Centre Pompidou - Metz (and other updates)

Yesterday after other plans to travel to Düsseldorf/Köln (Cologne) fell through, I decided that I needed to do SOMETHING exciting this weekend. My solution was that I would go to the new Centre Pompidou in Metz, France, which is literally an hour away by train (which seemed to go a lot faster than the LIRR or MetroNorth in NY). Well, first I had to take a 20-min bus ride to France, and then a 40-minute train ride to Metz. It was really enjoyable, though, and it ended up being €7,50 less than I thought it would be, which was a big plus! Also, the Centre Pompidou had free admission for folks under 26. I was very happy about that, and the fact that I literally could walk 5 minutes from the train station directly to the Centre Pompidou. This was particularly important because I slept in until about 11 am today before realizing that I needed to put clothes away, do dishes, do a little grocery shopping - blah blah blah. I was worried because I arrived at the museum at 3:30 pm and I was afraid that 4.5 hours wouldn't be enough (the museum closed at 8), but I finished at about 7 pm. The exhibition was called "Masterpieces?" and it toyed with the notion of what it means to have a masterpiece as well as various examples of "masterpieces" of modern art. Represented were some of the very well-known names - Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Duchamp, Dali - and the not-as-widely-but-also-impressive folks - Delaunay, Tinguely, de Staël. The works all made me think a lot about the usual things I've been interested in with art...separation/integration of art from/with society; what we can consider to be "art" in the first place ("tout est art"?); ideas of originality, "high" versus "low"... I realize these are all very broad questions, but my notebook is a better place for the more specific musings than here on the blog. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera! This seems to be a common them, so I will just start keeping it in my backpack as a habit. I DID take pictures on my Blackberry, but now I have to figure out how to get those from my Blackberry onto my Mac (two things that usually don't go together).

Before I forget, some excitement on the bus ride back from France - this girl was cussing out some guys who were harassing her. They were all drunk (they were drinking beers on the bus, which I guess isn't a crime here or at least not as big of a deal as in the USA because people drink EVERYWHERE!) and every French cuss word that I've ever learned and then some came out of her mouth. It freaked me out enough that my RA instincts kicked in and I dialed the police line...but maybe they saw me because they calmed right down mid-call. The police strolled up in a van after we arrived and one of the drunk girls promptly went over and talked to them.

For the rest of the night, I'm probably going to send some e-mails, read, and then go to bed...yes, I'm boring, but I do eventually have to go back to my life in the USA, so I need to accomplish some things on that front. Gute Nacht!