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DSCN2824.JPG-1 This was our day for meeting people. As we left deSade's chateau in LaCoste we met an English couple over wine. They were brought up in Sheffield and met at High Storrs School (where John went a couple of years later) and had a brother who lived on The Quadrant in Totley which was the street Peter grew up on. Then, back at the Gite we heard Texas music... |
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DSCN2825.JPG-1 …and discovered the local guitarist had met up with a professional from Texas who, along with his wife entertained for the evening. |
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DSCN2827.JPG-1 The next day we went to La Fontaine de Vaclause where a river springs to life at the bottom of a cliff. |
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DSCN2838.JPG-1 It's touristy but very beautiful |
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DSCN2854.JPG-1 On the way home we visited Gordes - a beautiful hill town… |
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DSCN2862.JPG-1 …and Roussillon where Ochre was first mined and used for coloring. The sand colors varied from red through orange and yellow to black and they sold little glass bottles of various shapes filled with bands of the different colored sands to make pretty patterns. |
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DSCN2867.JPG-1 In Roussillon we were attracted to an art shop and met the proprietress who had painted all over the world including one scene she delighted in showing us. |
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DSCN2877.JPG-1 We now travelled North 300 miles to Burgundy. After problems finding a B&B, The first stop was in Beaune. A delightful little town in the middle of hundreds of vineyards with all the really expensive names. The town was inside fortified walls and had a hospital that has run continuously since the 1400s. Beautiful outside… |
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DSCN2890.JPG-1 …and inside with a typical Burgundian roof… |
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DSCN2896.JPG-1 …A new hospital was finally in the 1950's and the old one now is a museum with a wonderful audio guide that took us on a two-hour tour… |
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DSCN2907.JPG-1 ...Including the kitchens |
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DSCN2924.JPG-1 Our B&B was sort of strange. There were two rooms and a bathroom and a very thin connecting door to the rest of the house. The landlady sort of spoke English and was very concerned about making us comfortable and about chatting to us. We were afraid she would burst through the connecting door at any moment. But she was very nice. |
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DSCN2926.JPG-1 The vines were well looked after and there were some very strange contraptions that straddled two rows of vines and sprayed or weeded or something. We wondered if Starwars movies got some of their ideas from here. |
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DSCN2930.JPG-1 Our lunch stop was in a park in the middle of Dijon, of mustard fame… |
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DSCN2933.JPG-1 …It had a lovely fountain… |
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DSCN2939.JPG-1 …and we never figured out why there was a polar bear. |
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DSCN2945.JPG-1 The next overnight stop was in Semur-en-Auxois, a beautiful little medieval town. |
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DSCN2949.JPG-1 The cathedral had a pigeon problem and they figured out how to stop splatters on the ladies' heads by stringing a fine netting across the nave. |
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DSCN2957.JPG-1 Nearby is the Fontaney monastery set up by the Cisterians when they thought the Benedictines were getting too wordly. … |
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DSCN2963.JPG-1 …With a very interesting forge. Check out the size of the bellows… |
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DSCN2980.JPG-1 …The gardens were very formal and very serene. |
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DSCN2978.JPG-1 DINNER!! |
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DSCN2996.JPG-1 Next stop was Chateau de Bussy-Rabutin… |
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DSCN3000.JPG-1 …with very loud frogs mating in the moat… |
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DSCN3015.JPG-1 ..and roses blooming in profusion |
We drove all morning in the rain and ended up at our new lodging place early afternoon. After dropping off the luggage - quite a performance since the road was a single lane with no stopping place and there were two meter-maids patrolling to make sure no-one parked illegally - we dropped the car off. It was raining slichtly and 60 degrees F which was quite a surprise having just come from the sunny South, and walked back to the "Charming Studio" as it was described.
