Go on, get outta here!

Out and about La Roche Posay; day trips and other last bits

Ok, this will be the last of the entries about my time at the Chateau... the focus will be on the small village of La Roche Posay and then on the day trips Nikkii and I did during our time there... and then any other little bits and pieces that fly into my head... including our leaving!

Enjoy!

La Roche Posay

La Roche Posay is a tiny village at the southern extreme of the Loire Valley. A cute and historic place it is famed for its therapeutic mineral waters. People come from around Europe for treatments etc... I guess it's the Hepburn Springs of France! Well I drank the water everyday and I didn't see any miracles! But I saw many burns victims and people with various other skin afflictions - for them I hope it helped.

The village had 3 hairdressers and 3 chemists - the focus was clearly health and beauty in a village of maybe 15 shops!

The other shops of interest were the bread/pastisserie ... for obvious waist-expanding-cholesterol-rising reasons! and this deli/butcher shop that sold amazing terrines (I should have taken more photos!), vege pies, pates, cold meats, salads and ... meat - overpriced but yum.

But on Tuesdays and Fridays there was a village market. On Tuesdays it was the "big" market that included stalls of clothing and manchester, tourist bits and other non-edibles. On both days there were fresh fruit and vegie stalls, meat and fish vans as well as cheese stalls and deli stalls and hot food... again I should have taken more photos but when it's you're daily life and you're grocery shopping you don't tend to! I remember taking this one only cos the guy had a cowbell that he kept ringing for attention - he sold cured meats and cheeses I think.

My favourite stall was run by a man who enjoyed my lame attempts at French (ie pointing and mispronouncing numbers!) and "dur" - we had to get avocados hard so they would ripen during the course of the week. Teaching me new words each week - actually it could have been the same words each week but I never remembered them! Besides he gave me a huge bunch of parsley one week and that's all it takes to win my affections ;).

I also had a favourite stall that specialised in mushrooms, beans and raspberries - what's not to like! The mushrooms in France were special - REAL variety... amazing! I wish I knew how to source them in Australia. The one growing in amoungst pebbles was in the garden and I was tempted to try it but resisted.

The rest of the shopping was done at the Super U just outside of town (mentioned last blog) it was mega ... especially on deli products... meat was crap and random things were hard to find... like oats!

But you could get tinned scallops in a tin with shells to serve them in (not that I did!) Oh and have I mentioned how cheap alcohol was? If only I drank! In fact at the chateau I could have drunk as much Belgian beer as I liked! In 6 weeks I had... none! WHat a waste, eh? Apparently it was top shelf good beer but, whatever I only had a few reds too... be still my (barely) beating liver!

Now La Roche Posay is a small tourist town, but don't be thinking it doesn't have a pulse! There was a race track down the road and, in our time there, there were two lots of races... The first I didn't go to cos we were working, the second I didn't get to cos it was raining. Oh well. They did have their annual trash and treasure at the same said race course and I went to that...

I bought some buttons for ma (a strange fetish of hers) a brooch for me, a Spanish/English dictionary (where else would I buy one?!), this bizzare cat-toy glove thing for Peggy and ma, some homemade toothpaste (the money for the last two items went to the local cat protection society) oh, and an awesome pair of ELton John-esque sunnies!

I was truly tempted to buy this second-hand ornate cheese platter and knife set... the platter handle was made of a deers hoof - tempting! Frankly it was nice just to get out and about and interact with new people... kinda!

Of course later in our stay Nikkii and I took to the hills... there was a car available the housesitters to use, which was great and kept our sanity. It was often when Nikkii and I were at our silliest!

Didn't we have a lovely day, the day we went to....

On our left is a google map of the region (I hope it's seeable or downloadable)... if not try this link http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&tab=wl I've marked up the places I'm gonna speak about... just know, it was all rural and all cute but this may not represent the exact order we went to them in ... indeed

the memories, images and places may be a little mashed!

