Carcassonne

Carcassonne

It's as if we saved the best for last. We followed the Canale du Midi, which allowed the connection of the Mediterranean with the Atlantic in the 17th century to the fortified Cite of Carcassonne. This fortified town was established in the 6th century BC and its first walls were built in the 3rd century AD. It is probably the best example of defensive medieval fortifications in existence today. The town was quite strategic because it lies in the valley between the Pyrenees and the Black Mountains, controlling the road between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The fortifications were taken during the Albigensian Crusades (the fight between the Catholics and Cathars) on August 15th, 1209. Its downfall was lack of water. At the time, a village of 3000 people lived around the outside of the fortification, but the entire town was destroyed as part of the punishment for the heretics. Following the death of Simon de Montfort, the region became part of France. Now the town became important to defend the borders of France from Spain and Aragon. A second wall was formed outside the Roman walls in the 13th century.

Liste between the walls

As we gazed at the inner walls, you could see that the towers were closer together (50 meters) than the new walls (100 meters) because the invention of the crossbow which could shoot arrows further. The sloping grass leading to the Roman walls was leveled, so we could see the stone placed below the old Roman wall foundation. The liste between the walls would leave any enemy exposed to arrows, oil, and rocks if they managed to get past the first walls. A charge of cavalry between the walls was also a threat. We entered through the Noarbonne Gate and noticed how there were two gates with huge towers between. If one gate was breached the attackers could still be pounded with rocks and arrows as they attempted the second gate. The towers themselves were small fortifications (in gothic style) with water and food inside.

Inner Chateau

The fortification lost its importance in 1659 when the border with Spain moved to the other side of the Pyrenees. The fortification was abandoned in the 18th century and became the poor neighborhood of the city. It was in the 19th century that the fortification was restored over the course of 60 years by the architect Viollet-le-Duc. One of the gargoyles used in the restoration actually has his face! We also toured the chateau inside the fortification built in the 12th century by Vicomtes Trencavels. This has many of the defensive features we've already seen repeated for the castle itself. We walked the streets which used to be dirt with the dirty water down the center, today they are cobblestone, but still have a v shape to them. We were going to tour the Basilica of Saint Nazaire, the former Cathedral for the area, but Pentecost high mass was still being celebrated. This church is a mixture of Roman and Gothic styles and was originally built in the 12th century. We got to view it after lunch. And what a nice lunch - we stopped at one of the cafe's and had a 3 course meal and shared two bottles of the local wine.

Dame Carcas and Noarbonne Gate

So how did Carcassonne get its name? Legend has it, that the town was being besieged by Charlemagne. Dame Carcas suggested that even though they were starving that they overfeed the last remaining pig with grain and then throw it over the wall at the invading force. When they saw this fat pig, the army assumed that there was plenty of food and water remaining in the fortress and gave up the siege. The church bells rang to signal the end of the siege to their hero Dame Carcas. Thus the name Caracassonne, sonne means ring. 

This is the last day of the trip. If you want to see more pictures, there is a narrated 15 minute video on youtube.

So how do I sum up this trip? It's one of the first trips we've had where the highlight of the entire trip was the post-trip: Toulouse, Albi, Lautrec, and Carcassone. The riverboat experience was among the best (other than cabin size). I read the itinerary beforehand, but I was still surprised by how many chateaus and vineyards we visited. If you're interested in Bordeaux wine, this is a great trip. But as is usually the case, the program director and guides make or break the trip. Marie, was superb, she would stop people, tell them that she was leading a group of Americans, and ask them to tell us about themselves or the sites we were seeing. We met two mayors, a Dominican priest, several school groups (one of which sang 'happy birthday' to one of our members), a gardener, and several random folks we encountered. Marie has unique talent at getting people to interact. Our local guides were also superb, particularly our guide in Chartres (we learned a lot about stained glass windows and Renaissance statuary), our guide to Toulouse and St. Emilion, and our guide in Carcassone (who really explained the history and architecture of the place. Finally, our group was great, always on-time, always curious. 

