Monday 9/17

Famed Chartres cathedral....a broken dolmen at the archaelogical site....


The skeleton at the archaelogical site, and the Lego display! (Note the tiny bodies in the dolmen!)





What a spectacular day!

A few years ago in the Vendee we met Anne, a friend of Jeanne and Bertrand’s. We had had a mixup on dates, and were due in Paris a day earlier than our hotel reservation, and they were full. Anne graciously invited us to stay with her for the night, and we were awestruck at her lovely penthouse in Montmartre. Her apartment was actually two – the two sides of a house that had been built in the early 19th century for an artist, and obviously well-off artist. One side of her apartment was his studio –a huge room with high ceilings and a wall of glass with a view to the north. The other side was new to her, facing the street, overlooking the trees. The hall between was actually a landing between the two which had been separate apartments. It looked into the large, curving stairway, decorated with a variety of nudes frolicking in the forest – our favorite part. It was also the first time that I had seen hand-embroidered linen sheets, with a monogram as big as a saucer. I felt as if I had stayed awake all night looking at it.

We have seen Anne a few times since, and when we were in the Vendee – can it only be last week? – she said we would have a day together when we reached Paris. And today was the day. She picked us up in her car, and drove us the hour or so to Chartres. We stopped in a bar for coffee, then walked the short distance to the cathedral. Tom and I had visited briefly a few years ago, and had been disappointed to see it grimy and dark. This time it was pretty well cleaned on three sides, with scaffolding up on the fourth tol finished the job. Anne explained that in 1999 the “tempest” that hit Paris the day after Christmas and did so much damage, had damaged the roof. The church could not be cleaned properly until the roof was repaired. They are just now getting the project done.

We walked around the church carefully, as Anne read to us from her guidebook. By the time we finished with the outside, we decided that we were ready for lunch, and found a café where we enjoyed fish and steaks, and Anne and I shared a nectarine clafouti for dessert.

Then it was time to tackle the inside, which is the darkest church I have ever been in. Anne augmented the various informational displays in French and English with her guidebook, and we took out time going around and around. She pointed out the labyrinth in the floor, which was pretty well obstructed by the chairs, and got us a little book about it before we left.

Then it was off to her house a few miles away. On the way she pointed out the various mills and chateaux in the neighborhood. As we were going through a little river valley, we saw a chainlink fence with some sort of work going on, and a dolmen. (Tom says we need a bumpersticker that says “We stop for Dolmen”.) as soon as we walked inside, a young man came over to give us a tour, and told us about the history of the site and to explain the archaeological works. It was a transitional site as the people went from a hunting-gathering existence to agriculture. The dolmen were originally prehistoric structures that were then used by the Merovingians. At some point, for some unknown reason – perhaps they were moving on – they destroyed the horizontal rock that covered the structure. Some were used as burial sites, and others for some kind of habitation.

Two features of our little tour were astonishing. The first is the skeleton that is being unearthed, one of several from this site. The other was what our guide called “the little museum exhibit” – made of Legos! Turns out that there is a Lego factory in Chartres. But the sight of the “museum exhibit” in Legos, complete with little plastic bodies, was just a hoot.

Then off to Anne’s country home, which she lived in as a child and inherited from her parents. The day had become dark and cold, as forecast, and we had tea and a praline cake and chatted for a bit, before making our way back to Paris. Since it was pretty late – about 9:30, we decided to have dinner near Anne’s apartment, then Tom and I would make our way back to ours by the metro. We went to a Turkish restaurant, and had a lovely and delicious meal before getting back in the rain.

Sunday 9/16

Today was a perfect weather day – quite lovely, warm, a little breeze. Just the day to get an early-ish start, which we did and started with the Musee Maillot. We had been to this private museum before for a showing of Toulouse Lautrec drawings and paintings a few years ago. The museum is itself a lovely building restored in sandstone that just glows. It had been the gallery of the muse of the artist Maillot, a friend of the really greats like Picasso and Matisse. Many of their drawings and small paintings are in the museum. What attracted us this time was a temporary showing of photographs by WeeGee, an American photographer in the late 30s to the early 60s, known for his pictures of a gritty New York City. He was a working photographer, not an “artiste”, so his photos show dead bodies, mob bosses and cars being dredged from rivers. But it was an interesting exhibit, with a movie produced by the museum as well. And surprisingly, we took well over 2 hours for the small museum. So that left us at – you guessed it – lunch time.

But no rest for the weary today. We limited ourselves to ham sandwiches on baguettes, and off we went to the second stop on our tour – an exhibition about Vauban, an architect of fortifications for Louis XIV. Surprisingly for us, they featured 6 fortifications in the exhibit – and we have been to three of them. (Perhaps that is why we were interested.)

