All posts by Rosemary Kneipp

Cycling, Loire Valley

Cycling to Saint Dye sur Loire

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When we used to live in Fontenay sous Bois, we usually went cycling along the Marne River three or four times a week in the summer. We’d take our bikes to Bry sur Marne on the back of the car then ride down to the old Meunier chocolate factory at Noisiel and back. Most of the way, it’s a bike path with houses on one side and the river on the other and woods at the end. Often we’d take a picnic or stop off for a côte de bœuf at La Pergola. When we moved to Paris, I really missed it.

But we think we’ve found an equivalent near Blois. Today we took our bikes over to the other side of the river about 7 or 8 K from Blois and parked near the bike path which runs along the river banks. The Loire is not like the Marne which is a navigable river and has stabilised banks. The Loire has a lot of sand banks and is mostly untamed. We were surprised to discover that the bike path is tarred and almost like a carpet most of the way!

Cours sur Loire

One of the first places we came to was Menar Castle which were had seen close up from the other side and was not very impressive. But the view from across the river is stunning. Just afterwards was the lovely little village of Cour sur Loire with its castle and church. But Saint Dyé was the highlight of our ride.

Saint Dyé sur Loire

It was once a walled city and has an immense church overlooking the Loire. We rode up into the village and through the quaint little streets with their pretty cottages. We saw a little old lady not a day under 80 outside cutting her Virginia creeper. I hesitated to take a photo but she gave me a toothy grin and said “photo?”. So I didn’t hesitate!

We rode back down to the banks of the Loire and along the old tow path until we came in sight of the Saint Laurent des Eaux nuclear power plant and turned back for obvious reasons. We hadn’t aken a picnic because we didn’t know if there were any tables along the way and after cycling for 20 K, a picnic on the grass is not my idea of comfort. I was rather hoping we’d find a restaurant with a river view of river but the only thing we saw was a bar inside a horse riding school.  I reckon that would be worse than sitting on the grass.

The views as we rode back were quite beautiful. The sun had come out (it was spitting very lightly when we set out) and made the water sparkle. So we decided to go home and picnic in the garden instead.

Art, Saint Petersburg, Travel photos

Sunday’s Travel Photos – Saint Petersburg

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One of my greatest travel dreams was to visit Saint Petersburg to see the paintings from Picasso’s blue period in the Hermitage Museum. I finally got there in July 2007 but only one of his paintings was on display! I actually preferred the Russian Museum, much less crowded with far fewer tourists. I enjoyed discovering Russian art and I adored the museum itself with its beautiful painted rooms. I’ll never forget the midnight sun over the Volga.

Paris

Summer in Paris

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I love staying in Paris in summer because it’s so different from the rest of the year. In one of the my very early posts back in October, I talked about all the things I dislike in winter, so I thought I should tell you what I like in summer.

Ile de la Cité seen from Pont des Arts

First, there are fewer Parisians because of the GREAT EXODUS. The period most people prefer to go away is between mid July and mid August because that’s when you’re likely to have to best weather at the French seaside or in the country. People who leave around 14th July or come back after 15th August also gain a day because they’re both public holidays. There’s a saying too that the weather goes downhill after mid August.

Second, I love being able to go out without a coat or hat or gloves, just putting on sandals, grabbing my bag and iPhone and walking out the door. I feel so much lighter! And if the temperature isn’t as warm as I’d like it to be, I can put on a light jacket and keep it on. I don’t have to keep taking off clothes when I walk into a shop or café. And I usually take an ultra-light Samsonite umbrella  just in case. It’s Paris, after all.

Then, I can sit outside to eat. My very favourite place in summer is Café Diane in the Tuileries Gardens.  The view is the one you can see in my header photo this month. Now isn’t that something? You can stay as long as you like and it’s a pleasant walk there and back. I always feel as though I’m on holidays when I go there. And the sunset over the Louvre is quite spectacular.

We can go for after-dinner strolls, wandering through the Louvre and across the Pont des Arts and have a glass of wine somewhere or maybe call in to say hello to Louise at Café Louise. If we’re feeling really energetic we can go down to Ile Saint Louis and have Bertillon ice-cream. Otherwise, we can go and get a real Italian gelato from rue Montorgueil and eat it in front of Saint Eustache.

During the weekend, there are lots of places to cycle –along the Marne if we don’t have a lot of time or feel like stopping off for dinner at the Pergola, out to Rambouillet forest or to Monet’s garden in Giverny. We just have to put our bikes on the trailer on the back of the car. Sometimes we cycle in Paris itself, along the quays which are car-free on a Sunday, but I prefer to walk the streets of Paris rather than brave the traffic. Though when the famous Paris-Plage is in full swing from mid-July to mid-August, it’s much more difficult to cycle!

