Louvre-Lens

Last weekend Daniele and I drove to Lens, a city about an hour north of Saint-Quentin. We wanted to visit Lens's art museum, which is run by the Louvre in Paris (called Louvre-Lens). The museum was cool, with a super modern architectural design. The main gallery, called the Galerie du temps (the Gallery of Time), is organized by chronology, and not by subject. The result is that art from many traditions is displayed in the same space, so visitors can directly compare art that was created at the same time in different places in the world. The gallery is one long room, with a timeline along one wall that corresponds to the art on display. It was a neat way to organize an exhibit, and the works on display were great.

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Weekend in Casablanca

My final trip during the recent vacation was a weekend in Casablanca with Madeleine and Katherine. We had a lovely time, seeing a lot while also having a relaxing stay (the 80-degree weather helped the weekend feel like a summer beach vacation). The main event was a tour of the Hassan II Mosque, Morocco's largest mosque. It was beautiful, with incredible mosaics and lovely architecture. We also did some shopping in the city's souk, visited the coastline, and made sure to try plenty of delicious Moroccan food.

~ Hassan II Mosque ~

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~ World's tallest minaret ~

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~ Prayer room ~

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~ Hamam ~

~ Outside the mosque ~

~ Coastline ~

~ Delicious appetizer at dinner~

Rome Take 2

My second trip during vacation was to Rome, where I met Haidee and Sarah for three days. We packed a lot into a short amount of time, hitting major monuments (Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps) and also spending a day at the Vatican museums and Saint Peter's Basilica. My favorite part of the trip was a guided tour of the Colosseum and Palatine Hill. Palatine Hill was especially beautiful, covered in trees and green spaces and overlooking the ancient Forum. This was my second trip to Rome (the first was during my semester in Nantes), and I was happy to find that there were plenty of new things to do (and plenty of gelato to eat)!

~ Exploring back streets ~

~ Inside the Pantheon ~

~ Trevi Fountain at night ~

~ Colosseum ~

~ Panorama inside the Colosseum ~

~ Palatine Hill ~

~ Orange trees on Palatine Hill ~

~ Roman Forum ruins ~

~ View from the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II~

~ Nero's bathtub ~

~ In the Vatican museum map room ~

~ Vatican museum ~