A BEER at CHANGI AIRPORT

We had dinner last night with friends, Danielle and Michel, Parisians and they were a little concerned that we had a Paris shuttle taxi picking us up at 8.00 am for a 12 noon flight. They said it would be a long drive in peak time traffic. It was actually only 45 minutes. They are recommended as we use them on our trips to and from Paris.

The last suppper in Paris. Good Food, Good Friends - Magnificent Holiday.
Me, Danielle, Sue and Michel.

Sue lost her Foie Gras at airport security because she had it in carry on rather than checked luggage - Bummer. Other than that it was smooth sailing (or flying) there on to Singapore.

It's now 7.00 am (Singapore time) and we are sitting at Changi Airport having a beer - Tiger which is the local brew. The 13 hour flight from Paris was not as horrendous as we thought it might have been. Caught up on a little sleep and saw some movies but the best for me was a 3 hour documentary on Woody Allen.
Sue said that even being locked up in a plane for 13 hours wouldn't encourage her to watch it.

Catching up on some favourite Blog reading at Changi Airport.

It's now 9.30 pm Melbourne time and we are relaxing at our "Home by the Bay"in Melbourne.
The flight from Singapore arrived in early and Sue's brother picked us up at Melbourne Airport (Lovely Chap) and now I have a glass of French wine in my hand while posting this blog.

We'd just like to say thanks to all those that joined us on our little journey to our second home, France and hope we can keep in contact occasionally through Blog-World.
Leon et Sue.

Driving into Paris

Now when I said we was dropping the car off in Paris - we would occasionally get a raised eyebrow. You know the look that says, "Do you think that's wise?"

I mean we weren't dropping it off on the outskirts of Paris or at the airport. Our apartment is in the 7th on rue la Motte Piquet. It runs off from Invalides.
On the way Sue needed to see her only big Chateau on this trip - Vaux le Vicomte. Sue tells me it was the Chateau that set the standards for future Chateaux including Versailles.

Things we discovered:
It was built by Louis XIV's finance minister Nicolas Fouguet and was so grand that Louis arrested him - it is said due to jealousy but one has to ask where the money came from for such a flamboyant building.  I'm not one to gossip but after all, he was the finance minister.
Vaux le Vicomte was used to film the "Man in the Iron Mask" and Alexandre Dumas featured the Fouquet Chateau (house) warming party and arrest in his third Musketeer book (from Rick Steves Paris book).

VAUX le VICOMTE

Sue experiences a dream of hers at Vaux le Vicomte

After an all too short visit at Vaux le Vicomte, we headed for Paris to deal with the traffic and finding the drop-off point for the rental car. Tommy, our GPS would only take us to the 7th with no further instructions for some obscure reason. We chose this drop-off point because it was close to the apartment but things never work out that simple - do they?

The drop-off office was closed - there were instructions on the door to take the car to the underground car park at Invalides Esplanade. We did find it but then we needed to find where the keys, etc went and fortunately we bumped into a car park worker who showed us. What luck.

Within the confines of our apartment lift. 

Getting familiar with our surroundings over a cool drink at a Paris bar.

A view of the top end of our street.

It's a tradition - Confit de Canard. It started in 2006 on our first  ever night in Paris.
Kir Royale was another first for Sue.

So we lugged two suit cases and some hand luggage about 800 metres to the apartment when Sue thought she lost the code to get in the front door. After rummaging through bags it was finally located.
But that wasn't the end of it. The lift was so tiny that at most, only two people would fit. If they weren't intimately associated, then they would be by the 5th floor.

Finally we did get our bags to the apartment and went for a walk around our new neighbourhood.
We had not stayed in the 7th before, it's different and it will be interesting to compare with the other districts where we have spent time.

The following day before our son Andrew was to arrive, I took a walk around Invalides to explore further and take some photos.

This was not a parking spot but who would complain about this wonderful piece of automotive exotica?

Invalides - we intend to visit tomorrow.

Parisians love their parks - so do we after living in our broom closet here!

Yep, that's Paris.....

The cars that ate Paris are these big fuel guzzlers today.

