France Trip Review and Learnings

Overall, every part of the trip went smoothly; we had no problems to speak of at any point.

We enjoyed France. France is a beautiful country with amazing sites and kind people. There is so much history there.  Cynthia bought a little book of French history, which was helpful.

The home exchange worked well.   It was nice to have a base to explore from, a car to explore with, a house to spread out in, and a television to watch the Tour de France. Our neighbors in France were very friendly and helpful.

The weather was cool when we arrived, but very hot by the end of our stay. 

In Europe, most credit cards have an electronic chip in addition to a magnetic stripe. Our cards do not have chips; they worked in some machines, but not others.  In every case we were able to figure out a work around, cash, or a human being with a more flexible credit card machine.

I bought an Orange Telephone chip for my unlocked iPhone, and bought a month of service, including data.   It was very helpful to be able to use Google maps for navigation, as well as being able to look up various information as we went. I will probably buy data on future international trips, as long as the price is reasonable.

For some reason, they don't use top sheets in France.  They use duvets and duvet covers.  This was a problem when it was warm, the duvet was too hot, but uncovered was too cold.  It might make sense to bring a top sheet for summer trips in France.

Odds and ends: Public water fountains are nonexistent in France.  On the way to the airport, I learned that there was an iPhone app for the Paris transportation system, which would have been very helpful.

Oh, and we got along, after a month in close quarters......

Chartes and Home

We had had enough of the heat and museums of Paris. We agreed to go to Chartes on our final day in France.

We took a subway to the Montparnasse train station, and then spent a few minutes wandering around the train station, trying to buy tickets to Chartes. Finally we realized that the ticket machines would not take our credit cards, because they do not have chips. We were able to buy round trip tickets from a human being.

The train ride to Chartes was about one hour, some of it through graffiti areas in Paris, and some thrugh the french countryside, until we arrived at Chartes. A stroll through the town brought us to the famous Cathedral.

The Chartes Cathedral is huge, with  gorgeous medieval stained glass, approximately 800 years old.    Even after seeing so many other French churches, our jaws were dropping.  The cathedral was built around 1200 AD, and is the best preserved medieval cathedral in Europe. It survived the Wars of Religion, the French Revolution, and two World Wars.  During the French Revolution, it was going to be dismantled, and the stone sold, but the council in Paris said no.  As we walked around, we saw not just the stained glass, but also the very fine and detailed stonework inside and out. This is the fifth cathedral built on this site, each bigger and more impressive than the previous cathedral, although they reused parts of the foundations of the previous cathedral. It was built in around 30 years, an unusually short time for a cathedral, after the previous cathedral burned. It reportedly has the veil of Mary, which is why it has been a pilgrimage place for a very long time.

Both of my guidebooks talked about the English language tour from Malcolm. He has been giving tours there for fifty years, and is still learning more about the cathedral. In his tour, he showed us how both the stained glass and the stonework tell the bible story, from beginning to end.

Malcolm is the gray haired man facing the camera.

After the tour, we strolled around the quiet and tidy town, and visited another local church, this one with painted designs covering the walls.

We took the train and subway back to our hotel room, and started packing for the trip. We had another pleasant dinner at the Via Italia, where the waiter shook our hand when we arrived, and when we left.

Wednesday morning had us getting up earlier than we wanted, and heading out the door. We took a taxi to the Roisseybus, and the bus to the airport. It all went very smoothly.

In the airport, we saw a steady stream of men and women in long robes.  Many of the robes were richly decorated;  although most were black, the people were also a range of skin colors.  While we had seen some long robes on the streets of Paris, here we saw a steady stream of them.  We believe that these people were Muslims immigrants on their way to their home country.

We got to the Paris airport early, but spent too much time outside security, so we ended up rushing. We were the last ones on the plane. Our flight to Charlotte NC was routine. We flew US Air, who took good care of us, fed us better than average food, and frequently offered us water and drinks. US Air won points with us.  Our flight to Denver was delayed by a weather detour, and also by a go-around, but we were home. James picked us up. 

