Category Archives: History

Architecture, Blois, History, Sightseeing

Secret Blois #2 – Wars Wounds and Fountains

August 30, 2016 Rosemary Kneipp 4 Comments

At the end of Secret Blois #1, I left you in Place Louis XII, the most animated part of Blois and home to a twice-weekly fresh produce market. You may have noticed a certain uniformity in the buildings around you. During World War II, Blois was occupied by the German army which invaded the city on 18^th June 1940. It was liberated by American soldiers during the last two weeks of August 1944. On both occasions, the town was bombed for several days particularly after the Normandy landings, destroying more than 1500 buildings, especially in the area around Place Louis XII, the railway bridge over the Loire and Gabriel Bridge.

The entrance to Rue Saint Lubin with the castle on the right — The entrance to Rue Saint Lubin flanked by two postwar buildings

The château was saved by a pragmatic decision taken by the local authorities. The German bombs started fires in the city and the chateau was in danger so some of the mediaeval houses around the chateau were deliberately blown up by the locals to form a firebreak to protect the château. The Germans were aiming for the bridge in order to stop people fleeing south. In those days there was a steady stream of refugees crossing at Blois and other places.

However, if you continue along the narrow street of Rue Saint Lubin keeping the Loire on your left and the castle on your right, you will find yourself in a much older area dominated by the 13^th century Romanesque church of Saint Nicolas with its tall spires. Follow Rue des Trois Marchands noting all the little speciality shops along the way, many of which are on the ground floor of half-timbered houses that fortunately survived the war.

Continue along Rue des Trois Marchands to n°11. Initially called Auberge du Cigne, this inn, which was built in 1573, became Auberge des Trois Marchands in 1669 and gave its name to the street which was full of hostels and inns: l’Ecrevisse (opposite the pharmacy at n° 17), La Fontaine (the site of the Tuile d’Or, today n° 19), La Croix Blanche (n° 21) and many more which have now disappeared.

Fontaine de Saint-Laumer or Fontaine de Foix next to Saint Nicolas Church with Laumer Abbey through the door on the right

On the right of the church of Saint Nicolas when you are facing the entrance, you can see a fountain built into the wall of the cloisters of the old Saint Laumer Abbey. Foix or Saint-Laumer Fountain was the only one not supplied by the Gouffre, a reservoir gouged out of rock to which a 529-metre long aqueduct brought rainwater and seepage water collected on the limestone plateau. The Gouffre is at the bottom of the staircase called Degrés du Gouffre which we will visit on another occasion. This is the third fountain we have seen so far out of the seven that still remain in a city once renowned for its “glorious fountains” to quote the historian Noël Mars, writing in 1646.

On the next corner on the right is the Musée de la Résistance, another reminder of Blois’ war history. Turn right in front of the Auberge Ligérienne Hotel and onto Place de la Grève to find the best-known and most elegant place to stay in the 17^th and 18^th centuries: Hôtellerie de la Galère. At that time, it was right on the quay, near the old river port of Grève. at 3 place de la Grève. It was first mentioned in 1611 and finally disappeared in 1825. Its illustrious guests include Nicolas Fouquet (Louis XIV’s finance minister who got too big for his boots and built Vaux-le-Vicomte), Madame de Sévigné, James II of England, Philippe V, the Prince of Wales in 1711, Mehemet Effendi and the Spanish Infanta. Sadly, all that is left today is a window with a balcony and a carriage entrance at 6 rue de la Grève.

The rear façade of Hôtellerie de la Galère on Rue de la Grève

Back on Place de la Grève, turn left to walk along the river towards Pont Gabriel bridge and past Saint-Laumer Abbey which now houses the region’s administrative offices.

A little further on, on Place Jacques Lob, you’ll see a building with two comic characters on the front – La Maison de la BD. A BD is a bande dessinée ou comic strip, an art form that is extremely popular in France among both children and adults. Blois holds a comic festival every year called BD Boum. This year (2016), it will take place on 17 and 18 November. The characters, Bill & Boule, first appeared in a Belgian comic book called Spirou in 1959.

If you take a short deviation left into Rue des Jacobins on the left, you will see the front entrance with a drawing by François Bourgeon. Millions of copies of Bourgeon’s albums have been sold. He’s particularly well-known for his heroines. The BD centre runs temporary exhibitions and comic strip classes for teenagers and adults.

