Autumn Road Trip. . . . . . . .

Southwestern France 2008

Photo taken driving through the vineyards to the medieval bastide town of Mirepoix. 

Located in the Ariège department of the Midi-Pyrenees, near my family's home,

 this beautiful town invites you to sit outside at one of the many cafes in the evocative

 13th century market square, to enjoy a drink or a meal.

  

We are off this morning.

No quiet country roads edged with ancient plane trees.

No rolling hillsides carpeted with vines now dressed in brilliant 

Autumn colors. . . . . but hoping for an enjoyable drive, and then

a glass of fruity red wine this evening somewhere fun in our

 nation's Capital!  

Cheers!

Airing the dirty linen!

Today I'm waiting for the repair guy.

My dryer quit heating a couple of days ago and I have nowhere to hang my 

linens and clothes outside to dry. Here in small 16th century alleys in the

 interesting little walled town of Viviers, situated on the bank of the Rhone River

in the Ardeche department of France, everyone 'pegged out' the wash without
any qualms whatsoever.

All Photos from Viviers, France, Oct. 2015

P.S. Don't forget to have a go at my travel 
guessing game in my previous post!

Le Château de Versailles and Red Marble. . . . . . . . . . .

Château de Versailles, on the UNESCO World Heritage List for over 30 years,

 is one of the most beautiful achievements of 18th century French art.

Started as a hunting lodge and gentleman's chateau, the young Sun King Louis XIV took over and transformed the palace into the most splendid building and court of its time, hosting many famous and infamous people including Madame Pompadour and Marie Antoinette.The opulent staterooms, the famous Hall of Mirrors where several treaties were signed, and the royal apartments are quite breathtaking. The château lost its standing as the official seat of power in 1789 but acquired a new role in the 19th century as The Museum of the History of France. 

I know many of you who have traveled to, even lived in France, have visited Versailles. For some reason, most likely time restraints during Paris visits, I didn't visit until last October, when we were on the river cruise with friends from California and England. Although it's always exciting to see these amazing historic buildings, oohing and aahing over the opulent furnishings all whilst shielding ones eyes from the brilliance of the crystal chandeliers and gold reliefs, I was really on another mission here - looking for less ostentatious red and pink marble!

Follow along as I take you on a quick visit and show you what is just a smidgen of the most famous French château ~~~~~~~~

The Hall of Mirrors

Personally, when tramping through these immense palaces, I really enjoy looking at the more simple things such as doors, also windows, with well worn handles, hardware, their lock boxes and keyholes. Have the keys survived? Who now has them, could modern locksmiths make new ones to fit if they're missing?  Look at the exquisite little royal crown carved into the brass above the keyhole on the left. I wonder what the knob underneath the box is - another way to lock the door perhaps. Who actually turned these handles and entered these magnificent room in years gone by?

Above and below - lovely somewhat distorted views through wavy glass windows.

Why my interest in particularly the red and pink marbles used at Versailles?

Quarrying of many of these marbles happened around the medieval village of Caunes-Minervois where my brother has lived for many years. Located in the Languedoc region, this was Cathar Country and is full of amazing history. It is known that quarrying there has been ongoing since the 17th century, and there is a possibility that small quarries were even exploited in Roman times as red marble capitals and other details are evident in Languedoc churches dating from the 8th century.

The marble quarry brought prosperity to Caunes especially as outcrops held workable volumes of marble, some over 15M (about 50') in height. The Carrière du Roy (King's Mine) is named for it's most prestigious client, Louis XIV, and he obviously had a lot of the marble brought to Versailles.

When I first visited the site of the quarry closest to Caunes some years back it had closed, however one close to the Carrière du Roy is now operational, as well as a second one a couple of miles away. The marble blocks are now taken to Italy for finishing and then shipped around the world.

Model of the Palace of Versailles. It stands approximately 10 miles southwest of Paris.

The day of our visit was cool and sunny - perfect for a walk through the gardens.

Photo of us (left) with our California friends Kim and Rob, taken by Paula.

I must say I was thrilled to visit Versailles at long last during our trip in October.

Rouen - Historic Norman Metropolis. . . . . .

I'm picking up here where I left off in our trip through France with

 Avalon Waterways last September/October. 

This post is on Rouen. I have hundreds of photos, but don't worry 

I won't show them all! The city was so interesting and the weather was

 perfect for our short visit.

I think you will enjoy it - especially if you're a Francophile, and many of us are.

Rouen, capital of Upper Normandy, sits on the River Seine north of Paris.

 It's an important commercial city perhaps best known for its connection to

 Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc), who lived, was imprisoned, and burned at the stake

 in the marketplace in 1431.

Called by Victor Hugo the 'city of the hundred spires', Rouen still has the 

Old City containing 800 classified buildings and countless lovely half-timbered

 houses from the 15th to 18th centuries.

Rouen's beautiful Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady was once the tallest building

 in the world!  It was the subject of a series of amazing paintings by Claude Monet.

The three large windows above are very special. They are the room from

 where Claude Monet painted thirty one canvases between 1892 and 1894

 showing the west facade of the glorious Gothic Rouen cathedral.

 These beautiful paintings showed the cathedral in different weather and light

 conditions, see them HERE.

 Stunning stained glass windows in the cathedral.

Statue of Jeanne d'Arc in Rouen cathedral.

Marker in Rouen's old marketplace where Jeanne d'Arc, aged 19, was burned at the stake.

There is no grave as her cremated remains were thrown into the River Seine.

Cobblestones and old half-timbered houses give the Rue du Gros Horloge

 its medieval character. A Renaissance arch spans the street of one of Rouen's

 best-known sights, The Great Clock Tower. 

The clock only displays hours but its mechanism (1389) is one of the oldest in the world.

Some very beautiful half-timbered houses with typical overhanging construction.

In many of these houses each floor was built to project a foot over the one below, 

thus land was saved and so was money. Nowadays the shops on the ground floors 

house restaurants and antiques dealers.

Before saying au revoir to the city of Rouen, we have to have a quick discussion

 about FOOD and Julia Child.  After all, this is France!

LA COURONNE, said to be the oldest auberge (1345) in France, and is where Julia
 dined with her husband, for her very first meal, on her first visit to France in 1948.

Thanks to France, that funny American woman learned how to cook! 
She kept us all chuckling as we enjoyed hours of television whilst sharing her
 kitchen in the '60's through the '80's - that was probably the first real cooking show!

Beautiful LA COURONNE has been reviewed by all and sundry in the 

restaurant/travel business - I enjoyed this article HERE 

which tells the story better than I can because, sadly we didn't have time to

 enjoy the famous Menu Julia Child. 

Apparently it's still the place to eat in Rouen and is still quite affordable.

Has anyone eaten there? Do let me know if you have please!