We had hoped to get into the Musee D’Orsay as part of the Patrimoine, but by the time we got there, the line was long and thick. We decided we would rather spend the money to see the museum on Tuesday rather than wait in the hot sun with that crowd – especially knowing it would be just as crowded inside. So we decided to see if the Pompidou Museum was giving any freebies as part of the Patrimoine. We are not fans of modern art, and have never been in the Pompidou, which always seems to us to be rather pricey. So free would make it worth the price of admission for us. What we found when we arrived at 5 is that if you were among the first 25 people to enter between 2:30 and 4 you would have gotten into the main exhibit free. We wandered around a bit, and visited the free Brancusi Atelier (studio) that has been recreated as he left it when he died, and called it a day.

As we were waiting for our metro train we fell into conversation with two fellows from Canada who were looking in their guidebook trying to find a restaurant they could get into in their cutoffs. We chatted a bit, and waved as we got into the train. Several stops later the train stopped and told us all to get off, so we resumed our conversation. Turned out that the train line had been stopped for a fire, and an official gave each of us directions to complete our trips. So we had another half hour of chatting as we went train to train before we finally parted ways. Tom and I took a total of 5 trains and over an hour to get back to the apartment. Happily, though, we had remembered before we left that the stores would be closed by the time we returned, so we had already gotten a few supplies and so we settled in for a quiet dinner.

Saturday 9/15

Malmaison, Josephine's bedroom, and the arch at La Defense....

Today started off a bit hazy, and the weather forecast shows showers sometime in the next few days. And this weekend is the Patrimoine, when any sites are free, and some sights are open that normally are not. Last year we spent several hours of our Patrimoine days waiting in a non-moving line for the presidential palace. This year we have sort of learned the lesson – stay away from the E-rides.

So today is the day for Malmaison, the home of Josephine during and after her marriage to Napoleon. It is a complicated and long train ride (four changes) and a bus ride to get there. By the time we do, it is, of course, lunch time! So we head into the nearest bistro for a salade gourmande with foie Gras (that would be for madame), and an onglet of beef with shallots and fries (monsieur). Nice.

Then the walk down a tree-lined street to the chateau. I keep waiting to see a line of people due to the Patrimoine, none appears. In fact, there is no line, just a medium sized crowd making their way through the museum, with the added attraction of a quartet of singers in the music room. The chateau was very much different from the others we have seen, smaller in many ways, and simply furnished with more of a modern style, not much of the gaudy gold and crystal we see in the earlier royal residences. This one could actually be a home, as in fact, it was. They have many pieces of furniture, and small pieces like toiletry kits and embroidery boxes that were Josephine’s, as well as her court robe and coronation dress and train. And the tiniest shoes imaginable. The bedroom shone is her "official" bedroom, for receiving and entertaining guests, a holdover from the custom of early kings showing their favor to special guests by receiving them in their bedrooms.

Since the bus takes us back to the train, and the train is the RER at La Defense, we take a few minutes to walk around the main square of La Defense. The signature structure is an arch, of very modern design and shape, which lines up perfectly with Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs Elysee, which itself lines up perfectly with the arch of King Louis at the Place de Concorde, and, ultimately, with the Palace of the Louvre.

And now that complicated train sequence must be reversed, and we are tired tourists ready for a quiet evening of unintelligible French TV -- try NCIS in French!

Friday 9/14

The Chateau Vincennes and St. Eustache and friend....

I spent some time on the computer last night making a list of what’s in town and looks like fun, and then Tom went over the list to figure out what things are either near each other or related to a metro line. One interesting sight that we have not seen is the Chateau Vincennes, rumored to be the largest keep and fortress still standing in Europe. And wouldn’t you know, it just opened after a lengthy restoration.

On the way we stop at St. Eustache church (which I have been by many times because of this wonderful sculpture) but never went inside. It, too, has been scrubbed clean, except for a patch here or there. Our next stop is lunch, across the street from Dehillerin, the holy grail of cooking stores. (As the card of a clerk we spoke to said in his French accent, “This is not William Sonoma! This is not Sur La Table! This is Dehillerin!” (He was actually making the case that their prices are better, but you couldn’t prove it by me. [Note since first publication -- since returning to the US I checked up on the copper prices -- Dehilleran is about half of US prices, so an excellent deal if one is going there!]) We eyed the copper cookware, made some calculations, and decided to return when the shock has worn off.

