Chambord

The Chateau of Chambord

Bonnie and Sophie showing the vastness of a hallway

Bonnie and Sophie on the famous double helix staircase

The Château of Chambord is the greatest example of folly in the Loire Valley.

Commissioned by Francois I in 1519, 1800 men worked on the construction during a period of over 20 years. The structure, containing 440 rooms, 365 fireplace, 13 great staircases, and stables to accommodate 1200 horses, stands in a 5400 hectare park surrounded by a wall 52 kilometres long.

These figures are mind-boggling and the fact that it was designed as a hunting lodge rather than a permanent residence speaks of the excesses of French Royalty in the middle ages.
We spent hours wandering through the chateau, and apart from one incident with an official concerned about Hugh trying to climb through a balustrade everyone was fairly well behaved.
But by the end we were all pretty tired - "all château-ed out" as Roger said.

After all that we were "all château-ed out"

Gîte

Making the most of the short week at school, we headed off on Monday for some serious tourism in the Loire Valley. It had taken much internet searching but I had found some accommodation in a "gîte" (a self-catering holiday home) in a village called Chisseaux, which is next to Chenonceaux. "La Longère du Vigneron" was comfortable for a family and had a washing machine and dryer, which I find essential on anything more than a one-night stopover.
Apart from the owner's mother, Madame Bourbonnais (a great grandmother) who lived downstairs, there was only one other couple in residence.
John and Marg were an expat British couple who were working for a company called "Headwater", organising cycling tours in the area.
One morning a group of middle-aged cyclists gathered in the courtyard and we heard familiar accents drifting up through the window. It turned out the group was from Perth and one woman was originally from Collie, only 60kms from where we live. That's the closest we have come to home since we've been here.

After dinner we had a walk around the village,
where we found this farm sign with a cow on it.
Odette and Hugh were in their pyjamas.

Brocante

Eating our lunch of hot chips and hot dogs

The bar at lunch time

The Brocante stalls laid out on the grass

The annual village Brocante (well, more like a jumble sale really) was held on Sunday 11th May. The stall-holders were setting up early, but I made a more relaxed entry, just before lunch time. Roger had gone a bit ahead of me and he tried to buy a stroller. The stroller we have been lent is quite worn out and occasionally tries to fold itself up while there is a child sitting in it, so we are searching for another one. When he found one he tried to barter with his limited French, only to find that it belonged to another lady and was not for sale!
The kids all had a go at knocking down cans with balls, and won a prize which had been donated (Hugh was happy with his second-hand Duplo blocks) as well as a little candle jar made out of old jars painted by the local kids. One of the jars didn't make it home after a run-in with the pavement, but we were able to replace it to avoid a possible tantrum.

Funiculaire de Saint-Hilaire du Touvet

WIKIPEDIA SAYS:
The Funiculaire de Saint-Hilaire du Touvet, or Saint-Hilaire du Touvet Funicular, is a funicular railway in the département of Isère in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. It links Montfort on the road between Grenoble and Chambéry, with the village of Saint-Hilaire du Touvet, located on the Plateau des Petites Roches 600 metres above.

Until the funicular was built, the village of St. Hilaire du Touvet was accessible only on foot, or by mule. The construction of the funicular was started in 1920 and it was opened in 1924, principally to serve several sanatoria built to house tuberculosis patients.

Until 1955, the funicular was served by two 40 passenger cars. These were replaced in that year by a more modern design of car, carrying 60 passengers each. In 1992, these were in turn replaced by new cars to a retro design, not dissimilar to the original cars.

We went in the afternoon on Saturday, and the attraction at the top was to see where the parapents launch. It all looks so lovely, jumping off a cliff and soaring in the sky...
Anothe rattraction was the icecream kiosque, but that is just the difference that about 40 years makes.

Water Pistols

Four girls in a bath

Bonnie's friend Fanny came for a sleep-over last night. The girls stayed up VERY late, but as there is no school today we didn't mind. Then this morning they got into a gun-fight with some boys in the street. The boys are a year or two older and their weapons were superior. Their tactics were more sophisticated too. When they took Fanny hostage and demanded that she squirt the other girls or she would get hurt it was time to call in reinforcements. So Mum was called out of the shower and marched down the road wrapped in a towel to rescue the hostage and repatriate the water-soaked girls to a warm bath.
No-one had the camera out to catch me in my towel (it scared the boys off though), but I got it out to take a snap of the girls in the bath.

---

Bumerang

A French boomerang toy

We did wonder what the Australian pronunciation of this French toy would be...

---

Happy Birthday Nanna

My Mother with her grandkids in Australia. Jennifer's three big
teenagers are at the back, Angela's are the three smaller kids
on the front left, and Fiona's are the three at front right.

Today it is my Mother's 70th birthday. She had a party in Perth on the weekend with family and two old friends. That's where the photo of her with the grandkids was taken. Tonight in York she is having another celebration - a dinner with a group of ladies who dine together in York.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!

Vélo Vs Voiture

There are lots of bicycles (vélos) in France. More than we are used to seeing in WA. In the mountains every weekend there are hundreds of people riding their bikes. Bikes with lots of gears, and cyclists in their cycling gear.
Recently, when we were cautiously driving down the narrow winding road of a mountain, we were overtaken by a cyclist. Whoosh and he was gone, so fast that I didn't have time to get my camera focussed to get a photo of him. Indeed I wanted to take a photo of him, as it is not every day that your family wagon is overtaken by a bicycle!

May - The Month of Holidays

France is said to be the holiday capital of the world, because public servants have more holidays than in any other country. The month of May illustrates this perfectly.
There is a holiday (labour day) on the 1st of May. The celebration for V-E Day (the end of WWII) is on the 8th of May. Pentecost (or Whitsunday) falls in May this year.
The children seem to be hardly at school this month. Apart from the public holidays they have their regular Wednesdays off school, and the teachers are having a strike (school closed) on the 15th.

1 May Labour Day
8 May V-E Day
9-12 May Pentecost
15 May Teachers' strike

We may well profit from the prolonged break this week-end and take a trip somewhere...

---

Deux Chateaux

One of the four towers at the Château de bon repos

Sophie's class outside the château

During the week Sophie's class went on an excursion to visit two chateaux near Grenoble. I was one of the few parents who went along to accompany the class, and my job was to translate for Sophie. I hope she learnt a little bit... It was certainly interesting for me!
The first château, le château du bon repos, was in ruins but undergoing restoration. The second, the château de sassenage, was lived in by family members until the 1970s when it was bequeathed to the Fondation Française. It now hosts functions (conferences, wedding receptions etc) to pay for its upkeep.

Sophie in front of the Château de Sassenage

Sophie (who wears glasses full time now)

The most interesting thing for me at the first chateau was the refrigerator. This is in the 1600's and there was a fridge in the kitchen! Not exactly a fridge as we have in our kitchen today, but it did the same job. Being close to the mountains there was a supply of ice and snow not far away, so ice would be hauled back to the chateau to fill a very well insulated section of the cellar which was reminiscent of a well. This was directly below the kitchen, where a series of ropes and pulleys allowed perishable foods to be suspended in the "fridge" and hauled out when needed.
At sassenage Sophie was fascinated by the "clyster stool". This little piece of furniture was used for cleansing the colon by administering an enema. I have found a picture on the internet which I have posted here because I didn't know how I would describe it. The user sits astride the stool and uses the syringe to pump water (or a solution), well, um... up his backside!