Now, Where Was I...?

... the last time you heard from me was yonks ago.  Between then and now Things Have Been Happening.

Oh yes.  Things.  

But before I bore you with exactly what Things, we'll take a commercial break.

Abbaye de Villelongue, Longuedoc, France

Come and visit the beautifully kept ruins of the Abbaye of Villelongue.  Resting at the foot of the Montagne Noir (Black Mountain) in the Languedoc Roussillon region of Southern France, this ancient abbey of Villelongue is one of the few cistercian abbeys left in Europe.

You may even happen across a concert of English Baroque music in the beautifully restored Refectory...

And welcome back...

Things indeed.  Things like moving to Holland.  Such a little statement for such a huge undertaking.  Details of finding said flat, deposit, removals (movers, for you non-UK'ers) firm and pick-up and delivery by said firm shall be spared, worry not, but I shall divulge some more pleasant happenings which include covering up the repulsive peach and red earth walls in the living room with a nice clean white and cheery sunshine yellow (although I have to admit that separated as they are in the hall and the bedroom, they aren't horrific at all), purchasing my very own fridge-freezer (and discovering a plethora of fabby second-hand shops into the bargain) and the compulsory visit to IKEA for things I didn't really need, but had to have, anyway.  

I shall only add that I don't intend to stray from this new flat for a Very Long Time.  (It's very nice, though, so I don't think I'll mind too much...)

Things.  Yes,  Other Things like singing in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with The Orchestra of the 18th Century.  Rameau, no less.   With a live radio broadcast thrown into the mix!  Oh.  And if that wasn't nerve-racking enough, I was covering one of 2 roles of one singer who developed some mystery throat infection one day before the concert.  But, OH, how enjoyable!  I mean - Rameau, Concertgebouw, Orchestra of the C18th?  And all over my birthday week.  SWEET!  (Apart from Ill Singer, but one mustn't look a silver lining in the... erm, stitching...)

Things like travelling back off to France for concerts with Le Petit Ensemble in the Abbaye de Villelongue, and with Ensemble Jacques Moderne in the Loire region.  (I find it moderately amusing that I decide to relocate back to Holland, only to get asked for a Summer's-worth of music in France - the exact inverse happened when I moved from Holland to France in 2003!)  

But that's all we have time (and patience) for this post...  Do join us again for the second and last episode of Now, Where Was I: Dutch Things 

:: cue cheesy music and cut to commercial ::

Hidden Chateaux of the Loire

The Chateau de la Chatonnierre lies near Azay-Le-Rideau in the Loire Valley.  Nestled in twelve gardens dedicated to Science, Intelligence, Elegance and Silence, amongst others, this Renaissance chateau also plays host to a Summer music festival, where you may find an international cast of singers and musicians.  

Within a stone's throw of this garden delight, you will find the grand manor house of Les Douves, which was built on the remains of the Chateau of Onzain.  Surrounded by its own moat and gardens, the house, which is privately owned, is home to exhibitions and small music festivals the year 'round.

This post was brought to you by The God Thor, his Thunder Bolts and Lighting Sticks, Lack of Sleep, and Much Coffee

V is for...

Versailles

 

tourists, lots of tourists.  oh, and a palace, too

Now, the first thing to be said about the marvellous Château de Versailles is that you'll be amongst thousands of tourists.  They're everywhere...  You'll be lucky if you can get a photo of the façade or the gardens without a couple of hundred folk obscuring the details.  You'll be lucky if you can find a sandwich for love OR money after the hour of 2pm.  You'll be lucky if you get to spend more than a couple of minutes in any room in the palace without being swept away in the current of the crowd. 

But you'll also be lucky to go there and see all the wonders in person!  Truly! 

My sis and I were awestruck with everything!  The size of the place, the richness, the history, the grandeur...  Even though I had been there before (I sang solo in the Chapel Royale with Les Arts Florissants, doncha know!) somehow visiting as a tourist made everything so much grander!

DS and I decided to 'do' the gardens first... and it was just as well we did...

the bassin de latone and grand canal

We spent 5 hours.  FIVE WHOLE HOURS in the gardens alone.  I had monstrous sunburn to account for that.  Even though there were plenty clouds in the sky, it was a 35-ish degree type of day so when the sun came out to play, he played hardcore.

 

the palace from the baths of apollo

Even with 5 hours of tramping around the groves, basins, fountains and avenues, I reckon we barely covered half of what there was to see in the gardens and I have to admit finding it hard to take photos of gardens of such a massive scale!  Also, me being me, I took more photos of the beautiful sculptures than the anything else!  We did make it as far as the Trianons - the Grand and the Petit and both were delightful to behold!

