Regatta of Nice - Trophee Panerai 2013

These are gaff rigged, a style not used too often anymore.  The one on the left is about 140 feet long, while the one on the right is only about 100.  These are Bill's best estimates of size.

 There had been posters up all over town announcing a regatta.  Bill walked down to watch on three days, I went twice.  These were no ordinary boats, however, they were old wooden masted beauties from between 1890 and 1940.

Ahoy, maties!

The races were difficult to follow, as boats of the same style were not always starting together.  Plus, there were several gunshots to start, over several minutes, instead of one.  As long as the crews knew what to do, I guess it doesn't matter that we were clueless.

Two of the smaller boats.

The boats were wonderful to watch, even if there wasn't much wind.  The regatta is a traveling one, as they were in Monaco the week before and left here going to Cannes.  Bill wants a job sailing on one next summer.    

Au Revoir!  Enjoy Cannes!

How we celebrated my birthday in France

This is my third birthday to be celebrated in France.  We started with an omelet for breakfast.  The melon wasn't ripe enough, even though it smelled good.  Oh well.  The Wednesday market was on in Loches, so off we went.

Wandering around in Loches is always a good thing, even if it was hot and humid.  We stopped by the SuperU for a few things, then checked out the NOZ store.  It's a remainder kinda place.  Things set out hodge podge, with not much organization as to type of merchandise, so you have to walk through the entire store.  We purchases a couple of bottles of spices,  one called TexSpice, the other a red pepper, then mixed them together at home to hopefully come up with a nice hot blend.

Bill made a yummy omelet with lardons and emmental, plus a melon and toast with either  cassis conserve or local meil, honey.

After walking around the market in Loches, we came home to a selection of cheeses and a bottle of Vouvray sparkling wine we purchased on Monday.

On our walk to dinner, we came across this lovely lady, a Citreon Traction Avant.

We had the entire cafe to ourselves.  The owner was fun to talk to.

We walked to dinner at the local cafe by the river.  The view out the back window was relaxing and there was a bit of a breeze blowing through to help cool us down.  The French say we are having a heat wave, it's been all the way up to 83 degrees!  We just call it summer.

Don't know what was so funny, or maybe just the wonderfulness of the food caused the happy face!

Dinner was very tasty.  We were the only ones in the cafe, so the owner would come out and talk a bit between serving courses.  All in all a delightful 62nd birthday!

 

Kir Royales to start our meal.

In the Garden of Azay-le-Ferron

The Gardens at Azay-le-Ferron are a wonderful mix of formal, forest and meadow.  The rose collection is arranged by the date the rose arrived in France; from the 1100's to present day.  The meadow is sowed with native grasses, which had been mowed and bailed.  Perhaps to sell to help pay the bills?  The gardeners do not us chemical pesticides or herbicides; a fact of which they are very proud.

Frog floating in one of the pools in the garden.

When we first spotted this spider, it looked like one of the green buds on the rose, until he moved.

Beds of flowers with grass walkways between.

Beautiful spikes of pink.

Gnarly bark of a very old Catalpa tree.

The back portion of the garden is given over to trees around the edge, with a meadow in the middle.

The collection of roses ranged from very old varieties, such as this one which came back from the Crusades.

These tiny but prolific, roses had the most wonderful fragrance.  I wish this were a scratch and sniff blog so you could smell them.

Walking in the shade of the plane trees.

Chinon, Just for the History

The Chateau on the hill.

The town of Chinon below.

While I was taking pictures of the dragons, Bill focused on the fortress, chateau and it's history.  In the past ten years, the French government has spent a lot of euros on archaeological digs, cleaning and restorations at Chinon.  They also built a large visitors center and gift shop, while a ramp replaced the tortuous stairs coming up the hill from the town.

The walls are tall and the moat is deep.

Henry II Plantagenet had these building added.

There is a moat running though the middle as well.

Chinon has been a fortress since the Roman's lived here.  Every succeeding group added on, until it is the  large complex you see today.  There is one room devoted to interactive screens showing how the building expanded.  The French have really gone into computer animation and touch screens big time.

There are feature both decorative.......

and functional.

The chateau is famous for being the place where Henry II, Duke of Anjou and King of England, father of Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland, died.  It was here that Joan of Arc met Charles VII in 1429. She convinced him to be crowned King in Reims.  His coronation became a turning point in the Hundred Years War.  In the 17th century, Cardinal Richelieu became the owner and proceeded to build his own chateau in Richelieu using the stones and slate he scavenged from Chinon.

