Day 22 - Autun

Click here for pictures.

All the photos today are of Autun -- and most of them are of the Cathedral of St. Lazare. This was mostly a travel day as we drove u to stay at Chalon-sur-Saone via Clermont Ferrand. Heaps of driving; too bad the break at Autun couldn't come in the middle instead of near the end.

.

The town of Autun is lovely -- quite like many small cathedral towns in France. The cathedral itself is spectacular Romanesque. The church is unique in that almost all of the stone decoration is by the hand of an identifiable Romanesque master - Gislebertus -- who actually signed his work here, saying "Gislebertus hoc fecit" (Gislebertus made this). He is also unusual in that he has an unusual and very personal style. I particularly like his demons. His greatest work is the tympanum above the main Western portal. There has been quite a bit of cleaning done, so the work is beautifully clear -- also thanks to a couple of centuries of protection from the elements as an earlier generation did not like his work, so they plastered over it.

Tonight, Chalons. Tomorrow we return the car and head into Paris.

Day 21 - Gouffre de Padirac & Rocamadour

Click here for pictures.

This was our last day at the Nadillac base. In the morning we drove 45 minutes or so to the caves at Gouffre de Padirac -- quite different to the last caves that we explored. At Peche Merle we got there early to ensure that we were among the 700 allowed into the caves each day -- in groups of no more than 25 at a time. Gouffre was caving on an industrial scale. Despite arriving only 30 minutes after the caves opened, we were around 200 or 300 back in the line and had to wait 1 1/2 hours before getting in. However, once in, things moved surprisingly quickly.

Around 500 steps of descent took us into the sink hole, from where we went into a wonderful Karst cave system. All the regular stalactites and stalagmites and the like -- but also a system of underground rivers and lakes. After hiking quite a distance, we arrived at a dock with several boats. Boarding these, we were ferried even further into the cave system, where we disembarked and hiked through a fabulous underground wonderland before returning to the boats and eventually taking elevators up to the top to avoid 524 steps.

After lunch we moved on to another cliffside town -- Rocomadour -- along with half of the tourists in France. Above the town was a bird center where we saw all sorts of large predators and also watched a display that included falcons, eagles and condors.

Next came the long descent past stations of the cross that pilgrims often followed upwards, from the base -- on their knees. Going down was certainly much easier. Part way down we came to the "Ecclesiastical City," a series of buildings that hugged the cliff and that were excavated into it. Below this was the old town itself. We climbed back up to the Ecclesiastical city and took the funicular up the rest of the way, before returning to Nadillac fof Kay's birthday celebration.

Day 20 - Cahors

Click here to see pictures.

Using Malcolm & Kay's place in Nadillac as a base, we went into Cahors today -- twice actually. The first time we drove in on our own and visited rhe old fortified bridge and then the Resistance Museum -- the largest of its kind in France. Cahors was a hub of Maquis activity during the war. We then wandered through the old town before taking a boat trip on the Lot river, seeing Cabors from the water, Tired and hot -- with temperatures in the mid-30s, we went back to our base. After the sun set, Malcolm and Kay took us back to Cahors to see the sound and light show on the old fortified bridge. This was fantastic. As music played, shapes and images were projected on all sides of the bridge, which people wandered about on freely. The images don't do it justice, but do capture some moments though.

Days 18 & 19

Click here for photographs.

Three locations today. We got up early to head to the caves at Pech Merl, then to the picturesque hill-clinging village of Saint Cirq Lapopie, and finally a walk along the Lot River at Bouzies.

Peche Merl contains some of the earliest cave art in the world -- bison, mamoths, horses, human hand outlines and a fish.l The caves are Karst topography, so contain the usual calcified formations, but also some unusual ones --including calcium pearls formed around sand particles. There are even human footprints dating to before the last ice age.

Saint Cirque Lapopie is reputed to be the most photogenic village in France and it probably is. Medieval houses, all from the 13th to 15th century cling to the steep cliff sides. We also had an excellent lunch at a terrace restaurant in the village.

Finally we walked, until the heat got the better of us, along the banks of the Lot River at the village of Bouzies, before returning to Nadillac and Malcolm & Kay's swimming pool.

Click here for pictures.

Today was a quiet day at Malcolm and Kay's. We had lunch at the village restaurant at Nadillac, a wander around the village and R&R at the house. In the evening we went off to Gourdon for a look at the medieval center of town and a visit to the night market.