Back on Quai de la Saussaye, you will come to Square Valin de la Vaissière on top of an underground parking lot. A black marble monument to Colonel Henri Valin de la Vaissière on the edge of the square closest to Place Louis XII is yet another reminder of World War II. Born in 1901, Vallin initially trained as an air force officer. After his unit was disbanded in 1942, he joined the ORA (Organisation de résistance dans l’armée) where he was known as “Valin”. Unfortunately, he was assassinated by a deranged subaltern in December 1944, after a regiment of Resistance fighters under his orders expelled the Germans from their barracks and liberated Blois on 16^th August 1944.

Before the Germans left, they decided to blow up Jacques Gabriel Bridge which you can see on your right. Two piers and three arches collapsed but the rest of the 18^th century bridge resisted. The only way that the daily traffic of 1000 vehicles and 4000 pedestrians could cross the river was by ferry. As a result, a temporary wooden bridge was built in less than 3 weeks. It was used for a year while a second wooden bridge capable of carrying greater loads was being built next to the stone bridge.

Despite enormous problems– flooding, lack of materials, very cold weather, etc., construction of the second wooden bridge began during the winter of 1944 and was completed on 2^nd September 1945 on the 1^st anniversary of the total liberation of the city. The new bridge was pronounced safe by the engineers but vehicles were asked to limit their speed to 15 kph and only trucks under 10 tonnes were allowed to cross. After three years of good and faithful service, the wooden bridge was finally replaced by the newly reconstructed stone bridge. If you cross over to other side of the road just to the right of the bridge, you can see the remains of the wooden bridge during low water periods next to the central arch.

You can see the remains of the wooden piers of the temporary bridge near the middle stone arch — You can see the remains of the wooden piers of the temporary bridge near the centre stone arch

Cross back again and turn left just after the Société Générale bank into Rue Emile Laurens. Take the first street on the right, Rue du Commerce, the main shopping street of Blois. On the first corner, you’ll see a couple of half-timbered houses that miraculously survived the Second World War.

At the top of Rue du Commerce, turn right into Rue Denis Papin and you’ll see a sunken fountain on your right on Place du Marché au Beurre, once the butter market. The original street level has now been raised, and the fountain is partially hidden by the terrace of the Saint Jacques Restaurant. It was given to the town by Louis XII under the somewhat uninventive name of “Neighbourhood Well Fountain” and renamed Saint-Jacques Fountain after a collegiate church that has now been destroyed. Since its construction, it has been fed by the Gouffre mentioned above. That is our fourth fountain.

The fifth is located further along Rue Denis Papin just before you get to the corner, on the opposite side of the street almost at the foot of the stairs. It has an interesting history. Called the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) Fountain, it used to be located on the wall of the old 15^th century town hall, on Rue Foulerie. which was destroyed in June 1940. The fountain was found among the ruins and kept in the Lapidary Museum across the river in Vienne until a local historical association, Association des amis du Vieux Blois, financed its re-installation at the foot of Denis Papin stairs in 2005.

Now walk down Rue Denis Papin towards the river, staying on the right-hand side. You’ll come to three enormous metal keys on the corner of Rue des Trois Clefs (Three Keys Street), so named because of the many locksmiths who had their shop fronts on this once narrow street, widened after the 1940 bombings. It was in 1979, when the pedestrian precinct was created, that the municipal workshops produced the monumental metal sculpture consisting of three keys, 3 metres high and each weighing 420 kilos, in less than three months.

The Three Keys sculpture in Rue des Trois Clés

We’ve come to the end of our second tour of Secret Blois. Next time, we’ll cross Denis Papin and explore another old quarter of Blois with its many mediaeval façades, winding streets and staircases.

If you’re looking for something to eat or drink close by, you can go to Appart’Thé for tea/coffee or lunch at 12-14 rue Basse (Rue Basse forms a triangle with Rue Denis Papin when it turns the corner), dinner or lunch at Au Coin d’Table, 9, rue Henri Drussy or for lunch, dinner or a drink at Le Douze which is a cellar, restaurant and wine bar, Place Ave Maria, 12 rue du Poids du Roi, or F&B opposite, all of which are on the other side of Rue Denis Papin.

Art, France, History, Loire Valley

A Monumental Afternoon

January 30, 2016 Rosemary Kneipp 17 Comments

We’re in Amboise in front of the Church of Saint Denis, waiting for our friends Susan and Simon from Days on the Claise. We’re here for a purpose. Susan wants to see some artworks in the church that she has heard about. It’s extremely cold so we go inside and wander around. It’s quite dark and gloomy and I don’t notice anything very interesting.

