Day trip: La Piscine #2

Along with a small group of French journalists I recently had the unique experience of a behind-the-scenes exclusive look at the ongoing expansion work of La Piscine Museum, site of a former municipal swimming pool in an Art Deco building on the outskirts of Lille.

Above: artisans at work reminiscent of Caillebotte's Les Raboteurs at the Orsay Museum


Below: boxes of artworks yet to be unpacked; display bases for sculptures; 19th and 20th-century art fills back-room ateliers during construction works

(click to enlarge)

La Piscine Museum
23 rue de l'Espérance 59100 Roubaix
 Scheduled re-opening date: October 20, 2018


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Day trip: Lille

[The museum restaurant / café is managed by Méert of Lille, famous luxury chocolate and pastry makers] 

Day trip: La Piscine #1

A ten-minute train ride from the city of Lille (2 hours from Paris), La Piscine - an early 20th century municipal swimming pool transformed into an astonishing art exhibition space - expands and readies for re-opening this October.

La Piscine Museum
23 rue de l'Espérance 59100 Roubaix

Monday: behind-the-scenes

Où est la clim?

Paris has noticeably cooled down but should la canicule return there are plenty of places where AC is in full force.

We almost needed coats at L'Avant Comptoir, an indulgent wine+tapas bar dear to my heart that I wrote up in The Good Life France Magazine.

Above: macaron of boudin noir

Below: caramelized pork belly; photos of choices hang from the ceiling

L'Avant Comptoir / Chef Yves Camdeborde

3 Carrefour de l'Odéon 75006

(no reservations; casual; eat standing at counter)


- This + 14 more ideas to beat the heat, in August newsletter -
Nouveautés

A Sunday market

For years, especially when we lived in the Marais, many a Sunday morning found me with basket in hand, poking around for fresh herbs, seasonal vegetables, salts, charcuteries and fresh fish -- then topping it off with a salidou-smothered crêpe -- at the vast marché Bastille, a cook's dream.

Quiet Paris

Shuttered shops, less traffic: many consider August the best time to be in Paris.


August newsletter

Nouveautés

Profiling

A small terrier stands his ground.

Crêpes on a roll

Rolled-up buckwheat crêpe appetizers with different fillings: chorizo, camembert, goat cheese, smoked salmon; tarama dip; chilled brut apple cider from Brittany.

Breizh Café

"La crêpe autrement"

1 rue de l'Odéon 75006