Days 11 - 17

Click here for pictures.

Day 17 – Oradours-sur-Glanes – Nadillac

We left Loches this morning and headed off to Malcolm &Kay’s house in the South. Malcolm recommended a stop near Limoges at Oramours, so we decided to do so. On June 10, 1944, just 4 days after the Normandy landings, the SS massacred the population of this large village as a reprisal for partisan activity locally. After the murders, the village was torched. To commemorate the event, the village has been left as it was and a center was built to explain what happened. The village is open for all to see. The ruin photos on Picassa are of this village. After this we carried on and arrived at Nadillac in the early afternoon, after 5 km down a very narrow country lane. Pictures are of their home (a barn conversion) and of Nadillac and another liitle village, Cras, across the valley.

Click here to see pictures.

Day 16 – Loches

We left Parcay-les-Pins in the late morning and arrived at Loches in the early afternoon, too early to check in at the Logis du Bief. A wander into the old town for lunch at a pizzeria in the shadow of one of the town gates took care of the time and we returned to check into our hotel – probably the flashiest place we will stay in on our trip. The building is centuries old and our suite is up the top of a castle-like stone spiral staircase. We have the entire top floor. Elizabeth has a room overlooking the canal, while our room looks up to the chateau. We also have a landing with a sitting area and a bathroom.

Loches is a wonderful medieval town. Heading up to the chateau, the buildings are almost all medieval, with a few renaissance structures thrown in. At the heart of the old town is the Romanesque church, the chateau and the donjon.

Click here for pictures.

Day 15 – Parcay-les-Pins – Saumur – Parcay-les-Pins – Vernantes

Off to Saumur today where Kathryn and Elizabeth went shopping while I headed to the Musee des Blindes, one of the world’s greatest tank museums. We all met against at the Chateau before returning to Parcay, where Elizabeth “chilled” and K & I visited the Jules Debois sculptural museum in the village. Debois was a contemporary and friend of Rodin and the village rates his gallery because the sculptor was born and raised in the house across the square from the museum. We ended the day with our delayed 25^th anniversary dinner at the Logis Pelican hotel in Vernantes – one of the best meals either of us have had in our lives.

Click here to see pictures.

Day 14 – Parcay-les-Pins – Chenenceau – Amboise

Once again, the day began in Parcay-les-Pins, then came the drive to Chenenceau – that’s the chateau and not Chenenceaux, which is the town. This tourist magnet is probably the most famous of the Loire chateaus. It is also among the most picturesque.

Following this, we went to Amboise, had lunch, and moved on to the royal chateau, which included the little church where Leonardo da Vinci is buried, and finished up with Clos du Luce – where Leonardo spent the last years of his life as a guest of King Francis I of France.

Click here to see pictures.

Day 13 – Parcay-les-Pins – Usse – Chinon

Breakfast at the cottage, a wander through the village (including a look around the village church) and then off to the chateau that inspired Perault’s Sleeping Beauty tale – and Disney’s image of the castle. There we looked at the chapel, the caves, the chateau, and the tower – decked out in fairy tale tableaux.

Next it was off to Chinon, the castle that dominated the Loire in the Middle Ages. This was probably the best bargain in terms of visiting a historic building since Verdun. The setting of the castle, high above the town and river is dramatic.

The day ended in Parcay, after a visit to a French superstore for provisions.

Click here for pictures.

Day 12 – Chartres – Parcay-les-Pins – Azay-le-Rideau

Breakfast, a look around the ancient building of the Hostellerie, check-out and a look around the town – with the car safely parked. Chartres’ cathedral is, of course, stunning. Acres of stained glass and thousands of carvings on its edifice. Too bad that the labyrinth in the nave was covered by seats though. We also wandered about the town and had a phone call from Nicholas.

Getting out of Chartres was as bad as getting in. We were, or course, in the traffic restricted zone and it took a number of circles around the town trying to avoid barriers to realize that the trick was to drive up to one and press a button to get it to retract into the street. Of course the barriers are for keeping out, not letting out.

Once out, the trip to our rented house in Parcay-les-Pins was relatively easy. We let ourselves in, and rested before heading out to buy food (once the shops opened again after the long mid-day break)., and then went off in search of Chateaus. Driving past Langais, we set our sights on Azay-le-Rideau – the one that impressed me the most when I toured Europe in my 20’s. We arrived too late to tour the insides, but at least saw the gardens and snapped the outside a few times. Dinner in the town and ice creams made the trip back more pleasant.