So off to the chateau. The structure itself is quite impressive, and unlike anything else I have seen in Paris, since it is large, imposing, and really old (although sparkling white with the new work). However, the experience was the worst I think we have had. There are two attractions covered by the entrance fee (you can walk around the grounds for free). One is the keep (fine), but the other is the chapel, which is actually a pretty good-sized church, which houses (purportedly) the crown of thorns and a portion of the true cross. Closed. Then, the high point of the tour of the keep is the video of its history and restoration. Broken. Add in the incessant tours of groups of French and Italians, and we were not happy campers. But this is Paris, so back to the apartment for a lovely green salad and vegetables (making up for lost time) and hamburgers.

Thursday 9/13

This is the day I’ve been dreading for a week or so – not just the goodbyes, which are always a bit sad and teary, and not just the 4 hours across the countryside, but the frightful drive into Paris. As usual, it worked like a charm, pretty much, without a false step, but it is a little like trying to drive in a pinball machine, with one wrong turn and you’ll end up in Barcelona without a clue how you got there. Or how to get back.
And once we find the apartment, we have only a few moments to haul out all the bags, get them inside, and then it is time for part 2 of the Terror – The Drive Across Town To Return The Car. And this is always a challenge – I don’t think we’ve returned the car to the same place twice. (I have to say that my favorite was a couple of years ago – it turned out that the car return is across the street from the apartment!) And this time it is to entirely new territory. The maps were fine, and the GPS map was very helpful, but then there was the problem of the one-way streets. So an hour later we finally are about where we think we should be, and voila – there is it slightly behind us. But we can and do manage to find our way back, and after all that adrenaline, we are suddenly without a car, on foot, on our way to the metro ready to begin the final part of the trip.

Tuesday and Wednesday 9/11-12

Not much to report except a lovely dinner chez nous with Jeanne and Bertrand, topped off with a slide show of the trip, including many photos of friends and family that we have seen during our stay. Our last day at the Gite this trip is spent packing and cleaning, a last bit of laundry, a bike ride around the neighborhood featuring a visit to the local menhir, who we call Pierre, since his sign says “pierre levee” (standing stone). After dinner we visited Jeanne and Bertrand for a quiet drink and a few minutes of conversation

Monday 9/10

There is a chateau near the Gite that I have wanted to explore for a couple of years, and today is the day. We have a slow start, leaving well after lunch, figuring on an hour or so. Wrong! It turns out that our visit to the chateau itself is guided, and the next one is almost an hour away. So we begin to amuse ourselves with a series of challenges on the grounds, which appear to be meant for children. It turns out that the puzzles are not easy, and some are actually hard. But we are determined since we know there is some sort of prize at the end. At the farthest edge of the puzzle trail we are diverted by signs to the menhir – standing stones – on the property, and by the time we have found them we have to jog for about 10 minutes to get back to our guided tour in time. The tour itself is very interesting, especially seeing what a chateau in that area of the country looks like compared to the grander ones we saw on the Loire. The piece that I remember best is the clock on the mantelpiece that is made to show only one time – the hour and moment of the beheading of Louis XVI. Why the whole clock? Beats me.

After the tour, we were really determined to finish the puzzle tour, which we did, ending up with “gold” medals for our trouble. And proud we were, I’ll tell you!

Saturday and Sunday 9/8-9

Finally we can relax after two weeks in hotels and with restaurant food. Lots of laundry out on the line (sun and warmth has finally found the Vendee), a trip to the store for supplies, resting, napping and reading, joining the folks in the big house after dinner for a chat.

Since there is time – and it is open, we head back to the depot vente (consignment shop) to find a few goodies, among them a small faience basket. Remember the pricey plates we saw in Quimper? Here was a little one in the shape of a basket, and I have to saw it was only 3 euro ($4) compared to the $30 or so it would have been in Quimper. This is why we like the depot ventes!

And as we head out of the store, we are required to go around a round pointe, and what do I see? A sign for a vide grenier, literally “empty attic” sale in the next town. So we fly around the round pointe a second time and take the correct street to the vide grenier. It turns out to be not really a garage sale as we had understood from talking to Pauline, but more of a traveling flea market. Tom tours around looking at tools, I tour around looking at – another set of small silver spoons, and the loveliest embroidered pillow cases I have yet seen, and I’ve been looking at them for years. I take some time and bargain with the lady, and finally manage to get her price down about 15%, and ….sold. Later Jeanne takes a critical, appraising look, and pronounces the price correct – and the value, along with the workmanship in the pillowcases excellent. So I’ve passed some test in French housewifery!

Friday 9/7

The Chateau at Nantes, on the inside and outside....the heart of Anne de Bretagne....