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DSCN3244.JPG-1 The description "Charming Studio" is at one end of the spectrum. "Grotty Garret" is at the other end and reality was in the middle. Let's start with the stairs. All forty-nine very narrow, spiral steps. With four suitcases. |
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DSCN3317.JPG-1 The apartment was quite cute with huge beams in the ceiling… |
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DSCN3371.JPG-1 …and a "mezzanine" to sleep in. Studying the beams when they were thirty inches from one's nose gives quite a perspective on building techniques from the 1700s. |
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DSCN3320.JPG-1 The street echoed every noise (noises ended at 2:59 am and began again at 3:00 am) - do you see Diane in the picture? |
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DSCN3096.JPG-1 The electrical planners did not provide a socket in the bathroom and the reflection planners did not provide a mirror except in the bathroom but Diane neatly solved the problem of blow-drying her hair by sitting on a chair in the kitchen and looking at herself in the microwave oven door. |
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DSCN3206.JPG-1 But we made the best of it as usual |
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DSCN3095.JPG-1 One of our first days Diane's xxx-th birthday. |
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DSCN3020.JPG-1 The Seine is at the end of the street and the bridge right there has become festooned with locks so we participated |
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DSCN3025.JPG-1 |
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DSCN3034.JPG-1 The buildings are magnificent everywhere you look. These are part of the Louvre… |
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DSCN3039.JPG-1 …As are the statues and gardens. This is in the Tuileries (where there used to make tiles a long time ago) |
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DSCN3042.JPG-1 You recognize the Louvre through the archway |
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DSCN3044.JPG-1 Here is the original "I've fallen and I can't get up" model |
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DSCN3052.JPG-1 The statues range from the heroic… |
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DSCN3053.JPG-1 …to the modern crowd scene… |
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DSCN3368.JPG-1 …to the fascinating. Note that the statue is sliced up, is carrying a double-bass and escaped from a picture frame. You had to be there. |
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DSCN3369.JPG-1 Around the streets there was art-work on the walls - a change from the regular graffiti. Look carefully at what the cupid is holding! |
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DSCN3261.JPG-1 This one celebrates Frenchness. The spouse is not supposed to inquire about activites after office hours until 7pm, known as "cinq a sept" or "five to seven". The painting celebrates "La douce heure" - "The sweet hour from five to seven" |
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DSCN3062.JPG-1 Fountains are everywhere |
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DSCN3063.JPG-1 We travelled by bus rather than Metro so we could see the sights as we went. Finding the right bus route and the place the bus stopped were not always the easiest tasks. |
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DSCN3066.JPG-1 But we got to the Arc de Triomph |
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DSCN3076.JPG-1 And the Eiffel Tower. |
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DSCN3089.JPG-1 The iron-work is amazing |
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DSCN3107.JPG-1 Next day was Versailles. This place is so large it is difficult to get your mind around it but the crowds were ridiculous. |
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DSCN3127.JPG-1 And everything is over-the-top ornate. |
The following are movies of parts of Versailles. Click on the link and be very patient as the movie loads. These can be played by Media Center or QuickTime (they are .MOV files)
The Hall of Mirrors
Example of Ceilings
Tapestries
Porcelain
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DSCN3140.JPG-1 The gardens are spectacular |
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DSCN3150.JPG-1 Unfortunately the fountains were not playing |
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DSCN3165.JPG-1 Traffic and parking is also ridiculous with the "park by sound" and "shoulder your way in" methods giving rise to some ingenious solutions for the smaller cars. |
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DSCN3168.JPG-1 Can anyone say Rodin Museum? |
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DSCN3197.JPG-1 Down the road is the Orsay museum with probably the best collection of Impressionists in the world. Photos were not permitted until we got outside on the balcony where the windows were directly behind the clock face. |
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DSCN3217.JPG-1 Another trip was Notre Dame cathedral. Note the line to get in! It is doubled back on itself. We didn't participate that day but we came back on our last day to marvel at the inside. It was worth the wait. |
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DSCN3219.JPG-1 But we got good exterior shots |
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DSCN3228.JPG-1 |
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DSCN3235.JPG-1 Instead we visited the oldest church - St Severin - which has beautiful old murals. |
More Movies…
Street Buskers were everywhere -
On the "lock" bridge (takes a very long time to load!)
Up on the Montmatre hill
At the local Metro station
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DSCN3267.JPG-1 The next day was reserved for Montmatre - home to Moulin Rouge, Place Pigalle (aka Pig Alley by GIs) |
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DSCN3269.JPG-1 Check out the sign next door to the all-American restaurant.. |
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DSCN3262.JPG-1 Did you wonder what the McDonalds menu was like? |
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DSCN3275.JPG-1 Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) is the relatively new church that crowns the top of the Montmatre hill |
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DSCN3277.JPG-1 And it has a fabulous view over Paris |
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DSCN3291.JPG-1 At the bottom of the hill is an old Parisian double-decker carousel |
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DSCN3301.JPG-1 On the way home we visited the Luxembourg gardens… |
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DSCN3304.JPG-1 …The picnic spot for local people |
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DSCN3310.JPG-1 |
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DSCN3312.JPG-1 …and we found yet another statue |