Click here to see pictures.

Day 11 – Chantilly – Senlis – CDG Airport – Chartres

Kathryn and Elizabeth arrived today, but not until 6:20 p.m. So I needed to fill in some time and decided to take some side trips on the way to Charles DeGaulle Airport.

The first stop was Chantilly – the Chateau, not the town. This is a lovely Baroque chateau and grounds. The gardens include formal French, English, and something called Anglo-Chinese. It was at Chantilly that the great lord and lady had peasant style accommodation built in the gardens, so that the ladies could play milkmaid when they wanted – though without giving up any of life’s aristocratic luxuries. It is said that Marie Antoinette’s little peasant retreat at Versailles came out of experiencing Chantilly’s odd little creation. The museum here is excellent and contains a number of masterpieces by artists like Raphael and Holbein.

After Chantilly I went to the old medieval cathedral town of Senlis. Not much has happened here since the middle ages, so many of the historic buildings still stand at the heart of the city. The cathedral is one of the great Gothic structures of northern France. Other pictures are of the old town surrounding it and another rather old church just a few meters away from the cathedral.

Next stop, CDG, where I picked up K and E before heading on down to Chartres. This should have been relatively easy as we had hours to make the trip before the Hotellerie St. Ives desk closed at 11:00 p.m. The distance isn’t all that far. Unfortunately road construction and the GPS conspired to first get us off track and lost in the northern Parisian suburbs – that was eventually solved by the GPS, but time was lost. The next problem was finding the hotel (well, it is actually a Catholic hostel in the shadow of the cathedral), but this was not easy. First of all the road system in medieval Chartres is a rabbit warren of one way routes; then there is the problem of road barriers.

We eventually parked the car near to where we thought we would have to be, and proceeded on foot. With less than an hour to go, we finally found our goal and were given a map and instructions of how to call from the road barrier below the Hostellerie, so that they could activate its retraction into the road. By the time we arrived there was no question of going out again that night.

Day 10 - Beauvais & Amiens

Click here for today's pictures. Apologies for there being so many -- it takes time to edit.

Staying in Beauvais, it was obvious to begin with the famous Cathedral St. Pierre. Beauvais wanted to be the little town that could -- build the tallest Gothic cathederal, that is. When Amiens built its vaults 42 meters high, Beauvais decided to build to 48 meters. This was not wise as it went beyond the limits of Medieval engineering, In 1258 the vaulting collapsed. In 1573 the 153 meter tall spire also came down. Today only the choir stands and it now heavily braced.

The pictures begin with St. Pierre and the area of town around it, then I went to the tapestry museum, then another of the local churches -- the name of which I've forgotten and will have to insert later, then it was back to the Oise Museum, near the cathedral, then off to St. Lazare Medieval Leper's hospital, and finally a short road trip to Amiens to see its cathedral and to climb 302 stairs to the top.

Tomorrow its off to Charles De Gaulle airport to pick up Kathryn and Elizabeth -- finally someone to talk to other than the GPS -- with which I have a love/hate relationship -- she annoys me constantly, but I can't get along without her. Actually the title picture today reminds me of her.

Day 9 - Chateau de Coucy & Chateau Pierrefonds

Click here for today's images.

Just a short trip today -- from Laon to Beauvais. However, it took a whole day to do so as I visited two historic chateaus en-route. They could not be more different.

The first was Chateau de Coucy, a ruin. This was the historic home of the Coucy family, important noblemen during the middle ages and kingmakers. I remember reading about them in B arbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror. Today there are a few standing walls, the caves, the foundations of a romanesque church and a great heap of rubble where the keep used to be, before it was blasted to smithereens by the Germans in World War i. Interestingly the town walls, the outer line of defense for the castle, has stood up to time more effectively.

Chateau Pierrefonds is wonderflly preserved -- too wonderfully in fact. It too was a bit of a ruin during the 19th century, but first Napoleaon Bonaparte and later Napoleon III took an interest in it and invested huge sums to bring it to more than its former glory. Really it is a 19th century gothic revival structure today --like Cardiff Castle..

Tomorrow I explore Beauvais.

