Energy in France

Here in Europe, electricity is not taken for granted. I think we Americans could learn something from the Europeans about this. As we've traveled throughout France (and a little in Spain, Greece, Italy and Britain) their common spaces are lit only "on-demand." Hotel hallways, public restrooms and other public spaces have timed switches or motion sensors to control the lighting. The hallways in our apartment building have motion sensors to trigger the lights.

When I think of just the hotels across America that have lights on 24/7, I know we could do better. There are things we can learn from the Europeans. Another, people here use reusable shopping bags (reinforced plastic, it reminds me of the reinforcing of strapping tape) almost exclusively, and if you don't remember to bring your bag along with you, you can buy one of the "Cub type" bags for $0.03 a piece. I know we've started using reusable bags in America but. . . When I come home later this month, I'm bringing my reinforced bags to Cub and saving some energy.

Carousels

Every French town has it's own carousel and usually it reflects the city or is unique. For example, the carousel in Arles, a provencal town, one of it's animals is a bull. Arles has a Roman arena where they hold a type of bull fight (the bull's don't die) during summer evenings. The picture below is in Collioure.


Toulouse's carousel (below) is in Place Wilson, my favorite park. Toulouse's carousel is a double-decker. Even our little neighborhood of Borderouge has a little (as in for toddler's) carousel.

Bourgogne and Bordelais

Last week we spent several days showing Nick and Katie wine regions here. After picking them up on the outskirts of Paris, we drove to Bourgogne, better known to Americans as Burgundy. We visited the town of Beaune and toured a Chateau (and bought some mighty fine wine as well). Beaune had a nice little wine museum that was interesting. Those are antique wine bottles in the picture below.

After two nights in that region, we drove to St. Emilion, which is in the Bordeaux region. Larry and I returned with Nick and Katie to the campground we had stayed at last fall. We rented a two bedroom mobile home and the deck had a great view of the neighboring vineyard. It was a great place to "set up camp."

I have to say that my son, the wine enthusiast, was "in heaven." I had fun just watching him enjoy the sights, sounds and scents of the wine regions. La Dominique is Nick's favorite wine from the St. Emilion region (the vineyard is right next to one of the most expensive Chateaux in the world, but La Dominique wine is still rather affordable). That's a hallway filled from top to bottom with stacked wine bottles, aging (bottom picture).

Spring in Toulouse

I mentioned earlier that spring was blooming here. The lilacs are blooming now and they're absolutely gorgeous and they smell great too.


Also, we've seen the geckos and snails out on our patio this past week. I enjoy watching Lady chase after the geckos (I wonder what she'd do if she actually caught one) but I'm not so fond of the snails. Larry usually has a snail chucking event in the mornings (we're on the top floor of 4).

Chateau Chenonceau

The other chateau that we visited was Chenonceau. The front of this castle was draped and undergoing renovations, so we didn't get good pictures of the front, but you can see how different the stone looks after its been cleaned.

Like François I's salamanders at Chambord, Chenonceau had the emblems of its inhabitants built into it. In the picture below you can see the H for King Henri and the also the C for Catherine Medici intertwined with the H forming a D. The D was for Diane, the King's favorite mistress, whom he gave the castle to at one time.

Chenonceau, like many castles had a chapel within its walls. This castle had a separate second floor entrance adjacent to the queens quarters so she could enter the service privately. Also, this castle's chapel was used as temporary housing for many of the Louvre's pieces of art during WWII.


Catherine had many gardens added to the grounds. The castle boasts its gardens fill the vases around the many rooms of the castle twice weekly all year long.

The Chateau Chambord of the Loire Valley

On our way home from Normandy, Larry and I spent a night in the Loire Valley. This area is famous for its many chateaux. We spent a night in a hotel that was once the servants quarters for the Chateau Chambord. Below are views we had from our room and from the Chateau back towards the hotel.

The Chateau Chambord was used primarily as a hunting retreat and today it has a natural park that contains deer and wild boar. One of the interesting features of this castle is the double spiral staircase. That allowed for guests not to have to pass each other on the stairs, though it was open enough so that you could see the people going down the other side while you were going up.

The king François (Francis) I's emblem was the salamander and you could see salamanders throughout the castle.

Another of the castles features is there are enough fireplaces in it for every day of the year.


This castle had a terrace on the top floor which allowed the ladies of the court to watch the royal hunts. From the terrace, you could also see all of the fireplace chimneys. It made for quite a view.

Giverny

Last week on our way to dropping the Wrights and Walters at a train stop headed into Paris, we stopped in the town of Giverny. I mentioned in earlier blogs how much I enjoyed the Impressionist painters and this town is home to Monet. The six of us spent a couple of hours wandering the gardens of Monet (now part of a nonprofit foundation). Spring flowers were in full bloom and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds long enough for us to get a good impression of how the differing light effected Monet's painting.

We took some great pictures. You can see how this place still inspires artists.