The large fireplace is where Joan and Charles met.  The floor is now missing, so it is very high in the air.  The square holes are where the original floor was installed.

A plaque commemorating the 500th anniversary Joan of Arc meeting with  Charles VII.

There Be Dragons in Chinon!

The last time we visited Chinon, it was a simple town with a beautiful castle built on the hill above the river.  But now!  The place has been invaded by dragons!

Peaking around the corner of the clock tower, this guy was peaking back.

Two heads are better than one.  One can be awake while the other sleeps, but the snoring was really loud.

Two on the ground and one of top of  the tower.

Three heads, all of them red! 

With dragons guarding the Castle, one would not need the canon.

There are new dragons hatching.

Each dragon has their own story of how they came to Chinon.  Most are from France or eastern Europe, but one came from England, via the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  If you see Hagrid, tell him Norbert is doing well.

When Norbert left Hagrid's care, he came to Chinon to learn to fly.

There has to be a chef in every group.

Close up of the chef.

The younger children seemed to be enjoying all the dragons; most of the adults, too.  We wondered if the management was catering to children to get more of the locals to come take a look, as it is a temporary exhibit, just for the summer.  Bill and I laughed that our children, although older at the time, enjoyed coming to Chinon for the history of the place.  They didn't need the added stimulus of dragons.

The Jabberwocky resides in this tower.  You can occasionally see  steam coming out the top.

The Peacocks of Chateau du Rivau

A Peacock of Chatuau du Rivau

The Gardens at Chateau du Rivau have a flock of peacocks.  They wander the grounds, greeting the visitors.  On occasion, they will stop and let you admire them, before continuing on their stroll.   There are a couple of them, who hearing a group of people talking, would head over to see what is going on.  They are curious and unafraid.

Coming closer to look in the mirror.

Can you see the beautiful creature in the mirror?

One piece of art in the garden is the Peacock Mirror.   Including the frame, the mirror is about 4' by 6', reflecting on both sides.  The peacocks love it.   There were 5 walking around it on the day of our visit.

Their tails are spectacular!

"I'm ready for my close up."

Chateau du Rivau

Chateau du Rivau as seen from the gardens.

There are many privately owned chateaux in the Loire.  The upkeep must be astronomical in both money and time.  Chateau du Rivau is one such place.  The chateau and gardens have been refurbished.  To pay the bills, they do several things.  A delightful cafe is opened for lunch, serving good food at reasonable prices.  The place was full the day we were there.  They make their own apperitif spirits to add to wines, Rose du Rivau.   They still breed horses, one of the ways they have always made money, since the original owners were breeders of war horses for the Kings of France.  There are, of course, the paying visitors, who come for the day, like us, or for a fete which happens several times during the year.  One can also have their wedding in the gardens.

Among the many trophy heads is Rudolph!

Whimsical art interspersed with trophies from the hunt.

The owners, who have a long and respectable history, while showing family heirlooms, also display their collection of modern art by artists from around the world.  Several of the artists stayed at the chateau while producing their works.  It ranges from small pieces, to enormous garden sculptures.  This place leaves you with a smile on your face, that will return every time you remember your visit.

Dragons abound in France.

 The gardens have art that is both small, as with the gnomes village or large, like a pair of boots or garden watering can.  The  woods cover the entire back of the property,  but we did not get pictures as a rain storm was blowing in.

One of the garden inhabitants.

These are the wellies one needs when it really rains.

Agnes Sorel

Considered to be the most beautiful woman in France, Agnes Sorel was the favorite mistress of King Charles VII.  She was very powerful during her 10 years at court, but died of a strange stomach malady at the age of 25.  In 2005, testing on her skeleton revealed she died of mercury poisoning.  It's hard to know if it was intentional poisoning by a jealous court member or from wearing too much makeup, which had a great deal of mercury in it.  The researchers also used current techniques to reconstruct her face.  It looks very much like all the paintings of her.  Agnes was painted in the fashion of the time, with one breast bare.

Angels guarding Agnes Sorel.

The lighting on the tomb is beautifully done.

After years of her tomb being kept in her namesake tower in the chateau, Agnes Sorel now rests in the collegiate church of Saint-Ours, as she had wished.