Day 24 - Paris

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Paris today. We walked to the Musee d'Orsay and joined an enormous line to get in. It turned out that this was the first Sunday of the month, which is a free day. The line moved quickly, which was not what the crowd did inside. Too bad they've now banned photography inside.

Had a terrific lunch out, before taking Elizabeth back to the flat before Kathryn and I went out again to look at the local area. Eglise St. Roche was right outside our front door. In the evening we went out to the Eiffel tower, joining the milling hordes to take pictures of it at night.

Days 23 - Burgundy to Paris

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The was the last day for us with "Winnie the Peu" and was primarily a day of travel. We woke up in Chalons-sur-Saone and went immediately to the historic Burgundy town of Beaune -- to see the Hotel Dieu -- the hospital for the poor established by Burgundy's Chancellor Rolin, who amassed so much wealth from fleecing the ordinary people that he made such an institution necessary. The hospital itself is fascinating, but there is also Van der Weyden's "Last Judgemnenbt" to see; too bad its been moved from its original location on the alter in the main ward. It was also market day in Beaune, so we picked up a picnic lunch before beginning the drive to Paris.

We returned the car to CDG and took the RER into Paris -- very hot and sticky and I had a pickpocket attempt to remove my wallet. She failed, but stepped out of the rail car before I could whack her. Nothing was lost. We checked into our studio apartment on Rue St. Honore and had a wander through the Tuilleries and toward the Musee d'Orsayt before turning in.,

Day 22 - Autun

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.