Albi and Lautrec

Albi Cathedral

We headed to Albi, a city of 500K, known as the "Red City" As we approached the central square, one has to be impressed by what looks like a huge fortress in front of you. This is the 13th century brick Gothic cathedral. Instead of stone buttresses, here the buttresses are circular in brick. To the left is the Palace de Berbie (the bishop's palace). Formerly there was a cloister between the palace and the cathedral. Above it all is the 78 meter tall tower which was also an observation post for defense. This was to be the "Fortress of the Catholic Faith" as opposed to the Cathar faith which believed in a good and evil god. The cathedral was built between 1282 and 1480. What was unique about this church was inside - here over 35000 meters are painted (between 1509 and 1550) with not only traditional religious scenes, but also many geometric patterns. The amazing fact is that most of the painting has not been restored since the 16th century, yet it is quite vivid. Above the present day altar is a huge organ with 3500 pipes played with five keyboards. Just below the organ is the scene of the last judgement. In the choir area are stone carvings from the 15th century. These carvings did not suffer the defacement from the French Revolution that had occurred elsewhere. The timing for our visit was unique - they were about to celebrate confirmation. So we had the young teenagers all lined up in white with their candles. It forced us to cut short our visit to the Cathedral.

Confirmandi

Outside we visited the French Garden of the Palace de la Berbie, right next to the river Tarn. Inside the Palace is the museum specializing in the works of HenriToulouse-Lautrec. For a man who only lived into his 30's, it was amazing how many works he painted and how many of them are displayed at this museum. He painted a lot of the 'seedier' side of life - brothels, bars, dance halls, as well as interesting portraits of people - their mood seems to come across strongly, while most of the backgrounds are muted. The end of the exhibit featured many of the famous theater posters. We had a delicious lunch (a salad with bacon, pate, and vinegar, as well as a delicious piece of veal with vegetables) right next to the Cathedral. Then we had time to explore the city on our own. I crossed the old bridge for the view and to get a closer look at the old mills that used to operate on the river and then visited the church and cloister of Saint Salvi. After the cathedral, this was somewhat of a disappointment.

Albi's bridges and mills

In the afternoon, we headed to the tiny medieval village of Lautrec, in the middle of the region that grows pink garlic. The buildings here were quite charming and we enjoyed walking the streets to see the houses as well as the view of the countryside. The highlight was climbing to the windmill on top with its view of the village on one side and the black mountains and Pyrenees in the other direction. 

The village of Lautrec

Tonight, our Farewell dinner is at L'autan Tic on the Square of the Capitole. Mary isn't very happy, it was a choice between fish and duck. The duck was very good.

Toulouse

Capitole Square

As we walk into the center of the city, all the street are named in both French and Occitan, the original language of this region (Occ means "yes" in that Occitan language). While the buildings are predominantly red, we also see brick colored with chalk to look much more like the stone buildings of Paris. Stone is used mostly in government and church buildings, since it has to be shipped in. The Capitole is a prime example, this is the seat of government (the town hall) for Toulouse. From about 1200 until the French Revolution, the city was run by eight men of property who were elected for one year terms. During this time they made the laws, ran the city, and acted as judges. After their term, they were considered noblemen. The building facade dates from 1750. We entered by the Great Staircase to the halls above. The first major hall had paintings by Henri Martin (1860-1945) including “The Dreamers” with one boat doing laundry and another collecting sand for bricks and four panels, one for each season. The Salle des Illustres is used for conducting weddings typically 20-30 every Saturday. The end panels have paintings representing Pope Urban II entering Toulouse in 1096 and The Defense of Toulouse.

Jacobin's Church

Nearby we visited the Jacobins Church. Marie asked one of the Dominican monks to tell us some of the history. St. Dominic started preaching in Carcassonne to combat Catharism, an offshoot of Catholicism. The pope asked Dominic to begin an order here, the Dominicans, and he ordained two priests in Toulouse in 1215. So the Dominican order is celebrating its 800th anniversary this year. The church here is a Romanesque church built in the 14th century. It was very different than any other church we've seen, built of bricks with central columns. Originally, these columns separated the religious and the laypeople. The walls were painted to look like marble and the windows have red stained glass on the sunny side and blue on the north side. The arches are unique, especially the palm tree arch at the head of the church. The church was intentionally made to look massive to symbolize the power of the church. St. Thomas Aquinas’ relics lie here. After the French Revolution, the church became a stables with two floor above, one for sleeping and the other for a granary. It was only reopened after restoration in the 1970s. Only about 10 masses a year are celebrated, and one will be on Pentecost Sunday (in 2 days) and broadcast across France.