Sorry - but I always need to add a bike to most posts and Paris definitely have the most interesting bikes, not to mention their riders.

Paris buildings are very decorative, aren't they?

The restaurant Max is below our apartment. Our door is to the left.

Tomorrow we visit the Musee de l'Armee, a museum that covers the military history from stone age to World War II. We've been before but we want to share it with our son Andrew who arrives in the afternoon.

Last Days in the Loire

After leaving Chinon we headed to Montrichard on the river Cher. We had a lunch date with blogging friends, Ken, Walt, Susan and Simon. We met both Ken and Walt back in 2010 when we rented a lovely little cottage not far from Montrichard - a place called Thenay just a couple of kilometres from Pontlevoy. It was a great base to visit all of the great Chateaux of the Loire.

Simon and Susan invited us to join them, Ken and Walt and Susan's sister Cathy and her husband John at La Villa in the square at Montrichard. The sun was shining and the company was jovial. Simon and Susan run a business taking visitors to the sites of the Loire in Celestine, their shiny black Citroen Traction Avant. This is partly the connection between Simon and I as Sue and I have owned Citroens and they were my first cars many years ago.

We met Celistine along with Susan and Simon in 2010.

Carol and Mikee's stone maison in rural Loire.

Lunch ran on for some time as it does when in good company and so we didn't get away until mid afternoon. We were staying with friends further down the Cher for two nights. Carol and Mikee are the people we rented the aforementioned cottage from and have become treasured friends despite Carol domineering me (LOL Carol). These two are most generous people. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner, met their lovely boulangier Veronique who seems to always have a big happy smile on her face.

Carol cooked a wonderful salmon in pastry meal to welcome us - of course we consumed too much local wine, didn't we?
The following morning we took off to the Amboise market which is set overlooking the Loire River. The Friday market is mainly produce and Sue was cooking and organising dinner with Carol for us four and fellow Bloggers Ken and Walt. Well that is until we met Carol and Mikee's neighbours, Gerard and Annica just a little further down the road. That made eight.

The Loire river runs along side the Amboise market area.

Carol explains to Sue the best stalls at the Amboise market.

Many of the stall holders travel from town to town in mobile shops such as this one.
You can see the names of the towns he services on the truck awning.

White asparagus is in season at the moment and Carol cooked  some as an entree the night of our arrival - very tasty.

Isn't the simple baguette the best bread in the world?

Did I hear you say, "How did we meet?" Keep in mind that Annica and Gerard are locals. Long time locals in fact. Gerard was born in the house where they live. Anyway, on the way back from meeting Veronique  at the Boulangerie, I saw this old rusty bike lying beside a shed. Mikee informed me that it belonged to his friend Gerard.

A rusty old bike - and a new friend met. Gerard beams a smile at us. 

Mikee our host shows that he would have made a serious competitor in his day.

We went back with Carol and Sue a little later as I wanted to see the bike. On meeting both Gerard and Annica, you knew instantly that you would like them. We had a tour of Gerard's potager and then were invited into their home for some local wine. A tour of the outside buildings later showed graffiti on the stone walls by the Germans when they occupied Gerard's family home.
The meeting all ended with Annick and Gerard being invited to join us four and Ken and Walt for the night's dinner.

Carol put on a wonderful seafood spread as starters and Sue did her main of chermoula chicken (shown on Ken's blog) and the dessert of a hot chocolate pot.

The food was great but the company was something else with two Brits, us Skippys, two non english speaking French and two Americans but we all agreed that it was a most successful night with the mix of four different nationalities.

Walt, Mikee, Annica, Carol, Gerard and Ken
A well mixed group by the end of the night.

Too many bottles littered the table by the end of the night which ended way after midnight. Mikee brought out some home made plum eau de vie which really finished off Ken and I.
I think we both woke the next morning feeling a little hollow headed which was confirmed the next morning as we paid a short visit before heading off to Paris the next day.

