Outside after the museum, a view of the Eiffel Tower.
In the evening we got last minute tickets to the Assassin’s Creed concert at the Palais Des Congres in Paris. The symphony played over classic Assassin’s Creed gaming video from the various games. The composer came out for a bow at the end. Such a great way for this gamer musician to wrap up vacation.
Thanks for looking at all this. I’m writing this a year after the fact during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, like everyone else we are largely quarantined to quell the spread of the virus. Herd immunity was something I didn’t know we were taking for granted. Hopefully soon science will get us to a place where we can gather in sports arenas, museums, and at musical events again. Be well, everyone.
Click to return to the index of 2019 France Trip Memories.
Attending the Quarter Final game of the 2019 Women’s World Cup at Les Parc des Princes in Paris was, no doubt, the highlight of this adventure. The US Women’s National Team had two more games to win after this one, but somehow this one felt like a final with the French team playing in the French capitol to a very excited crowd.
The games were all very family friendly and each game had bunches of cute little soccer fans.
Timbao Percussion Group played outside the stadium and set the pulsating tone for the arriving crowd.
We arrived at the stadium early for this one so we didn’t miss a thing.
“The Outlaws” US Soccer fan club arrived en masse.
The US Women’s National Team warmed up before the game in blue.
The starting line up was announced.
A video from the crowd’s point of view before the game. The stadium was intermixed France and US fans in red, white, and blue.
The players marched out in the pregame pageantry.
An image of a woman was unfurled during the opening ceremony.
And play began. USWNT in white and the French team in blue.
Megan Rapinoe got a goal pretty early on. A magical penalty kick, the video is in the highlights video at the end of this post.
We sat behind these two. The French woman on the right was a super polite fan, the US man on the left could hardly stay in his seat he was so excited.
This video shows how sitting behind these two went for the whole game. The French woman is a saint, btw.
The French team keeping the pressure on with this corner kick.
Definitely the most media of the games we saw.
Btw, “Dare to create”, what does that mean? How about just “Create”. Maybe something was lost in translation.
The French had a penalty kick.
Ettie, the FIFA mascot, made her appearance at the half.
A panorama gives a feel for the place. The entire audience was excited for the game, good sportsmanship and camaraderie all around.
Dunn throws in.
A Megan Rapinoe corner kick.
The arena was almost at capacity.
The audience around the broadcaster’s booth.
Both sides had huge support in the stands, the stadium was pulsating.
The barricades and guards were the same setup at all the games.
Red, white, and blue.
The US won 2:1 leaving the French out of the finals.
The US team huddled as the saddened French team found their way together.
There was always this mini huddle after the large team huddle.
And the heartbroken French grouped up for a post mortem.
The fans left the stadium in a festive mood. The crowd showed good sportsmanship over a game well played. I was concerned that people might get nationalistic and combative, but I never saw it happen. People just loved the light-hearted nature of how the Women’s World Cup was played.
The FIFA highlights real:
One more day left, a museum visit and Assassins Creed (yes, the video game) Live in Concert.
Click to return to the index of 2019 France Trip Memories.
June 27, 2019 was the day before our last soccer game in France. We spent it at the Louvre. These are the pieces and experiences that struck me the most.
Spring term of 2019 I took a pen and ink class at the MFA in Boston. We learned exactly this technique of using standard tan colored paper stock, and lightening and darkening the illustration with black and white ink. I absolutely love working in this style myself, and was pleased to see a whole gallery on the hallway into the main part of the Louvre dedicated to examples of this type of work.
Next we viewed the ancient Egyptian art. These blue hippos are the best, you can see examples of them in Providence, RI, and New York. Of course there’s one here.
These carved wall reliefs are just beautiful. The Brooklyn Museum has a display showing how the artisans created them, if you’re nearby and curious.
Below are snapshots of the same piece from two different angles to see how the carving is recessed in the stone.
The Ancient Persian art was next after the Egyptian galleries. They also use the aqua colored glazing that the Egyptians mastered with those hippos. The three following images were quite large on the wall, these photos don’t show their size properly.
I wish I got a photo of the information card for these signet rolls below. They are thousands of years old, and I believe they are used for commerce. The Harvard Art Museums have examples of these cylinders. The designs are clever and repeating. Nothing new under the sun, people always needed their brands with eye catching designs, even four plus thousand years ago.