Our Lady of Grace

In the afternoon, Mary and I visited the Musée des Augustins, a former monastery, which was converted to a museum after the French Revolution. The collections included Our Lady of Grace restored from the 15th century and a collection of polychrome statues from the Rieux chapel built around 1340 at the Cordeliers Convent. Particularly interesting was a statue of Jean Tissendier (a rich bishop) donating the chapel. Next we came upon a series of capital stones from various 12th Century religious buildings from Toulouse. The next section of the museum had sculptures and paintings from the 17th to 20th century. I was particularly intrigued by the Nightmare sculpted by Euene Thivier.

 

Saint Sernin

After a quick rest, we then walked to the Saint Sernin Basilica. At one time this church would see a thousand pilgrims a day on the Way of St. James. The church was built in honor of a 3rd century bishop who was martyred here, dragged through the streets behind a bull. The church was consecrated in 1096 by Pope Urban II. Today, it is the largest Romanesque church still standing. In the crypt are the relics of 128 saints including four apostles. 

Bordeaux to Toulouse

Larressingle

Toulouse is only about 2 hours from Bordeaux if you take the AutoRoute, but we took the scenic route to get there. After days of seeing vineyards, we started going through pine forests harvested for timber. And then rolling hills with fields planted primarily with wheat and corn, a version of Iowa with stone houses and chateaus. Our first stop was the tiny13th century medieval town of Larressingle. An American from Boston fell in love with this village and he financed the restoration of the village which was completed in 2001. This was the ancient site of the Abbey de Condom. We ran into a school group learning their French history and got them to practice some of their English with us. Then we talked to the Mayor of the town about the restoration work here.

Inside the walls

Lunch was in the town of Condom. We wanted a simple lunch and settled for pizza. Afterwards, we walked some of the town square and visited the 14th century St. Peter's Cathedral. We also ran into a group of pilgrims, taking one of the four paths for the Way of St. James ending up in St. Jacque de Composostelle in Spain. They were various nationalities and had met as they walked the pilgrimage. In the town square was a statue of the four musketeers, since this is the region where they were from.

Hikers on Way of St. James

Late in the afternoon, we reached Toulouse, a city of 447,000 inhabitants and famous for its Universities with 90000 students. The first thing we noticed was the change in architecture - most building now are red brick rather than the limestone building we've seen during the first part of our journey, leading to the name "Pink City". The first University was established here in 1229. The University today is known for its colleges of Law, Medicine, and Aerospace. Another key industry in Toulouse is Airbus which employs over 22,000 people. 

Bordeaux

Portable Sundial

This was our day of leisure in Bordeaux. Mary and I took a walk along the quay in the morning and managed to get caught in the rain. At least, we had our raincoats with us! In the afternoon, we took the tram to the Musée d'Aquataine, which provided a great history of the region. The upstairs exhibits which covered the 18th century through today had English explanations throughout. (Unfortunately the videos were only in French.) It focused on Bordeaux’s importance in the 18^th century as a shipping port to Africa, and the West Indies. They had models of some of the ships from the 18th to the 20th century including the Conquerant, a 64 cannon ship that participated in the American Revolution. There was also an interesting portable sundial, different than anything I've seen before. We had a better explanation of the slave trade here than I've ever seen in the U.S. The history focused on the French islands of the West Indies, their importance for the sugar trade, slavery on the islands, and eventually the abolition of slavery. They also had some voodoo dolls from Africa. The most interesting one had chains and two alligator heads which was used to chase evil spirits from people who had to be chained because of the violence of their insanity. It was also interesting to learn about the 300 nobles beheaded here during the French Revolution. 

Voodoo Doll

This was our last day aboard the Chanson. We never got more than 30 miles or so from Bordeaux as we cruised the Garonne and Dordonne rivers. The crew has been wonderful, all of them very engaged with the passengers. The captain was the most outgoing we've encountered. Lastly, the food has been superb. Our only complaint: the lower cabins are pretty tight, with little room around the bed. 

