BACK TO AMIENS

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Plus que ça change, plus c'est pareil

Snapshots from the Quai Bélu in Amiens. This favorite neighborhood bordering the Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens  has reassuringly not changed much since the last time we were there. To know more about this curious sculpture, click here.

©2016 P.B. Lecron

IN THE BLUE

A few choice uses of the word bleu

un casque bleu:  a United Nations soldier  (un soldat de l'ONU--l'Organisation des Nations Unies)
un col bleu:  a blue collar worker (un ouvrier)
une colère bleue:  a violent anger (un colère violent)
un conte bleu:  a deceitful speech (un discours mensonger)
du gros bleu:  poor quality red wine (vin rouge de mauvaise qualité)
un bleu: a bruise (un hématome)
être dans le bleu: to be up in the air (être dans l'incertitude, être dans un rêve)
faire le bleu: skip classes (sécher les cours)
l'heure bleue: just before dawn (le moment qui précède l'aube)

Photo taken in Amiens in the Quartier Saint-Leu

©2013 P.B. Lecron

ON A CLEAR DAY

View of the cathedral in Amiens, the largest medieval edifice in France, twice as large in volume as Notre Dame de Paris. Looking up you can see forever.

Expression
jusqu'à la saint-glinglin:  forever (familiar)

©2012 P.B. Lecron

MUM'S THE WORD

The less said about the local tradition that turns around this statue (and its nickname) the better. Carved in wood, l'Homme sur Sa Bouée (1993) seemingly floats in the canal on the Quai Bélu in Amiens. It is one of three of a series of oak sculptures in the Quartier Saint-Leu carved by German artist Stephan Balkenhol. This once dangerous but now refurbished and picturesque neighborhood is the  "QG" of Amiens students who regularly see to the statue's wardrobe, sometimes dressing it in a sweater, other times less gloriously.

Vocabulary
la bouée:  the mud
bois:  wood
chêne:  oak
QG:  for quartier général, general headquarters
une garde-robe:  a dressing room, but by extension also means one's clothes and accessories

©2012 P.B. Lecron