From Egypt to Persia to Europe. The word is 12,000 people visit the Louvre a day in normal times. I believe this 100%.
We made our way to the lunch café overlooking the center courtyard.
Next, the Mona Lisa.
the heck?
Grab a snapshot as you shuffle by in the crowd to prove you were there.
Jean d’Arc is everywhere and I love it.
Arcimboldo depicted the four seasons as people made entirely of food.
Musical instruments!
I feel Iike this was a dream I had.
SOoooooo much lovely art.
Dramatic clothes.
Pssst, I like this Da Vinci more than the Mona Lisa.
This artist’s work felt very modern to me. Though this may be what the Mona Lisa changed about art, adding the fogging.
This fella had a bad day, but isn’t the artwork amazing?
Gilded Fra Angelico pieces take my breath away.
again, the heck?
I was surprised to see this work below. While working on CSO posters I snarfed the image of these demons for the background of the Angels and Demons concert poster.
Winged victories come in all sizes.
Thought this one was lovely.
Queens have nice fabric.
Look at the varying levels of interest and boredom in this painting. So great.
Right about when we saw this view we realized we were maybe halfway through what was on display and decided we needed to come back and visit Paris for maybe three months and go see all the art. But this day we were done.
Next: quarter final game day.
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June 26 was a day to sight see. A fun video projection place, L’Atelier des Lumières, and a visit to theart museum, the Centre Pompidou.
L’Atelier des Lumières is still running this year even with the pandemic according to their website. They change the shows periodically, and alternate throughout the day. We were there for a Van Gogh display followed by Japanese art. I kept the perspective of my photographs the same to show how dramatic the changing video was. These photographs of course don’t do the experience justice, if you find yourself in Paris this is a must see experience. It is the perfect thing to do when maybe it’s too hot outside, or maybe you’re exhausted from touring and you need a gentle, low energy Paris experience.
Rejuvenated by the video projection show we made our way to the Pompidou art museum, stopping at the Lil Weasel yarn store along the way.
Lots of great modern art in the Pompidou. There was a photography show, as well as contemporary modern art, one of the many art museums to add to your list when you visit Paris.
A northern view of Paris from the Pompidou hallways.
This Venus statue is tens of thousands of years old, it really stood out in comparison with the contemporary art on display here.
After dinner at another great Paris restaurant we walked back to the hotel along the river. Parisians weathered the heatwave by gathering down at the river on this regular week night. Bottles of wine and water were politely piled up at the trashcans, as people watched the sunset. People were sitting on the river bank for the entire length of our walk back.
Another lovely sunset back at the hotel bar.
The next day, June 27, is dedicated to a visit to the Louvre museum.
Click to return to the index of 2019 France Trip Memories.
Reims Cathedral’s stained glass is phenomenal for two reasons: 1) beautiful and 2) they replace damaged glass with pieces that reflect the style of the time.
The old and the contemporary glass are situated side by side.
It’s an active church.
A most French kings were coronated at the Reims Cathedral. Jean d’Arc accompanied Charles the VII here.
Marc Chagall designed these windows.
Imi Knoebel designed these.
Another super hot day had a steady stream of tourists visiting the cool cathedral.
Next door is the Palais du Tau museum, with various items from the ancient French regency.
Charlemagne wore this … 1200 years ago.
One last view of the cathedral before we head back to Paris.
Back in Paris we stayed at the Citizen M Hotel which had weird tiny rooms like a cruise ship and large common areas on the second floor for the intent of having everyone socialize.
This French Fashion Institute Knit Workshop was across the way from the hotel but it wasn’t open when we went by. It looked really cool inside.
Nice street art near the fashion institute finished out our long travel day.
Next two days we were back touring Paris before the US v France game on the 28th.
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Monday the 24th was all about the US vs Spain. We switched hotels this morning, did laundry, and then took a walk to find the FIFA Fan Experience area that we missed at the game at Le Havre.
Good news: Free Taittinger champagne at the FIFA Fan Experience in Reims. There was other stuff there too, fun things for the kids, but, like, I only photographed the champagne.
We made our way to the arena for the game. It was HOT. Crowded. And a flippin’ blast. I started by saying yes to the patriotic waxy chalk stuff.
These are all my game photos below in order with captions. I didn’t get each game moment on camera, obviously, and was always making the effort to watch and enjoy as much as taking photos to remember. These are the best of photos I got of the players, crowd, and arena.
The players take the field.