River Chanson

Cadillac

Chateau Cadillac in 1759

Cadillac is a village of only 2500 inhabitants, but it also had its fortified wall built during the 100 Years War between France and England. We entered by the Porte du Mere (Sea Gate) built in 1315. Here they showed how the floods can affect the town - the worst flood actually reached the top of the gate. This was one of the original four gates. The town is a Bastide - fortified towns created by charter, built in the 13^th and 14^th centuries. Here  people built their houses and then farmed the surrounding land. Inside the walls, the 16th century chateau of Jean-Louis deLa Valette, first duke of Epernon. Henry III had given him many titles and posts, but Henri IV tried to sideline him by having him build an expensive chateau worthy of his rank, far from the capital. It had a traditional U shaped design. It was designed by two different architects so the front and the back are different. In 1818, the state acquired the chateau and it became a women's prison until 1890 and then a reform school for girls until 1952. While it was a prison, it was run by nuns and they enforced silence throughout the day. The prisoners would rise at 5 AM, have time for prayer followed by breakfast and then work in the workshops. Before lunch they could walk in single file around the courtyard. The same pattern was repeated in the afternoon and after dinner. The kitchen was interesting because it contained one of the first dumbwaiters for serving the food as well as a connection to a sewer which ran to the river. The kitchen also served as a workshop for making the tapestries of Cadillac. Only one such tapestry remains in the chateau, the Siege of La Rochelle. So is there a relation between Cadillac, France and the Cadillac car? Yes, both were named for  Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, the founder of Detroit. 

The Seige of La Rochelle

In the afternoon, we visited a family run winery, Chateau Piada, in the region Barsac-Sauterne. The chateau was originally from 1274. The current owner's grandfather bought the winery in 1940 from a cousin. Frederick, the owner, is trying to learn English to better host the Grand Circle visitors. He did pretty well for the several months of practice, but his vocabulary, as you might imagine, is somewhat limited.

We also met his Father, Jean, whose story of World War II we heard. In the early years, the Belgian and French forces were fleeing from the enemy. They would live for over ten years without electricity or gasoline, but continue to farm. One morning, they listened for 15 hours to the deafening engine noise of the German army passing by. Eventually some young SS troops were stationed here. Jean as a 10 year old boy was impressed by their discipline, goose-stepping parade, and singing. In 1944, a room in their house was commandeered for two lieutenants who had been on the Russian front and they heard the stories of the atrocities that were committed between the Germans and Russians. Later, they would have a similar experience in France.

Jean

We tasted three white wines that were very fruity and unique. The fog from the river here encourages a fungus to grow on the grapes , the Botyrtis Cinerea. The grapes are harvested in 4-6 picking choosing the grapes that have been shriveled up the fungus. The wine is aged for one year in barrels and then filtered and kept in stainless steel vats until 18-20 months after the harvest. They only produce about 1100 bottles a year from this winery. 

After our visit, we almost got lost trying to find the Chateau Yquem, one of the top wineries in the region. The gardens of this Chateau were truly magnificent and the Chateau was quite picturesque. On the way back to the ship, our bus broke down, and Frederick and Jean ended up ferrying us in two cars to get back. More of an adventure then we had planned on.

The gardens of Chateau Yquem

The directors invited Frederick and Jean to the Captain's farewell dinner. The meals on this ship have been exceptional. We had some terrific soups, eggplant and mustard soup, which were quite unique and delicious. Tonight’s meal was filet-mignon, one of the best I've ever tasted. Afterwards we had the crew talent show. Of course, there was much more show than talent and had everyone laughing. It didn't hurt that we had a margarita and several glasses of wine beforehand. By the end of the evening we were up dancing the chicken dance and YMCA. 

St. Emilion

St. Emilion

St.Emilion is a medieval village from the 12th century. Here instead of having a wall around the city, the back of the buildings formed part of the defensive wall. We started our visit at St. Emilion church where we could see the damage caused during the French revolution. Remember that at this time, the people defaced many of the properties of the noblemen and the church, cutting off the heads of the statues. This church still had the Roman style domes in the center of the church and then Gothic style pillars and supports on either side. Attached on one side was the Augustine cloister. Here there was a map of the St. Emilion jurisdiction with every chateau marked on it, 800 wineries on 15000 acres. Natalie, our guide pointed to the chateau run by her husband's sister and the one run by her husband.

"Here is my husband's chateau"

One of the more interesting sights is the underground monolithic church. The church was quarried out in the 12th century over 30-50 years, its 8 meters wide, 12 meters long and 12 meters high. The 15000 cubic meters of rock quarried out was used to build the houses around the village. On top is a 4000 ton tower, which is causing problems because of the weight being held up by the limestone columns.

Monolithic Church

We, of course, had to sample wine, this time from Chateau Cardinal Villemarie, a Grand Cru Classe winery. Here the wine cellar was the first that was truly a cellar, carved out of the stone beneath the building. While they had wine from 1930, their advice was to drink the best wines within 60 years. 

