The French Journal

Chartres with Malcolm Miller

For a Monday morning excursion, we are going to Chartres, and our guide will be the renown Malcolm Miller. Miller has devoted his life to giving tours of the cathedral, and he is so identified with the site that to visit it without the benefit of his wisdon might leave you with the feeling that you were unable to have the ultimate Chartres experience. Miller is briefly profiled in The Toronto Globe and Mail; although the emphasis is on the cathedral's splendid windows (with an accompanying Q&A), Miller's mastery extends beyond those features; from my visit, about five years ago, I remember his astonishing familiarity with each of the carved stone figures that decorates the doorways. Another example of the depth of his knowledge is the video above, which shows a younger Miller demonstrating in an amusing way the mechanics of a flying buttress.

Rick visits the "land of a thousand chateaux"

Life is too hectic, so I'm knocking out brief items, like this one.

Rick Steves + Loire Valley = this article from CNN and Rick's appreciation of "France's greatest array of chateau experiences." How'd that happen? Says Rick:

"The Loire Valley is carpeted with fertile fields, crisscrossed by rivers, and studded with hundreds of chateaux in all shapes and sizes. Medieval castles are here because the Loire was strategically important during the Hundred Years' War (when France and England battled through the 14th and 15th centuries). During the Renaissance, pleasure palaces replaced fortified castles as the Loire became fashionable among the Parisian rich and royal."

As for recommendations, he goes with three C's:Chenonceau, Chambord and Cheverny.

Some links (Paris shopping, language, a chateau) and Feedblitz

Here are some various links for you to enjoy:

• I know lots of people go to Paris for shopping, so the blog Chic Paris Shopping, with its regular hints on where one can spend money, will probably tickle the hearts of many a lad and lass.
• Language, language, always the language. The Learn French Guide has many useful links to resources, and suggestions for where you can go to learn the language abroad.
• One very kind reader from France suggested that armchair travelers can get a vicarious thrill by visiting the site of Chateau du Rivau in the Loire Valley.

Lastly, for those of you who want The French Journal delivered to your mailbox, I've added a Feedblitz widget for subscribers. I'm testing the waters here. If any issues arise, make sure you let me know.

Fashion, before there was fashion

The medieval lore of my earlier post today on the Languedoc brought up from the recesses of my mental data bank a story from the IOL-South Africa, published in June, about a chateau in the Loire Valley where they are recreating and exhibiting medieval costumes. The task ain't easy. Modern materials are not the same as from times of yon, and samples of colors are not available. Fashion as a concept didn't exist: you had better like your wedding outfit, because you might be wearing it the rest of your life. Color meant something: white for purity (I guess I should knock that one out of my closet), blue for royalty, and black meant you were a high-roller since the color was hard to make.

Chateau-de-Langeais, not far from Tours, is where you can explore the costumes and other history. The chateau is about 1,000 years old, and a refuge of Louis XI's, and the location of a significant wedding between Charles VIII and Anne de Bretagne. Over the centuries its ownership has passed from hand to hand; in the 19th century, a wealthy businessman, Jacques Seigfried, undertook on the labor of restoring it. The official site, which is in French, has a virtual tour.

Trucs: Cleaning out the drawer #1

Sometimes I have no new items to cover; in other circumstances, due to timing or factors like the length of an article, I never get around to referencing a piece. Today will be devoted to mostly unrelated articles as I clean out the inventory.

• Tummygate. This week there were two insubstantial Sarko items of note, that is, not to be confused with real news. The first was a report that Paris-Match photo-cropped M. le President's love handles when they ran a picture of him in a bathing suit (The Times, U.K./Charles Bremner). Apparently, the omnipresident is not unaware of Brad Pitt's impact on the culture.
• Reza does M. le President. The best-selling book in France this month will no doubt be a short work by playwright Yasmina Reza, who spent a year trailing Sarko and then wrote about it. She is partly charmed, even though her subject has a potty mouth, a short temper, smokes cigars, and covets Rolexes. (NYTimes/IHT, which also has excerpts.) It's entitled L'aube le soir ou la nuit/Dawn Evening or Night, and it's being touted as a candidate for the Prix Goncourt.
• A train ride to Paris. I ignored this June article from the South Africa Independent On-Line about a train ride from London to Paris because I had no sympathy with somebody who could write the line, "My first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower was ambivalent," and then follow it up by being disappointed with the Mona Lisa. The article is less about the train, and more about a first-timer's knock about the city, and to be fair, he does have a few overwritten epiphanies.
• A car ride through the Loire. Whereas I ignored this article from the same source (IOL) by mistake, mixing it up the Paris train piece. Tour the castles of the Loire! The author favors the occasional exclamation point, and sometimes the writing reminds me of my worst, when I'm cranking stuff out under deadline, but it's still a worthwhile trip.
• Cargèse. Here's a little write-up from The Guardian (U.K.) about a town in Corsica, perfectly serviceable, which I didn't highlight before because it's short. What's good about the town? "The peace, the sunshine, the smell of the maquis [native flowering shrubs] and the sheer beauty." Nothing like putting a definition in parentheses when you want to kill prose.