Heath was fouled and Rapinoe got the penalty kick pretty soon into the game.
Below are photos of the USWNT players as they ran near me. We had great seats, second row.
After a check of the VAR, indeed Rapinoe was to take a penalty kick. The score was 1:1 at this point, I believe.
This is where Megan Rapinoe did the arms out “are you entertained” stance, I didn’t get a photo of it.
Corredera and Rapinoe were covering each other this whole game, Corredera could offer a master class in getting away with fouls.
The US fans are called “The Outlaws”.
After each game some players would come out and sign autographs for the Outlaws.
We walked back to our hotel, which was pretty close. Cars on the highway under the bridge honked as the fans (i.e. Aram) waved their flags victoriously.
The official FIFA highlights reel:
Next, we saw more Reims and then made our way back to Paris for the US v France game.
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The winner of Women’s World Cup Group F was going to be playing in Reims, France, so I got hotel reservations near the stadium and then looked to see what the area had to see. I took a chance that the USWNT would win their group and that would be the game we’d be seeing here (spoiler: it was). First, tho, a look at the map showed me that this portion of the trip would be all France National Park type stuff. That’s cool, I thought, it would be nice to spend sometime in nature away from the hectic cities.
Long story short, this National Park is all about the birthplace, continued tradition, craft, and art of champage. Turns out this Montagne de Reims is my favorite National Park anywhere.
Found a small tour to take which left from the train station in Reims. First place our guide took us to was the Reims Cathedral.
Reims is an ancient city known largely for being the place where the French Regency was coronated. For example, in 1429 Jean d’Arc accompanied Charles VII to his coronation at this cathedral.
A person could spend hours looking at the statuary on the outside of the cathedral. The expressions on these four are so familiar and delightful. And the animal downspouts have so much character.
After an overview at the cathedral we went directly to Taittinger to learn about champagne. I absolutely loved this graphic in the lobby announcing that Taittinger was the official champagne of the women’s world cup, the shapes, color, focus, energy – everything about this design is perfect. I looked up the designer when I got home: La Boca Agent Pekka.
The Taittinger wine cellars were 55 degrees, which was a treat since it was 95 degrees outside. The people that preferred the heat got to carry blankets on the tour into the chalk cellars.
After the tour we had champagne tasting. I enjoyed both the champagne as well as looking at all the other great label design they had on display.
Here’s my favorite poster at a selfie station.
Next we visited the Moët & Chandon’s chardonnay vineyards. Our guide grew up in the area, and was part of the local teams that picked the grapes during harvest season. He gave us a great tour.
After the vineyards our tour guide took us to the village of Hautvillers to see the location where Dom Perignon invented champagne.
Dom Perignon’s grave was in the front of the Abbey Saint-Pierre d’Hautvillers, surrounded by statuary of Jean d’Arc and an angel.
A rose bush at the end of the row shows the the health of the grapes. If the rosebush suffers, the grapes will be suffering soon. Something of a “canary in the coalmine” but grapes and roses.
Moët & Chandon has the Dom Perignon brand. There were more champagne houses on this street, our guide took us to the two. I’d have to say I enjoyed the taste and brand of Taittinger more than the Moët, but the entire experience of the tour was wonderful. If you ever find yourself in Paris definitely do a day trip to these and similar champagne houses, don’t think twice about it. Just go.
Back in the city of Reims after the champagne tour we took a walk to find a restaurant for dinner with the current soccer game on, and voila, the USWNT was in town for the game vs Spain the next day.
Next, USWNT v Spain 95 degree game day.
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After checking out of our hotel we started our journey to Reims, with a stop at Les Jardins Suspendus right in Le Havre overlooking the harbor. This first photo below is the view from the gardens of a cruise ship, the container art, and the cathedral.
I took so many photos at the gardens, here’s one so you can get the idea. The greenhouses were full of every kind of plant you can think of from all over the world. And there was a really cool hedge-maze at the entrance which I didn’t get a photograph of.
The gardens are “suspended” because they are high above the city in a space that was previously a fort. They turned some of the closed up passageways into modern murals.
A break for tea and yogurt, this one sticks in my mind for some reason as well.
The rose garden area was my favorite part, they had so many different varieties.
After the garden experience we drove north up the coast from Le Havre with an eye out for some sort of beach turn off or scenic area. Lots of groups of families and friends having picnics, jet skiing, paddle boarding, etc in this rocky beach area at what I think was called, “Cap d’Antifer”.