Sacre-Coeur and Musee d'Orangerie

We got up on Monday and headed for the church of Sacre-Coeur.

We struggled a bit getting there, as one of the subway lines was shut down, so we took the long way.  We waited too long to get on the tramway; we could have walked up and down three times during the time that we were waiting in line.  By this time it was very hot.

The site is the hill of Montemarte, where the first bishop of Paris, Saint Denis, was beheaded.   Monte-martre means hill of martyrs.  This was an affordable area for artists to live and work in the mid-19th century. This is the highest point in Paris.

The church is huge and impressive, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  It was built around 1900, after the French Revolution had destroyed many churches.   However, there were so many visitors that it took away some of the spiritual aspects of the visit.

We stopped for a coke, and then took the subway to the Musee d'Orangerie, built especially for Claude Monet's massive series of canvases of his gardens.  When we came out of the subway, it was like stepping into a furnace.  When we reached the museum, we had to wait in line, luckily in the shade.

Egyptian Oblisk in the foreground, Eifel Tower in Background, from the Tullieries.

The huge oil paintings were Monet's last major work, and a gift to the people of Paris.  All the paintings were of the pond of Giverny, which was Monet's primary subject in the last 40 years of his life.

Downstairs, we saw a traveling show of Italian painters of the mid-1800s, and other impressionist works.

The ride home on the bus was hot and miserable.

We went to Le Temps de Cerises restaurant, a worker's cooperative recommended by Lonely Planet, but we were not impressed.  We did enjoy the residential neighborhood that it was located in, with a street full of bars and restaurants, including an Irish Pub.

To Paris

On Saturday morning, we said goodbye to Jean-Marie and Marie-Helene.  Jean-Marie dropped us at the train station in Angers.  We had reserved seats in car 15, so asked where we should stand on the platform.  A young man took us to the screen which mapped the TGV cars to the markings on the platform. The train stopped longer than we expected, and after some confusion, we found our seats.   The ride was 1 hour and 45 minutes.  At some points, the train was going at automobile speeds, and at other points well over 100 miles per hour.

When we arrived in Paris, we took a taxi to our hotel for the next few days, the Ibis hotel near the Place d'Italie, in the same neighborhood that we had stayed in a few weeks before.

After dropping off our luggage in our small but well-equipped room, we took the bus to the Rodin Museum.  The day was hot, so we sweated in the bus, and in the museum, which was not air conditioned.   We were impressed by his breakout style and his prodigious output.  The special exhibit was of many of his marble sculptures.  For some reason, we think of Rodin as a bronze sculptor, but he also made many marble sculptures.

After getting back to our hotel, we walked down a few blocks to the Cafe Canon, where we had a great view of the world walking by.  However, it was right at a busy intersection, with mopeds, motorcycles, and buses contributing to the noise.

On Sunday we walked to a nearby church for the 9 AM mass, only to find that there was no 9 AM mass this Sunday.  After a few minutes on my iPhone, we identified another church within walking distance with a 9:30 mass; we arrived just as the mass was starting.  The attendance was good, and the church seemed to have many activities, unlike what we saw around Brissac.

After mass, we spent some time in the nearby market, where we bought fruit and bread.  After dropping this at our room, we took the bus to the famous Musee d'Orsay.   At one point, about a mile from the Musee, the bus stopped and we were told to get out.  The route had been changed because the Tour de France was finishing in Paris that day.  We strolled along the Seine river, looking at the books, posters, and other merchandise on offer.   Richard bought some drink coasters based on old French posters.

