Day 14 - 26th October - Toulouse: Musée des Augustins (Part 3)
I went to the Musée des Augustins.
Cloisters. These are reconstructed according to Wikipedia.
The Nightmare
Interesting nightmare
Kid Hercules
This was probably the first time I'd seen him as a kid
Woman with peacock. Or Women with peacocks, rather. The left one is from 1890 and the right one from around 1890.
They had 2 copies of Diane by the same guy (Alexandre Falguière), and they were side by side too.
There were also 2 copies of Mercié's David Vainqueur de Goliath. I wasn't sure what was with the twinning.
Switzerland welcoming the French Army
Interestingly this dates from 1874 - Napoleon established the Helvetic Republic in 1798
The 4 functions of the Capitoulat
This requires some explanation: Capitouls were, from the Middle Ages, representative so different segments of Toulouse who made up the municipal council of the city. According to Wikipedia to be a Capitoul, you had to be a married Catholic man over 25 with a house in Toulouse and with an honorable profession (lawyer, procurer, squire or merchant)
Welcoming of Henry of Orleans
Death of Cleopatra
Serpent of airain
Apollo skinning Marsyas
Looks like a very painful armpit shaving
Before the Flood
Looks like a really great time
St Peter's Square
Death of Creuse
Roman Charity
At first I thought this was something erotic but I have since learnt that this refers to the Roman tale where Pero breastfeeds her father Cimon, who has been sentenced to die of starvation
Artist's Fantasy
Louis XV chasing a deer in the forest of St Germain
I'm not sure where the fun in such a hunt is - I count a minimum of 40 dogs going after 1 deer
Death of Marat
Not quite Jacques-Louis David, but clearly a take on it
Moroccan Sultan leaving his palace
Chloris caressed by Zephyr
Boetius says bye to his family
Death of Louis XII, called the Father of his People
Mehmet II enters Constantinople
Cupidon
Death of Cato the Younger
The Madness of Titania
The Massage
Must masseuses be topless?
Conquest of passage
Young girl in park
The Thirst of Gold
Death of Cleopatra
La Gargouille procession
Looting of House in Venice in the Middle Ages
Cardinal Lavigerie
The Return
There was a lot of Romanesque stuff here, but I noticed the style was for a long face and body. Perhaps this was the Southern French Romanesque style.
Various carvings
Sign of Leo and Aries
King David and Harp
Old Testament Queen
King holding Ampoule
Fighter fighting Lion
Jesus in the Garden of Olives
King David and his musicians
King, Virgin with Child and 2 Martyrs
Chiro carried by two angels
From the Paleo-Christian period
Cockfighting winner
Falconner - vault key
St John the Evangelist, St Augustine
Adoration of Magi, Presentation in Temple. Part of 4 Reliefs in Hemisphere
Descent from Cross
Martyrdom of St James
Christ between 2 bandits
Angel with instruments of the Passion
Presentation of Virgin at Temple
Martyrdom of St John and St Paul
Portrait of Capitouls named by Act of Parliament
Christ on Cross and Cardinal
Funerary stone of Marquesia de Linars (who died in 1292)
Funerary stone of Jean called Bishop (who died in 1343)
2 angels carrying soul of bishop to Paradise
St John the Baptist
Effigy of Jean Tissendier
St Paul
Vault key with St Francis
Christ in tomb, from the Vision of St Gregory, between the Virgin and St John the Evangelist
"While Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) celebrated a service, an assistant doubted the actual presence of Christ during the Mass. So Christ miraculously appeared, exiting his tomb and surrounded by the Instruments of the Passion"
Scenes from the Passion
Virgin of Pity in front of instruments of Passion
St Michael trampling the demon
Virgin with Infant, called Our Lady of Grace
They were very proud of this work, so there were some panels:
Virgin with Infant, of an exceptional quality
History of work and its dating
The Restoration
Christ on Cross between the Virgin and St John and the presumed donors - King Charles VII and the Dauphin
They turned off the lights, chasing me out, but this looks like the Lamentation (there was no plaque)
I asked for 1-2 minutes more but the lady continued running around to turn off the lights. Actually I was very surprised they waited till around 6pm to chase me out - I was expecting the place to begin shutting at 5:45pm (or even earlier). So I managed to see everything in the museum except this (not properly anyway) and 1 tomb effigy!
Vigipirate - the French anti-terrorism plan
Oedipus and the Exodus
Amo
"Fresh before!"
Damn cute ham from the Pyrenees.
This is made from "Ham of Pork from the South West", with "Dry salt from the salines of Bayonne) (which closed in 2010, 2 years before this picture was taken)
Bayonne Ham that's been aged for at least a year. It melts in the mouth and is balanced - at least according to the description.
"Praline Wafers in wedges. They may be pralines but they are not corny"
1€ paté. They also had white asparagus but they were in glass jars so I didn't buy any.
Wafer which is 50% vegetable
"Batbat. Street food from Vietnam put on the Western stage"
Doubtless with a huge markup. They should just put it in food trucks.
I wanted to try African food, so I went to Forafina which was empty:
Forafina
Set menus
Menu
They didn't have African alcohol. I asked for bissap (hibiscus tea) or gnamakou (a ginger drink) but they were missing one ingredient, so I had the house cocktail.
House cocktail
The restaurant had good ratings on linternaute and after I came in 2 other tables trooped in.
I ordered what was recommended for someone who had never tried African food (well I'd tried it once in Strasbourg but that was it):
Avocado with prawns
This was very plain, like prawns boiled in saltwater. And the avocado was just sliced, and coated in what was possibly mashed avocado.
Chicken yassa with alloco (fried plantains) and rice
The rice was flavoured with stock and the plantains sweeter than expected. The chicken was mildly spiced. This dish was good.
The waitress offered me some cut chili. I tried a little and it was really spicy. She was amused : << Ca pique ! >> ("it stings!") She said I could quench the fire with bread. Hah. Too bad she didn't suggest milk.
Bisaap (they found the ingredient in the end and gave me this for free!)
Celestial Seasonings always uses hibiscus in its teas, so this tasted like a Celestial Seasonings tea.
The dessert selection was not great. I was offered "exotic fruits". Luckily I asked for what the fruits were, since I suspected that what was exotic to the French might not be exotic to me. And I was right: pineapple, mango, melon. Looking over the dessert menu, I remarked that they were all French desserts, not African ones, and the waitress said they were "made in our kitchen". Well.
Evidently I didn't note what this was
Wow, loyalty card!
Lyon and Toulouse have a night travel card for unlimited travel after 7pm. So after dinner I slacked at Monoprix sipping an Innocent smoothie.