Days 6,7, & 8 Vimy to Laon

Click here for today's photos.

Today was a mixed bag. I left Brugge and headed back to the battlefields of Flanders, determined to see what I had missed earlier. The weather cooperated, only spitting a little. I saw the Canadian memorial at Passchendael, the biggest of the Commonwealth Cemetaries at Tyne Cot, the German cemetary at Langemark, the Canadian memorial at St. Juliaan (where gas was first used in WWI), Essex Farm (where John McRae worked and wrote "In Flander's Fields"), back to Ieper for lunch and to shoot some more of the town without it raining, including the Menin Gate memorial, and finally down to Laon, where I found there was no room at the Inn (Etap, that is) and had to book into next door at the slightly more upmarket Ibis.

Heading into the old town to find dinner, I was fortunate to find the Gothic church that I came to Laon to see, still open. It is wonderful, and the medieval town that surrounds it is also fascinating. This was well worth the trip getting here.

Click here for today's photos.

Today I spent the whole day in Brugge. The photos reflect walking and a boat trip through the canals.

Click here for today's photos.

I started the day at the Vimy memorial -- well, actually I spent much of the day here as I came back to the memorial to see it in different light conditions. This is absolutely the most memorable of the World War I memorials. The great stone columns and the statues that adorn them seem just right. The Canadian student who gave the tour of the trenches and tunnels that are also maintained at the site was knowledgeable and engaging. This was also a highlight of the trip so far.

After Vimy it was off to see the Flanders Fields Museum in the town center of Ieper (Ypres) -- best to use the Flemish if one doesn't want to offend the locals; French seems not particularly acceptable in the Flemish provinces of Belgium. One wonders how long Belgium will remain a united country. It was remarkable how many Flemish flags were flown and how few national banners.

The museum is excellent and a good introduction to the war in the Flanders region. I was heading off to look at local sites when the heavens opened and I changed my mind, rather than wade through the famous mud of Flanders. Instead I headed straight to Brugge (Brughes), where at least the roads and sidewalks would be solid. It was a wise move and the weather cleared.

Brugge must be one of Europe's most beautiful cities. Somehow Medieval Brugge survived to the present day. It was an economic backwater when the industrial revolution transformed Europe and remained so until the tourist boom of the post WWII years. Now it lives off its history. Whether exploring by boat along its many canals, or by foot, there are architectural gems everywhere -- from the Belfry in the Market Square to the Michelangelo statue in the Church of Our Lady, to the baroque interior of St. Walbuga's church.

An added bonus was staying in the Etap hotel at the train station. While it was hellish to locate, it was well worth it. 50 Euros a night was a steal as the hotel is brand new, beautifully appointed in a modern style, and within walking distance of the center of town. The only drawback was the lack of free Internet.

Day 5 - The Somme

Click here for today's images.

Left Thionville at 7:00 a.m. and paid the big bucks to use French motorways -- trying to make peace with the GPS. It did cut off 2 hours of travel time to do so.

At Perrone I went through the First World War Museum in the town center. They have some interesting exhibits, including uniforms displayed without mannequins and a collection of war art and propaganda.

After that the GPS and I had our differences yet again. Apparently it doesn't recognize battle sites and grave sites as important locations -- in the Somme, for goodness' sake.

I did manage to take in the British monument at Thiepval; the Ulster Tower -- which commemorates one of the few units to meet its objectives on July 1, 1916 -- only to be cut off from reinforcements and supplies by a German counter-bombardment; the Newfoundlanders' battlefield at Beaumont-Hamel; a few more grave sites; and the Welsh memorial at Mametz Wood -- the latter involving travel down a country lane that thankfully had no traffic coming in the opposite direction.

Beaumont-Hamel was the highlight. Tours are given by Canadian university students and the site has been left as it is since 1919. The land was bought by the women of the then Dominion of Newfoundland as a memorial for their lost men. The Newfs took 86% casualties on the first day of the big push, and according to one contemporary observer, "the attack failed because dead men could advance no farther."

I end today with the image of the Welsh dragon, one of the most recent memorials built at the Somme.

Day 4 - Mostly at Fort Hackenberg, Maginot Line

I'm off schedule on only my fourth day, but it was worth it. The GPS is now working and was very good yesterday, at Verdun. Today it wanted to take me onto toll motorways, but I wanted to travel the short distance to Thionville for free. The result was interesting. I do believe the machine was complaining -- it kept telling me to travel on the approved map plan, while I continued to ignore it as it led me on a merry goose chase in search of ways back to the motorway until I shut it off and went by map until motorways were quite distant. We then came to an accomodation.

