Today was a much cooler day. Started today with an outing with Benny to the Furniture man. Just Upstate and I took a little ride to a place that I am not sure I can even describe. At first glance you are saying "what is all the junk" then after a few minutes you are saying "what can I find here". A man has been going to estate sales and buying things for many years. He has everything you could imagine from dishes to paintings. While these pictures look like big piles that one would have no way of knowing what was where, I can guarantee you that the Furniture man knows exactly where everything is. I was in chandelier heaven, if I only had a bigger suitcase. I am saying right here that if I ever do get a charming little house in the Loire, I will be getting much of the stuff in it right here. While we peeked in the barns and did venture in a little bit, I did feel that if you touched the wrong thing it would all come tumbling on your head. So leave the picking to the professional.
Now back to the cottage and wake all the others and off to the Chateau de Sache. This chateau's claim to fame is that the famous author Honore de Balzac spent time there writing. It seems he would head there when things go too tough in Paris. You know, like your creditors were knocking at your door. The owner of the chateau was Jean de Margonne. Who just happened to be the lover of Balzac's mother and father of his half brother and also made his fortune making cheesecloth. So I guess if you need a place to stay, this might be a place you could go. He sounded like an interesting house guest. He would entertain all by reading his works to them, going to bed after supper and sleeping for a few hours, then get up and write all night sustained by large amounts of coffee. In one room were many statues of Balzac, some by famed artist Rodin, none of them show a very attractive man. I'm thinking Monsieur Balzac had to have something else going for him than his looks. Hmm, maybe it was that whole writing thing?
While exploring the dining room Music Man noticed a stand with a hat on it. The sign invited you to try it on, just please put it back where you found it. So, when in Rome... and don't think about how many other people have put that hat on their heads.
We tried to get into the church in the main plaza in Sache, but it was closed. When I approached the front door I noticed many bouquets of flowers wrapped in clear plastic at the door. I tried the door and it was locked so we could not visit. I watched an old man get out of his car and carry a bouquet to the church door. I watched him as he slowly approached using his cane. I stopped to watch him go down the stairs, thinking if he fell I could be there to help him get up. Pay it forward. But no, he took his time and made it down safely.
On on way to our next destination Photo girl said oh I wonder where that road goes. It was a small road between two sunflower fields. So my beloved turned the car around to find out. We all wondered where does it go? Well the answer is it stops in the middle of a field about 50 feet past the first curve in the road. So my beloved pulls at 50 point turn with the little beeping sound of you are too close to something sound coming form the car for an extended period of time and we continue on our way.
We head over to Chinon, you know, the place where Joan of Arc started causing trouble.
Chinon is a midievil town with a big fort above it. It is on the banks of the Vienna River and you can look out over the slate rooftops for a view not seen in many places.
I don't know about you, but I get pretty confused when it comes to the kings of England and France. Chinon was developed under Henry II, who was crowned King of England in 1154. Henry took the castle from his brother Geoffrey after he had rebelled a second time. On his death the castle went to his eldest living son with Eleanor of Aquitaine - Richard the Lionheart. Richard had it from 1189 to 1199 when he died. This does not mean he spent much time there, it seems that The Lionheart spent most of his time on Crusades and basically pissing off, holding for ransom and fighting everyone around him. I find it interesting that his heart was buried at Rouen, his entrails in Chalus and the rest of him in Anjou. I do wonder why they split him up that way.
Richard's mother was Eleanor of Aquitaine. He died in her arms and is buried (well, part of him) next to her at the foot of his father's tomb. And some people wonder about his sexuality.
Anyway, back to Chinon which had a siege of it's own to deal with. In 1205 Philip II of France captured Chinon after a battle of many months. Imagine being stuck in the fortress for months while people threw big giant rocks at you, dug under your walls and just generally harassed you the entire time. Eventually Philip got everyone under control and the fortress and town has been under French control ever since.
This is the place where Philip IV (The Fair) imprisoned the last grand master of the Templar and a few others from this order. Philip The Fair was not called that because he was a fair and just ruler. He was pretty. He imprisoned the Templars because they were rich and he did not want to pay back the money he owed them. Oh yeah, he owed the Jews of this area a bit of money as well, so he kicked them out of France.
Again, back to Chinon. In 1429 along came a little girl name Joan. She picked the future Charles VII out of a crowd and was responsible for breaking the siege of Orleans which lead to him being crowned king. We all know how they thanked her. Burned her at the stake after letting her do all the dirty work.
We decided that tonight we would have dinner at Baulay, so another trip to the grocery store in Azay le Rideau was in order. We shopped and got back in the car for our ride home and zip, zip stop! The road is closed for repair, we drove up just as the worker was putting up the cones and signs. Oh, no.
He walked over and looked into our car and we said Sache??? He said, well I don't know what he said, but what I heard was - go back to Azay le Rideau and take a left and another left, you will be fine.
OK, so back we go. We go left at the round about and left again and end up in a very nice campground. Where my beloved said "how do we get out of here" there was gate on the outgoing, but not the incoming. So being the resourceful person she is she went out the in. The man standing at the entrance looked perplexed.
So we backtrack to the center of town and we did start down a one way street going the wrong way. So we backed up a bit while a woman in a blue and white off the shoulder checked blouse watched us with a "what the fuck" look on her face. We pulled into a parking area and used our devices to re-route ourselves and made it back in time for a nice dinner cooked by Upstate.
I may have mentioned wheat harvesting is going on. Well they were harvesting the fields around us until after 11 last night. They worked until the last little ray of light faded. They work very hard. I have been told that one of the brothers is retiring, so who knows what will happen around here in the next few years.
There used to be many small farms around here like Baulay. They all had a cow or two, maybe a horse, they farmed their lands. Now they buy their milk at the store, drive something with more than one horsepower and rent their land for planting. It makes me sad that someday this area may not look like this anymore. I do realize that things change, but does everything have to change?
No comments:
Post a Comment