Last of La Rochelle

This is the last post on the wonderful town of La Rochelle.  In this episode I’ll recap my time at the Museum of the New World, statues in town and a few whimsical pictures of the harbor.

The Museum of the New World should have been named “Daddy Land”.  This place made me think of my dad from the moment I stepped in it.  The first thing was the nautical theme.  There was an old gear, sexton and mini renditions of ships everywhere!

 

They also had an Indian exhibit complete with a headdress and beaded knife.

They had some statues of course.  One resembled a mounted moose head but instead of a moose it was an American Indian.  Another was of an Indian and another might have gotten the creator in trouble.  It’s of a European child hugging an Indian child.  It’s precious today but could have been trouble back then.  They also had a true ‘Lost’ statue of a couple and an unhealthy obsession with figurines on clocks.

And the maps!  All the old maps.  Click on them to see them enlarged.

They had some interesting paintings as well.   A servant and her madam was the first one I saw.  There was another one of a soldier helping an Indian from falling off a cliff.  The four paneled one was made to go with the “Last of the Mohicans” story and the sad Indian was painted to symbolize the heartache an Indian must have with God.  There was a neat painting done in mostly red of a man on a log next to a group of children being babysat by a native lady. 

Two of the most fascinating paintings for me were the modern painting of a French Indian lady and the painting called ‘The Wedding’.  The first odd thing in ‘The Wedding’ was that the people in the picture where actually children!  But the main thing that drew my eye was the boy second to the right.  He looks like he suffers from Vitiligo the same condition Michael Jackson claimed to have.  The disorder is caused by depigmentation in a patch of skin where the cells that convert sunlight into pigment suddenly die.   Vitiligo happens in all races.  Some people speculate that the disorder is caused by a low immune system, viral infections, genetics or even stress but no one has solid evidence.  Vitiligo is really a rare disorder.  Only 1% of people ever get it.

There were three important people statues found in the open areas of the town.  This red winged bear on one of the towers (Chain tower) and this really kick butt statue of Nintendo’s Link!

And as promised, some pretty pictures of the port.

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