Fort Hackenberg is the largest fort in the Maginot Line (ok - tied for first), which was he great defense work built by the French between the wars. While it bears surface resemblance to the great pre-WW1 fortresses at Douaumont and Vaux. this is something entirely different. While the garrisons of the older fortresses suffered from poor ventilation and almost no reliable sources of water, food, or even sufficient toilets, the Maginot Line provided everything -- dental and medical facilities, food and water for 3 months and even an underground Metro service to link the various posts over the huge area that the fort covered. Amazingly, most of the equipent still functions.

On weekends the fort goes off grid to give the diesel engines and generators some work. These are actually submarine pieces, redeployed to keep an underground city of a thousand working. The great gun turrets still revolve and push up as you can see in the video I've attacfhed to this blog. This was a really fascinating tour that took three hours -- hence I wound up staying in Thionville tonight instead of pushing on.

Tomorrow I head for the Somme -- hopefully arriving in time to see something.

Day 3 - Verdun

Click here to see the day's photos.

Today I'm in Verdun, an ancient town on the banks of the Meuse River and the site of the bloodiest battle of World War I. Memorials are everywhere.

Driving into town I stopped at a National Cemetary of World War I graves -- thousands of them. In the town I visited the Citadelle and its vast underground casements, then headed off to see the forts to the East - Vaux and Douaumont - cold and damp, they were more like crypts than fortresses, which is probably how their inhabitants found them.





I also stopped at the Verdun Memorial Museum and the Douaumont Ossuary, a great Art Deco edifice built, literally, over the bones of 130,000 unknown soldiers; they are visible through small windows at shin level. Another 15,000 solders have marked graves in front,.

Tomorrow should take me to Thionville and to the nearby Maginot Line outpost, Fort Hackenberg.

From Paris to Verdun via Compiegne

Not my rental car - a World War I French R17

My rental car - a Peugeot 308 Diesel

I got up really early today to get , back to CDG to pick up the car - a Peugeot 308. I'm calling it Winnie (as in Winnie the Peu - something Neo should appreciate). After this came the quest for a gas station, as said beast came with only 15 litres of fuel. Two villages and a small town later, I finally came upon one before it ran dry. Who knew it was so hard to find gas stations in France? At least every gas station sells diesel.

That done, I set off for Verdun, but without a navigator I zigged when I should have zagged and found myself on the road to Senlis -- which is on the way to Compiegne, so why not go and see the place where the armastice was signed to end World War I. What the heck, with 36 degree weather it made sense to spend more time in an air-conditioned car.

I eventually made it to Verdun, but too late to get into any of the battle sites, so booked into a hotel and picked up a detailed local map to plan the next two days more thoroughly.

So where are today's pictures? Click here to see them.

I arrived in France

See slides for this entry on Picassa: Click here to link to them.

An early trip to the airport and a long day of travel landed me in Paris. I have a number of slides showing the flight to Calgary and over Greenland to France. Just graduated student, Emily Bridge, and he mother, Heather, were on the flight, so we made our way from Roissy - Charles DeGaulle airport into the city together.

Arriving too early to check into the hotel, I stored my luggage and headed out to see the basilica of St. Denis,l finding that it was also the local market day. Slides show the first Gothic church, built by Abbott Suger, along with its royal tombs -- from early medieval kings to the last king and his wife.

The remainder of the slides show the area around the hotel -- the All Seasons Gare de l'Est.

The Blog is Created - It Must be Almost Time to Go.

Two days to go before I leave and the endless preparation is almost finished -- including 3 hours on the phone to get through to a live airline person. Yet there was progress -- an unlocked mobile phone is now secured so real conversations may still be had.

Condolences to Neo, who had the misfortune to have to cancel his trip this week. We'd both been looking forward to scouring the Western Front battlefields together. It won't be the same doing so alone. I'll miss you, Neo, but will be sure to shoot heaps at Vimy for your sake.

The plan is to post some pictures on this site and then post links to a larger group of them stored on Picassa. I have no idea how often I will have decent bandwidth, so my frequency of posting may be uneven.

Check back in a few days and there should be something to see.