Monday, September 26, 2011

Amboise Sunday 2


Austria wins the Clean Competition!  The approach to sanitation is much more casual dans la belle France.  There is plenty of rubbish lying around, as well as evidence of les homes not finding un pissoir in time. (Though I have not actually seen that happen, fortunately).  And while “spending a penny” now costs 50 cents at public places – railway stations etc -  the conveniences are not all that clean despite the charge and the two women on guard at the entrance.  And of course, France belongs to les chiens.  They are in restaurants and on trains, and they leave leurs petits cadeaux wherever they choose, without any concern shown by their owners.  No plastic bags on leashes or $37.50 fines here.  And mentioning leashes, I have seen a number of times women (not men, so far)  carrying their dogs in a baby sling at their breasts. Un peu interessant, cela!
On the other hand, Kitzbuhel was so conscious of animal sanitation that the horses pulling the tourist carriages had bags attached at their rears, underneath their tails, to catch you-know-what. They should tell the burghers of Quebec City about that idea – for Quebec smells of horse all the time. And if the Kitzbuhel horses make water (such a lovely, genteel phrase), the drivers immediately throw a bucket of water to slough off the road.
However, one has to admit that the atmosphere here is more carefree, more relaxed.  A little bit uptight in Austria perhaps?
There are markets here every Sunday morning, along the bank of the Loire.  The pics tell the story better that words can. Half the region was there offering produce, and the other half was there to buy it, as well as busloads of tourists, and flocks of bikies. (What IS the word for a collection of bikies, there must be one?)  Most tempting was the beautiful hand-worked linen – bedspreads, table-cloths, window-dressings etc.  Also soft leather shoes, and more wonderful winter coats. 
I finished the afternoon with a stroll along the river and a paddle. The water is clean, there are little sandy beaches.

Amboise Saturday


Two more Chateaux – Azay-le-Rideau and Villandry. Couple from Florida and a couple from Georgia on the minibus.  There was a remarkable difference in their accents.  Florida couple spoke in a nice soft accent.  The Georgia couple were from Atlanta, very strident, and the woman really did keep saying ‘y’all’.  The gardens at Villandry are superb, so much so that all the time was spent in them and there was no time left to go into the Chateau. Fly got a bit snap happy, so there are lots of pics of cabbages, asparagus, and pumpkins.  Villandry is actually still privately owned, the family living in the converted stables, not in the Chateau itself.  I suppose they use the income from tourism to keep the army of gardeners going; and the produce is sold also.  Markets were being set up in the forecourt when we were there.
The tour bus dropped me in Tours, where I spent some hours wandering around the old city area.  It is a university town now, with many international students.  They have deliberately spread the university through various buildings so that the student presence permeates the whole town.  Tours was badly affected by bombing during the War – they were trying to destroy the bridges to prevent the movement of German troops (must have been after the invasion).  About 60% of the city was affected.  Since the 60s, they have had an energetic programme of conserving old buildings and re-invigorating la vieille ville.  It is now a maze of wonderful winding alleys of old buildings now converted for apartments etc, all converging on La Plum the central square, which just throbs with life (helped by a man playing a very mean sax!).  There are so so so many cafes, all with outside settings, all fully occupied, I had to wonder if people do anything else but eat. 
And the clothes in the shops!  Winter wear is on display, and it is all so colourful.  Coats in multi-colours, almost patchwork but not quite, and orange seems to be the colour this year.  And wonderful, tempting winter hat, scarf and mitten sets, colourful, decorated with fabric flowers in sympathetic colours (not the mittens), of course artfully displayed for maximum appeal. 