La Pergola

I can open the windows of my office during the day and hear the fountain playing below and people’s voices. I don’t feel so cut off from  the rest of the world. The gardens are open until 11 pm so we can go down and sit around the fountain when it’s really hot – believe or not, that can happen sometimes!

The only thing I miss are barbecues but now that we have the house in Blois, I don’t feel so deprived!

La Pergola, 87, promenade Hermann Régnier, 93460 Gournay Sur Marne
Accommodation, Art, Loire Valley

A Painter Comes to Stay

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Closerie Falaiseau was almost ready for rental when I received a phone call from an American and his wife who wanted to stay for nine days, starting just two days later. I was having dinner at L’Embarcadère with Kathy Stanford from Femmes Francophiles. Relationnel had already gone back to Paris to work.  I frantically tried to remember what still had to be done to receive our first guests but it seemed “do-able”.

When John Modesitt and his very charming Japanese wife Toshiko arrived on the Sunday, everything was ready. I showed them around and they immediately loved the house. Toshiko seemed intrigued by the Henri II mirror in the living room  and she also liked the fact that you could see the kitchen through the original oak beams.  John loved all the wood everywhere. He mentioned to Kathy that he “painted” but it was not until a few days later that I discovered that he is a well-known American impressionist artist and the only living impressionist to auction in Christie’s impressionist auction.

Relationnel and I returned to Blois while John and Toshiko were still there and we were delighted to see his recent paintings spread out on the floor of the kitchen to dry. They had two days left before returning to San Diego which is the time needed for an oil painting to be dry enough to roll up. John was out in the countryside finishing off his last painting. Toshiko explained to me that he had spent a lot of time working on the colour green this year. There are many different shades of green in the French landscape that are difficult to render on canvas.

I had already seen some of John’s paintings on his website so I knew that I liked his style. When I saw the actual canvasses, though, I knew I wanted one!  There were several I liked but one in particular took my eye. Relationnel preferred another painting but it was of Amboise and I wanted one of Blois! So we went away and thought about it. From time to time while John and Toshiko were out, we’d steal a look through the glass door of the kitchen and finally decided which one we wanted. “The Loire at Blois, Noon”. It depicts a scene that we see each time we take the lovely drive from Closerie Falaiseau into Blois along the Loire River.

John just had the time to stretch the canvas for us before he left.  Now all we have to do is frame it. We are extremely happy to have this beautiful work of art for more reasons than one. First, we both love the painting itself and that is surely the best criterion! We love the composition, with its brightly-coloured turn-of-the-century house and tall poplars up on the left , the steel truss bridge spanning the Loire, Relationnel’s favourite river, with its sand banks in the middle and overgrown vegetation. And you can almost see the clouds moving across the top of the canvas.

Second, it was painted by someone we have met and like. Third, the artist told us it is a “special” painting for him. Fourth, it was painted by our very first guest. And last, but not least, it is a symbol of our future life in the Loire Valley where we will be living permanently when Relationnel retires in October 2014.

You might also like to read my interview with John published on My French Life http://www.aussieinfrance.com/2012/07/profile-john-modesitt-american-impressionist-painter-in-france/
 
John Modesitt http://www.americanimpressionist.net/

 

French customs, Loire Valley, Paris, Restaurants, Sightseeing

Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire’s International Garden Festival – Paris Day Two. Chantilly – The Audacity of Age

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For this Wednesday’s bloggers’ round-up, I’ve chosen Kathy Stanford‘s description of the highly original international garden festival at the château of Chaumont-sur-Loire, Denise from Bolton‘s visit to the Chantilly race course, which definitely seems a worthwhile excursion and Bread is Pain‘s very amusing story of an elderly woman jumping the queue at the Orsay Museum.

Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire’s International Garden Festival

by Kathy Stanford from Femmes Franchophiles, who has an ongoing passion for France and the French language

The Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire covers an area of approximately 32 hectares and is located between Blois and Tours in the Loire Valley.

The Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire is the foremost Centre for Art and Nature entirely devoted to the relationship between nature and culture, artistic creation and the impact of landscape, our heritage and contemporary art.

The Domaine not only includes the Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire (15th to 19th century), its gardens and parks, but also from April to the end of October, the stunning International Garden Festival. In addition, there are many exhibits and installations by contemporary artists. Read more

PARIS DAY TWO – CHANTILLY

by Denise from Bolton, another francophile from the town of Bolton in the UK who spends as much time in the City of Light as she can

Chantilly racecourse is in a lovely setting, with the châteaux on one side, the forest in the distance. Even if you are not into racing it is a pleasant place to have a picnic, and the chateaux is worth a visit too.