Blaye

River Chanson at Blaye

Blaye (pronounced Bly) is the site of a fortress, originally built by the Romans, but today the medieval and 18th century fortress is primarily visible. The 18th century fortress was designed by Vauban, who built over 160 fortresses around France for Louis XIV. This one was primarily built (along with a fortress in the river and the opposite bank) to protect Bordeaux from warships coming down the estuary from the Atlantic. He designed this fortress in 1685 in 10 days, incorporating the medieval fortress which already existed. It was built in three years with over 2000 workers. While the previous fortress had been invaded 12 times, no one successfully took this fort. Within the walls were a monastery, hospital, bakery, and everything needed to withstand a siege. We saw the remains of the 12 century castle, which was leveled in the 19th century to handle extra cannon. Rather than the circular towers of previous years, here they used the triangular shape so that they didn't have a blind spot under the tower. There are 3 levels of fortification with 2 large moats between them. If the enemy took the first level, they were exposed to cannon fire from the second and so on.

Blaye's Fortress

In the afternoon, we visited Chateau L'Esperance, a family owner vineyard of 18 acres. It had been bought in 2010 by a South African Family. Over 90% of their product is exported. Here the grapes are picked either by hand for their top wine or by machine. We're on the opposite side of the Estuary, so the primary grape is Merlot, balanced with Cabernet Franc and a little bit of Malbec for the blended wine.

New cask system at Chateau L'Esperance

Paullac

Chateau Loudenne

Early in the morning we headed North on the estuary to visit the town of Paullac, heart of the Medoc region of Bordeaux with over 2000 Chateaus. Our morning visit was to the Chateau Loudenne, a 17th century chateau with 326 acres of vineyard. It's most famous owner was the Guvier family which built the cellar in 1876. Currently it is owned by a Chinese company. We walked the gardens, noting the roses planted at the end of each row of grapes, which are very sensitive to the parasites that can harm the grapes. The grapes are picked in either late August for white wine or late September for red. In the cellar, we saw the concrete vats from the 1920's as well as the stainless steel vats from the 1970's. In the next room was the 2014 wine aging (for 8-16 months) in the French Oak casks. The casks are typically used for 3 years. Here we tasted three wines - a white light wine and two reds. All the wines in Bordeaux are blended wines from typically 3 grape varieties. On this side of the estuary, the primary grape in Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot and Petit Bordeaux. At the chateau, we had a huge lunch including shrimp, salad, baked potatoes, and either grilled meats or fish.

Roses at head of each row

In the afternoon, we continued our wine education. First, we learned about the Grand CruClassé, a system designed in 1855 to classify the top Bordeaux wines into five grades. The wineries have to submit their wines every year to maintain their classification. Our first winery was a fifth classification winery of 3700 acres, the Chateaudu Tertre, which bears the appellation Margaux, the name of the local village. The original village was established in the 12th century. In 1724, the glass industry came to this area, and the chateau was built in 1736. The soil on this side of the estuary is primarily gravel, ideal for Cabernet Sauvignon because the gravel holds the heat. Here the grapes are automatically sorted by machine for color, size, shape, and density. Air jets separate the good grapes from the bad. All the grapes are handpicked, and they avoid piping the wine between the vats - they pour it into a small vat and transport this portable vat to the next tank. The grape juice is put in the vat for 8-12 days at 26-28 degrees Celsius and the yeast from the grapes starts the fermentation process. The vats are carefully monitored to ensure that the yeast doesn't form a cap on top. One to three times a day they 'pump over' the vat taking the wine from the bottom and re-pouring on top. Oak vats and concrete vats are used because they are porous and allow a small amount of oxygen into the vat. Here they were experimenting with egg shaped vats for their white wines to keep the sediments swirling in the wine. Then the wine is stored in oak barrels for 12-16 months. Every 3-4 months they change barrels, eventually they blend the wine and age it another 8-10 months. Then it is bottled and the red wines continue to improve for at least 10 years.

Chateau du Tertre egg shaped vat

Our last stop of the day was at Chateau Giscurs, a 3rd class winery. Here we had a fun time in the wine workshop. We had already learned about the classification system, but here we learned about appellation, of which there are 63 in Bordeaux and 8 in the Medac sub-region. We were quizzed on the aspects of wine. We found out that the older Cabernet Sauvignon wines are lighter in color than the new ones. We were given some scents and asked to describe them. Then we actually tasted two wines, one from 2010 which still had a lot of tannin taste, and one from 2000 which was much smoother. Then we were given a mystery wine and asked to determine what vintage it was. We guessed based on the color and taste that it was probably from 2006-8 and it was a 2007 vintage. Yea! For us. 

