Learning to 'flaneur' with style

We were two of only four people who disembarked at Calais from the Eurostar into what seemed like another planet. The very new concrete station was totally desolate and the surrounding countryside quiet and bare. We finally found the entrance and the taxi driver named Fred ( yes really his name was Fred and he was French!) who was to take us to the car lease office.

Ewan insisted I take a photo of the car in front of some of the many
 beautiful trees loaded with springtime blossom

We collected a very cute Citroen which fortunately did fit all of our stuff (and will fit Liz and her stuff when she arrives too!). It isn't exactly a slinky sports car as you can see, but goes fast when needed and is comfortable.

Ewan's intention for the next 7 weeks is to traverse the back roads of France (assisted by a book of that very name). We encountered a small (!) confrontation between the GPS in the car  (Gloria by name) and Ewan's focus on back roads. Gloria is insistent that we travel the fastest or shortest route so, of course, her choice is always the main roads :freeways, highways and so on. Ewan's choice is to meander slowly through as many tiny villages as possible. The two perspectives do not match, let me tell you!
Unfortunately you cannot persuade Gloria to go the slowest scenic route, so Ewan has gone for Plan B: using offline maps on his tablet (did I mention we have quite a few technological devices with us?!). This involves me peering at the screen trying to decipher very tiny font and trying to avoid getting carsick. So Plan B has its drawbacks too. In the end a bit of impromptu navigating along the lines of "I think that's the right direction!", and avoiding any road that starts with 'A' (as that means freeway) seemed to work, and we were only occasionally temporarily lost.

However we did have the joy of driving through the quiet calm of endless green fields punctuated by a patchwork of brown ploughed fields and bright yellow canola crops. The only inhabitants were the occasional cows and even a couple of hares who hurriedly got out of our way. There were few trees and no fences at all which meant the slightly rolling hills seemed to go on forever. Very peaceful and almost desolate in places.

The villages varied in size but were very frequent. No sooner do you reach the end of one and increase your speed from 50 (the require speed limit for villages and small towns) to 90 and then another village appears. There is a uniformity in the architecture with most houses built of red brick, some with white decorative bricks, all with steep rooves and attic windows and very neat manicured gardens.

On the way to Albert, our first stop for three nights, we had to fill up the petrol tank and buy simcards: Ewan goes slightly crazy if we can't get all of the technological devices for communication sorted so it's better to get it over with! So one of our first stops was a huge shopping complex where we had the worst coffee we have ever tasted - not a good start. An hour later we finally emerged with simcards in place (almost) and a few essentials that I bought at the neighbouring Carrefours as I was bored!

Albert proved to be a beautiful town with a very lovely Town hall and a tiny central square. We were greeted warmly by our Airbnb hosts Joelle and Francis. and found ourselves enjoying the sunshine in the backyard over a beer as soon as we arrived. He is a retired banker and Joelle is a retired teacher, They live with their son Pierre in a beautifully renovated house in one of the main streets of town and have been really lovely hosts.

 For future reference -Airbnb - Chambre Lumineuse en ville Proche de la gare Albert - the hosts are Joelle and Francis)

We wandered into the square and were very adventurous and tried some of the local delicacies. I ordered Picelle Picarde which turned out to be a pancake filled with  ham mushrooms and cheese in a creamy sauce and then smothered with more cream and extra sauce and baked (my arteries are groaning already!). Ewan's choice was a mixed dish of pieces of Tartflette - a flat quiche - and potjevlesh a local (delicious) version of potted meat. To top it off both of our meals arrived with chips that were in a half tube shape, probably so you could scoop up all of the cream I think!

Note to self: do not drive everywhere - keep exercising or there could be disastrous consequences for our health!

We have spent the last couple of days touring around the local area. Albert is very close to the WW1 battlefields, the names of which are very familiar to many Australians - Villers Bretonneux, Amiens, the Somme, Posieres, Ypres and so on,

A trip to Arras was first on the list as there is a large market in some old Squares created by rows of Flemish houses. Using the GPS we arrived very close to la Grand Place but found ourselves almost trapped by tiny one way streets and no parking spaces.

White asparagus -yum!

A small dog who was begging in front of the
 meats stall: every time I tried to take a
 photo  of him begging he stopped, but
 his gaze did not venture from that stall!

The display in an opticians window

 Harry Murphy : Australian soldier

In all of the towns here there are currently Australian flags hung from houses and shops to commemorate Australia Week which includes ANZAC Day. The French acknowledge the support they received from Australia very openly.
In Arras they have 20 panels on the streets which display information about individual soldiers and some were Australian.After a stroll around the market and some supplies we headed off for a different sort of experience: the Louvre-Lens.

The gorgeous Hotel de Ville ( Tow n Hall)which overlooks one
 of the Squares

As part of a decentralisation of the Arts'' policy a  new Louvre building has recently been built on some coal mining land in Lens.

 It doesn't have permanent displays but has a section titled Galerie du Temps where the artworks and objects displayed are constantly rotated to allow them to be seen instead of mouldering away in the Museum Archives.

We saw a temporary exhibition called Le Nain. The Le Nain brothers Antoine, Louis and Matthieu painted in the 1600s but signed their paintings as Le Nain with no christian name so there has been a lot of controversy about who painted what! It became clear that they did have different styles. They all painted peasants in everyday life in preference to portraits of royalty and the rich which was unusual in those days. No photos allowed!

Mother and baby from Ancient Syria

The buildings and environment was very sleek and comfortable although it was a 600 metre walk to the car park. It gave us a chance to enjoy the local trees - especially the silver birches - and wander along in the sunshine.

A very enjoyable day to get us started flaneuring

your well-fed and cultured correspondent

Dianne

A horde of tiny Egyptian amulets to represent servants required for the afterlife of a rich ma.n Found in his sarcophagus