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
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!