Today we headed south, deciding to spend the last few pre-Paris days at the Gite. I had seen ads for a special exhibit in the Chateau at Nantes, which we have tried to visit two times before, and it has always been closed for restoration. Turns out that it has been closed for 15 years for restoration, and the opening date has been pushed back a number of times. But now it was open, and a special exhibit was there about Anne of Bretagne.

We had met Anne for the first time back at the Chateau at Langeais in the Loire region a couple of weeks ago. At the ripe age of 14 she was quietly married to the King of France to avoid the continuing war between France and Brittany. There was a bit of a problem since she was already married to a German Duke, but it was only a proxy marriage, and she had never even met her husband. The King was also really married, but what the heck, he had no heirs to annulment was sought, and the marriage took place while the pope mulled over what he was going to do about the married royalty marrying. At some point the King died Anne was required by her contract to marry the heir to the thrown, which turned out to be his younger brother, by whom she had a daughter. Her granddaughter (are you still with me?) much later married Francois I, the first King of a united France. The Chateau at Langeais had lots of information about the wedding – which was held there to avoid the paparazzi, since no one used that chateau very much – and now in Nantes (the capital of Bretagne, or Brittany) we closed the circle with a lot more about the rest of her life. The exhibit told how upon her death she was buried at St. Denis with the other royal folk, but on her request her heart was placed in a lead and gold casket and taken back to Nantes. By special arrangement the actual casket, which is not normally on display, was in the exhibit.

Leaving Nantes we were bottled up for an hour in traffic, which is thanks to the great strides Nantes is making in mass transit – green transit as they call it here. Our single lane of cars was flanked by a pedestrian lane, a bike lane and a bus lane, all of which were empty.

But at least the Gite, where friends Anne and Francoise were visiting, along with Jeanne’s sisters Claire and Ann. They had put together another evening fo fruits of the sea, and we were invited to plunge right in, which we did. Happily we could contribute: I had gotten a local specialty at the pastry shop in Duoarnenez, called a “Koigne Amann” cake (sounds like, it is – Queen Ann). Served warm, it is the best cake I have ever eaten – layers of simple flour, butter and water pastry interspersed with sugar and butter which is caramelized. Fabulous – we were all over the moon. And I have the recipe….

Thursday 9/6

Today is another bright and sunny day, excellent for our intended itinerary, the Presqu’ile de Crozon, meaning the almost island of Crozon. Crozon is a small town in the next northerly peninsula, from which one can travel to a handful of jutting promontories. The three star attraction is Pointe du Penhir, which also contains a number of German battlements. On the way back to the road we stopped at yet more alignments of standing stones.

These prehistoric stones are interesting, by the way, not only for their placement, but because the stone is not of a local type. So whoever placed them in the alignments brought them from many miles away – not an easy trick back in the day.

Thanks to our hoteliers, we knew to stop in the harbor area of Crozon for lunch, and wandered past a couple of dozen restaurants before finding one that was just about perfect. I had a bandade of cod (sale code mixed with potatoes and herbs) mostly because it came with a green salad which we have not seen much of lately. Tom had the blue plate special, a sautéed cod fillet with potatoes. We fell into conversation with the couple next to us, who turned out to be Dutch, and chatted for an hour about our travels, life in the Netherlands and in the US. They were quite interesting to chat with, but in time the restaurant had to close for the afternoon, and we all had some kilometers to cover, we said our goodbyes.

We headed off to Pointe des Espagnols, so called because of a fort that had been built there in the 16th century. The view here was not of breathtaking rocks and cliffs but of the opposite cast to the north – the city of Brest and the development along its shores. Not nearly as interesting as the natural sights of the region.

As we made our way back to Duoarnenez, we stopped in at a cookie outlet – Brittany is famous for its butter cookies, and two, count them, two brocantes – meaning something like a used stuff store, a notch or two lower than an antique store. But not much appealed.

So ended our last day in Brittany.

Wednesday 9/5

Since yesterday was a long day of driving, today will be a day in our little town of Duoarnenez. Remember those boating museums? Well, today was the day.

The first boating museum is indoors, and includes actual boats of various types, with videos and audio descriptions. It had two temporary exhibits as well, one on survival at sea with at least three movies and another on sardine finishing and canning, ditto. For a pretty modest sized museum we clocked four hours, and were still not done, but lunch was required. The best I thought was the sardine fishing section – showing old film of the ladies cleaning, cooking and preparing the cans of sardines for processing. They wore wooden shoes, and even in color films from the 1950’s they continued to wear the lace “coiffes” this part of the world is known for.