The Musee d"orsay, built in an old train station, is overwhelming.  As we walked towards the entrance, we began to realize how large it is.  We joined the line to get in, which only took a few minutes.  The Orsay is best known for its collection of impressionist paintings, which is vast and impressive.  We are unable to say what part of the Orsay was most impressive, there were so many great painters, and so many of their works that we could not choose.  Several times we sat to take a break and absorb what we had seen.   When it was time to leave, after four hours, we could not take a bus due to the service disruption occasioned by the tour.  The barricades and police were already in place.  The first two subway stations were closed or unreachable.  The third station was open, and we rode home.

We had a nice dinner at the Via Italia restaurant, very near our hotel.

Small towns of Character

The French tourism department has a recognition program called Petite Cite du Charactere, or small towns of character.  For Friday, our last day in Brissac, we decided to visit two nearby cities with this label.

The first one is Behuard, an pilgrimage site that goes back at least to the 5th century, located on an island in the Loire river.   The church is built on a large rock.  The site was reportedly a pre-Christian pilgrimage site in Gaulish times.  The current sanctuary was built at the orders of King Louis XI, who built it as a kind of ex-voto, in thanksgiving after a near drowning when his boat sank on the Loire river.  This was in the late 15th century.

Note the large rock on the right that the church is built on.

Located on an island, the town is subject to flooding, with a marker showing the level reached by floods in the last 100 years.  We spent some time walking around the island.

We then went to the nearby town of Savenniers, a small village with narrow streets, and a church from the 10th century.  The church appeared on the first list of French National Monuments.  We split a lunch in the cafe there.  Picturesque.

We enjoyed our visit to these towns, and plan to look for more small cities of character in future trips to France.

After that, we headed home and started packing, watering, and getting ready to leave Saturday morning.

Angers, Brissac, and the vinyards

Wednesday we headed into Angers, primarily to visit museums.

Our first stop was the museum of contemporary tapestry.  This had a lot more meaning to us after seeing so many traditional tapestries.   The Loire valley, and Angers in particular, was a center of tapestry in the middle ages.   Jean Lurcat was a 20th century artist who started with painting, but then moved to tapestries.   The museum had a gigantic series of tapestries of his called the Song of the World.  Like the Apocalypse tapestry at the chateau of Angers, it had a theme of the end of the world, in this case resulting from the atomic bomb.  We also saw the work of another artist, with a unicorn theme.  This was more than worth our time.

We walked into the center of town.  Our first stop was at a "Fry Chicken" restaurant run by a young Pakistani.  He was playing Bollywood music videos in Hindi, really it was quite amusing.  He explained to us that India and Pakistan are really one country, one culture, even the people look the same.  We had chopped chicken pita, pretty good, lots of it, and perhaps the cheapest meal that we have eaten in France, 5 euros including a coke.

We stopped in a few stores, including a cooking store.  Cynthia was looking for a suitably French gift, and found a unique versatile can/bottle opener, labelled in French.  Most of the products in the store were the same as you would see in a cooking store in the USA.  Richard picked up a music CD.

Our next stop was the very impressive museum of David d'Angers, with monumental sculptures in an old church with a glass roof.

We then went to the train station, where we bought our tickets to Paris.

We took the tram home, just in time to have dinner with Jean-Marie, Marie-Helene, their grandchild Axelle, and their friends Julian and Mimi.  This was called a simple meal, but it had five courses!

During dinner, we had asked additional questions about the vineyards.  We were especially curious to see the perfectly trimmed rows of grapevines.  Jean-Marie was in the business of agriculture before he retired, so he was the perfect person to take us around and answer our questions.

New tractor with cutting attachment

Tractor at work, simultaneously cutting both sides and the top of  two rows of grapevine "hedges", as well as cutting the grass between the rows.

On Thursday morning, Jean-Marie took us on a tour of the vineyards.  We started at a farm equipment dealer, where we could see the various machines used for trimming the rows of grapes, and also for harvesting.   They also had power limb trimmers, with safety features so that one would not cut off their finger.  The electric trimmers have greatly reduced hand injuries.  The trimmers are used in winter to cut the plants way back before spring.