Collegiate Church of Saint Denis, Amboise, 12th century

Susan and Simon arrive with Antoinette from Chez Charnizay who is also interested in art. Our mutual friends Janet and Antoine who live in Amboise also join up with us. Susan takes us over the other side of the church in front of a group of statues called a Mise au tombeau which means emtombment and refers to the emtombment of Christ. I wonder why I didn’t notice it the first time.

Susan and Antoinette start discussing the different people in the group. It was common practice for patrons of the art at the time – we’re talking about the 16th century here – to be depicted as historical and religious figures. A man called Philibert Babou, Treasurer to François I, commissioned the group of eight life-sized figures in painted limestone. It is believed that the figures are members of the Babou family.

For people who know their religious history, the identity of the original characters should not pose a problem : Joseph of Arimathea, St Veronica, St John the Evangelist, the Virgin Mary, St Mary Magdelene, Mary of Clopas and Nicodemus. However, Susan is very curious about the fact that Mary Magdelene seems to be wearing a crown. Surely the Virgin Mary should be wearing it? Mary is thought to be Marie Gaudin, Philibert’s wife, who would have been about 50 at the time and was considered in her youth to be one of the most beautiful women of her time. She even had an affair with François I some 30 years earlier.

Antoinette also points out the clothes they are wearing, such as the ornate turban and flowing garments with their liberal gold trimming. Large amounts of fabric indicate greater wealth. The oriental look is typical of the sixteenth century. The headgear in general is very indicative of status. Mary Magdelene, who has the finest features and most intricate garments of the people depicted, is in fact wearing a gilded headdress and not a crown. Susan finally comes to the conclusion that “the message might be that anyone can come to God and it need not interfere with you looking gorgeous or showing off your assets”.

Joseph of Arimathea, St Veronica, St John the Evangelist and the Virgin Mary

I’m really enjoying myself. Having specialists to point out all these different aspects is far better than a guide book which I soon get bored with ! The two written guides we find in church are not very useful and don’t answer any of our questions. I’m also amazed that they were able to move it to Saint Denis intact from Montlouis further along the river.

Saint John, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdelene and Mary of Clopas

We take a closer look at the reclining figure on the right. It’s Mary Magdalen with a book in her hand and a box of perfume. The sculpture was originally in a chapel in Amboise that has now disappeared. I’m surprised to see MM with a book but Susan tells me this is a typical way of depicting women in the 16th century.

We then move onto the sculpture, known as la femme noyée or drowned woman. We all stand around while Susan explains that it is comes from Bon-Désir Chapel in Montlouis and thought to represent a member of the Babou family, perhaps Marie Gaudin who drowned in the Loire. She then says, “but I don’t agree with that”. It’s true that after we take a look at the smooth muscular thighs it’s seems unlikely that the effigy is that of a drowned woman. Susan adds that she thinks it is exactly contemporary with a similar effigy of Catherine de Medici in the Royal Mausoleum in the Basilica of Saint Denis, Paris. “Catherine rejected the first version of hers because it was too emaciated and gruesome, and I suspect a similar sentiment with this one in Amboise.”

What really surprises me is there should still be so much mystery surrounding two artistic works of such calibre. Susan tells me it’s actually quite common and that, if nothing is known about a work of art, it is just ignored in the local guide books! I go back to the Mise au Tombeau and look at more of the details which are quite amazing. Just the draperies could hold my interest for hours.

Susan then calls smy attention to another work of art which is part of the altar piece – what can only be a representation of god which, as Susan points out, is most unusual. Only Christ and the Holy Spirit are usually depicted. She later discovers that it is, in fact, the Eternal Father, which corresponds to the first person of the Holy Trinity.

The eternal father on the altarpiece — The eternal father on the altar piece

We end our wonderful afternoon a few kilometers outside Amboise at the Gaulish Oppidum where there is a mud rampart that dates from 400 to 50 BC and a mound called Caesar’s Hill overlooking the surrounding countryside. My only regret is that Susan and Simon live in the south of the Loire, an 90-minute drive from us!

The rampart from Gaulish times built from 400 to 50 BC

For more details about the Mise au Tombeau, I strongly recommend that you pop over to Susan’s blog Days on the Claise. She has written a very lively, yet very scholarly account in her usual inimitable fashion.