Amboise Thursday 1


The days are so full, and I am getting really tired.  But I cannot waste a moment of being in this precious place. I have found it overwhelming to stand in the room from where Catherine de Medici, when she was Regent after the death of Henri II, ruled France.  And nearby, to be in the bedroom where five queens slept – Catherine’s two daughters and three daughters-in-law – all of whom were queens;  I suppose they slept in this room when they  brought the kids home for a summer holiday!  That was in Chenonceau.  There are not words to describe these places, and the sense of history they evoke.  Nor to do justice to the aesthetic satisfaction – both in the buildings and their settings – that one experiences. (I did take lots of pictures however.)
I have seen three Chateaux so far – Amboise of course, being right here, and on Thursday my Swedish friend and I took a bus trip after classes to Chambord and Chenonceau.  On the mini-bus there was a single Japanese man who went to sleep, a couple who spoke not at all, so I know nothing of them, a Canadian couple who were friendly, but he spent his time tracking our journey on his GPS, and a Californian, from Palm Springs, a real estate agent, who spent the whole time we had at Chambord sitting out at the front of the chateau, so overwhelmed he wept, he said. (possibly working out what the commission on a sale of the place would be.  He did express excitement at the news of the death of Bob Hope’s wife, as their mansion is on his patch, and will now be sold).  I on the other hand, scuttled around, greedy to see every room (426 of them) and read everything in the guide and take pictures of everything so I can revisit often at my leisure. Absolutely everything delighted me.  And then there are the facts that Francis I who built Chambord, and reigned for 32 years, spent only 72 days in this place. (He started the building in the same year that Leonardo da Vinci died at Amboise)  And later, in the nineteenth century, the Comte de Chambord owned the chateau from 1821 until his death in 1883 but spent only three days there.  (Though to be fair to him he did spend a bit of time in exile, being the last of the Bourbons during troubled times.)
I am also somewhat overwhelmed by the ego of those who needed places such as these to do justice to their self-concept.  Chenonceau was built in the sixteenth century by Thomas Bohier and his wife Katherine Briconnet.  They took as their motto “If I get to the end of this construction job, I will be remembered”.  
However, how rich is France now to have these places.  And they are royally looked after.  A great deal of government money must go into the maintenance of all of these chateaux; and when we visited,  both Chambord and Chenonceau had sections under renovation.  They do bring in tourist  renvenue themselves, of course, and the tourism industry is huge in this region. Entrance fees are around 10-15 euros, which is not really expensive for what is seen and exprtienced.  The rooms are beautifully kept, every one of them with marvellous (all different) arrangements of fresh flowers (no plastic here!), and the gardens are superb.  I was fascinated, at Amboise, to see four gardeners, all clad exactly the same, all with the same hedging shears, all trimming the spherical box plants in unison.  It was almost as if they were working to a metronome beat! It is no exaggeration to say these places are greatly loved and are a source of pride to all the French of the region. Certainly, Madame, my hostess, knows everything about every one of them, or so it seems to me. 
Chambord was being set up for a major event when we were there.  A huge, huge white tent was set up in the grounds, with tables for dining, and lighting etc being installed.  At the same time, in the three great halls on one level of the chateau, art works were being hung.  So perhaps an art show with a big opening night with dinner and entertainment, for the super-rich, of course.  At Chaumont-sur-Loire Chateau, this weekend, there is the International Festival of the Flowers.  I think this might be France’s answer to the Chelsea Flower Show; but with an incomparably superior setting. 

Amboise Wednesday 1


I did not know this previously, but Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years here in Amboise, at the invitation of the King, Francis 1, and died here, in the King’s arms, in the Manoir Clos de Luce – the petit chateau Francis provided for him to live in.  He brought with him his “disciples” (apprentices) and some of his paintings, and his drawings etc.  The King gave him a very generous ‘salary’ as well as the manoir, and asked in return only that Leonardo be available to converse with him sometimes. Francis was only about 25 at the time, but had already conquered part of northern Italy.  He apparently called on Leo almost every day, and the two became great friends.
So the afternoon after classes was spent at the Clos de Luce. There are lots of pics on the Picasa site – forty of the inventions Leo left  plans for have been built by IBM and are housed in the lower rooms of the Manoir.  There are videos showing how they were intended to work.  And then, out in the beautiful and extensive gardens, there are life-sized versions of some of them, including Leo’s “helicopter”. 

Amboise Tuesday 1


Four classes – conditional tense. CDs too fast – I am OK with reading and writing, but am at a loss with the speed of spoken French. Spent the afternoon on-line in the Grand Salle. Then we all watched a movie – LOL. (as in Laughing out loud, the online acronym – pitched for the young people, but leaned a lot of swear words in French).  Dinner – salad, with cheese tart, salmon with divine sauce and rice, cheeses with bread, apple compote (apples from the tree in the garden).  We met three more of Madame’s grandchildren – Artur 5,  Anatole 3,  and Louis 10 months,  cousins of Matthius whom we met yesterday.  She had been looking after them all day.  She looks after grandchildren every day, accommodates and feeds five students, and says she gave up work when she retired from nursing!