 

loggia of the grand trianon

petit trianon

Then, after tramping back a couple of miles, it was time for the interior of the palace, itself...  And it's totally breathtaking!  The French kings certainly stamped their majesty on the architecture and decoration everywhere, from the stunning Hall of Mirrors (which was being renovated while we were there);

la galerie des glaces

to the Chapelle Royale (which we could only view from the Royal gallery on the 1st floor and the door on the ground floor, so please excuse blurry photos - we were amongst many folk all jostling for a peep!);

you can kind of get an idea of the grandeur...

the organ by cliquot

through the royal apartments;

the ceiling of one of the state bedrooms

to the grand apartments:

impressive door in the hercules salon

It was a tad on the tricky side trying to get photos, but the few I have give me such excellent reminders of a terrific day out that made any jostling and cramming totally worthwhile!! 

P is for...

Palais de Luxembourg

on a crisp november afternoon

Okay, so I'm actually going to cheat a little with this post, as I haven't actually set foot inside the Palais de Luxembourg, which is in Paris, at all.  I did spend two lovely afternoons tramping around the gardens, though, so it's just a little cheat, not an o-my-stars-I'm-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket type cheat, so I'm hoping you'll let me off with a warning only!

The Luxembourg Palace was originally built for Marie de Médicis, mother of Louis XIII in the early 1600s and went through several owners, becoming a museum in the mid 1700s.  During the German occupation the palace became the headquarters for the Luffwaffe and it is now the seat of the French Senate.

cherubs and chrysanthemums - typical autumnal garden fare

I was lucky enough to be staying with a grand family who owned a massive apartment not 5 minutes from the gardens, so I took great pleasure in taking the odd hour or two I had off between rehearsals to wander around the very large parterre jardins and snap away at pretty much everything.  The gardens were formal in places, but away from the palace itself, were more extensively gravel walks between very evenly spaced trees, completed with a smattering of statues. 

The latter didn't really bear too close an inspection as I suspect a lot of them were concrete replicas of statues long ground into dust, but surrounded as they were by metal chairs and general detritis left over from the promenade season, I have to admit that I found them rather endearing!

waiting for the bandstand to come to life again...

The gardens also played host to a variety of pursuits: joggers made use of the outer pathways; the occasional roller-blader and skateboarder weaved and whipped around the sauntering tourists; senior citizens from the surrounding area took part in some tai-chi nearer the water garden (While I wandered around, there were 3 rival groups all contending to be... well, how do you determine the winners?  Contending to be the most gawped at?  The group who has the least amount of fallers?) and more than the odd one or two folk on bicycles leading their dogs for an afternoon stroll dash/drag around the park.

For an inner city garden, it was surprisingly peaceful and it was good to see that there were locals and not just tourists taking advantage of the tranquility. 

the long autumn rays of the setting sun

I must admit that my afternoons in the gardens were enjoyed in my favourite kind of weather - a crisp and cold  sunshiny Autumnal day, with the sun streaming through the trees making long shadows on the fallen leaves. My days around the Luxembourg were deliciously perfect.

M is for

Mixter-maxter

chenonceau in typical visiting weather

I'm cheating a bit, as I'm up to my ears in WIPs that need wrestled for the July WIPs Wrestlemania on Ravelry.  (Basically a chance to have some support in trying to finish some of the many works in progress that we all, no doubt, have languishing in corners, under cushions, behind settees, under fridges, in old coffee cups, etc etc etc...) 

Where does the cheating come in?  Well, my DS was over for a holiday recently, and we visited some of our favourite châteaux... Châteaux that have already received their own abc-along post...  Do you think I'll get away with it?!

Well, best foot forward, and a stiff upper lip etc.  I'm starting with Chenonceau, because it is my absolute favourite.  The weather was (yet again) unkind to us while we were there, and we had also been warned that some of the walls were under scaffolding for cleaning and restoration.  Did we still want to go?  Well, duh, yes! In the end, the scaffolding was draped with very cleverly constructed gauze prints of what the walls looked like behind the scaffolding.  Genius, as, unless you looked closely, you didn't really notice it.