The second museum is the museum “aflot” -- afloat. The museum is rumored to have 40 boats, but it looked more like a dozen, of which five were available for viewing. There was much climbing around up and down each of the boats, most of which contained displays and historical videos showing the actual boat in use. Fascinating, but tiring. Back to the hotel and its restaurant.

Tuesday 9/4

Pointe du Millier and Pointe du Raz....

Breton signage.....

Pointe du Van...

There are two drives to the rocky panoramas in this part of the world that Tom has had his eye on. The first is on this peninsula, and today, being bright and sunny, is the day. So off we headed to the west, on the country road, zipping out to the coast every few miles for a view of the coast. The first detour was Pointe du Millier, only about 10 minutes out of Douarnenez. It was a lovely setting, with heather and other wild flowers, and the rocky coves below. Tom decided this is the place for him, and he is reading the real estate section of the newspaper even as I write this. However, Pointe du Millier is a park, so the likelihood of any real estate on offer is pretty low.

From there we continued to the two panoramas at the tip of the peninsula, Pointe du Van and Pointe du Raz. I liked the first, but from the development and presentation, obviously the French prefer the second. They provide a video in the orientation building, showing how the public was loving it to death as they made their way from the parking to the point itself, rather like Yosemite being perennially attacked by its fans. A lot of money and time has been spent to remake the paths and alow the vegetation to recover. The view was spectacular, but being from California, it was not as breathtaking as one would have expected given the buildup.

On our return (and another stop for Tom to walk some paths at Pointe du Millier, we had a simple dinner at a popular restaurant, Le Bigorneau Amoreux (The Amorous Sea Snail). But after all the walking, we were pretty pooped. I did locate an HGTV-type of make-over this house show, which was pretty interesting, but that was it before lights out.

Monday 9/3

A view of the church at Quimper from the streets of the old town....




The weather today was cloudy and cool, so we decided to use this day to go to Quimper, the city nearby, to see its famous church and museum, and leave the rocky coast to a clearer day. The museum was very interesting, particularly because it had a whole section of clothing, showing the elaborate costumes of both the men and the women, including the various types of lacy caps the women are known for. We took a walk through the streets of old town, looking at the faience (painted ceramics) the area is known for.

We enjoyed dinner back at the hotel restaurant, which turned out to be quite nice and with a varied menu for so small a place-- about 12 rooms. It has a dinin room overlooking the river which is likely a popular location for the local folks as well as guests of the hotel.

Sunday 9/2

Dinner in Douarnenez!

A typical roadside attraction...

As we left Carnac, we had no real destination, just knowing that Tom wanted to see the rocky coasts of Brittany. So as he drove, I read descriptions of various towns along the coast that looked like central locations for daytrips, and came across Douarnenez. Like Monterey in its heyday, Douarnenez was the sardine capital of the continent, before the sardines went away to wherever they have gone. It has not one, not two, but three maritime museums. Before I completed the sentence I was reading, Tom knew where he was going.

We took a variety of small roads across the peninsula to get to Douarnenez, stopping in Audiern for Tom's afternoon coffee. We had expected to find a smallish town on what we thought would be the deserted and bleak Breton coast -- instead we found a very busy city with blocks and blocks of hotels and apartments.

On our way through the countryside, we came across this unexpected, and quite lovely ruin. Just like the French, the ruined church was in the middle of nowhere, but with a steady stream of cars stopping, and people taking photos.

My next task was to scour the various hotel guides for candidates. I had one in mind in particular, because it was two stars, but had wifi. When we rolled up in front, Tom was not impressed, but I thought we should investigate. He went in for the grand tour, and was very favorably impressed – quiet room overlooking the river and the town (which is across the river), and free wifi. Sold.

The hotel restaurant was closed that evening, so the owner recommended a place across the river, which was excellent, and quite reasonably priced. Tom had his plate of langoustines, and I enjoyed (what else, in the sardine capital?)sardines! And the hotel proved as comfortable as it had appeared when Tom first took his tour.

Saturday 9/1

We extended our planned stay in Carnac to visit Belle Ile, and island about an hour off the coast. To do that we bought tickets for the ferry and a bus tour at the tourist office in Carnac, where we were surpsied to find that the 9 a.m. ferry was sold out and we would have to wait for the 11. So in an excess of caution we stopped at the bakery and got baguette sandwiches with ham and butter, and bought some apples. Saturday morning bright and almost early we drove the half hour to the next peninsula to catch the ferry.

Once at Belle Ile we immediately found our bus, and off we went to the northern town of Sauzon, where we were let out of the bus for a two-hour lunch break. It was a charming town, and we enjoyed sitting on the seawall eating our sandwiches while the other tourists looked for places to eat.

