No internet access for 2 weeks so there will be a rush of postings.
19 July
On the way up to the
Loire Valley we called into Vichy, a town favoured by Napoleon III
and featuring mineral springs. The springs all have names, including
Lucas, and only 2 of them may be “taken” without a doctors
prescription. The doctors prescription is easily obtained – a
local pharmacy will send people to a local doctor and hey presto you
have your 'carte' to enter and drink water with the smell of sulphur
drifting round you (GB input!). As we walked past the circular
building that houses the spring outlet – glass fronted on all sides
– we saw mothers with their children imbibing – supposed to cure
all ills. There is a park around the area some of the springs occur
with a “colonade” or covered walkway around it, but the surface
of the park is mainly gravel between the trees – possibly a big
petanque court? The colonade dates back to Napoleon who wanted
people to walk and enjoy his park whatever the weather. Some now are
fronted by shops but most is open. The buildings in the city centre
that we saw were 19th-21st century and substantial with
arcades and pedestrian ways.
We wandered down to the
next park along the river which was pleasant with grass, flower beds
and 2 walkways along the river bank. There was what looked like a
practice for a water skiing race with several high power speed boats
towing skiers on single skis at high speed up and down the river.
Wow – what an adrenaline rush they must have had – it was
thrilling to watch – the speed just blew me (GB again) away. No-one
that we saw fell off, but at the speed they were travelling it would
hurt if they did.
A brief stop for lunch
at a rest area on the motorway that was named “Aire du Centre
France” so it probably is close to the geographical centre of the
country.
We had a little problem
finding our accommodation, as we only had a reference to the town.
We inquired at a cafe and were sent 5km out into the country down
increasingly small twisty lanes through the fields and then dense
forest – the tiny road that runs between the forest whose boughs
meet overhead is so beautiful and has me creating stories about the
animals that must live in there - until we emerged into an open area
with a 19th century mansion and a huge church, obviously
not in use as the interior was open,but largely intact with a plastic
sheet roof over it. Apparently this was the Abbey Aigues-Vive which
was in use from the 11th century until the French
Revolution, when the abbey was sold to a roofing contractor for
salvage of the roof. Given 200 years of neglect the structure is in
remarkably good condition. Anyway we found a building marked Gite du
France and called in to find that we were booked into another gite
that was around the corner. After 50 metres we found a crossroad
with 2 lots of wheel tracks leading into the field, one apparently
going to a ruined barn. We tried the other and found our host who
redirected us past the ruined barn to our cottage. It is surrounded
by high grass with a horse paddock on one side with views over a pond
and the forest and very peaceful.There are mole hills! Our hostess
has never seen a mole but the fellas are certainly here – their
hills are everywhere – more power to the moles I say! (GB again)
20 July
GB here: Well! Stephen
has done it again. We are buried in the country with no sounds other
than those of animal or birds – no internet and limited cell phone
coverage. This gite is rustic and quaint – such a comfy bed ( some
beds on our travels have been lovey to look at and are hard to repose
on!)
After a quick trip to
the supermarket before it closed (Sunday hours) we lazed around the
Gite and went for a walk around the property visiting the lake and
finding 2 yurts, one is a “utility” shelter with fully equipped
kitchen and bathroom. This Yurt is built entirely from local
materials “with our little hands' as our hostess says. The walls
seems to of hay bales to be replaced by straw and mud which will set
like concrete. This 'yurt has everything you could want, fridge, stove,
sink bench, dining table and chairs with an extension 'out front' of
up turned logs for hanging out on and beyond the covering room a
wonderful and obviously well used mud fire pit! Their son and his
scoutmasters and fellow scouts use this place as do people wanting
outdoor living. Right beside the pond – how cool is that. The other
yurt is obviously for sleeping and probably bought for the job –
but it was securely locked up.
We also found an
elderly boat which had only one paddle and that one was leaning at a
precarious angle into the lake waters. Mole hills accompanied our
walk! So cool to know we are not alone.