For some reason I finally got a shot of my favourite room, too - the black-clad room of Louise of Lorraine.  She turned the chateau almost into a nunnery following the assassination of her husband, Henri III.

the mourning bedroom of louise de lorraine

And I don't think I've ever taken such a clear shot of the bed and tapestries in the bedroom of Catherine de Medici, either:

richness abounds

Blois was also on our itinerary.  With an additional falling down some steps, for me.  I sprained my foot, but didn't really feel it until we got home, so I was a bit lucky.  Kind of.  In a falling-over-and-hurting-myself-but-not-so-badly-as-to-ruin-the-day type way.

blois - the first view when walking/hobbling from the station

It's really rather an impressive edifice!  You're presented with the François I (early 1500's) wing on the left, and at the right you see the edge of the Gaston d'Orléans wing (early 1600's).

You then find yourself in front of the oldest part, the Louis XII wing, and entrance to the château.

the grand front door

Then you get inside and arrive in a courtyard surrounded by 3 eras of architecture!  It's stunning!  Well, it was a little less stunning than normal, as most of the courtyard was cordoned off...  I think I'm right in saying they were setting up lights for the Sons et Lumière (Sound and light) evening spectacle.  A fourth era of architecture, perhaps?  But the overall impression of awe wasn't dented that much!

the other side of the françois i wing with the amazing spiral staircase

the louis xii wing and chapel taken from the top of the spiral staircase

The next chateau we visited was Villandry!  I was very happy to show my DS this wonderful place.  The only thing marring the day was that although it was VERY hot, it was mostly cloudy and threatening thunder-showers at any minute.

the 'love' garden

I am rather fond of Villandry!  Although the chateau was 'officially' completed in the mid 1500's, the interior has been set out in late 18th century and Edwardian styles (early 20th century) - the latter being of the last incumbent, a Spanish doctor by the name of Joachim Carvallo, who bought the château in 1906.  (The castle is still owned by the Carvallo family.)

Although the place is more famous for its gardens than the interior of the chateau, I am repeatedly charmed by the nurseries on the top floor, the sumptuous yet simple bedrooms, the rustic kitchen, the 18th century dining room and especially by the incredible 15th century painted Moorish wood-panel ceiling to be found in a room to the back of a gallery of religious paintings.

:: sighs at the prettiness ::

To finish up, I'll give you a wee photo of part of the love garden... There are many more shots of the gardens to be found in the 'G is for...' post of a few months ago.

oh, I so want to put something about perfectly clipped love garden bushes...

L (and K) are for...

Loches

(château of)

Loches differs in many aspects from the other French chateaux I've featured for the Ravelry abc-along in that it is made up of several buildings over quite a large area of the town.  The picture above is of the Royal Lodge which was  either designed, built and occupied by Henry II of England and his son Richard the Lionheart in the 12th century, or captured and occupied, or inherited and occupied... I haven't been able to find many agreeing sources as yet...  It was (re-)captured by the French in the early 13th century and turned into quite the military fortress.  Whatever the real story is, it was certainly built on the remains of a much earlier fortress or castle of some sort.

the lodge from the other side and yes, on a different day.  how can you tell?

Running up to the Royal Lodge you find the Chapel of St Ours. (which confusingly translates as Saint Bear... maybe I should leave it in French...)  A chapel has been on the site since the 5th century, but the current chapel was built between the 10th and 12th centuries.  And it has pretty stained-glass windows, too!  (Oo - shiny moment!)

rather small and unasuming from the outside...

...but more than enough room to swing a cat on the inside

oooo - shiny

The Romanesque portal is pretty stunning, too, even though most of the paint  on the fabulous monsters depicted there has since faded.

owls, gryphons, monkeys, acrobats...

But that's not all, no indeed not.  There is also the imposing Keep and dungeon...  (And this is where I cunningly add my 'K' abc-along mini-postette...) 

the keep

There are rather a lot of buildings that encorporate the Keep - including the Barbican, the Governor's residence, the Louis XI tower, medieval gardens etc, but it is the dungeon that is the most thought-provoking and, to be honest, sinister...  The cylindrical dungeon of Cardinal Balue, the torture chamber, and other dungeons that had wall carving and general medieval graffiti.  I have to admit that the whole place gave me the willies...

The Keep, on the other hand, give me the willies for altogether different reasons... It is possible, by means of very old stone stairs and wire mesh landing stages, to climb up to the top of the enormous structure.  There are no floors nor a roof left, so climbing up the inside, next to the wall, is not for the faint of heart. 

that black blob lower left is me,
too scared to go any higher

I got up a few floors, but my intrepid sister climbed all the way to the top and took some great photos.  One of which I'll nick and show here:

 the royal lodge and the four towers of st ours in the distance

Yes, she is mad.  It was quite windy that day too, if I remember rightly...

Aye, Loches isn't a bad wee hunting lodge as hunting lodges go...  And a little extra-special as the town of Loches is twinned with my home town back in Scotland!  Nice!