Bordeaux

Gate of the Arrow, St. Andre Cathedral

Our ship is docked in Le Port de La Lune, the moon harbor, a crescent shaped section of the Garonne River. Cruise ships are nearby that have come in from the Atlantic. We had a combination bus and walking tour of the city this morning. As you look from the river, we see a shoreline filled with classic 18^th century building from the “golden age” of Bordeaux. Like La Rochelle, the city became rich sending European goods to Western Africa, taking on slaves to go to the West Indies, and then bringing back sugar, cotton, and cocoa from there to Europe. We began our walking tour at the Grand Théâtre built in 1780. This is one of the last remaining 18th century theaters in the world. A colonnade of 12 columns decorate the facade with statues of Greek muses and gods. In this theater, Victor Hugo in 1871 first spoke of the United States of Europe. We walked the old town including  Rue Sainte-Catherine, a mile long pedestrian shopping street. We continued on to the 13th century Saint-André Cathedral and its separate 15th century bell tower the  Tour Pey-Berland. It is separate because both edifices are built on former marsh land. The church served for two royal weddings. Nearby is the Hotel de Ville, the former Bishops Palace. We continued on by bus to visit along the river quay.

Port Cailhau, 1456

In the afternoon, we visited the large Jardin Public and watched the people picnicking on the grass as well as the children playing or riding the carousel. I headed back to the Esplanade des Quinconces which is a huge public area from 1828 with the Monument des Girondins in the center, celebrating the French Revolution. I continued along the quay to the Port Cailhau, a monument gate built in the 15th century. Even more spectacular is the Place de la Bourse with the fountain of the Three Graces in the center. From the river there is a reflecting pool, the Miroir d'Eau where both children and teenagers enjoying running through the water. It's only an inch of water but it periodically gets refilled with spray, causing all the kids to scream with delight!

Miroir d'Eau

Upon returning to the ship we had a cheese tasting session with wine to wash down the bread and cheese. We had three cheeses: a fairly mild P'tit Pasque, a Camembert, and finally a strong Roquefort. Followed by another great dinner. 

Oyster farming

Oyster cultch and bags

We left La Rochelle and headed south along the coast for a visit to Marennes. This is where the conditions are perfect to farm oysters. There are over 800 farmers in the region and they produce 45% of France's oysters. In the summer months, the oysters produce a milk for reproduction. Wooden poles called a 'cultch' are placed in the water to which the larvae attach to start the process. They grow for 9 months and then are sorted by size into bags of oysters. Here they continue to feed and grow. Three times a year for the next 2 years the farmers go out and fetch the bags, they hit and shake the shells to ensure they have a rounded shape rather than an oblong shape and then boil them for 3 seconds to remove any parasites. In the last stage of the process, the oysters moved to marshland where they continue to grow in the different water which modifies their taste. The particular farm we went to managed 20,000 bags of oysters. After the detailed explanation we listened to a movie which showed farmers wading in the sea water and marshes to work the oysters. Then came our challenge for the day. They taught us how to properly open an oyster so we could sample the product. They were good, but I personally wouldn’t spend a lot of money to eat them. An interesting side note: Grand Circle discovered this place last year, and loved it. But no one spoke English, so they asked if they could brush up on their English over the winter for Grand Circle’s tour. Our host did a terrific job of giving the tour and answering our questions.

I did it!

We traveled on to have lunch in Sainte at the Tavern du Maitre Kanter. Another hour and we reached to Bordeaux to board our riverboat, the Chanson. This boat was just purchased and refurbished by Grand Circle, it’s only been cruising since March. We had a delicious Captain's dinner with 3 appetizers, a sorbet, veal main dish and creme' brule for dessert. Not a bad start. 

Riverboat Chanson

La Rochelle

La Rochelle light house

La Rochelle is the largest French port on the Atlantic. Founded about 1000 AD, it became famous for exporting wine and salt. Later, its western location gave it an advantage for trade with Africa and North America. The towers at the entrance to the port and the clock tower are what is left of the original walls. What looks like a church steeple is actually an ancient lighthouse. Henry IV stopped the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants, and La Rochelle became primarily a protestant town. They tore down the Catholic churches to fortify the walls. In 1628, the town was laid under siege by Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu to return this town to Catholicism. After a year of siege, the city was starving, 20,000 had died, and the town surrendered. Many of the Protestants left town, rather than converting. They left for South Africa, Northern Europe (Hugenots), New France (Quebec) and America (New Rochelle in New York). Today, the town is only 2% protestant, similar to the rest of the country. 

