This past Friday we visited Amiens for our class day trip and while we were there, visited Jules Verne’s home which has been turned into a museum about the author. I had started reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in preparation, but wasn’t able to finish it before the visit. Nevertheless, it was a really well-done museum. I forgot to take a picture of the outside, but the house was fantastical with tower, a glass sitting room and vine covered walls. The museum did an excellent job of having areas that were reconstructed to what they looked like in Verne’s time and others that had more details on his life and legacy.
A spiral staircase from inside the house.
When we got back from the trip, I watched the 50s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea movie with my friends in preparation for another trip the class was going to take. Yesterday we went to Disneyland Paris where — among other things –there was a reconstruction of the Nautilus.
Which was honestly pretty disappointing. It managed to be inaccurate to both the book and the movie. The entire point of the Nautilus is that despite it being a submarine it’s luxurious and makes you question how it is even possible. And this was just not that. Most of the space was taken up by the walkway that led you through it and there weren’t any sounds to make it feel like you were actual on a submarine. Maybe I’ve seen too many fancy buildings this trip, but everything that was supposed to be impressive just felt fake. It’s Disney so of course nothing will actually be real, but there were other areas where I could suspend my disbelief in ways that I couldn’t here.
The coolest part was the spiral staircase that reminded me of Verne’s house.
The spiral staircase at Disneyland’s reconstruction of the Nautilus
It’s been a busy weekend, but I’ve had a lot of fun. It’s so weird to think that by next weekend I’ll be back home. I’ll miss the transit, but I’m ready to be able to go for bike rides and eat soft serve ice cream again.
Only a few more posts left!
Laurie