After that, we visited the Duke's hunting dogs, around 90 in number, as well as driving around some vineyards, including one in which we saw the tractor mounted trimmer at work.  Many of the vineyards are quite large, as much as 100 acres or more.  Vineyards are the primary business in this area.

We stopped at the local wine co-op, where all the local wine is pressed, and sampled a Rose wine there.

Our next stop was the market, where we saw folkloric dancing.

We also visited the "Boule de Fort" club, where they play a game with heavy balls on a convex indoor court.  This game is very local, played only in the Loire valley.  In the past, even very small villages would have their own outdoor court for this game.  Note that the name of the club is St. Vincent;  St. Vincent is the patron saint of winegrowers, and the name of the church and private school.

We then had wine with Julian and Mimi at their very nice home, with a huge yard.

After a busy morning, we went home and watched the Tour de France, the climb of Alpe d'Huez.

Chambord and Villandry Chateaux

On Monday, we started a big day, to visit two chateaux that were some distance away.  Accordingly, we got up at 7 AM, and got on the road at 8 AM.  (We checked, the plural of chateau can be either chateaux or chateaus.)

Our first stop was Villandry, whose formal garden impressed Cynthia when she saw them from a helicopter view of the Tour de France.  Villandry is perhaps the most impressive chateau in terms of its formal gardens.   The garden is so large and so well manicured that it is hard to get your head around it.  Even the vegetable garden looks more like a decorative garden than a vegetable garden, with trimmed hedges and trees.

Vegetable garden

In the children's garden

The Chateau at Villandry itself was somewhat less interesting, although it did contain quite a bit of art, mostly religious art.   The Chateau was bought by a Spanish-American couple in 1906, who restored the formal gardens.  The family still owns the Chateau today.

Chambord

We then headed out to Chateau Chambord, which is perhaps the most impressive of all the Chateaux.  It was started in 1519 at the direction of King Francois I.  The architect is not known, although some believe that Leonardo Da Vinci, who lived in the area, may have contributed.  At the center, it has a unique double spiral staircase.

Center of the circular staircase, looking up.

One of the towers

  It is a combination of Italian and French architectural styles.  While it is symmetrical in an overall sense, it is not symmetrical in terms of the details.

The Chateau is gigantic, and something of a maze of rooms, at multiple levels.  We found it confusing and overwhelming.  Cynthia at one point sat down to rest and people-watch, and reported that the people-watching was quite interesting.  Richard continued to higher floors, including displays of art, and the roof.

We also found the history confusing and overwhelming, with an army of characters,  related to each other.  We spoke to a Frenchwoman, who also reported it to be confusing to her, even though she had studied French history in school.  We came to France knowing little of French history, and have been playing catch up ever since.  Cynthia bought a small book of 110 key dates in French history, which has been helping us piece the history together.

By the time that we returned to Brissac, we had been gone 12 hours.  Richard, who had done the driving, was especially tired, if not exhausted.  But we had seen some amazing chateaux.

Fontevraud Abby and Chateaux around Saumur

On Saturday, we decided to go to the famous Fontevraud Abby, founded in 1101 by Father Robert, who was an itinerant preacher who set up an abbey for men and women, headed by an abbess.

When we entered the abbey, we walked down to the main church, huge and impressive.  The tourists spoke softly, even the children, perhaps feeling that they were in a sacred place.

Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Henry II 

In the center of the church were the reclining statues which marked the tombs of Henry II of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine,  Richard the 1st of England, and Richard's wife, Isabella.  I had seen those on TV before, and it was impressive to see them in person.

Eleanor of Aquitaine is quite an interesting historical figure.  She married King Louis VII of France, went on the second crusade, divorced King Louis,  married King Henry II of England, spent years imprisoned by her husband for a revolt, and spent the final years of her life in Fontevraud Abbey.

The abbey was a Royal Abbey, under the auspices of the King.  Kings and noblemen sent their children there to be educated.  There were up to 800 nuns and monks there.  They were largely self-sufficient, raising almost everything that they needed.  It was a sizable village in and of itself, with a village surrounding it.