If you would like to meet our friends - visit them here.
Ken's blog - http://ckenb.blogspot.fr/
Walt's blog - http://www.wcs4.blogspot.fr/
Simon and Susan's blog - http://daysontheclaise.blogspot.fr/

In the footsteps of history - CHINON CASTLE

I walked in the footsteps of King Henry II, Richard the Lionheart and Eleanor of Aquitaine. 

We are now in Paris but before you join us for our six days here, we have some catching up to do.
Two nights in Chinon was on our schedule as we'd been twice before and love the atmosphere of the place. The wine, the food and of course. We had perfect hosts again in Helene and Jean Michel. Our B and B is something out of past with modern services. It's part of the church and is from medieval times.
Last time we stayed here, we did all the tourist things and traveled heaps of kms to visit all the "must see" Chateaux. Not this time - the only big visit was looking down on us from up the hill from the river Vienne.

The clock tower of Chinon Fortress

I trudged the steps of the steep incline to the fortress rather than use the newly installed lift to get some idea of how it may have been in times gone by.
I walked in the footsteps of King Henry II, Richard the Lionheart and Eleanor of Aquitaine. I saw the room, or what remains where Jeanne d'Arc supposedly met the Dauphin Charles VII.

We were previously here in 2008 and 2009 and much scaffold encased the castle while reconstruction was in operation. We'd never ventured to the castle previously but today I did.

This plaque marks the location where Jean d'Arc met with the Dauphin, the future King of France - Charles VII. 

You can see the plaque that lies beside the large fireplace in this picture and one assumes that this is where Jeanne d' Arc approached the Dauphin despite Charles hiding his identity by having another of his men dressed in royal robes. 

The information booklet tells me that the fortress had its beginnings in the first century as a Gallic residence and was the birth of a Gallo-Roman settlement. It wasn't for another 11 centuries that Henri II Plantagenet Count of Anjou and King of England added to the construction of the fortress. He died there in 1189.

The Vienne River stretches either side of the fortress and lazily makes its way through France. 

High above the village of Chinon at the fortress you get a great view looking over the rooftops and the Vienne river from a different perspective.

Another 230 plus years pass by after King Henry's death before Joan of Arc arrives to meet with Charles VII and requests an army to defeat the English to end the 100 year war. Wow! This is where it happened.
Chinon turned on a delightful day for my wander through history. With the rebuilding of Chinon Chateau and fortress, we can get a view of history gone by. The rebuilding may not be the original thing but we can dream of what it was.

Vineyards seem to cover much of the land in the Loire. In the Charante is seemed to be their white cows. Each region has its specialities throughout France.
We try to drink local wines when travelling and the wines of Chinon and Saumur are some of our favourites.
Then there are the Sancerres and Vouvrays. The Touraine make some lovely rose's that we buy at home but to drink them locally is a bit of a buzz.

Jeanne d'Arc - Joan of Arc is one of my favourite heroines. I've read books, seen the Hollywood impressions and even have an early silent movie on her trial. The same for King Henry, Richard the Lionheart and Eleanor of Aquitaine, I find the history fascinating. If you're looking for the Hollywood version on film, "The Lion in Winter" might interest you. There's two versions and from memory, the first with Kathryn Hepburn and Peter O'Toole is my preferred version. It has a great opening scene where Eleanor returns from 15 years of imprisonment in England. She arrives by boat on the Vienne River. Henry meets her at the riverside and they walk up to the fortress gates. To be at the same location almost 1000 years later lets your mind wander a little about how life may have been in Chinon.

Within the Castle is a room set aside for a display of Jeanne d'Arc history - below are some of the pictures captured on my visit.

The bronze statue shows Jeanne d'Arc most probably in battle with the English at Orleans.
Behind is the white statue that I imagine is her hearing voices from above and being told of the mission before her.

A tapestry depicting the meeting of Charles and Jeanne d'Arc.
Note that she is knelt in front of the third person from the left and is pointing at him - not the person in royal robes.

A poster from 1956 with Jeanne d'Arc and the fortress in the background.

The "Mythology" even extended to the USA
 to promote the buying of War Saving Stamps.

Jeanne d'Arc returns from battle after defeating the English at Orleans.

Jeanne d'Arc kneels at the now King of Frances throne after fulfilling her destiny.