20minutes on the train from Gare du Nord, it makes a nice day out.  On a previous trip I watched an interesting dressage show in the famous Grades Ecuries, which legend has it, was commisioned to be built like a palaceby Henry, Duc de Bourbon, Prince of Conde, because he thought he would be reincarnated horse.

My husband had “bribed” me to accompany him, with a reservation at the stunning Panoramic restaurant overlooking the course.  The set “outsiders” menu was pricey at  42 euro each, but was very good and the entrance fee to the racecourse was only 2 euro,( as opposed to a lot more for British racecourses) so we were not complaining. Read more

The Audacity of Age

by Bread is Pain, a 30-something American living in the Rhone-Alps, and slowly eating and drinking herself through the country.

Standing in line at the Musée D’Orsay with my Mother who is visiting.  We are about thirty minutes back from the front of the queue.  An old lady has recently shoved past us in line and we are watching in disbelief as she speedily makes her way through the five or six rows of people in front of us.    

Mom:  This is too good to be true!

Me:  No way she is going to pull this off.

Mom:  I think she is.  Look at her go!

Read more

Cycling, France, Loire Valley, Uncategorized

At Your Age and In Love

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It’s an excruciatingly hot day in the Loire Valley and we’ve waited until quite late to go bike riding. After cycling about 15 K from Cour Cheverny, we’ve had our picnic dinner by a little lake in Bracieux and I want to find a place to have coffee. Relationnel doesn’t hold out much hope – it’s Thursday evening and Bracieux is a village with about 1300 inhabitants.

We ride into the centre and immediately come across a bar with a terrace jutting out into the street. We lean our bikes against the railing and Relationnel goes off to order. I think I hear someone say “Oh, they’re so cute!”. I look around but can’t see anyone that could possibly be described as cute.  I stand back a bit to take a photo of the café. Relationnel turns at the door to ask me what I want.

Our coffee comes and we drink it. I sneak a look at the other people on the terrace. They all look like regulars with a couple under their belt. A young woman and two men between 30 and 40 at one table and two men in the early thirties at the table closest to us. Relationnel goes off to pay. “Excusez-moi”, says one of the young men, “I just have to tell you how cute you both are.” Relationnel comes back at this point and hears the end of the conversation, “Like that”, continues the young man, “out for an evening ride, at your age, and in love”.

Relationnel (whence his name!) replies, “Yes, the most important part is being in love.” The young man isn’t quite sure what he means. “Finding the right person is the hard bit,” says Relationnel, “Bikes are easy to get.”

We ride off to visit the 17th century market place and as soon as they are out of site, we go into hysterics. “At our age”. Oh dear!

 

France, Travel photos

Sunday’s Travel Photos – Bains sur Mer, France

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The summer holidays in France are about to happen. Most people go away sometime in July or August. One of the closest seaside areas is Normandy. The only problem is that it’s not very warm! However, there are some lovely places to go and Bains-les-Mains, with its beautiful painted façades is one of my favourites, particularly when we’re cycling. And don’t you just love the little white beach huts? These photos were taken last year on 1st August.

 

 

 

France, French customs

How to Look French

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Since I’ve started writing this blog, I’ve heard so many discussions and read so many posts about the French look that I decided to write my monthly guest post on the subject for My French Life, the Australian-based online magazine & global community of French & francophiles.

How to Look French

They learn when they’re very young of course. Even our bi-cultural children, strongly influenced in their early years by our ‘foreign’ tastes in matters of clothing and comportment, turn out looking French in the end!

I can still remember being on a secluded beach one day in Australia with my 20-year old daughter, born and bred in France. She had just spent six months studying at the University of Queensland. A long way off, we could see a group of three people.

“They’re French,” she said.

“How do you know?”

“I can just tell.”

And when they came closer, her guess proved right of course. Two of them were French.

Continue reading

 

 

France, Lifestyle, Loire Valley

Meeting the Neighbours in Blois Part 2

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Each time we’ve come down to Blois since we signed the final papers in April, most of our waking hours have been spent getting the gîte ready and planting potatoes in the rain. So this time, we decided we’d have a holiday. Yesterday was our first “work-free” day so after a côte de bœuf cooked on the barbecue in the garden, admiring our reflowering wisteria, we cleared the table and set off for a walk in the twilight. These are the longest days in the year when it doesn’t get completely dark until 11 pm!