Accommodation, Cycling, Food, History, Life in France

Blogger Round-Up: Choosing accommodation with airbnb – Luggage transfer when cycling – History of potatoes in France

August 9, 2015 Rosemary Kneipp 6 Comments

In recent times, I have sadly neglected my once-weekly blogger round-up due to my very busy life since moving to Blois last October but three posts caught my eye recently that I would like to share. The first is Simply Sara Travel‘s method for selecting the perfect airbnb accommodation which I’m sure you’ll find helpful not only for Airbnb but also for home exchanges. The next is Experience France by Bike‘s excellent report on luggage transfer when cycling, particularly in the Loire Valley. The third is a very interesting history of New World vegetables in France – potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines, chillies and peppers – by Days on the Claise that I’m sure you’ll find fascinating. Enjoy!

My Method on How to Select the Perfect Airbnb Accommodations

by Simply Sara Travel, a girl from New Jersey who traded in her bagels for baguettes and moved to Paris. The aim of her blog is to inspire readers to travel, embrace a new culture, and open their minds to new perspectives.

How people travel is shifting. With sites like Airbnb, more and more people are moving away from staying in traditional hotels and towards a more local experience of renting apartments/houses or shared spaces with residents. There are lots of pros to using Airbnb for lodging – it’s often less expensive than a hotel (especially when split among a larger party, and if there is a kitchen that allows self-servicing some meals) and allows for a more local-feeling experience. There’s a lot of great material already written on this – like Adventurous Kate’s How to Use Airbnb and Have a Great Experience for a detailed explanation of the site, or Expat Edna’s post on 6 Airbnb’s I Loved Around the World to give some inspiration on the cool places you could stay worldwide. Read more

Luggage Transfer – A Great Bicycling Indulgence

by Maggie LaCoste from Experience France by Bike, an American who loves biking anywhere in Europe, but especially France, which has the perfect combination of safe bike routes, great food, great weather and history

No matter how much you love bicycling in Europe, you’re probably not a big fan of carrying all your clothes in panniers. But for cyclotourists, panniers are a necessary evil, a small price to pay for complete independence on the road. Despite how carefully I choose every piece of clothing and technology that I pack, my panniers still end up weighing between 32-35 pounds, something I curse every time I go up a hill!

This summer, for the first time in 20+ years of bicycle touring, I used a luggage transfer service for 4 nights along the Mosel River. It was a fantastic indulgence, enabling us to easily bicycle the 200 km in 4 days with lots of stops during the day. Read more

Monsieur Parmentier versus Deadly Nightshade

by Susan from Days on the Claise, an Australian living in the south of the Loire Valley, writing about restoring an old house and the area and its history and running Loire Valley Time Travel.

When potatoes and other New World members of the Solanaceae family (tomatoes, aubergines, chillies, peppers) were introduced to Europe they were treated with great suspicion. The intrepid explorers who brought them reported that the South American natives they encountered ate freely of these exotic plants.

But French peasants weren’t convinced. These plants were clearly related to Henbane, Deadly Nightshade and worst of all, Mandrake. No one in their right mind would eat these dangerous plants, associated with witchcraft and capable of killing or sending you mad. Due to a curious twist of evolution, many Old World Solanums are amongst the most poisonous of all plants, but many New World Solanums are safe, nutritious and delicious. It’s true the New World species also contain some dubious compounds, but they are easily dealt with by simple everyday culinary techniques and pose no serious risk to consumers. Read more

French language, History, Uncategorized

Friday’s French – taxi, fiacre, taxis de la Marne

September 26, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 6 Comments

I’m very excited because yesterday, I discovered the origin of the word taxi! And it’s Parisian. Who would have imagined that?

I learnt about it while taking some Australian friends on a walking tour that included the oldest houses in Paris.

Paris has lots of street signs explaining its history and we came across one that talked about the invention of the fiacre.

In 1612, a coach company from Amiens rented a house in rue Saint Antoine in Paris, bearing an effigy of Saint Fiacre, the famous barefoot friar (carme déchaussé, if you’re interested) who predicted that Anne of Austria would have a son (one chance out of two, as my friends pointed out). He’s also the patron saint of gardens.

In any event, Saint Fiacre eventually became a sort of Saint Christopher and his image was displayed on coaches all over Paris to prevent accidents. Ever since, coaches have always been called fiacres. Just before the French revolution in 1789, there were about 800 of them parked on 33 stations including more than 650 under shelters called remises.

The coach drivers had a terrible reputation and the police did everything they could to control them. Each driver had a number that cost a fortune to buy and a booklet containing their licence to park and drive the coach. After reaching their zenith at the turn of the 20th century, horse-drawn carriages declined and were replaced with the automobile.

