C’est fini!

And now, we are zipping along on the Eurostar to London. As this trip comes to an end I have one more travel tip. If you are taking the Eurostar train, anywhere, go Premier class. It’s worth the money just to avoid the mob of people crowding thru passport control and security. Then you can wait in a lounge; a nice one in Paris, not so nice in London, but still, better than nothing. 

Yesterday, en route to the rental car return  our nav system sent us right into downtown, along the Seine, till we turned into the Place de la Concorde. Traffic wasn’t bad, and the view was awesome. Good way to say au revoir.

And, as I usually do, it’s time to mention the things we liked and the things we weren’t fond of.

Positives: 

1.That Cassoulet de Mer!! 

2. Every single place we went, everyone was friendly and helpful and frequently asked where we were from… and they were still nice when they found out

3. No tipping anywhere. 

4. Driving is easy. 

5.When we tried French, they responded in English and we all got a laugh.

6. The Swiss have lots of public toilets

Not so positive:

1.Parking lots and their payment machines

2. Figuring out the toll booths in three different languages

3. Not all the parking machines that have a change language button actually change.

4. One hotel had no internet or cell service

5. Germany has a lack of public toilets.

6. Emission zones and vignettes

7. Paris is noisy!!

Murphy’s Law

Of course, since yesterday was our last day of planned sightseeing, we couldn’t finish as smooth, intelligent, sophisticated travelers. Once more our alternate personalities, the Griswolds, popped out. Fortunately, it wasn’t anything that could get us arrested or harmed, but was the stuff that makes you slap your own face. 

Our plan of the day called for visits at three chateaux. The first one, the Chateau de Chenonceau, was chosen because of its beauty, and all went well there. The second, the Chateau du Clos Luce, made the cut because Leonardo DaVinci had lived there and the exhibits are all about him. This includes a museum of models of his inventions and that is where the trouble started. Unfortunately, for us, there are three Chateaux in a row in the town of Amboise and they are not all that far apart. Although we programmed the correct one, our nav system took us to the car park for the biggest one, which was in the center city. All the streets were very narrow, and one way. When we realized where we were, we couldn’t find any way out and as we looked, the loud mouthed broad in the nav system kept telling us to make these random turns. Even if we could have made them, we would just end up still stuck in a parking lot. I must confess that we probably earned another ticket in our future, because to get untangled from the mess, we went the wrong way down a couple of streets. 

Now if that weren’t bad enough, we finally made it to Leonardo’s chateau, but couldn’t find our way out of it! The tour route was well laid out in the house, even beginning with a tiny spiral staircase in a little round tower so you started at the top and worked your way down. The tour ended in the basement, in a museum full of the models of his amazing inventions. I truly believe that Da Vinci was a time traveler. Anyway, to get to the museum you went down a long, steep staircase, and exited into a terrace to find the cafe and gift shop. All went well until we were ready to completely exit the chateau and couldn’t find any way out. No door from the gift shop. All the paths leading away were blocked off, no door through the outer walls, so we went back into the museum, but there was no other door there. We climbed back up that long, steep staircase, but it was immediately apparent that everyone was funneled out the museum door to the terrace. Back down we went, looked around the terrace, gave up, and went to the bookshop for help. When we learned the answer, we totally understood why the clerks just stared at us like they thought we had to be joking. It turned out that there was a path that led around the castle to the exit. One entrance to that path was blocked, but the path’s main entrance was wide open and visible. 

 Chateau de Chenonceau

         Chateau du Clos Luce

By that time, we were both tired of chateaux and agreed to skip the third one. It was only on the list because it was within walking distance of our hotel, so it was easy to just opt out. 

That led to lunch. In Tours, about 30 minutes away, we found a Subway (the fast food, not the underground) on the map and that sounded pretty good. It was easy to find, was located in a very, very nice mall, but once again we had trouble finding our way in and out of the parking lot. However, it wasn’t until we finished lunch that the answer to a puzzle came to Brian. This was the second Subway we had been in and both times we asked for the 6 inch version, only to be met with the blank stares of confusion. Too late, it finally dawned on Brian that “6 inches” meant nothing in France since they use the metric system. 