Our first drive we just went off randomly and promptly found ourselves... well, we had no-idea-where. I mean one lane "roads" driving into the "bush"... we turned back and headed for somewhat (but only barely) more signposted terrain. What I noticed immediately, however, was the number of crucifixes on the side of the road... everywhere! What I soon realised is that every Y intersection had one... I was already feeling a little under-confident on the roads (this whole wrong side of the road business!) now I realised even the locals found it treacherous and felt the need for gods intervention at intersections!

Anglis-sur-l'Angle (or something like that!)

We drove through here briefly on an outing with the whole girl-gang (who went lingerie shopping... not me mind, I just went to get out of the house). Nikkii and I returned and had a wee bit of a wander around. It is probably one of the cutest and most quaint towns in the area - very touristy and we were nearly run over by bus loads of geriatrics... actually, assume that at a few places! It was lush and green and full of old ruins and cobbled nooks and crannies, as most of the towns were.

I always like a wander through old cemeteries, I find them fascinating and a great place for contemplation, I think Nikkii just finds em... and probs me... creepy! The town is also known for producing delicate lace work... The women wouldn't let take pics of their faces! And there was a shop that produced wonderful hand-carved wood pieces but the details don't show on here.

To Chavigny

On this day we again headed off aimlessly but were in silly mode and had much fun. WE stopped along the way at parks and such and "played"... really, in very contemporary affirmation shit jargon, it was the journey not the destination that mattered! WE Couldn't have given a shit about the ruins and what not... frankly each small village was by now a bit the samish! Though in this one we paid admission and went and saw the exhibit of famous pottery and stuff (some of you must be dyin on the inside with my troglodyte attitude to historic detail!)

I vaguely recall that on this site there had been evidence of more than 3000yrs settlement and the museum was set up to show that... I also remember that there were humungous bellows that had been used to keep the kilns hot enough - I just thought Carina would love a shot at them, even if they were as big as her! (she often played with the ones at home when we had a fire going).... Oh and I took a piccy of the geriatric tour group who were about to come racin up the stairs to run us over... sheesh those geriatrics are everywhere!

On the way home we stopped at another park where I found a four-leaf clover and we saw giant burrows all over the place - what the fuck lives in them? Too big for rabbits... don't know

Here are notes from my iPhone that day:

Crossing an old, stone bridge looking down over a rushing river with lime reeds twisting and sweeping with the current, I saw a still, thunder-grey ibis-like bird, one leg up. Still, statue still, beautiful.

Why do iPhone photos make the magic seem so ordinary

At one y intersection, from a cross jesus looks down from hill - this does not inspire confidence for this nervous passenger

Turrets rock!

Sun making an effort through a curtain of gossamer-thin clouds

It's not just the town that's medieval

Walking in St Sauvin park with patches of mint (the lawn was interwoven with wild mint that produced the most amazing, alive scent as one frolicked!)

A kid in a car park taking innocent joy playing with a diablo

Drive to Tour

It took 2 hrs to drive each way but it was well worth it by this point in our stay in the Chateau - we needed some life!

Easy for me to say though, I was just in the passenger seat enjoying a drive in the country - here are some iPhone notes from the drive:

- Decayed ancient rock walls, there is no graffitti they are marked with their own ancient histories

- Deep green trees and burnt red vines trying to escape the confines of these walls to join us on the road

- Woman mowing lawn in fancy neck scarf and big, gold-hoop earrings so fucking French!

- There are signs along the road warning of deer do the equivalent kangaroo signs fascinate and "amuse" tourists back home the way these do here?

When we arrived there seemed to be protests on each corner and crazy folk. Turns out it was O-week, we saw many people in "whacky" outfits, egg and flour fights etc an injection of anarchic life - just what we needed

It was fantastic to be in a town... a town that took longer than five minutes to circumnavigate by foot... we wandered around for hours and hours. Looking at shops - marvelling at the old town. The most amazing building for me in France was the Tour Cathedral amazing architecture but also a service was underway when we entered and it felt full of atmosphere... we didn't stay long - it felt hypercritical for me and weirded out Nikkii (who has a Catholic background). It is an interesting nexus, the tensions between prayer, tourism, respect, beauty...

We stumbled across the artists' quarters in the old city. And within that I stumbled across a woman working in her studio making modern Madonnas and stuff - interesting! She kinda looks like Tanners in this pic (for those of you who know my old housemate!)