Orphan heading to New France

We visited the town hall, with its statue of Jean Gaiton, the mayor during the siege, in front. Then to the colorful marketplace with fish, meat, vegetables, and fruit. After a pizza lunch, we decided to take a boat trip tour to Fort Boyard and the isle of Aix. Fort Boyard was built between 1809 and 1866 to defend the islands from the British. It was a unique building meant to be a fort with canon, but by the time it was built it was pretty much obsolete, so it became a prison. Today, it is most known as the location of a popular TV game show called oddly enough "Fort Boyard".  The weather was threatening so we didn't spend any time on the island which has beaches, and lots of walking and biking paths. On our return to the harbor, the weather improved, so we stopped for a drink in the sunshine. 

Fort Boyard

On the road to La Rochelle

On our bus trip we learned a bit about the French Health System, cost of which is 10% of GDP. Almost 100% of the cost of health care is free for those living in or working in France (All hospital stays and drugs). An exception is a doctor visit which cost 23 Euro, 70% is reimbursed and you can go to the doctor as often as you like. There are 23,000 general practice doctors in France and today's controversy is over the very low cost of a doctor's visit. While the doctors education is paid for, they still have to pay for room and board for the 4-12 years they will spend learning to be a doctor. 

Deux Chaveau

We stopped for coffee in Richelieu, named for the Archbishop and one of the few fortified towns built in that era. It was meant to be an ideal town for the 17th century. The moat is now filled with gardens for the nearby houses. As we continued on we stopped for lunch in the country at the La Repartie. This family restaurant is on its third generation. We had the local specialty as our starter, a vegetable square covered with goat cheese. What I found intriguing were the Deux Chaveau (two steam horses) that were parked there, classic and modified. I remember riding around in this bucket called a 'car' when I was an exchange student in France,

45 years ago.

Old Cognac Still

Our next stop was the Normandin-Mercier cognac distillery. Cognac is distilled from white grape wine (no more than 6 months old) from the Cognac region of France. It is distilled for 12 hours twice, resulting in a distillation of 72% alcohol. Then stored in casks for at least 2 years to be called Cognac. After the first two years, most cognac is put in a 2 year to 18 year old cask for many more years. Cognac is most often mixed with distilled water to reach an alcohol content around 40% (since it would take 50 years of storage to get to that level naturally). The aging of the blend stops when it is bottled. Usually older and newer cognac is mixed to get a good tasting blend. Typically cognac is seven years, fifteen years, or even older. They had a cask that was started in 1893, over 120 years old. We met the owner, who is the fifth generation of this family business.We reached La Rochelle in the early evening and had dinner in a restaurant by the harbor.

Harbor of La Rochelle

Amboise

Our morning was spent at Chenonceau, the ladies’ castle, built over the river Cher in the 16th century. The castle is famous as the home of Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de Medici, and Louise of Lorraine. Rather than having a guide, we were given the audio tour of the castle. This allowed us to have a more relaxed visit to the castle, listening to the excellent music and commentary. The chateau is well-restored with most of the furniture of the various periods. The castle also has some interesting modern history, since it served as a hospital during World War I and as a passage way between occupied and free France during World War II. Highlights included the kitchen, the great hall, and the beds that belonged to the various kings and ladies.

Chenonceau

In the afternoon, after another great lunch (this time an omelet for Mary and Cesar salad for John) we toured the Chateau of Amboise. The chapel dedicated to St. Hubert, the patron saint of hunters was our first stop. Here is the tomb of Leonardo de Vinci, who died here in 1519. Most of the castle has been demolished over the years, but what remains is quite impressive. The castle itself has two styles: Gothic style from the 15th century on the left and Renaissance style from the 16th century on the right. Throughout the castle you see the symbols of the families in the stone decorations and furniture. Charles VIII (Fleur de Lice) married Anne of Brittany (Ermine tail) to create a single kingdom consisting of France and Brittany. Here we also see the seal of Francis I (the salamander) and he was the king who invited Leonardo to visit here for the last three years of his life. In the Renaissance portion of the castle, we see furnishing of the last French King, Louis Philippe. An interesting piece of furniture was a credenza, which was where the trusted food was placed, those that had been tasted for poison. Also we saw one of the first grand pianos, built in 1832 from Brazilian Rosewood.