Our last goof up of the day came at dinner.   During this whole trip, Brian has enjoyed trying dishes he doesn’t get at home. He has liked some, others not so much. I haven’t really enjoyed much of anything and usually can’t eat very much of what I order anyway, so he ends up getting to try multiple dishes. I know that Italian food isn’t generally his favorite  but by the time we got to this,  our last stop, lasagna was about the only thing I wanted. Since he is always a good sport about restaurant choices, on our first night there, he graciously agreed to try a little Italian cafe. I picked it just because they had lasagna on the menu. He chose something new- the “Cassoulet de Mer”, because he does like seafood. And he went crazy! With every bite he kept raving about how this was the best thing he had ever eaten in his life. He couldn’t stop laughing and talking about it. In 51 years of marriage I have never seen him get that excited about anything, not even Maryland crab cakes. He just couldn’t shut up. And the lasagna was delicious also. For our second and last night in the town, there was never any question where we would have dinner. We hated having to wait till 7pm for the cafe to open, but scurried right on over when it did. We aren’t usually wine drinkers but the first time  we tried a sweet white wine that was good, so we had it again and of course, repeated the order from the night before. And, it was just as wonderful the second time around. Then it came time to pay the piper and that’s when we realized that in our eagerness to get there, neither one of us brought any money. Not cash, not a credit card.

The Troglodyte Village

In medieval France, “troglodytes” were people who lived in cave dwellings. These weren’t primitive humans but ordinary villagers using the geology around them. Many parts of France, especially the Loire Valley and parts of Dordogne and Champagne, have soft but stable limestone cliffs. People carved homes, chapels, wine cellars, and even entire villages into these cliffs. The stone was easy to cut but strong once exposed to air, and quarrying stone for castles and churches left empty galleries which were turned into homes. The caves had constant temperatures, cool in summer, warm in winter, and cave dwellings offered protection. Some cliffside troglodyte villages were virtually fortresses.

In many cases, the troglodyte dwellers were peasants who worked on the great estates and châteaux. They were agricultural laborers, vineyard workers, and artisans who created  “troglodyte villages” which were frequently clustered near the castles, abbeys, or manorial farms. Many troglodyte villages remained inhabited for centuries, well beyond the Middle Ages, some into the 19th–20th century.

One such village, the Vallee Goupillieres Troglodytique, is located just outside of Azay-le-Rideau. Here are some pictures we took during our visit.

Oradour-Sur-Glane

Oradour-sur-Glane. You may never have heard of it, but after 81 years there are still important lessons we need to learn from the event here on June 10, 1944. Where is it? What happened here? Why did it happen, and who was responsible?

Oradour-sur-Glane was a peaceful and prosperous village, with a population of about 650, located 15 miles north of Limoges in central France . Before the war it was a popular destination for picnicking, fishing, and a short getaway. 

On June 10, 1944, the 2nd SS Panzer Division, Das Reich, surrounded Oradour and under the pretense of an identity check, ordered all residents to gather in one place, including visitors and refugees from another district who had recently moved there. Even all of the school children with their teachers were marched in. Machine guns surrounded them.

The men were separated into groups then herded into barns and sheds. The SS first shot at their legs, then covered the wounded with fuel and set the structures on fire.

The women and children were locked in the village church, which the SS then set on fire by  throwing in grenades. Those who tried to escape through the windows were machine-gunned.

And then the SS destroyed the entire village. 

Why? Very simply, it was a reprisal act against the French Resistance in general and specifically the kidnapping and execution of an SS officer by the Resistance. Apparently there never was any Resistance activity in Oradour, but that fact and its remote location made it an easy target for a collective punishment to frighten the other towns  and villages into submission. 

It’s easy to just blame this barbarism on the Waffen SS or on the Nazis, but in fact mass murder was routinely committed by ordinary men and women, and had become socially accepted because of the fascist regimes. 