This abbey was an important and prosperous place from around 1100 to the French Revolution, which closed the abbey.  Napoleon converted it to a prison.  What we see today is the result of years of archaeological work and restoration.

Fontevraud

We took a walk to the top of the hill to see the complex from above.

Chateau de Saumur

On our  way home, we stopped in Saumur and Montsoreau to see the chateaux from the outside.  We did not pay to go in.  Both chateaux sits high over the Loire river, with a commanding view.

We took a cafe break in Montsoreau, and enjoyed watching the world go by.  Montsoreau struck us as a particularly beautiful and interesting village of narrow streets and flowers.  There was even a man singing outside of his front door.

Typical roadside crucifix

We also stopped to take a close look at the Loire River.

Sunday was a rest day.  We went to church in Luigne, 15 minutes south of Brissac.  The Sunday mass is rotated among the various villages which make up the parish.  Three masses, three different priests.

Luigne church.  St Avertin is the popular local saint.

Tour de France

On Thursday, we headed out to see the tour.  We had been advised to get there early to get a place, and also to see the "caravan".  We had decided to go to a relatively small town, Durtal, where we expected to see other fans, but not be too crowded.

We found the course without difficulty, finding some barricades and police.  We were able to park within a couple of blocks, and wait for the barricades to be moved, closing the course.  We set up our stools next to a metal barrier, just at a downhill corner.

After a few lead vehicles, the caravan began.  The caravan is a group of cars and floats, promoting various companies.  They typically throw trinkets to the crowd, generally of an advertising nature.  Richard was able to snag four of these trinkets, ranging from a madeline (cookie) to a wristband promoting Yorkshire.

There were trucks selling tour goodie bags, including t-shirts.  Cynthia was disappointed in her bag, as her T-shirt did not say Tour de France, although she did get an umbrella that said Tour de France.

Lead group

After a wait, the lead vehicles rolled through.  Then the lead group of riders.

Peloton

After several minutes, the peloton arrived.  The peloton is the mass of riders.  The overall leader, with a yellow jersey, is typically in the peloton, as he does not need to win the individual stage.  The strategy for the tour is very complex, and we do not pretend to understand it.

It was an amazing experience to be within 10 feet of the racers, to see the tour in the flesh instead of on TV.

The peloton went by within thirty seconds, and then it was over.  We packed up and took the scenic route home.

On Friday, we stuck around the house.  Cynthia deadheaded flowers.  Richard mowed the large yard.  Cynthia cooked a quiche with spinach from our garden, and eggs from the chickens.

We took a hike in the evening, following the markers for the Chemin de St. Jacques de Compostelle, the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella.  Richard hiked 200 miles to Santiago in 2002, and hopes to return to hike another section in the future.  The trail goes right by our house in Brissac; we had no idea before we arrived that a branch of the trail went through the small town of Brissac.  We stopped in the town square on our way back, had a glass of wine, people-watched, and studied the architecture in detail.

Brittany and Pont Aven

On Monday we headed for Pont Aven, a small village that has been a city of artists since Gauguin went there in 1887.  Other artists joined him in what was a small town with many water driven mills.

It was about a 3.5 hour drive, mostly on toll roads or freeways.   As we got into Brittany, we noticed that the sign for each town included both the French name and the name in the Breton language, which is a Gaelic language.  Brittany has a Gaelic heritage, similar to Ireland and other countries in the region.

We checked into the "Paul Gauguin" room in the hotel Les Ajoncs d'Or, and went for a walk.  We visited a number of galleries, as well as the dock area.   Pont Aven is where the river meets an inlet of the ocean, so it has a rushing stream on one end, and a tidal area at the other end.

Low tide

We had a very nice dinner at the restaurant Au Petite Bouchon.  This is a relatively serious restaurant,  at which we had a three course 18 euro dinner, which was quite nice.   

