Guedelon -- Lessons on Castle Building

FYI -- if the photos you are looking at seem small or cut off, just click on them to get them up to full size. I've noticed that sometimes you don't see the right half of each pic unless you do this. 

We are now in Burgundy, on our way to the medieval town of Bourges. This morning we had a wonderful lesson in medieval castle-making at Guedelon.  They have been in process since 1998 in building a castle according to genuine plans from Philip II drawn up in the 13th century and are using 13th century methods and materials.  About 40 people are working on the project and they Re about half-way through. From quarrying and dressing the stone to smelting iron from the iron-rich sandstone, it's an authentic process. Although there are some government-required safety measures such as hard hats and steel-toed shoes, it could otherwise be a medieval worksite. It was initially funded by the government but is now self supporting through entrance fees for school groups and  tourists. We found it fascinating. It gives one an appreciation for the labor involved in building the many churches, chalets and castles one sees throughout Europe. The entire project is done according to archeological evidence and written records, and the modern-day builders are also able to give feedback and flesh out details for the archeologists based on real-time experience.

Everything you see above has been built from medieval plans and methods

This wheel is powered by one person running like a hamster in a wheel and can raise a 400 pound load. This is how they move building materials up from the ground. 

This blacksmith is breaking iron-containing sandstone to get the iron bits out so that they can put them in a smelter to melt out the slag and produce iron. In two weeks they made only enough iron to make three nails because the sandstone here doesn't contain enough iron. They bring in iron from other sources. Easy to see why iron was a valuable commodity in the Middle Ages. 

The blacksmith has made all the iron tools used on site in this forge. 

They make the mortar here as well, from lime, sand and dirt. I was amazed to learn that mortar like this can take up to a HUNDRED years to dry completely in areas away from air. 

Stone is quarried on site -- sandstone for the more durable, stronger portions like walls and limestone (which he is working now) for the more decorative areas.

These are the tools used to cut out the sandstone. It is so hard (because it is iron-containing sandstone) that they must use metal wedges and metal hammers placed over natural veins I. The rock in order to get it to split. 

They explained how they make the ribbed ceilings like this. Very difficult and dangerous.

These are designs from medieval manuscripts painted on the limed interior walls. They make all the dyes there, as well as all the rope, tiles and pottery. They have two Belgian draft horses and two carts to transport heavy loads. The mortar is transported in baskets woven on site. Since the lime I the mortar is so corrosive, baskets are in need of constant repair or replacement. 

This last pic is just for fun. They don't actually use the stocks here. 

We loved our tour of Guedelon and can't recommend it highly enough. We'd love to return in a year or so to see the progress. The employees figure it will take another 15 years to complete. 

For our friends at Roots, who wonder what we're eating, here are our  choices for the group dinner tonight:

Aperitif -- kir

Entree: potato tarte

            Eggs cooked in red wine with lardons (bacon bits)

Plat: coq au vin with tagliatelle

        Fish cooked in red wine served with puréed mashed potatoes and celeriac

        Pork cooked in red wine served with lentils

Cheese course: warm goat cheese served on toast

Dessert: creme brûlée with chestnuts

              Prunes cooked in Armagnac

              Pears cooked in red wine served with ice cream

              Pear tart

              Ice cream

         

       

Montmartre

This afternoon we visited Montmartre, which is the highest point in Paris and the site of Sacre Coeur church and the area where artists traditionally lived and painted. It's also the site of the Moulin Rouge and other famous night spots. There are a lot of steps to climb to Montmartre, so we took the funicular instead.

Here's the cathedral. It's very white because of gypsum impregnated in the limestone. Gypsum was mined in Montmartre in earlier days. ((Think plaster of Paris.) 

William celebrated climbing around up and down by having a crepe. 

Toni, our guide, told us that WWII is still on the minds of Parisians. Scattered around town are plaques commemorating resistance fighters who died in the battle for Paris. People still place flowers there in tribute. Here's one we found on our way to dinner.

This last part is for our friends at Roots Restaurant, whom we promised to show and describe some of our great meals. Mine tonight was a plat du jour of salmon, green salad with walnuts and risotto with peppers and shrimp. Delicious!

William had a penne pasta plate with peppers, ham and mushrooms. It came with a raw egg in the shell on the top,to be added to and mixed in with the hot pasta. Also delicious.

The Louvre

This morning we took the Metro to the Louvre, where we had a guided tour of some of the highlights. If you've never been there, the Louvre is immense, and one could spend many days there to do it justice. It is a collection of old palaces linked together and converted into what must be the largest art museum in the world. Here are a few of the highlights. 

Part of the architecture of the Louvre palace.

Art everywhere, so don't forget to look up.

Here's the famous pyramid entrance.

What a face! And totally unintentional. Must be because a huge wind and rainstorm came up just as we left the Louvre. Thankfully it did not last long, so we walked through the Tuillerie Gardens

To the Orangerie Museum (no photos allowed), where we saw Monet's water lilies painted on huge canvases that surrounded a circular room.  From there, off to the Galeries LaFayette to do a little shopping. 