Our goal was to see Les Jardins d’Etretat, the next city up the coast from Le Havre. In this photo below we are looking across at what I think is a golf course on the chalky cliffs. I’m pretty sure the cliff we were standing on was equally as dramatic from the other perspective. Etretat seemed like another resort town, the sort of place you go for weddings and vacation if you lived in Paris I imagine. It was beautiful.
We found a parking spot on the street down below the gardens and we walked up. Evidently there’s a tourist train ride that can bring you up the hill.
Les Jardins d’Etretat were as much a sculpture park as an arboretum. These few photos below show my favorite art pieces there.
Hey, look, there is a second walkway up from the city directly. We did this all on our own, and it appears we missed these proper channels of approach.
Back in the car for the long haul drive to Reims, which is a bit north east of Paris. Le Havre is west of Paris on the coast obviously, so it ended up being a slight marathon drive to get to our hotel in Reims that night. The drive was mostly farmland with the occasional village.
Next was a full day touring Reims and the surrounding countryside, June 23. The next game day was the 24th.
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Slept late the morning after the USWNT v Sweden game to catch up and get into the time zone at last. We drove right to the shore knowing nothing about Le Havre, figured the ocean would be the main attraction in “The Harbor” city. Found a parking spot and started walking to see what we’d see.
Of course this is France so as soon as you arrive at the water front you see that Monet painted a scene here.
This Restaurant le Clapotis was at the very end of the walkway, near where we parked… we ate here three times I think. The women that served us was such a nice soul, willing to put up with our lousy French, the food was great, and you could watch the cruise ships and sailboats coming and going. The beach cabanas were opened up here and there, with the locals getting some nice rest and relaxation.
The Beach at Le Havre had plenty of people watching chairs at the bars, plenty of cabanas. This whole area had an easy older resort feel about it, without being obnoxious in any way.
A large bright white art installation decorated the beach.
Lots of boys biking and skating in this fun skate park. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t see any girls playing in this same space this day. Still tho, cool art. The art installation can be seen in the background.
As this was the day after the FIFA game the “Fan Experience” was closed, so we had no idea what this area was about. But seeing this had us keep our eyes open for something similar at the upcoming games.
The city’s “information” center had the FIFA mascot, Lettie, in the window. Evidently the world cup event was making Le Havre a destination again.
I asked the Information Center person what we should see if we could only see ONE thing in Le Havre. She told us to visit the church, Eglise St-Joseph, which was built on the ruins of the previous church that was bombed during WWII.
The lovely thing about the inside was the stained glass in the large open spire. The woman, Marguerite Huré, that designed the glass considered the position of the sun at different times of the year, and how warm and cool the light shining in would be. From Wikipedia: “Huré organized the colors based on the cardinal directions with the dead wood and red colors on the north side, green and purple to the east, golden shades to the south, and pink and orange shades to the west.” It was a remarkable way to think of the space, I thought. Definitely have a look if you find yourself in Le Havre.
This art installation with a hat tip to Le Havre’s status as a shipping port for France.
We checked out the art museum in town, as it was hot and we were craving central air.
Since this is France, the art museum was amazing. Small, but amazing. There was a show for the artist Raoul Dufy, his work was so varied, these two below were my favorites though.
The wall had a large quote from Raoul Dufy from the day before he died.
I mean, they had a collection of cows, and even these were fabulous.
I also enjoyed a selection of more stark black, white, and grey sea-faring paintings of Manet and Boudin.
After the museum we circled back to the waterfront to walk back to the car. These sailboats were moored just inside the breakwater, so many boats.
At night Le Havre had a music festival for the solstice, in a different part of town. This area seemed to be more about business and fine dining than the shore did. Lots of people were out. Gosh I miss herd immunity (I’m writing this during the pandemic.)
We had one meal in Le Havre down near the music festival, it was the one time someone at a restaurant gave us a hard time for speaking lousy French, it’s funny how that interaction sticks in your head. Especially because then we went out to hear the music the festival had to offer. Everyone, literally every band, sang in English. Here I was thinking we’d get to hear something specifically French. Nope. It was all pop and rock songs in English. I hope that waiter didn’t go listen to any of the music, he’d be pissed.
After a long day, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for our drive touring to the next game location on the next day, June 22.
Click to return to the index of 2019 France Trip Memories.