Le Penseur

I see that there is now an accepted protocol which allows me to take inspiration from someone else's blog for details about my own post.

OK, I noticed that Legend had a photo of her office including a bronze of "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin.

Le Penseur was modelled in 1880-1882 for la Porte de l'Enfer (The Gates of Hell), and exhibited in its original size (height 71.5 cm, about 28 inches) in Copenhagen in 1888. It was enlarged in 1902. The statue was the first work by Rodin to be erected in a public place. It was inaugurated in front of the Pantheon on 21 April 1906 during an intense political and social crises which turned this sculpture into a socialist symbol. In 1922, using as a pretext that the statue created an obstacle during ceremonies, it was transported, with its pedestal, to the garden of the Hôtel Biron which had by then become the Musée Rodin. It was photographed in that garden in May 2006 with the Babe for scale.

The dome visible over the shrubbery is the Eglise du Dome, the tomb of Napoleon, located across the street from the museum grounds.

In Friday night Ligue 2 football, Nantes used a second half goal from Czech international Marek Heinz to forge a 1-1 tie with Angers. Angers is only about 50 miles upriver from Nantes which perhaps facilitated the large turnout of 31,370, a new high for a single game attendance for Ligue 2 this year. With a game starting a half an hour earlier, homestanding Le Havre had set the bar high with 2-0 victory over Châteauroux. Last week's 4-0 loss for Nantes comes back to haunt them as this week's results place the two teams equal on points but with Le Havre assuming first place in the general classification on goal differential.

The Nantes-Angers clash of neighbors is small potatoes, however, when compared to the news from the drawing for the 7th round of la Coupe de France. La Coupe is open to every organized football team in France, including all teams playing in the three levels of professional leagues but also all of the teams in the various descending classifications of amateur football. The lowest level of amateur teams begin play in the first round and as the rounds go on teams from higher classifications are gradually added to the mix. As long as you keep winning you keep playing making it theoretically possible for the most lowly side of butchers and shopkeepers to reach the finals in Paris against, perhaps, one of the giants of French football.

The teams of Ligue 2 enter the draw for the first time in round 7 and the draw was held earlier this week. Nantes has drawn amateur side FC Vertou as its opponent. What makes this big news is that Vertou is a Nantes suburb. Vertou plays in the amateur Ligue de l'Atlantique, the District de Loire, where it currently occupies fourth place. Vertou being accorded what even its own website calls the privilege to host Nantes is akin to the Dundas Dukes being named to host a game against the Minnesota Twins, a game that is not an exhibition, but a game that is a real contest on the road to an important trophy. The Vertou players are being given the opportunity to live a dream.

Vertou has drawn the role of host. The side plays its home games at several different sites around their town, none of which are equipped to handle all of the Vertou supporters who are likely to turn out for such an event to say nothing of the 31,000 who attended tonight's game in Nantes and might be expected to also show up for the first foray of this season by Nantes into la Coupe de France. Indeed, the main field in Vertou visible on Google Earch is only about 10km from the Nantes stadium, perhaps not even as much as a 15km drive. No doubt most of the Vertou supporters are also Nantes supporters, fans of the local side on the weekend but also supporters of the major league team in the big stadium just up the road.

Vertou as the host has the option of naming the field where the game is to be played. In connection with this the following announcement was made today:

Sous réserve de l'accord de la Fédération Française de Football, le FC Nantes et Vertou se sont entendus pour évoluer au Stade de la Beaujoire à l'occasion du 7ème tour de la Coupe de France.

Subject to approval of the French Football Association the game will be played in Nantes at Stade de la Beaujoire, the Nantes home stadium. It is as though the Dundas Dukes have been granted the right to be the home team against the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome in a game which might lead to one or the other of them qualifying to play in the World Series.

Allez Nantes! Allez Vertou!