As I finish this post, it is 9.00 am and I can hear the bells of Paris ringing - the sky is cloudless and the temperature is said to be 25 degrees today - perfect weather for absorbing the sights of Paris.

I'm about to catch up on daily pictures of our French travels on the other blog later today - go to 

French travel daily photo

Relaxing in the Loire

Sue I are sitting in a McDonald's catching up on home news on our laptop. Access to wifi has not been available plus we have been having such a ball with friends that we won't be posting until we arrive in Paris tomorrow for a six night stay before flying home to Melbourne.


We've had lunch yesterday with fellow bloggers and staying with friends, Carol and Mikee who live on the Cher river across from Ken and Walt but we'll tell you more when back in Paris.

ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE

After a later start after breakfast from Bellac, our overnight stay, we headed off to Oradour-sur-Glane and the "Martyr Village" to meet Diane and Nigel. Diane writes "My Life in the Charante" and lives maybe less than an hours drive from Oradour-sur-Glane.

We read about the the village in one of Diane's posts and was aware of it through the Internet. The village stands as it was after the a German SS unit murdered the residents of the village and destroyed the town. This was in 1944.

We'd been in contact with Diane by phone and arranged to meet at 11.00 am in the car park. As we pulled into the car park a couple were just getting out of their Renault Clio. A very tall chap and a lady looked towards us. It was Diane and Nigel. She did say Nigel stood out in a crowd (he is quite tall). Anyway there were smiles all round and warm welcomes that comes from knowing someone never met before. Reading each other's blogs you get the feeling you know each other well and also know you will like them instantly which in this case was proven.

After greetings it was time to wander the memorial to the 642 men, women and children that lost their lives in a senseless action by the Nazi SS unit on that day in June 1944.

Our B and B in Bellac.

The gates to Martyr Village at Oradour-sur-Glane.

Personally, I felt as I wandered the ruins of the village, colour went from within - there was a very dark feeling as you witnessed the scenes from 1944 and you ask yourself - How could this happen to the innocent villagers just going about their daily life?

Two of the streets we walked as they were prior to 1944

The tram that ran from Limoges to Aradour-sur-Glane. It was stopped before entering  the village and several people were returned and therefore escaped the fate of the villagers already there. 6 people not of the village but riding their bikes through were taken also.

 Sue's thoughts.
It was a difficult place to view, but probably something that everyone should see once. From our sheltered perspective, absolutely inconceivable that such a thing could happen. That people could do that to each other.
On that day, 190 men, 247 women and 207 children were murdered. Ages ranged from 1 week to 90 years. The men were machine gunned and burned to death in 6 separate locations, the women and children locked in the church and it was set alight, while the doors and windows were under machine gun fire.
It was in retaliation for the belief that an officer of the SS had been captured and was being held.
They mistook the name of the village for one of a similar name not far away. Not even the right village.
After the massacre they burnt the village to the ground.
The small things are what get you. Sewing machines, burnt prams, bicycles. The detritus of people in a community going about their everyday lives. In war time, yes, but still making a life - cafes, hairdressers, hardware stores, dentists. Families carrying on despite the circumstances.
The horror and sadness of witnessing this village cannot be overstated.
The perpetrators that still lived after the war were tried. I think it was six people who escaped and they testified as eye witnesses.
Two separate trials that depended on whether they were French or German.
The French stated that they were forced to become SS members and were acquitted.
The Germans were acquitted somewhat later.
I hope I have my facts correct. This is information I have gained from the internet and from information within the village.

Our new "finally met in person" friends.

After a very emotional experience of our walk through the ruined village, we decided to cheer ourselves up with a light lunch washed down with some rose. The colour started to come back into our day.

We chatted away enjoying each other's company discussing each other's lives and the time went quickly. Before we knew it - it was time to head off to Chinon for our two nights at Helene and Jean Michel's B and B, Logis Saint Mexme.

Our room at Saint Mexme - we had a very late start to exploring Chinon again.
Our room was to relaxing to leave in a rush.

Tomorrow - some pics at Chinon Castle.