ó nostoV

What parallel courses did Bloom and Stephen follow returning?

From Manchester, by way of Philadelphia and Chicago (long story), I am back home in Washington. The temperature is about 20° warmer than what I experienced in England and France, but there is just as much rain so far. There are still a few Europe posts that will appear here for the next couple days, after which we will return to our regularly scheduled programming. On the return trip, my suitcase was weighed down with a stack of purchases from that temple to the religion of bibliomania, Gibert Joseph (26, bd Saint-Michel, on the edge between the 5th and 6th arrondissements). Now that I have just finished Ulysses and feel completely submerged in language, it's on to some French reading.

In the meantime, to note in the world of museums:

In an article (Un jeu de constructions pour conter l'aube de l'humanité [A game of construction to tell the story of humanity's dawn], July 21) for Le Monde, Emmanuel de Roux describes a new museum in the Dordogne region of France, the Musée national de préhistoire (Web site still under construction at the time of writing), in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil. It was planned in the 1970s and has finally opened to the public, as of July 20. The location, in the Vézère River valley, is an area dense with paleolithic historical sites. Also see Emmanuel de Roux, Les Eyzies, capitale de la préhistoire depuis plus d'un siècle (in Le Monde, July 22).

I just discovered the Centre national de la cinématographie in France.

Souren Melikian was in Washington not too long ago, and he has published a review (The Arab imprint on Spanish history, July 17) in the International Herald Tribune on an exhibit (Caliphs and Kings: The Art and Influence of Islamic Spain) at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (until October 17). That exhibit should round out a full day of museum going for me, now that I'm home, if I combine it with Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum (at the National Gallery of Art until February 6).