Our sleep was disturbed by a delivery truck unloading directly below our window at 3 AM.  We were somewhat bleary eyed the next day.

Our hotel

We decided to head for the Atlantic Coast, Port Manec'h.  We found a small beach area with a sailing school and a number of boats for rent.   Richard walked out up to his knees, but found the water cold.   The whole area was very scenic,  but of course we could say that for most of France.  We had lunch in a bar near the beach, where we watched the end of the stage of the Tour de France.

When we got back to our hotel, we watched the end of the stage of the Tour de France in our room.  Cynthia has been a fan for decades, and Richard is starting to get into it.  If you have not seen the Tour de France on TV, the scenery is a continuous advertisement for the beauty of France.   Even if you are not interested in the Tour, tune it in and watch the scenery.

We had a good dinner at our hotel, 12 Euros.   We had changed rooms, and slept better Tuesday night.

Richard wanted to see the Megalithic sites near the city of Carnac.   Most of the Megalithic sites in this area are long rows of large stones on end, dating from around 4000 BC.  There are more than 3000 large upright stones in this area.  Cynthia believes that this must have been a prehistoric holy site, and notes that four of the local churches have been pilgrimage sites in historic times, in a kind of continuity between the past and present.

We had lunch at a McDonalds near Carnac, and found that a meal with fries and a drink cost 7 euros, or about $10 US, substantially higher than in the USA.   They also had multi-lingual touch screens at which you could order and pay for your meal, although we ordered face to face.  I was surprised to see that the sign had yellow arches on a black background, not the usual red background that we see in the USA.  So there were some differences.

After we drove home, we went to the hypermarket, and tried to buy gas.  Unfortunately, the pumps  would not accept our credit cards, because they do not have "chips" inside, just magnetic stripes.  We left in frustration.  Cynthia persuaded me to go back and ask if they would accept cash; it turned out that they would.  We were successful on our second attempt.  This is a reminder that even small differences between countries can become problems, especially if you don't understand these differences.

Our neighbors, Jean-Louis and Ghylene had invited us over for wine and cheese.  Their daughter, Sabrina was there, and one grandchild.  Sabrina spoke English, which facilitated communication.  They did complement Richard on his French, and most of the conversation took place in French.  They were very gracious, gave us tips on seeing the Tour de France, and talked about the national hot air balloon championships, which will be held in Brissac in August.

Thursday we will form part of the crowds lining the streets to watch the Tour de France.

Fete du Rillauds, Brissac-Quince

This weekend is the Festival of Rillauds here in Brissac-Quince. The Rillaud is a local delicacy, otherwise known as a pork belly.

Cynthia made a potato, goat cheese, and egg torte.  The eggs were from our own chickens!  The recipe came from a cookbook which Cynthia bought in the Chateau Brissac gift shop. 

The festivities started with a dance and fireworks Saturday night. The dancing started off slowly, so we bought a couple of glasses of wine, 1 Euro each, cheaper than a soda here! The fireworks started at 11 PM, because the sun sets very late. The show was pretty impressive, given that it was a small town.

The dancing picked up after the fireworks. Everybody but us knew the words to some of the songs. We got out there and danced. We left at midnight, but the party went on.

Sunday we went into town for the giant yard sale, in French an “Empty the attic sale”. There were of course also Rillauds to eat; we had a sandwich. It was tasty, but pretty fatty food, and probably would be illegal in Boulder. (A small joke).

Rillauds - Pork Bellies

Banda du Rillauds

We walked up and down many streets, lined with vendors.  It looked like any yard sale in the USA, except that the books were in French.  Cynthia bought a toy fire truck as a gift, and also a tablecloth.  A few people were in local costume.

When we got back to our house, we watched the end of stage 9 of the Tour de France. We plan to be a spectator on Thursday, maybe we will be on TV!

Tomorrow we will be on the road to Pont-Aven, a town made famous by Gauguin and other artists.