Fleur de Lice and Ermine Tale on Chimney

Finally, we walked up to the Chateau du Clos Luce' the home of Leonardo. The rooms weren't all that interesting after seeing the two previous chateaus, but what was fascinating were the models of his inventions: parachutes, gear shifts, helicopter, military tank, irrigation pumps, swinging bridges, and even a precursor to the car. They also had some videos on how these inventions would have worked. What he was missing was a true power source for these inventions - many weren't possible until the steam engine was invented. By now we were tired, so we picked up something for dinner at a grocery store and headed back to our hotel. 

Chartres

Chartres Cathedral

We actually got to sleep-in till 7:30 since we didn't leave until 9:30. We went through Central Paris (Place de la Bastille, Notre Dame, and Boulevard St. Michel) to reach the highway to Chartres. The primary tourist attraction there is the Cathedral, the largest Gothic church in France, built in the 12th century. We had time to talk a walk through the city and have lunch before our tour. Our lunch was a French specialty - Buckwheat pancakes with a central filling - mine was egg and cheese. Our local tour guide was top notch, even though she was a Buddhist, she knew everything about this church! The most famous windows are the windows in back of the church, made in the 12th century. The windows depicted the family tree leading to Christ on the right, the childhood of Christ in the center, and his death and resurrection on the left. Then she began explaining the windows on the sides of the church, most of them paid for by the various guilds. For example, the Mary Magdalene window was sponsored by the water guild. You can clearly see her washing Christ's feet with her tears, but at the bottom was the advertisement for the water guild. Fetching water for use by drinking or for putting out fires. Further down was the most famous of the windows - the Blue Virgin with a unique light blue color on the 12th Century portion of the window and a darker blue on the 13th century portion. Around the altar was a wall built in the Flamboyant Gothic style in the older portion and a Renaissance style on the newer portion. Here was a unique scene - the circumcision of Christ. The experts believe that they must have consulted with the Jews on this sculpture because it exactly duplicates the Jewish ceremony. In the back of the church is the 'veil of Mary' which was given to Charlemagne by Irene of Constantinople. Recent scans of the cloth show that it dates from the 9th century, not the time of Christ.

Mary Magdalene Window

We continued on the city of Amboise, arriving just before dinner. That evening we had our welcome dinner at the Cave aux Fouees, built in a cave. The local specialty is Fouees, a bread that they made while we were waiting and then we filled it with cold pork and lettuce. This was followed by the main course: Pork, pork sausage, and white beans. We then had a cake ice cream dish that they said was Baked Alaska, but was much better. With the champagne and the local wine that we drank everyone left full and in a happy mood. 

Dinner at Cave aux Fouees

Paris - Day 3

Venus de Milo

Today, we're all heading to the Louvre. We got there just after opening, so the lines for tickets weren't too bad. Rather than everyone trying to stay together, we let everyone choose to view what they wanted and then rejoin at the meeting point in three hours. Mary and I decided to spend our time seeing some of the highlights: the original fortress walls of the castle, the Greek and Roman sculptures including the Venus de Milo and then the 13th to 18th century paintings including the Mona Lisa. We had paid for the audio tour and for us it added a lot, especially explaining some of the symbols within the paintings. We both agreed that one of our favorites was the Four Seasons by Arcimboldo painted in 1573. With only an hour left we headed to the Egyptian portion of the museum. We were fascinated by the Sarcophagus of the Spouses. The many items reminded us of our trip to Egypt over ten years ago.

 

The Four Seasons

We rejoined the group for lunch at Le Nemours right near the Palais Royale. Here we encountered a band playing for the tourists and later on a string group, what a contrast in music! Lunch was a traditional baguette with ham. The group split up from here. We walked the Jardins des Tuileries, watching all the people enjoying the park, and then onto the Place de la Concorde from where we could see the L'Arc du Triomphe at the end of the Champs Elysee (the most expensive boulevard in Paris). Mary and Cindy headed back to our hotel while I made a stop at St. Germaine des Pres. The place I wanted to get to was St. Suplice famous for three masterpieces by Eugene Delacroix as well as it astronomic features. A whole in the roof causes the sunlight at noon to follow a bronze line on the floor (the French Meridian) and pillar. At noon on the winter solstice  the sun lights up a gold disk at the top. An oval plate near the altar is lit up on the equinoxes, all in an attempt to determine the date for Easter. 

Champs Elysee to the L'arc du Triomphe

That night we met the tour group for an orientation and several glasses of wine. We had a delightful dinner just down the block from the hotel.