The name of taxauto was soon adopted, followed by taxi, which is an abbreviation of taximètre and designated not the taximeter, but the vehicle containing it. The term taxi took over completely after a famous historical event in the first world war known as the “Taxis de la Marne“.

On 7th September 1914, in order to reinforce the Maunoury army, General Galliéni requisitioned 700 Parisian taxis to ferry the 7th division troups from Sevran, Livry and Gagny in the east of Paris (i.e. the Marne) to Nanteuil-le-Haudouin and Plessis-Belleville in Picardy, which represented a distance of about 40 kilmeters . The meeting point was boulevard des Invalides.

During the night, with four men to a taxi, most of the division was transferred, totalling more than 5,000 combatants, a somewhat modest number compared with the Maunoury army’s total of 140,000, but the story has gone down in history. You can find more details here.

And would you believe, when I was taking my photo of a Parisian taxi, I accidentally took one of a Taxi de la Marne, even though I had never heard of it before! But since it’s a modern cab, I checked it out and learnt that during the recent centenary – 7th September 2014 – a reconstitution took place with 10 originals taxis and 120 modern ones bearing the insignia shown on the photo as well as a number of military vehicles as you can see from the video below on the France 3 regional television website.

I wish I’d known at the time!

Architecture, Blois, Cycling, Germany, History

Cycling in Germany #18 – Painted façades from Hann Münden to Höxter

July 15, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 43 Comments

After our three days of wonderful weather in Friesland, we are homeward bound. We have 5 nights left in Germany and are spending the last three on the Moselle, near Trier, which is an 8-hour drive, so we are looking for somewhere in the middle where it’s not going to pour with rain. I would like to go to Hamelin (of Pied Piper fame) but it’s a bit out of the way and drizzly. We opt for Hann Münden for which light showers are forecast.

As there is nothing interesting on the way and it’s an intermittent fast day, we have a picnic lunch and arrive at the Werratal Hotel in the rain at 3 pm. We flake out and finally emerge at 6.30 pm. It’s no longer raining so we ask the girl at the desk if she has a map of the bike path to Hann Münden as it’s 6 K from the hotel. She looks so sceptical – after the rain, it will be very muddy – that we change our minds and drive there.

We find a stone picnic table and bench overlooking the town which is at the confluence of the Fulda and Weser Rivers on which Bremen is located.

It has another claim to fame. Blois’ most important historical figure, Denis Papin, inventor of the steam engine and pressure cooker, built a steam-pump powered paddlewheel boat, probably pedal-driven, in 1704, and as a demonstration, used his steam paddlewheeler to navigate down the Fulda River from Kassel to Hann. Münden in 1707.

We wander over the covered wooden bridge, typical of those we saw on the Danube last year, and into the town, which has more than 700 historical houses, some of them more than 600 years old, in the Weser Renaissance style.

It is not as stunning as Celle, but it is still very charming and there are some beautiful painted doors.

It’s next morning and we’ve had an excellent breakfast (good bread for once!). The forecast is scattered showers so we’re taking a chance. We’ve studied the cycling map on the web and decided to start at Bad Karlshafe, which has an interesting history.

It was founded in 1699 by French Huguenots fleeing persecution in France. Though initially named Sieburg, the town was later named after Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, who granted them refuge. We find this particularly interesting as the original owners of our house in Blois, Closerie Falaiseau, were Huguenots.

The town was built to an ideal plan in the classical Baroque style with a harbour in the centre that is currently undergoing restoration, which unfortunately somewhat detracts from the overall aesthetics.

After a false start we find ourselves on a very pleasant bike path along the Weser River. We lament the lack of sun because the scenery is very calm and peaceful, with rolling hills on both sides.

It’s nearly midday. I’m feeling sluggish and needing a coffee fix so when we arrive at Lauenförde which has some lovely old houses with more painted doorways, we stop at the first outdoor café we see, the Dolce Vita Theatre Café. The cappuccino is almost real and the excellent Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest) will keep us going until lunch in Höxter which is still another 20 K.

I go in to use the ladies and discover that the inside is like an antique library. It’s beautiful. Downstairs in the basement, there is a small theatre, hence the name. I follow the Ausgang sign and find myself in a small courtyard with a well – we could have sat there instead of facing the street!