Fascism is a term that we hear a lot these days. What is it exactly? According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, “fascism is a political system marked by a powerful leader, total state control of the economy and society, extreme pride in one's country and race, and the outright suppression of any political opposition or disagreement. It is a form of right-wing extremism and an authoritarian government with a dictatorial leader, where all aspects of society are controlled by the state. “

Here are some of the pictures we took this morning in Oradour. Like my pictures of Auschwitz, I have lots more if anyone wants to see them. 

The Dordogne

The actual reason for visiting the Dordonge area came from a couple of books … of course. Part of the Death in the Dordogne series, written by Michelle Wan, these mysteries gave me a mental image of the area. While that image wasn’t at all what I found, I’m very glad we gave ourselves a day to explore, since there are chateaux and castles and charming villages everywhere. In addition the hills and large rocks escarpments have a natural beauty.

Andorra

The first time that I ever heard of Andorra was in the early 1960’s during the folk song era.  Pete Seeger, sang about a little country in the Pyrenees whose entire defense spending was less than $5. The song was cute and the message was clever. 

https://youtu.be/cOCWTRJCnf0 

I’ve been intrigued ever since and not disappointed in what I’ve found here. 

Andorra is all mountains. It’s hard to find any level space. They speak Catalan, Spanish, and French, but English isn’t as prevalent as it is in other European countries. What has surprised me is the lack of any signs of poverty. Andorra’s  prosperity comes from a favorable tax system, income from tourism and banking. All of the houses and commercial buildings that we’ve seen are modern, in great condition and are very attractive. Winter sports are prevalent and each small town looks like a high end ski resort. The picture of our hotel is an example of the architecture and design that is common. 

One of the major tourist attractions is the Tibetan Bridge, at the top of one of the mountains, and accessible by a bus ride. We knew that there was a 900 meter “walk” from the bus stop to the bridge but I didn’t dream that it was 900 very steep meters all uphill. As tired as we were after that climb, we still wanted to do a little shopping and investigate the casino. 

And that’s when we ran into trouble with the parking lot exit machine. When we were at Pont du Gard and accidentally payed for a year’s worth of parking, we never imagined it would get worse. But of course it did. This afternoon, Brian inadvertently paid $65 (3 full days) for 15 minutes which would likely have cost 50 cents.

That might have put a real damper on the day, however, I played blackjack for about 15 or 20 minutes and doubled the €100 euros that I bought in with. That took care of the overpaid parking fees, and we can leave Andorra much less stressed.

Some plans worked out, some didn’t

The first thing that went right this morning was our escape from Nice. Today the French Ironman was taking place in Nice and we had been warned that the entire area near the port would be closed to traffic. Since that was our route out of town, we left early, before the streets were closed.

We weren’t so lucky with our destination. We went out of the way to check out the Sunday market in Martigues. We had no trouble finding the place, but so did lots and lots of other people. We couldn’t find any place to park anywhere in the whole town so we drove on. 

With the extra time we saved, we went to see the Pont du Gard, This is the huge, three tiered aqueduct built by the Romans around 19 BCE. It’s a true engineering marvel and well worth seeing. It isn’t worth paying for a year’s parking there however, and yet that’s what we accidentally did. Oh well.

We ended our day at Carcassonne, the walled city. Our hotel is inside the walls, and the parking is outside the walls; the hotel picks up your luggage in the parking lot and so far our visit here has gone well. Carcassone is an interesting mix of medieval buildings and current souvenir, clothing, local product, and candy stores. There is a castle and cathedral within the walls, as well as a torture museum and a “haunted” house that bombards the surrounding sidewalk cafes with screeching, loud banging, and groans. Yes, Carcassone is most definitely a tourist trap, but a fun one

Alls well that ends well, we thought. We just didn’t take into account how frustrating and futile it would be to subscribe to any streaming service in order to watch the Jags game today. We finally gave up after subscribing and still getting only the highlights, repeated over and over. Then, when we gave up and signed in to HBO to catch the next episode of the Last Ship, the series seems to have vanished. What a strange up and down day. And then there’s the Jags.




J