The real draw of Belle Ile for the day-tripper is the magnificent views of the rocky coast. For people who spend more time, the island is virtually flat, so it makes for excellent hiking and biking. But we took in the views and small bits of island history. In the picture above, you may notice the tiny people at the top of the rocks. Some of those tiny people were climbing up and down the face of the rocks to enter the cave entrance at the left of the picture, and walking all the way through to the other side!

Friday 8/31

Megaliths -- standing stones -- in Carnac.... A tumulus.....

We were up reasonably early, and off to the village of Carnac to see the church and visit the prehistory museum. In the afternoon we went off to find the megaliths, and yes, we found them. There are fields of rows and rows of stones from the size of chairs to others eight to twleve feet high. Thousands of them. And there are dolmens, the skeletons of old tumulus, generally believed to be burial sites or ritual structures. We saw a tiny fraction along with a bit of the countryside.

Thursday 8/30

Off to Brittany.

Our first stop is Guerande, the home of salt and the famous fleur de sel (salt flakes). Also, since we did not have any tourist guide, it was one of the only places we really knew much about. We wanted to see the area, and of course, find a green guide. We stopped for a nice lunch in the center of town, thinking that it was very quiet for such a famous place. After lunch we discovered that the real action was inside the castle walls, where all the tourists and tourist shops were to be found. But no green guides.

We took a detour to the salt fields shown above, and the seaside town of Croisic. Tom was looking for an International Herald Tribune – a New York Times edition that comes with the crossword puzzle. He popped into a newsstand, and I followed – sure enough, a green guide, in English, the new edition, and their last one. Sold.

After a walk through town, we were back on the road, headed north to Carnac, the land of the megaliths. Before leaving Azay-le-rideau w had located an Ibis hotel in our various French hotel guides, and made a reservation. We arrived to find it was actually a spa, but in a convenient location. Tom was ready for dinner but I was still full from lunch, so I took my time getting settled while he went of to explore the dining room.

Wednesday 8/29

The Chateau at Usse -- Sleeping Beauty's castle....







One of the gardens at Villandry, seen from the house....



Villandry seen from one of the gardens......




We decided to extend our stay another day, to see Chateau Usse and Chateau Villandry.

Chateau Usse is called Sleeping Beauty’s castle, since the chateau inspired the book. We don’t know if Sleeping Beauty was a folk tale or an original story, but it really has nothing to do with the chateau itself, which is privately owned. The family apparently still reside at least part of the time, in a wing not open to the public. Because the chateau is privately owned, it is even more interesting to see the furnishings, which in this case were augmented by mannequins dressed in the various fashions over the years.

The castle also features a walk through the ramparts adjacent to rooms that have been set up to follow the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. We were following a British family with a young daughter who explained all of the rooms and what was going on. She was so excited she was about to jump out of her skin. She did take issue with the commentary that the prince’s name was “Charmant” (Charming); as far as she was concerned, his name was Philip and that was that.

After Sleeping Beauty, we decided to head over to another chateau called Villandry, also privately owned. Without a doubt it is the most impressive of any we have ever seen. It turns out that it was purchased in the late 19th century by a young couple, he an apparently more or less unmoneyed lab tech, and she an heiress to a steel fortune. We suspect that it may have been Bethlehem Steel. But the whole chateau was redesigned and the magnificent gardens created by the family, who still live nearby; their personal photos and mementos are on display throughout the bedrooms and studies. A fitting end to the chateau excursion.

Dinner that night was also a fitting end – in our hotel dining room. I enjoyed a marvelous vegetable veloute (soup!), steak and a frozen framboisine desert. Tom enjoyed his salad and toasts with melted cheese, steak, and his cheese plate. On to the next stop, in Brittany. Still no green guide….

Tuesday 8/28

The chateau at Langelais....with a tiny Tom in the garden....


We got ourselves up and out the door to be at the chateau for our daytime visit first thing. We had taken the tour before, but this time the audio guide was much more thorough. It seems that technology is really making an impact, making our visits more enjoyable. We find that we can follow French tours, but we do miss a lot of detail. Some of the chateuax, though none we visited this time, now advertise that you can buy an audio guide for your ipod, in 22 languages. Maybe next time.

After our chateau tour, we left for Tours, which is an important for, among other things, a tower built by Charlemagne. Again, Tom found his way to the center of town (OK, so I do a lot of navigation, and the car does have GPS, but he still has to make the instantaneous driving decisions), and a parking space which happened to be next to a marketplace. So, we got out our picnic knife, bought a baguette and some pate, and had ourselves a delicious lunch for about $3 – trying to even out the overpriced beef the night before!