When it was time to get dinner we had soooo many options - which was fantastic! We chose Chinese as nothing this "exotic" was available within coo-ee of La Roche Posay - and we fucken loved it! There was the auspicious fish tank with fish that had odd The-Joker-type mouths... perfect.

When we went to leave I discovered that a huge blister on the back of my foot had burst. Fuck - not so used to walkin I guess. The hobble to the car took ages but was not without its own amusement. A pack of students including a "jolly" one dressed as a chicken crowing away. When we laughed they enthusiastically chatted and asked us to pose with them... in some student paper or Facebook page somewhere are two dazed and confused tourists smiling with a giant chook! Damn we forgot to whip out a camera.

As we drove away, the city night lights twinkled and we drove back to our country reality.

La Grand Presigny and surrounds

This drive around to many places was again a random select meander so I can't say precisely where we were but we found this truly grand chateau... it even had a moat! I loved watching lizards scamper along walls - as you can tell the weather that day was magic. And we just wandered around soaking it in taking random left and right turns, tossing coins to decide where we'd end up.

Everything looked magic. It was that moment in Autumn when colours are vibrant and changing - the sun was warm but not crisping. Loverly!

We ended the day at some old ruin that had apple, quince and walnut trees in the car park. That apple tasted even better than it looks!

Poitiers

Eventually we headed into the other "big" town in the area (think smaller than Ballarat but bigger than Daylesford). We window shopped and found an interesting lolly shop... as you can see. We wandered some more and tripped past some musicians. Cool a taste of LIVE culture. We stopped for a bit.. had a drink. It was then I made that in France ALL drinks (beer, soft, juice etc) were served in their corresponding branded glasses. Just a random observation!

it was at this time I noticed a booth and made the happy discovery that we had chanced across an arts festival. BULK LIVE CULTURE. Cooooooool! There were 13 stages/sites scattered through-out the city. Happy as a pig in shit!

There was whacky performance art....

Even nature put on it's own magic show.

We sat down to watch whatever was going to be on this awesome stage... turns out it was performance poetry - we didn't stay, it can be painful enough when you understand it!

We strolled to the next stage...

Peeked in at shops... including an awesome umbrella shop where I spent a fortune on an umbrella ... and not even the one I really wanted!

We burped our way through the streets of Poitiers looking for our next pocket of culture

and found a variety of muticultural acts. We then looked for somewhere for dinner and chose a Turkish place (whenever we headed for the "big-smoke" me thinks we subconsciously looked for food that reminded us of home in someway). We sat and watched the folk around us ... which included a giant snail that scootered through the crowds. Dinner, by the way, was rank!

As we were leaving we stopped and watch a rock band... couldn't understand a thing they sang... turns out the were British!

RANDOM BITS

At one point I lost my iPhone on a bus... it was handed in to the bus driver who was a total spit for Julie - the winner of the first series of Masterchef!

If anyone knows where I can get a bag EXACTLY like this, I will love them forever! (it wasn't for sale but a prop in a tea shop)

Squirrels are truly cute - I saw them from the kitchen window scampering in trees. I also saw them when I sat outside to blog they would skip past on the lawn.

I rationed myself episodes of True Blood (third series) and began a new addiction - The Wire ... I highly recommend both

Descartes every second town, college and street was named in his honour.

And now it's time to say good-bye... isn't it?

About 10 days before we were booked to leave the chateau, Lawrence started to warn us about a planned general strike throughout France - essentially their government want to extend the age when people can retire by 4 years. The strike was planned for 3 days before we were leaving - there had been several strikes already in the time we'd been there but this one was the culmination. We waited for news... not much info was available, the government wouldn't budge.

The strike happened and it became a rolling strike... most trains out of our region were cancelled - each day we checked ... would we escape?... would I make it out to Nice and visit Maggi? ... Would Nikkii make it back to London? Would I make it to Madrid to catch my flight to Athens to catch up with Stevey?

All this and more will be revealed in future blogs... for now though that's the end of our time in the Chateau - Au revoir!