Just before sunrise, we took the boardwalk to the station for the 7:05 high speed train to Paris. Paris is 500 miles away and the trip is programmed to take just under 5 hours. We booked this trip more than six weeks ago and this was the only train with seats available all the way through to Paris. This was the position last night when we looked to see if we could get a later train.
There were only two other people on the upper deck in our carriage leaving Hendaye but more people got on at Bordeaux and the stations before. But there were still four or five free seats in our carriage coming into Paris.
We arrived in Paris 3-4 minutes early.
On the journey, Jane researched what we might do during our afternoon in Paris. The Louvre at €50 a person was sold out and so was the Quay D’Orsay at €30 a person. But there’s a Museé Banksy here! So we booked for 3:30. We left our bags at our hotel – it was too early to check-in – and then we set off towards Montmatre, which is where the exhibition is. We stopped on the way for some lunch – coinciding with a rain shower. La Bute itself was packed.
On the way down, it poured again and we were glad of my new umbrella, and the rain poncho that Jane takes everywhere and finally got to wear!
The Banksy Museum was inspiring (but not uplifting, at least not for me). It was very well done. I’ll start you off gently with this one.
But they got more and more hard-hitting….
This next one is a comment on war and consumerism. Those of us who’ve seen the original photo this is based on won’t have forgotten it.
One of Banksy’s comments on Guantanamo Bay; he will often paint modern figures or scenes on old oil paintings he picks up at flea markets – an aspect of his work we didn’t know.
This is a recreation of one of the rooms in the Banksy-funded Walled Off Hotel in Gaza.
I wasn’t aware of this one, of Steve Jobs. This went up in the Calais Jungle, the encampment near Calais, France, where migrants live as they attempt to enter the United Kingdom. Steve Jobs was of Syrian decent.
Banksy’s ability to convey, movement and facial expressions with minimal use of paint is extraordinary. The Flower Thrower is a great example:
Despite harrowing nature of much of the content, it was an educational way to spent two hours, and we were lucky to catch it so close to where we are staying.
This evening we walked down to the Seine and had a crepe and a pizza opposite the Louvre…
…then got the metro back the hotel.
Tomorrow this epic trip comes to an end. We catch the 11.09 Eurostar to London and get in at 12:30 UK time. We should be back home by mid-afternoon. I’ll be doing a couple more posts on “Camino Reflections” and “Crucial Camino Kit” over the next couple of days to wrap this series up.