The path to Höxter is very pleasant and the sun finally comes out. Höxter proves to have more beautiful painted façades, with a different sort of motif. We cycle through the pedestrian centre until we find a restaurant to our liking. By then it’s 2 pm and we are the only people there.

Using my German dictionary app, we order roast suckling pig with saukerkraut and dumplings – klein for me and gross for Jean Michel (of course). We are brought a little cup of cucumber and cream soup while we’re waiting. The food is delicious. The bill, including a glass of trocken weiss wein each is 34 euros! I can definitely recommend the Paulaner Wirtshaus on Stummreger Strasse.

We call in at the tourist office to get a town map and check we’ve seen all the sights. Ah, we’ve missed Adam & Eve’s house. It turns out to be just down the road from our restaurant and is worth the detour.

We take the path back on the other side the river and it is just as pretty – and just as hilly!

At Wehrden, we visit the grounds of a schloss, a bit worried when we see a privat sign, then have a very cold (and rare) Coke sitting in comfortable chairs with a view of the Weser.

At Beverunge, there are more painted façades and an old winch which was no doubt used for a cable ferry. There is also another book tower but not nearly as cute as the red one in Friesland.

By the time we get to Herstelle, it’s 6.05 pm and we can see the ferry across the river. The sign says the ferry stops at 6 pm but the ferryman waves to us and comes over. Another couple of cyclists are waiting. We’ve never seen a ferry like this one. I’m even wondering how I’ll get my bike on.

But the ferryman shows us how to turn the bike and back it into the main part of the ferry. With four bikes and 5 people, we’re almost full. When he sees us taking photos of him, he spontaneously offers to take photos of us. He’s obviously done this before. The ferry costs 1 euro for two people and two bikes.

On the other side, a brass band is obviously about to start practising but after waiting around for a while we move on. It’s getting late and we haven’t bought our tomatoes, lettuce and fruit yet for dinner.

At 7.30 we’re on our balcony with a glass of Riesling and a packet of pistachios, having cycled 54 K and had the sort of day we love – soaking up the scenery, discovering new types of architecture, visiting unusual places – and it didn’t rain! Tomorrow, we’re off to the Moselle and the weather forecast is hot and sunny.

Cycling in Germany #11 – Martin Luther Country: Torgau

July 5, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 36 Comments

Today, we’re off to Wittenberg Lutherstadt as it now seems to be called everywhere. It’s 100 km away and there is only one point of interest in-between – Torgau. We had thought of passing via Leipzig but the photos on google images aren’t very encouraging. We get off to a false start because our Radhaus in Niederlommatzsch doesn’t take Visa card and we have to drive about 10 km to get some cash.

Tolenfels Castle was built in 1534. — Hartenfels Castle was built in 1534.

The first thing we see when we approach Torgau is Hartenfels Castle overlooking the Elbe. We park in the shade and put on our straw hats because it is already 28°C in the shade at 11 am! As soon as we walk into the walled town, we see preparations going on. A Renaissance festival like the one we accidentally went to last year in Neuburg on the Danube is obviously in the making.

Unfortunately, the castle is undergoing renovation but we walk towards the courtyard which is open to the public. We go across a moat and I look down. What do I see? A brown bear! Poor thing, it looks very hot, even in its pool. It reminds me of Bern in Switzerland which also has a bear pit. We later see there is a second bear who is also completely flaked out.

Marienkirche - you can see some of the Renaissance festival preparations — Marienkirche – you can see some of the Renaissance festival preparations

We visit Marienkirche in which there is a mural tombstone of Katharina Luther who died in Torgau. Now that’s an interesting story. Katharina’s parents were of noble birth but had fallen on hard times, so they put her in a convent at the age of 5. When she was 24, she and 11 other nuns escaped from the convent to Wittenberg, encouraged by Martin Luther’s denunciation of convents and monasteries. There she met her future husband, 16 years older than her. They had six children and lived happily ever after. Five hundred years later, there is a Katharina’s Day celebration just for her.

Torgau is a pretty little town with a large market square. A white rathaus takes up most of one side and is flanked by well-retored buildings around the other three sides. There is a lot of renovation going on and it’s obviously trying to capitalise on nearby Wittenberg and the Martin Luther connection.

After a nice cold Diet Coke (Coca-Cola Light in German), we continue our route to Wittenburg. Stay tuned.

Budapest – Beautiful Buda

June 30, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 5 Comments

Pest has not prepared me for Buda. Although we can see it from the other side of the Danube, I have no idea of what is awaiting us.