The forest here has low
undergrowth, lots of ferns border the roads – some are bracken and
no vines looping between trees so is quite open under the thick
canopy. We think it is maintained for hunting and would be good for
deer but – not on the land owned by our hosts.Matilde and her
husband Monsieur Olivier are anti hunting and very green. Matilde
says there are red fox here, owls – we hear them at night and they
do not say 'Toowit toowoo!” and are completely unlike the cry of
our gorgeous morepork, etc. Matilde is a producer of videos and
works for the local zoo.Arnold aka Monsieur Olivier is a web designer
and needs to live near Paris. Near Paris? Here? We could do that!
We see 4 horses from
our stable door of our gite – 2 white, one gorgeous long legged
brown horse – all of whom are several?? hands high - and a smaller
blonder / brown horse. (Our hosts' 2 teenage children are off on
summer holidays) There is another horse in / beside the barn who is
on his own ( I suspect to leave the ladies alone) / or her own –
stroppy mare? with a generous sized paddock to cavort in.
The stables the other 4
horses have are generous in size but I am very uneasy about the
amount of mud and dung in their stalls – not well tended but then
maybe horses are used to living ankle deep in dung? I don't think so
– there is a dung heap as we pass the barn – covered, kind of,
with straw but there is a heap more on the floor of the stables.
Having said that there is a large paddock the stables are set in that
they have to hang out in.
The hosts also have 2
dogs- one a loveable bouncy brown stray who wants to love everyone he
meets – they found him abandoned and adopted him.And the other is a
gorgeous well bred dude who looks a lot like a white aristocratic
wolf hound!
As mentioned above we
walked around the pond to the yurts and then down a lane, ending up
in what Matlide calls the 'village' – just the few dwelling we
encountered as we drove in. BUT – we explored the abandoned Abbey –
found the out door chapel commemorating St Giles. His statue depicts
and man warmly and protectively holding a deer. The legend has it
that St Giles hated hunting of any animal. One day, while on his
usual 'rounds' he encountered a medieval hunter who had his bow and
arrow set to shoot a hind – he held out his hand to stop the arrow
which was pierced by the arrow and the hind was saved.
So quiet – so serene
21 July:
Today we went to Chateu
de Chenonceau – on the Cher river. This stunningly beautiful chateau
is the result of what women can do …. In 1515 Tomas Bohier manage
to acquire the existing medieval building from the owners the Marques
by calling in their debts to the king. He was a court minister to
Charles VIII. However it was his wife Katherine Briconnet who oversaw
most of the excavation of the Marques site – leaving only the keep
and the forecourt, and their subsequent building endeavours.
The interior of the
Chateau still has much evidence of the Bohiress building and their
motto –that goes something like this' If I complete this building I
will be remembered' – yes, he got that right!
Nothing lasts for ever
and the Bohires got into financial strife for one reason or another -
c'est histoire – and it was about to go onto the market as there
were several enthusiastic bidders but NON! The then king's favourite
lady , one Diane de Poitiers decided she wanted it and what she
wanted she got form Henry II. She set to and added gardens, mulberry
trees for silk worms etc and a bridge over the Cher attached to the
Chateau etc.
Twenty years senior to
her King, Diane is described as one cool, calculating woman who spent
a lot of time and effort on 'preserving' her body... daily baths in
the cold Cher river and she provided huge support to the cosmetic
industry in France in her investments in products to extend her
youth...
The happy couple met
originally when she, as a 27 year old woman , and wee 7 year old Henry
VII were both sent as hostages in a political maneuver – in lieu
of the King of France. Wee Henry was distressed and apparently she
gave him a comforting kiss – which he never forgot! Fast forward
several years and we have Diane ensconced in this gorgeous chateau
to which we read Henry's wife ( Catherine De Midci ) was forced to
visit. Ouch! When Henry died from a splinter of lance ( he had been
jousting) in his eye Catherine's comment was “ he has been the
source of all my agony” - they did manage to produce 5 children
however.
