by Travis Gill
Day 3 – 7 Apr 2019
Georges Remi Library and Museum
We started our morning by visiting a museum dedicated to Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi (1907–83), who wrote under the pen name Hergé. He created the Adventures of Tintin series of comics.
I’ve enjoyed reading The Adventures of Tintin ever since I heard about this comic book series as a young adult. The Hergé Museum celebrates the life of the artist who created this series – Georges Remi.
The building is very modern and creates a nice flow from room to room as you learn about the life of Georges Remi.
Walkways connects each of the individual galleries.
Georges Remi as a young man who though about being a painter but felt illustrations and cartoons could influence more people.
His Illustrations, like this one titled ‘Bambi’, are works of art in their own right.
I especially liked the section with Hergé’s sketches and storyboards.
He spent an extensive amount of his time storyboarding ideas and the flow of the storyline.
Remi was also an accomplished illustrator and poster designer.
One of his favorite characters he created was Tintin’s sidekick dog…
…a white Wire Fox Terrier named Snowy!
Snowy had a personality that was just as though-out as any of the other Hergé characters.
Thomson (left) and Thompson (right), the two bumbling detectives. There is a difference between these twins – can you spot it?
Hergé’s drawings have a unique style and artistic quality.
Hergé created over 200 different characters in his books…
…Here are the names of just some of them!
I enjoyed reading Tintin because of the far away lands and people he would meet along the way. Perhaps this is part of the wanderlust I have to see and experience far away lands.
Hergé often used models to help him draw the comics. Here is the Shark Submarine used in the book Red Rackham’s Treasure.
More of the architecture connecting the galleries.
Hergé also purchased art to inspire future ideas.
This was an inspiration for some of the American Indian characters.
I thoroughly enjoyed the couple hours we spent getting to know Georges Remi and the inspirational comics he created over his lifetime.
Street Art in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
The city of Louvain-la-Neuve surprised me with the wide variety of street art we saw in our short walk to find the Hergé Museum and some Belgium waffles.
An ugly tagged door in a beat-up street caught my eye…
…because of this beautiful stencil art of two girls dancing.
A unique way to lay bricks. I wonder if one could practice wall climbing on these?
A boring stairwell brought to life through vibrant colors and strong line work.
For some reason I like this lion. Perhaps it’s the stylized use of African patterns?
C’est la Vie by Claude Rahir
I like the smile on this cow!
This mural titled “U’est-ce qu’un intellectuel?” by Roger Somville seemed to compliment the colors of the red and blue “no parking sign”.
“Live great, enjoy the little things.”
As we were leaving the city, we stumped across these three walls near a parking lot.
A smiling panda 🐼 bear looks over the parking area below.
Trans Euro Trail – Belgium
The rest of the day was getting through some challenging parts of the TET since the recent rainfall created a lot of mud on the trail.
My turn to drop my mule! Rider and mule OK. Mud definitely makes riding a lot more challenging.
Mostly cloudy today with a few rays breaking through the clouds for a few minutes.
Our mules will definitely need a bath after this trip.
This may be our last day on the TET since the mud is really slowing us down and more rain is expected tonight. Pounding pavement is not a fun but we still need to explore France before we run out of vacation time.
We continue the adventure on Page 4…