More dust gatherers comin' up shortly.

Old Orléans

A long time ago, back at the beginning of the weekend, I left you with a new book about Jeanne d'Arc/Joan of Arc. So let's make the jump to Monday by visiting the saint's home in Orléans. A traveler from The Independent used the town as a mid-point stop between coasts; charmed, he extends an overnight stay to a few days. How's that for a Monday fantasy? The freedom to visit France and make up your itinerary as you go along.

In Tours, a celebration of craftsmen

It's the new Sarkozy era, and given the president's pronouncements, what better time than now to extol the virtue of work and craft? That's the opening volley of writer Claire Witmer in Expatica as she relates the story of Les compagnons du tour de France, a trade guild with ancient traditions and its own museum in Tours.

"It's a strictly working-class society that celebrates craftsmanship, tradition and hard work." Numbering about 10,000 members at present, its members -- all male -- must tour France for several years and learn their skills. Final entry into the organization is predicated upon the creation of a "masterpiece," and the museum in Tours houses a collection of these artifacts. Witmer says while the museum in itself may not be worth a trip, it is a good prospect for a visit if you are touring the Loire Valley.

The story has much more information about Les compagnons, and the organization has its own website. There are apparently other museums in Paris, Arras, and Limoges. A quirky sidelight: Witmer became interested in the guild when she discovered its medallion carved into the door of her bathroom.

Film: Jour de fête, sixty years on

A dark secret of a Francophile and a French film fan: I've never seen a movie by Jacques Tati, voted "the 46th greatest director of all time" by Entertainment Weekly. I think a bad review of one of his later films by my muse Pauline Kael scared me off.

My shocking confession was prompted by a story from AFP via The Tocqueville Connection about a little village in the Centre region, Sainte-Sévère-sur-Indre, where Tati filmed his classic Jour de fête and which is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the making of the movie. The picture, done with a minimum of dialog and lots of physical comedy, tells of the misadventures of a somewhat maladroit rural postman. According to the article, the village looks much as it did six decades ago -- it's preserved through a conservation order. Many residents -- children at the time of the filming but now in their sixties -- still remember when Tati came to town.

The movie, a big hit in 1949, was originally in black and white, but a color version which had been shot simultaneously was released later. Surprisingly, Amazon does not have a DVD for the U.S. region, although other formats, like videotape, are available. Following is a long clip from the film; it's in French, but that doesn't matter much.

A (not so) Rough Top 25 in France

Pont du Gard

The Times of London reports that The Rough Guides are recognizing their 25th anniversary with the publication of a series about the top 25 travel experiences in different countries and regions. (25 guides x 25 experiences each = 625 Things to Do Before You Die, more or less). From the "France" listThe Times highlights "visiting the castles of the Loire," just like the Chambord note I published last week. The Rough Guide's site gives prominence to a different choice: swimming under the Pont du Gard near Nîmes. I guess -- this being a "rough" guide -- just seeing the darn thing isn't enough; you need to get wet.

The Times piece has the entire list for France, which includes experiences such as taking a trip up the Eiffel Tower, drinking champagne in Epernay, and seeing the Bayeux tapestry.One suggestion that I wasn't too familiar with was "the jewel of Berry: Cathédrale St-Etienne," modeled on Notre Dame in Paris. And as this is France, after all, eating and drinking are a part of almost one-third of the items.

A glimpse of Chambord

It's sunny in Boston at the moment; it would be a great day to escape to a castle. The chateau at Chambord in the Loire valley may be more than an escape, however; because it has over 400 rooms and 77 staircases, an article in the South African Independent On-line suggests that you take a map as you tour it, or you might get lost. Built by Francis I in the sixteenth century as a symbol of his power, the chateau is the second largest in France, after Versailles. Most of the info on the Chambord site is in French, but you can see some beautiful views if you do a little digging.