My company is all gone now. First it was Andy for a week in January, then Jay and Barb came for two full days and three nights. Beth arrived on the 16th and I saw her off this morning in Toulouse after twelve wonderful days filled with so many places to see and things to do! Such a great four weeks that I've been able to spend with lovely people from "home". It makes me very happy when I can share all the things I love about my little corner of France.
The first couple of days that Beth was here we visited Carcassonne and small villages around me. Then we were off on our road trip to Paris - "Beth, Candy and CoCo Do Paris in Style!" We spent a night on the road coming and going and then three nights in Paris. We got back last Friday and spent another couple of days in this area. There are so many wonderful sights all around me!
I will let the photos speak for themselves đ
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| Looking out onto the ramparts of Carcassonne |
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| Between the walls |
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| Beth in the church in Carcassonne |
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| The outside of the church |
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| Inside the cathedral in Condom |
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| I never tire of seeing the cathedral in Condom. Magnificent! |
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| The cloister at the Flaran Abbey - just down the road from me |
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| The chapter house at the abbey |
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| A view of the abbey and her church |
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| Inside the tiny chapel at Chenonceau chateau |
Our first stop on our road trip to Paris was at Chenonceau chateau. My favorite. Built in the 16th century and the dwelling place of Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II of France, and then the home of six queens of France including Catherine de Medici, her two daughters and three daughter-in-laws, one of those being Mary Queen of Scots.
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| Diane de Poitier's bedroom at Chenonceau (with a portrait of the queen, Catherine de Medici!) |
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| Looking out onto Diane's gardens |
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| The kitchen at the chateau |
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| The bedroom of the five queens |
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| Lovely leaded glass windows look out on the river Cher and the gardens |
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| Chenonceau is my favorite of all the chateaux of the Loire valley |
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| Beth found a gathering of wildflowers already blooming in the forest |
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| Our first morning in Paris we walked down the Champs-Elysées starting at the Arc de Triomphe |
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| The Place de la Concorde |
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| The 800 year old Notre Dame de Paris |
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| The impressive architecture as seen from the back of the cathedral |
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| Walking along the Seine |
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| Me with CoCo at the Louvre |
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| Paris loves her vintage carousels! |
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| The Paris city hall (Hotel de Ville) and carousel |
Let me pause here in the photos to tell you about driving into and parking in Paris. In checking out a map of Paris, I chose a hotel that was on the PĂ©ripherique (ring road) so that I wouldn't have to drive into the city. The hotel was just around the corner from an end stop of one of the metro lines and they had parking onsite. Well, actually they had parking under sight! They directed me to drive into a car-sized elevator and push the button for -1. The entire elevator with us inside the car descended into the depths of the city! That was a first for me. A little creepy considering that if something had gone wrong there was no way to open the doors of the car and get out. So we just held hands and prayed! Ha! And then we repeated the process to get out - with no incidents I'm happy to report.
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| The evening finished with a view of the Eiffel Tower and dinner on the Seine |
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| Such a beautiful sight! |
Our second day in Paris began at the Palais Garnier - the famous opera house. Since I couldn't take CoCo inside (I have been inside twice before), we met Beth in the bookshop after her visit.
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| The Palais Garnier - built in the 1800s |
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| The beautiful ceiling of the Galaries Lafayettes department store! We had lunch in the terrace cafe |
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| A view of Paris from the terrace cafe |
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| Then I took Beth to the Orangerie museum to see Monet's waterlily panels. This is the view just outside |
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| We spent the evening on Montmartre. This is Sacré Coeur Basilica |
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| A beautiful sight from the hill of Montmartre |
The morning we left Paris I drove to a northern suburb called St Denis. The town itself is certainly no reason to ever visit! But the church of St Denis is magnificent and is the final resting place of almost every king and queen of France dating back to the first Merovingian king, Clovis, who ruled the Franks in the 5th century!
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| The church of St Denis |
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| Inside the long nave |
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| The tombs of Francois I and his wife, Claude. He ruled in the 16th century |
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| The tomb of Louis XIV - the Sun King and builder of Versailles |
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| The ill-fated Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette |
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| The reliquary of St Denis |
On the last day of our road trip, heading back to the Gers and "home", I drove us through the Dordogne area. This was my first love - it was here, twenty years ago, that I decided I wanted to live in France, and I needed to see it again. We happened to see this church in the little town (if one can call it that) of Chavagnac. Country churches here are amazing to see!
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| The church in Chavagnac |
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| One of the round stained glass windows |
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| So beautiful! |
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| Every church has its beauty |
Our last stop on the road trip was in the lovely medieval town of Sarlat in the Dordogne region.
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| Like walking through a fairytale |
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| The open square in Sarlat |
Beth and I bought some foie gras, paté and fig jam from a local merchant on this street. Yum! And then we arrived back at the Cottage in sunshine, having had a most marvelous time.
I thank you for taking the time to read (and view) this long blog post. And I am extremely grateful for those of you who are joining me on this journey! Stay tuned for next week's post as I have some news to share đ Merci!