We walked around a bit, found a nice church, but decided to take our leave and drive by the tower on the way out of town. We headed for the chateau at Langeais, stopping for tea and coffee at a shop across the street before going inside.

It ended up that we had our own private English tour of the castle, which was excellent. We learned a lot about the castle itself, and the history of the area and castle life in general. Why did they hunt as they did? To practice skills needed for war. Why did they have so many trunks? Because every time the court moved around (and it purportedly moved every two weeks) it took all of the furniture – all of it – with it to the next stop. There was also a special exhibit of middle ages clothing which I had wanted to see but had been scheduled to close a week before, but it turned out that it had been held over. Tom was pleased since it was held in the attic of the castle, so he was able to see some of the interior structure of the roof of the castle.

Feeling a bit tired, we got a slice of terrine at a chacuterie and a baguette at a boulangerie, and went back to our hotel for a simple and delicious dinner.

Monday 8/27

Handmade baskets from all over France hanging from the kitchen ceiling of our acquaintance....

The chateau at Azay-le-rideau at night reflecting in the river.....

Being footloose and fancy free, with no fixed plans, and trying to make a sensible itinerary, we decided to stop at Azay-le-rideau, a town on the Loire that we had visited in 2001, on our way to Brittany. It was just a couple of hours from Poitiers, so we headed off over a few small country roads.

In one village we saw signs hanging outside the businesses, all in the shapes of baskets. As we were edging out of town, we saw a sign for a basket cooperative. Tom zigged into a parking space, and in we went.

Turns out that the village, Les Villianers de Roches, is the center of basketry for the whole country. We were at the workshop, somehow having missed the signs for the coop store and information building. We watched the people making the baskets, and started asking questions. The lady we were talking to took us a few meters down the street to her house, and showed us the machines used for processing the willow branches, and then showed us her own baskets and the ones made by her husband. After giving us a bit of a hands-on demonstration, she directed us to the coop building, where we saw more baskets and a video. Although tempted, a fear of the dimensions of the overhead compartment (and the price tags) were enough to discourage us from buying one. And it may have been that having seen the fabulous work on the baskets in our acquaintance's home, those made for the masses were not up to our standards. In any event, quite a find, and quite an experience.

Once in Azay-le-rideau, we found a hotel, and visited the town. We got tickets to visit the chateau, and to attend an evening “spectacular” (even though we were unable to fathom what exactly it was), and had a lovely if overpriced meal of cote de boeuf in the garden of the hotel we had stayed at before.

The spectacular turned out to be a sound and light show, where the chateau and the grounds were bathed in lights and music. The chateau was partially open, and you could walk up and down the staircase, and peek in the rooms where sounds representing the rooms were being played – sounds of a pool game and conversation in the billiard room, dishes in the kitchen and so on. The grounds had lots of effects going on, all very French. I suspect if a California museum tried to put on such a show everyone would shake their heads in confusion, but here it really works. We realized over the next couple of days that most of the chateaux have adopted the sound and light approach, although like Azay-le-rideau, they are not stories, but a more artistic presentation. And why not have a sound and light show, says Tom -- it means you can charge money to see the place twice!

Sunday 8/26

The church in Chavingny....



Today we made an outing recommended by Jeanne, to St. Savin, a small town about an hour outside of Poitiers. We stopped on the way for bread, and took along our portable cooler of cheese and apples. It turned out that St. Savin is a UNESCO site, protected as a world cultural treasure. The structure inspiring this designation is an abbey church which contains the most renaissance frescos of anyplace in the world. Unfortunately for our visit, the majority of the frescos were behind closed doors being restored, but it was still fascinating to see even part of them, a movie about their history, a show about their restoration, and an interactive display about the history of the abbey.

On the way back to Poitiers, we stopped at the small town of Chavigny, and Tom found his way flawlessly to the old town beyond the village. We walked around a bit – the place is filled with artists looking for a sale – and were rewarded with another lovely church, this one with almost assuredly modern frescos, but of a style we had never seen. Well worth the detour.

But, by the way, still no green guide for Brittany. But are we nervous? (Well, maybe one of us...a little.)

Saturday 8/25

The main square in Poitiers...






A grand church, featuring Tom....







A futuristic building at Futuroscope....



Saturday we spent the day in Poitiers, a lovely city with lots to see. Poitiers is important for a number of reasons, but the most important is that it was here in the 8th century that the Moslems were finally stopped in their conquest of Europe. If it had not been for that battle, we might all be speaking a very different language.

