Trip to Languedoc-Roussillon (Day 2 Abbaye de Fontfroide)

We visited the beautiful Cistercian abbey set among serene cypress trees and terraced gardens.  Most of the buildings were erected  in the 12th and 13th centuries.  Our tour of the cloisters, Chapter house, dormitory, chapel was very interesting.

Trip to Languedoc-Roussillon (Day 1 Carcassonne)

Janet and I drove south over the mountains and hit some very icy roads so we decided to take the longer (miles) but safer and faster way on the autoroute.  One of my best purchases has been my international GPS.  With a quick change of course and a push of a button we were on our way again.  After coming to France for so many years, renting a car and using a number of maps, I would say now the GPS is the way to do it.  Technology at its best!  After 6 hours on the road we arrived in Carcassonne.  The view of the medieval, walled city as we approached was breath-taking.  The fortress, the largest in Europe, consists of a fortified nucleus, the Château Comtal and a double curtain wall:  the outer ramparts include 14 towers,  separated from the inner ramparts (24 towers) by the outer bailey.  The earliest sections of the wall were built by the Romans in the 1st century, were later enlarged by the Visagoths, and during the 13th century Louis IX and his son Philip the Bold strengthened the fortifications giving it the appearance it has today.  We toured the entire city and had a great dinner that night (the regional speciality,  Cassoulet, a delicious dish of pork sausages, duck confit and white beans).
 

Janet visits from Boston!

I had a wonderful visit from Janet for about a week.  We were joined, for the first couple days, by two Fulbright friends, Susan and Kristin,  who stopped in Grazac on their way north to visit Paris and the regions of  Burgundy and Brittany during our 11 day Toussaint school vacation.  We visited Puy en Valey and enjoyed lunch at a nearby restaurant.

 

During our visit we climbed up to St. Michel-d'Aiguilhe, an incredible chapel located at the top of a gigantic needle of lava which rises up 262 ft. in a single shaft.  The building dates back to the 10th-12th century and testifies the architect's ability to plan complex vaulting on such a small site. The small chapel evokes an atmosphere of a very holy place and one can understand why Puy en Valey was one of starting points for pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Week-end in Renaison!

I had a wonderful invitation to the home of family friends in Renaison, a lovely town about 2 hours north of Grazac.  Martine and Michel took me on a great tour of the area where we visited the town center and the beautiful church.  We also had an opportunity to visit the Musée Alice Taverne, an  extremely interesting museum concerning traditional rural life in the area during the second half of the 19th century.  Fully decorated rooms depicted life during that time including a school room, a store, a one-room farmhouse and the fascinating office interior of the "Robouteux" (a rural medicine man somewhere between an herbalist and a magician)!

Martine, a fantastic cook, made the week-end so perfect with wonderful meals she prepared using the best regional products.  Thank you again, Martine and Michel, for your warm and gracious hospitality!

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Fulbright Orientation-Paris

I took the TVG to Paris Wednesday morning to join the Fulbright Orientation.  I met with the 4 other American Fulbright Exchange teachers at the hotel, we had a quick lunch and then on to OFII (Office français de l'immigration et de l'intégration) for our medical exams to finish up the administrative work for our visas.  That evening we enjoyed an elegant evening at a welcome reception at the Sénat, Palais du Luxembourg.  M. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Former Prime Minister, Senator and H.E. Mr. Charles H. Rivkin, Ambassador of the United States to France spoke before the 200 American Fulbright Research Scholars,  Exchange Teachers and Teaching Assistants.

The following 2 days we five Exchange teachers attended informational meetings, workshops, and classroom observations concerning the educational system in France.  It was a tremendously interesting and instructive conference.  We stayed through the week-end to enjoy the city.  I went to the Grand Palais to see an excellent exhibit - France 1500 Entre Moyen Age et Renaissance, an exhibit at the Louvre of Antoine Watteau and the Musée Cernuschi, Musée des Arts de l'Asie in the Monceau Quarter.  Of course, walking in Paris is always great and dinners with my Fulbright friends on Friday and Saturday were wonderful!  

Medieval Castle --Château de Chinon

After walking up a cobbled stone road, winding around the ramparts, we arrived at the castle.  The fortress, from the time of  Henry II of England who died there in 1189, overlooks the village below lined with half- timber medieval houses.  Two centuries later the castle witnessed Joan of Arc's recognition of the dauphin, later Charles VII.  From there she left to "accomplish her miraculous and tragic destiny".   We visited a nearby church in the village below and found it to be the church where Joan of Arc prayed for 2 days in 1429 while she waited to visit the dauphin.  It was an amazing experience to be there in the same church almost 600 years later!

Renaissance Castle--Château de Chenonceau

We decided to head out Friday after school for the Loire Valley for a quick week-end of discovering castles from different historical periods.  After a five hour drive north we finally arrived at the Castel de Bréhémont along the left bank of the Loire River.  On Saturday morning we visited the Château de Chenonceau on the River Cher.  In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful castles and almost impossible to describe in a few lines. It is a Renaissance château but with interesting innovations:  a straight staircase instead of a spiral one and, for the first time, rooms designed around a central vestibule.  It has been called "The Château of Six Women" (two of them queens) who lent to it their womanly virtues of "beauty, charm, elegance and grace" for 400 years.  Diane de Poitiers, duchess of Valentinois and royal mistress, created a garden for royal visits and had a bridge built across the Cher to link the castle to the left bank.  Upon the death of Henry II, Diane de Poitiers was forced to give up the château to Catherine de Medici, who had a two-story gallery built on the bridge and  added a park and several out buildings.