Historical Paris

Today we spent the morning on the Ile de la Cite, the island in the middle of the Seine where Paris was founded.  First we visited Sainte Chappelle, an eleventh century chapel built under the reign of King Louis IX to house the "real" crown of thorns, which he purchased from the ruler of Constantinople. In today's Euro equivalent, Louis spent an astounding €500 million for the crown, €370 million for the reliquary that housed it and only €150 million to build the chapel. The chapel, which was built in a mere six years, contains some of the most beautiful stained glass In the world. The glass has more than 1100 panels, each of which depicts a Biblical story. Since the general populace couldn't read, the panels were used to teach Biblical concepts. Ste. Chappelle now operates only as a museum and is not used as a church. 

After Sainte Chappelle, we visited Notre Dame,  which is celebrating its 850th anniversary this year and which is still an operational Catholic church. The picture below shows the central facade of the church. Below the Last Judgment, those below Jesus on his right are receiving crowns and are headed to heaven. Those  on his left are in chains and are being led by Satan to eternal torture. A very graphic reminder of why people should attend church.  

There's a far more bizarre statue to the left of the main entry. Look at the figure holding his head in his hands, St. Denis. He was the bishop of Paris and was martyred. Reputedly, he reached down to pick up his head after he was beheaded, walking north out of Paris for quite some distance before he eventually succumbed to his martyrdom.  

Notre Dame cathedral is almost more beautiful from behind than from the front. Here the structure of its flying buttresses and spires can be seen. Although visitors are allowed to climb to the top of the north tower, the line was long and the wind cold, so we declined. 

While crossing the bridge from Notre Dame to the Left Bank, we noticed thousands of padlocks locked to the bridge railings. They symbolize eternal love, as those who place the padlocks "lock in" their love as they throw away the key into the river. 

 In the afternoon we visited the Musee d'Orsay, which is a converted steam train station.  No photos were allowed of the art in the interior. The only photo I took looks out of one of its transparent clock windows toward the Montmartre art district, which we will be visiting tomorrow afternoon. If you look closely, you will see Sacre Coeur cathedral at the top of Montmartre.

Learning Paris

After 20+ hours of travel, we arrived at our hotel. Took a nap for a couple of hours and then set out to explore. It was cold and rainy, so took no photos, but looked around the Ile de la Cite, the island in the middle of the Seine, where Paris was first inhabited. Returned to the Rea of our hotel and ate dinner at the Bistro des Dames. We forgot to bring our French phrasebook, so Pat took a chance on the menu and ordered Boeuf Udon, which turned out to be Asian udon noodles with beef, very tasty. Wm. had cod with potatoes and broccoli. What we found interesting was the blackboard listing where the beef for the various courses originated. (See photo) Heard the next day that this is a common practice, as French people want to know the origin of their food and prefer to eat local.  

Tuesday was free until we met up with our tour group at 5 p.m. So we walked the Champs Élysées, visited the Eiffel Tower and then took a get-on-get-off bus tour around town to get a view of where things are in relation to each other. Here are some photos from that time.

 

The last photo is of the Velib bicycles. There are 20,000 bikes available for rent throughout Paris. rental is by credit card and you just swipe to rent and swipe again to turn it in. There are bike paths throughout the city and bike routes marked beside each road. 

We met up with our Rick Steves tour group over wine and aperitifs at our hotel and then ate dinner as a group. There are 28 in our group, a mix of retires and families, with the youngest member just having graduated from high school and the oldest in their 70s. Tour begins tomorrow with Notre Dame and Ste. Chapelle  in the  morning and the Musee d'Orsay in the afternoon. 

We're here!

We left our house at 7:30 a.m. Portland time Sunday morning  and arrived at our hotel at 4:30 a.m. Portland time on Monday (1:30 p.m. Paris time). Other than not sleeping on the plane and

 being dead on our feet, we are fine. Here are a couple of pics of our hotel room. Small, but with a lovely garden view and some Parisian erotic art on the walls. Oh well, Paris is the city of love....

Travel Plans

Hello again, after an absence of three years.  William and I will be leaving Portland in about three days for a trip to celebrate his retirement from Land Rover last November.  He has wanted for a long time to visit the DDay beaches in Normandy, and I wanted to do another bike/barge trip, so we decided to compromise  by doing both.  We will be joining a Rick Steve's tour of Northern France for the first half of our trip and then will begin the bike/barge trip from Paris to Bruges on June first, ending up with four free days in Brussels before returning home on June eighteenth.

For those who can't believe that we can travel for a month with all our belongings in a backpack, here's photographic evidence. (Disregard the date on the photo. It was made today. We need to adjust the autodate on our camera. and I need to adjust the straps on my pack.)The large backpacks serve as our suitcases and contain five changes of clothes, an extra pair of shoes, a jacket and our toiletries. The smaller day packs contain gifts for our tour guides ( hand blown Christmas tree ornaments made from Mt. st. Helen's ash) and the iPad, camera and other things we'll want on the plane. This way we can be more mobile and won't have to wait at baggage claim and customs. 

Stay tuned for photos and summaries of our activities. We can't wait!