Chateaux and Abbeys and Roses, Oh My!

Time has sort of ceased to exist for us here, we have to check our iPhones to see what day it is. The sun sets around 10:30 pm so our nights have gone on quite late, and our mornings start nearer the afternoon. French mealtimes are an affair in and of themselves, and two nights running we dined with Dad & Francine's fine neighbors, Luc and Massimo and Gautier (and his adorable little canine Kiki, also known as Dudu). These people are absolutely wonderful, the food fantastic and simple, and the champagne, wine and pastis (anise flavored liqueur) flows freely into the wee dark hours of the nights. The stars are incredible out here with no city near enough to pollute them with light. The nocturnal sounds here are a bit unnerving and are louder than the constant chatter of birds during the day! I need to ask what these various critters (some frogs for sure) that are making the odd cacophony, although the mystery of it is kind of enchanting. 

Time for another Apertife! (the French version of Happy Hour)

We visited Richelieu (where some big wig cardinal lived back in the day) which had stunning gardens and trees so huge they seem as ancient as the structures that date back to the 1200s. There were also great stands of bamboo everywhere, a charming little canal running the length of this impossibly sized estate. If I have not mentioned it, there are wild roses everywhere here, growing along roadsides, on the walls of every structure we pass, in every nook and cranny, so naturally the gardens in the chateau also had loads and loads of well-tended roses. I have never been wholly enthralled with roses as the fresh cut ones always wilt on me and when I infuse them in oil in my medicine-making the heat-concentrated scent gives me migraines, but the wild variety are so gorgeous and abundant, so gentle is their scent and so brash their beauty, I can't help but smile to see them and stop to smell them. If you are a rose enthusiast, you would be in heaven here. 

We picnicked at an enormous table made of a massive slice of raw cedar tree and the perfect number of stumps for seating at a roundtable feast. We had ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches on baguettes (and cheese here is a whole exploration in itself: brie, chevrė and gouda this time), fresh apricots, sweet juice of nectarines, pistachios, the most incredible vanilla yogurt that tastes like ice cream, and chocolate with these yummy wafer cookies that we keep schlepping around in the car for treats en route. We took loads of photos and had lovely walkies. (I apologize for the lack of photos; it is difficult to find time to write, and the connection is a little sketchy for logging in/uploading, so updating posts takes place in very scattered moments to myself. We have pretty much been on the move constantly: visiting sites, driving, socializing, eating, sleeping, driving, eating, cleaning up after eating, trading turns in the shower, eating, eating, eating (have I mentioned the cheese??) but never fear, photos are a plenty and will be posted soon! Check back to old posts as I might try to squeeze them in because I like the balanced look it gives the blog).

We visited Fontevrault l'Abbaye, another massive palace of stone that holds 4 tombs that house the remains of Richard the Lionhearted (whose body parts are actually entombed in three different places: this tomb holds everything except his heart and entrails...or at least that is what John is reading me from the Wiki page), his wife (we think), Henry II and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The area with the tombs is very huge and stark, has beautiful stained glass windows and many kinds of carved figures, faces and decorative bits and columns everywhere. The Abbaye is massive and has history as a prison, a monastery and a nunnery and is now a cool museum/fancy hotel/conference center. Everything was carved, white stone that resembles limestone, and their gardens are fabulous. Again, so many roses, but also huge bushes of lovely lavender and also a whole plateaued garden that used to serve the kitchens where the cooks would prepare food for over 400 people every day. We stood and gaped at the enormity of the areas where the many fireplaces used to burn constantly for all of the cooking, but also at how tiny the rest of it seemed when you try to imagine cooking for that many people. Their chimneys are huge and you will just have to wait for the picture to see what I mean. 

Ok, well I am about three days behind in blogging, so I will post this for now and get started on another one! I have no real keyboard, just the iPad with its flat on-screen keys which make for lighter packing but slower typing.

Much love & hugs!! R&J