Unidentified church — Buda Calvinist Church

We park the car next to an unidentified red brick church with colourful varnished tiles, put our remaining coins in the parking metre and go off to find a café to get some more change. The Corvin Café on Corvin Ter is just opening and the lady is unstacking chairs and tables in one corner of a deserted square. She is obviously very taken with Jean Michel so I let him deal with getting the change.

We walk up a couple of quiet streets and a flight of stone steps and suddenly, Buda’s Castle District is before us, like something out of the Knights Templar. It is quite stunning.

As we climb, each step gives us an even better view of Pest.

View of Pest from the Fishermen's Bastion — View of Pest from the Fishermen’s Bastion

On the other side of the ramparts known as the Fishermen’s bastion, built in the early 1900s as a homage to the mediaeval fishermen in charge of defending this side of the ramparts, stands a white church with people milling around. There is something quite magical about the whole scene.

The inside of the church is something entirely new to us. Not the rococco style we’ve seen up until now. The colours are muted with intricately painted walls and ceilings of Arabic influence though very different from the Moorish art in Spain. Although the church dates back to the 13th century, it has been remodelled and restored over the ages.

When we come outside there are two men in mediaeval costume, one with dreadlocks, with hawks. There is Hungarian music playing somewhere.

One building stands out like a sore thumb – the Hilton Hotel, an entirely new construction whose presence is totally incomprehensible, despite the “integration” of a few mediaeval ruins. You really do wonder how it was every allowed.

We wander through the streets, delighting in the painted façades on some of the oldest buildings in the capital. By then we have left the tourists behind.

We loop back to the other side of the church, past Holy Trinity Column, was built to celebrate the end of the plague in the hope that it would provide protection from another epidemic.

Then we go back down to the Danube by the same route as before. I see a family with a little girl and boy looking at something on the ground. It turns out to be a hedgehog which, suprisingly, is not rolled up in a ball, and is coming towards us!

By then it is after one, so we feed the metre again and go to look for a fish restaurant with an impossible name indicated by the trusty Routard. We both order pike-perch (zander) prepared in two different ways. We’re not convinced it is the same fish on both plates.

Jean Michel has read that Hungarian tokay wine is worth tasting but the waiter says we can’t buy it by the glass and that the half bottles are too expensive so we order another Hungarian dry white instead which is very pleasant.

We decide not to visit the Royal Palace, which has been completely gutted and rebuilt over the years and now contains two museums.

Instead we move onto the next item on the day’s programme – one of Budapest’s famous baths which I shall tell you about in my next post.

Architecture, Art, History, Paris, Sightseeing

Musée Carnavalet – an exceptional museum in Paris

May 1, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 10 Comments

I can’t believe that I have lived in Paris for 35 years and never been to one of its best museums. Musée Carnavalet in the Marais had always been described as a museum of French history which seemed very dry to me but someone posted a photo on FaceBook recently which made me think that it was perhaps worth going to.

Jean Michel had a day off on Tuesday and the weather still wasn’t condusive to going to Parc des Sceaux to see the Japanese cherry blossoms so I suggested Carnavalet instead. He didn’t seem convinced, so I dug out the trusty Routard : “One of Paris’ finest museums not only because of its setting, its proportions and intimate character, but also its excellent permanent collections.

Beautiful wood panelling with Voltaire's chair on the right — Beautiful wood panelling with Voltaire’s chair on the right

The French Capital is brought to life in paintings, sculpture, furniture, everyday and decorative objects. Carnavalet is often considered to be a secondary museum that you only visit if you have a bit of time left over after doing the Louvre and Orsay – a most unfortunate opinion. Nothing could be more passionate and amusing than discovering the many faces of Paris in the Middle Ages, the Revolution, the Reign of Terror, the romantic era or the sixties.

I was surprised the skirts were so short - they're cyclists! — I was surprised the skirts were so short – they’re cyclists!

It’s like walking into a picture book where you can let your imagination wander from one era to next, like in a dream, fascinated by the powerful evocation of scenes from the daily life of Parisians in days gone by. Carnavalet: a must!”

Well, that convinced him and we set off on metro line 1 to Saint Paul and walked through Hôtel de Sully with its flowering lilacs and onto. Place des Vosges. I’d forgotten how attractive it is, with its brick and stone vaulted arcades, terrace cafés and leafy garden surrounded by early 17th century apartment buildings with uniform façades, somewhat similar to Palais Royal which, however, has the added advantages of not having any cars.