As we were walking up our road on the way back from a long ramble at about 10.30, we saw two couples about our age in front of a house whose ivy-covered front façade gives directly onto the road and could hear them laughing and saying, “Shh, not so loud. Don’t be so noisy” – in French of course. So as we got closer, I said, “Who are these people making so much noise in our street?”. Everyone laughed and I introduced us as their new neighbours. Relationnel chipped in, describing the house. “Oh, yes, then you must be the Australian!” came the reply! Once again, my fame had gone before me. Mr Previous Owner had obviously been paving the way for us.

We chatted and joked for a few minutes, then Françoise suggested we all come inside for a digestif, explaining that they had been celebrating her husband’s birthday. We accepted with alacrity. Françoise and Paul arrived in Blois 24 years ago from the Paris area and found intergration into the local community difficult at first. Since Françoise has a degree in English and Paul works for an American company, they have hosted many English speakers over the years, mainly youngsters, but Françoise told us a very funny story about a 74-year old American who came to stay and was surprised at the lack of air-conditioning. She even wanted to change host families but in the end, Françoise was able to get her into the local bridge club and, from then on, things improved considerably.

Their neighbours from just a couple of doors down, Liliane and Alain, are real locals. Well, not quite. Lilian is, as she, her parents and grandparents were born in Les Grouets, which is the name of our neighbourhood. She knows all the local history and was able to fill us in on the area. I had noticed Alain’s accent but didn’t like to ask where he was from. Not that he would have minded. He’s a great wit and obviously the life and soul of any party.

It turns out he’s Solognot from the region called La Sologne, between the Loire and Cher rivers and only a stone’s throw from here. It’s known for its forests and lakes and was a favourite hunting ground of kings and princes. Its most famous châteaux are Chambord and Cheverny. You may remember that we went to a huge brocante at Chambord in May.

We learnt from Paul, who’s in IT, that we’ll be getting a fibre connection in 2014, which is wonderful news. Françoise brought out her iPad (oh, wasn’t I jealous!) and took photos so I told them about the blog and the Loire Connexion community for anglophones masterminded by Summer Jauneaud. Françoise was delighted because she doesn’t have a lot of opportunities these days to speak English.

The time slipped by incredibly quickly, no doubt helped along by some sort of mint on the rocks digestif and we didn’t leave until well after midnight! What a wonderful start to our holiday ! And very encouraging for our future life at Closerie Falaiseau.

France, Paris, Sightseeing

Top 5 Lessons Learned Biking the Atlantic Coast – Taking to the Paris skies with Air de Paris – “Night of the Muses” at Château Vaux-le-Vicomte

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Summer looks as though it’s really on its way at last. So in this Wednesday’s blogger round-up, Experience France by Bike shares 5 lessons learned biking the Atlantic Coast, Like Home in Paris takes us up into the skies of Paris and Mary Kay from Out and about in Paris tells us about a magical candlelight evening at Château Vaux-le-Vicomte.

Top 5 Lessons Learned Biking the Atlantic Coast

by Experience France by Bike

Traveling by bike is always a huge adventure.  No matter how well you plan, how organized you are, or how experienced of a cyclist you are, you never really know what you will encounter until you get there.  And, each trip seems to have its own unique adventures, so you don’t always benefit from your learning curve.  My latest trip along the Atlantic Coast of France was no exception.  It was full of adventure and challenges, but it was also full of new friendships, breathtaking scenery and an opportunity to see France in a way never experienced by normal tourists. Read more.

Taking to the Paris skies with Air de Paris

by Like Home in Paris

When I heard that you could go up in an air balloon in Paris to have some lovely views, I was determined to go and try it out. Forget fear of heights and all those other things instinctive things that tell me that going up 150 meters in the world’s largest air ballon – the de Mongolfier brothers would be proud. What a thrilling sensation (don’t ask me about the decent if you have a bit of trepidation). The ride lasts roughly 15 minutes and there is a flight every 15-20 minutes depending on the weather conditions. Thankfully if there is too much wind they are not going up. Read more.

“Night of the Muses” – 2,000 candles, fireworks and champagne at Château Vaux-le-Vicomte.

by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use

Decision, decisions, decisions. Perhaps one of the most difficult things about living in Paris is that there’s always so much going on that it’s hard to choose what to do. Take last Saturday as an example – the dilemma of the day was deciding if we should celebrate the 5th anniversary of theVelib bike sharing program on the Champs-Élysées, watch the Euro-Cup quarterfinal soccer game between France and Spain on the big screen at Trocadero, see the seven-time World Champion pétanque player in action at the Hôtel de Ville or go to the candlelight evening at Château Vaux-le-Vicomte. Read more.


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