There is one room
called the bedroom of the 5 queens. Mary Stuart was one of these –
she was married to Francois I! Apparently she spoke of her happy
times in the Loire valley once incarcerated by her cousin ER I
So what next – well,
Diane left pretty quick smart – Catherine claimed Chenonceau for
her own and Diane exchanged it for Chaumont sur Loire – less grand
but actually it had more land! Ever the business woman.
There is still so much
more to tell – in the booklet and in our heads.Fascinating people –
they intrigue us both.
BUT -let's not forget
Madame Louise Dupin who was a very intelligent (and good to look at
also) woman who managed to keep the marauding hordes of
revoloutionaires out of the chateau by convincing them that no
royalty had ever resided there(Hmm) – just to make sure she had
covered all her bases she filled the chapel with fire wood. She was
good and gracious woman who the villagers loved and they backed her
to the hilt – what a woman! Oh yes and she was a great patron for
the arts- painters, philosphers etc. ( she the grandmother of George
Sands – pen name of a woman writer)
OK – a quick lunch of
lovely local salads in a cafe in the lovely grounds and then on to
look at the carriages – mostly those used by local villagers and
then through the vegetable and flower gardens – which are
extensive.They supply flowers for the Chateau- as you wander through
the Chateau you are aware of the massive vases of fragant smelling
bouquets that are obviously all fresh,delicate fragrances as they
would have been historically. The variety of vegetables were also
stunning – we have never seen such a variety of aubergines, silver
beet ( some with bright red steams and others with bright yellow!)
Finally we plodded back
to the car and decided to drive to Amboise and see what we would see.
What a lovely medieval
centre of town – it reminded us of Chinon in a more modest way –
we looked at the Chateau, wandered the streets to Clos de Luce, a
grand manor house, where Leonardo da Vinci was invited by King
Francois I (on the advice of his sister) in 1516 to live and carry on
his inventions, explorations and paintings ( he bought the Mona Lisa
with him from Italy as he traveled on a mule) He ended the last 3
years of his life as the grace and favour guest of the king . There
after the king set up his mistress in Clos de Luce and then it became
a house for ladies of easy virtue!
Currently the garden
and the Clos de Luce houses replicas and life size reproductions of
LvD – we have seen many of these already in Europe. Stephen's
comment as we left was that LvD provided the basic ideas, sketches
and material that was built on and developed further by many people.
His sketches and note books were in code – so no one really knows
what his intentions were – e.g the sketches for the helicopter may
be accurately interpreted or may well have been for something
completely different.
We wandered back down
into the centre d'Amboise – feasting our eyes again on the chateau
that towers above the streets and shops – had a wee glass of vino
and then drove to our gite - picking up ingredients for the gorgeous
dinner Stephen cooked for us.
Stephen has just
returned from talking to Matilde re the zoo ( tomorrow's adventure)
and found out the following:
The couple bought this
site 14 years ago. Prior to that they were in the south of france
working the Olivier family vine yard. When the family sold it they
moved up to the Loire. Arnold is a web designer and needs to live
near Paris . This would explain the somewhat overgrown nature of the
property!! Limited time to tend the fields.
The gite we are in was
the cottage for the game keeper for the nearby mansion and the
property of our hosts was originally that of the gardener – they
have added to the property since they took possession. In the original
house though there are large windows through which the gardener took
the orange plants inside in winter! Hence the name of their property!
( It is all falling into place!)
So – tonight for
diner:
Our starters were a
pate de foie porc – ohh! On fresh baguette Yumm. And a tomato and
basil buschetta I made using local ingredients and suggestions,
served on miniature lovely crisp toast breads
Stephen cooked chicken
breasts stuffed with local ham and cheeses – and new potatoes with
butter and parsley!
My turn tomorrow night
using a Loire Valley recipe!
(Later – not my best
effort! Needed a larger chunk of lamb and had to used dried thyme as
no fresh available. The Thyme was too strongly flavoured – I will
do it again in NZ where the kitchen is wide enough to bend over to
the oven!)
Gillian and Stephen, Lovely to catch up with all your travels. Sounds as though you are into peak holiday time in France with all those fab traffic jams!!!!! Even with those I'm a bit envious!!!!!!! Great you are having such a good time. Pip and Kris
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