There was no queue when we got to the Museum, mainly because it’s free like all the other museums owned by the city of Paris. The building itself is very large and consists of the original town house built in the mid 16th century and purchased by the city of Paris in 1880 and Hôtel Le Peletier Saint-Fargeau connected by a gallery on one side.

The first room was totally unexpected and I knew immediately that I was going to enjoy the visit. It was full of wrought iron shop signs and lead light windows. In the following room, the façade of an old apothecary’s had been reconstructed.

Reception room from Hôtel d'Uzès — Reception room from Hôtel d’Uzès

The late 18th century reception room in the next section comes from Hôtel d’Uzès in rue Montmartre and is quite magnificent. Its beautiful wood panelling is an original example of the neoclassical style.

Many more reconstructed interiors followed, with painted and sculpted wood panelling and matching furniture, all in beautiful condition. A fellow visitor, who seemed to know the museum intimately, told us it was the best collection of furniture outside the Louvre.

Soirée at the Pré-Catalan by Henri Gervex

We didn’t see the whole museum, which is very extensive. I particularly liked the gallery connecting the two hôtels which houses the Seligmann donation depicting French society during the Belle Epoque at the turn of the 20th century.

Wood-stove in the shape of the Bastille Prison

There is practically an entire floor given over to the French revolution and I saw a painting and mock-up of the Bastille prison for the first time – not to mention a ceramic wood-stove in the shape of the huge fortress-like prison.

Reconstructed bedroom in the Napoleon section

We didn’t see Paris in the 16th century or Marcel Proust’s bedroom or the Second Empire collection which was closed for renovation. There is also an archeological section including neolithic dugout canoes that are about 4,000 years old so there will be plenty to see for future visits.

Afternoon tea at Carrette's, Place des Vosges — Afternoon tea at Carrette’s, Place des Vosges

After leaving the museum we went back to Place des Vosges and had a wonderful afternoon tea at Carette’s served in Limoges porcelain with exquisite cakes and very friendly service. I saw they serve breakfast and lunch as well so we might be going back there as well!

Musée Carnavalet, 23 rue de Sevigné, 75003 Paris. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm except public holidays, Easter Sunday and Whitsunday. Free of charge.

Carette, 25 Place des Vosges, 75003 Paris.

France, History, Loire Valley, Loire Valley châteaux

The Many Faces of Joan of Arc

March 18, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 5 Comments

I don’t know how much you know about Jeanne d’Arc, as she’s called in French, but most people probably remember that she was a peasant girl who heard divine voices, then, disguised as a man, led the French army to several victories during the One Hundred Years’ War after which she was sold to the English and burnt on the stake for heresy in Orléans at the age of 19.

Tapisserie de la Reconnaissance: Joan of Arc recognises the Dauphin Charles

Chinon, on the western tip of the Loire Valley, is where she first gained access to the royal court in 1428. She was 16 at the time. I won’t go into any further history because it’s a bit complicated and isn’t really my thing. Suffice to say that historians do not agree on her real participation. Some believe she was mainly a mascot while others maintain that she was a skilled tactician and a successful strategist, although it hardly seems possible when you consider her background and age.

Anyway, the reason I’m writing about her here is that, when we visited the Castle of Chinon a couple of weeks ago, there was a whole room devoted to her, with many illustrations showing various faces of the Maid of Orleans. I only regret that I didn’t note the dates and artists. I found it quite amazing to see how differently she was depicted.

Joan of Arc hearing the voices in a pastoral setting

Joan of Arc no longer disguised as a boy

But the one I liked best was at the end. It’s a poster by William Haskell Coffin to encourage Americans to buy war saving stamps during World War II. This time, I thought to take a photo of the information as well. Isn’t she just what you’d imagine a 15th century peasant girl to look like!

Joan of Arc held up as an example to American women!

Architecture, France, History, Loire Valley, Travel photos

Monday’s Travel Photos – Château de Chaumont, Loire Valley, France

March 10, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 7 Comments

When I first visited Château de Chaumont in 1997, I found it very delapidated. Last summer we spent a wonderful afternoon there during the annual garden festival. I discovered yesterday that it has been totally renovated inside and is now quite stunning! The château as it stands today was rebuilt by Pierre Ier d’Amboise en 1468, then by Charles II d’Amboise from 1498 to 1511. The construction was continued in 1562 when Diane de Poitiers was ousted from Chenonceau by Catherine de Medicis. It was restored by Prince de Broglie between 1875 and 1900 at which time the stables were also added.