Here we are, wrapping up our summer yet again. It's been a great one! One week to go before what we call "RE-ENTRY". To us, it's almost what astronauts must feel when they come down to earth again.

We spent the weekend going back to places we'd been before, & love so much! Friday was a holiday (Assumption Day), so we did our normal treck up to L'Aveyron to see our French friends Benedicte & Michel at their lovely summer home in the mountains. For Chicago people, this place is a little like the UP--lots of trees & hills, not many people, & cool temperatures. Well, it WAS cool, & a bit rainy. A departure from the last several years, but it was wonderful to sit in their beautiful living room by the fire & catch up. You can't sit by the fire in the south of France in August (or in Charleston, for that matter!), even if it has been a much cooler summer than usual.

From there, we drove back south to Arles, to spend the night, then on to Marseille the next day. We had 2 main reasons to go to Marseille: 1. to visit a new museum (Les Regards de Marseille) housed in the former sanitation facility & 2. to have bouillabaisse at our favorite restaurant in Le Vieux Port. (See pictures in our album entitled Week 9: Revisiting our Favorite Spots.) We actually visited yet another museum, one that was closed last year for renovation. And that's the real focus of this blog entry.

The re-opened Musee de l'Histoire de Marseille must be wonderful! We saw only a tiny part of it, however. But the exhibit we did see, in the old "Palais de la Bourse" (the old Stock Exchange Building) tied in so well with what we've seen, done, & learned this summer. It all goes back to "good & bad government". (Maybe you remember our visit to Siena's town hall to see the famous Frescos of Good & Bad Government.)

This year was the 100th anniversary of France's entry into the "Great War" or WWI. You may remember me saying that all the village bells (les tocsins) were set to ring at 4:00 pm that day, 100 years after the war began. It made me shiver! This exhibit explained France's (specifically Marseille's) part in this war, & how the French government financed the war itself, & how the city of Marseille organized & supported this financing effort.

Predating the "Bourse", Marseille, the oldest city in France, created the first "chamber of commerce" in the world (1559). It's France's second city, & it's also the third largest port in Europe. As the world was heading into WWI, the members of the CCM (Chambre de Commerce de Marseille) realized that their city, because of its location & port facilities, would play a major role in the defense of France. But they went beyond that too: France would need to increase machinery production to be able to supply the military with wheat, coal, transportation & raw materials. That meant that they would need to re-direct the economy. The put together a plan called "Solidarite economique et sociale", & called themselves "The Organizers of Victory". They re-organized the work force, re-built factories, & increased the mining of raw materials.

Marseille did become a HUGE asset in that war. Think of the world 100 years ago. England still had its empire, & France its colonies. Soldiers came from everywhere, through this port. With all the exhibit's visuals (posters, movies, items), we got a good idea of what WWI must have been like. This wasn't about fox holes & gas masks--it was about how to fund a war AND to recover from that war. Even though the south of France wasn't the primary battleground, Marseille was in the game from the beginning.

Having worked on the Yorktown, a WWII battleship in Charleston, SC, I was aware of propaganda posters. In fact, I used to dress up as Rosie the Riveter to explain the use of propaganda. I guess I never really thought about the need for propaganda in WWI! This exhibit's posters were so incredibly effective! And, as an art educator, I was amazed how they used images to move people to buy bonds, support their troops, & remember the help they'd received from the Allies (especially the US) & their colonies. And, going back to Rosie the Riveter again, the film explaining the women's role in factory output was an eye-opener. You can see examples of all this in our photo album "Week 9".

Yet another reference to World Wars...August 14-15 was the 70th anniversary of "J Day" or "Operation Dragoon", the second Allied invasion, this time in the south of France. Originally intended to coincide with D Day, it was delayed by the lack of progress of Allied forces in Italy as well as a lack of available landing craft. It was Ike's idea--he thought it would draw German forces away from the north of France. Churchill thought it would hurt the war effort by slowing down the Red Army. Eventually, Ike prevailed, because the Allied generals knew they really needed the 2 big southern French ports: Marseille & Toulon.

The invasion started the night of August 14. The French Resistance was ready & waiting! We've been watching a British series called "Wish Me Luck". It's about English women (& men too!) who become spies in France during WWII. In our latest episode, the "cell" of spies & the Resistance people talk about the upcoming "liberation" in the south of France. So this newspaper article that we saw on August 16 (2 days & 70 years ago that day) was timely for us.

The Dragoon Invasion was a bit easier than Normandy's, but was costly in lives. 7,000 Allied soldiers were killed, 10,000 were wounded, & 130,000 were taken as German prisoners. And yet it was swift: Lyon (the most northern city in the South of France) was liberated by September 3, & both ports (Toulon & Marseille) were open for Allied shipping by September 20, 1944. The map in the album this week points out the different points of entry & the progress they made.

After our bouillabaisse, we drove on to Aix-en-Provence, a lovely university town, to another favorite, the Musee Granet. The Pearlman Collection began in 1945, when Henry Pearlman met Chaim Soutine, & bought a landscape. For the next 20 years, Pearlman bought works from many of the prominent artists of the 20th century. I've included my favorites in this week's photo album.

To top off our "revisting spree", on Sunday, we went to 4 of our favorite places here near Laurens: 1. to a vide-grenier (flea market) in a lovely spa town, 2. to our favorite brasserie for a lovely lunch, 3. to our favorite walking spot on our favorite river, The Orb, & 4, to our favorite chateau vineyard for a harp & flute concert. Not bad for our final hurrah!

This will be my last blog entry for 2014. This coming week (what's left of it!) is devoted to closing the house, getting organized, & ready for RE-ENTRY! We'll be in Paris for the weekend so we can visit the Louvre's new Islamic art exhibit, & in Chicago by late Monday afternoon. We can't wait to see family & friends there.

Once we hit O'Hare's landing strip, we'll turn our cell-phones media package back on. We've had a whole summer without it. It's been fabulous in our ivory tower overlooking the pretty stone house.

And of course we just can't wait to get back to the American media!

We hope you've all had a good summer too! Best wishes for the remaining days left.

Love,

Elise & Les