The tourist bureau has color coded the city, with three colored lines designating three different circular tours which handily start and end at the tourist bureau. We did two of them, stopping for lunch in the center of town. We ended the second tour in a 4th century baptistery that is reputedly the oldest religious structure in France – unfortunately, no pictures allowed. Oddly, the church in the center of town is the most renowned, while the church merely three or so block away is far more spectacular.

We then made our way to our new hotel, which was somewhat more comfortable, with all of the modern conveniences, except, of course, that the wifi (pronounced weefee) did not work, and since it was the last weekend before school starting, the place seemed to be full of families, with kids up and running around until well after midnight. The receptionist suggested that we visit Futurosope in the evening, getting a discount rate and enjoying the fireworks. And so we did.

Futuroscope is supposedly a futuristic park based on communication. We found it mostly about what you can do with a camera – 3D movies, Imax movies, and a bunch of others we did not get to see, since most were either closed or fully booked by the time we got to them. We know it is a favorite of our friend Barbara – and Barbara, we tried, we really tried, but we don’t get it! But the finale was more than worth the price of admission. It was held in an amphitheater around a pond of water, where fountains began to play with water, colors and music. There was a large movie screen and a meaningless plot about rescuing a scientist who had a special plant (trust me, it made no sense at all). But the really amazing effect was when the pond emitted a mist of water, and the figures of the characters in the story were projected into the mist, and really seemed to be walking and running on the water – with the added effect of water splashing as their feet moved. Then the whole thing exploded into fireworks, also emitted from the pond, and bursts of flames, as well as colored water of various kinds. It was spectacular.

Friday 8/24

Farewell to Jeanne and Bertrand...




We spent a leisurely day doing laundry and tidying up, and packing for our trip. We had a late lunch, then visited with the folks at the Gite before leaving for Poitiers. As we left Pauline pressed apples on us for snacks, and thought we should have a bottle of water, until I pointed out that Poitiers is less than 2 hours away – the adieu’s taking longer than the actual trip.

The trip was uneventful, and we arrived at our hotel in St. Benoit, juts outside of town, in time for a walk and a lovely dinner of grilled steak. On the not so good side, the hotel was not terribly comfortable, but on the perhaps good side, it was full the next two nights, so we whipped out the Francophone and called a Mercure hotel near the Futuroscope on the other wide of town, and made reservations for the next two nights.

Thursday 8/23

We were invited for lunch with Jeanne and Bertrand and their houseful, and enjoyed a delicious vegetable terrine a la Pauline, ham, pate, fruit and bread and fruit. Then we invited Jeanne to join us for a trip to the depot vente – consignment store – in Lucon. Jeanne had a slow start, but then found a teapot and a bedspread, then a set of forks and knives in silver, then a complete set of flatware in silverplate, which in France includes not only teaspoons and soupspoons, but little coffee spoons. I found a set of 12 small silver spoons – they will pack well and won’t break! A good time as had by all, even if we again failed to find our guidebook, and it continued to rain.

Wednesday 8/22

By now the weather is something of a joke. August in France—supposed to be breathlessly hot. Bring swimsuits! Bring shorts! So during today’s cold and nasty downpours, we drove to nearby Lucon, looking for a tourist guide to Brittany (unsuccessful), then went to La Roche sur yon for the same (with the same result). When we planned thistrip, we planned more time the Vendee followed by two weeks in the Lot. Our time in the Vendee is less than we had planned when we originally put the trip together, and we will not be going to the Lot at all. So being intrepid travelers, we will put together a tour of Brittany – if we can find a Michelin green guide!

Tuesday 8/21

Today is Tom’s birthday. We went to our favorite restaurant at Jard sur mer for mussels and fries for lunch, and took a walk along the seawall. It is still cold and windy, with some rain, but periods of nice weather. We expect that the sun will return as soon as we leave town! Before lunch Pauline came over to casually ask us over for dinner, which was a grand birthday celebration. Jeanne had made a casserole of sliced potatoes and milk and garlic, adding some cream for good measure, and Pauline made two very large green salads. Then just before dinner Pauline and Sam decided to have a cake-off, and both made chocolate cakes. The recipes were almost identical -- I watched them! -- using no flour since Pascale is allergic. Melted chocolate, butter, and eggs with a dash of salt. Pauline’s was a thin, very moist tart, and Sam’s was a soufflé. After dinner, and a long discussion of the propriety of adding the cream to the traditional gratin, we discovered that both chocolate cakes were absolutely wonderful. Someone had gotten a picture book of the Vendee, and all the guests signed his or her birthday wishes to Tom for his birthday. It was a lovely and very special evening.