St. Fraimbault

Here's my lovely home in St. Fraimbault, Normandy, France.  It's on one of the main drags of this very small town--Rue de l'Abbe Jolly.  The town is known for its summer flowers--not many out right now, unfortunately.

Here's the view from the front door.  

Look down the street to the right and this is what you see.

The white car is my brother's.  He shipped it over here but has been unable to get through the French bureaucracy to get it registered here so it still has Minnesota license plates.  Very strange driving around with those plates sometimes, but I figure people give me the benefit of the doubt since I am obviously not from around here.

Looking left from the front door, you see this.

The street turns a bit at the end of the block and goes down past the church and town hall to a very pretty lake.  I'll have pictures later of the lake.  The town itself is about four blocks by six blocks I would say, though that may be exaggerating a bit.

At the end of my block, about four doors down is this Irish pub, run by a couple from Donegal--although they have apparently not lived there for many, many years.  I've been in there once--hope to go again soon.

The main room in the house houses the living room and the dining table.

Here's the kitchen--a pretty good size, I think.

Upstairs are two bedrooms and a bath on the second floor and a bath on the third with a room that can be used for sleeping but really needs finishing, which we have just decided to have done.

Here's my bedroom.

It's really quite comfortable.

But the big advantage of this place is the backyard--or actually courtyard.

My only contribution to the house so far is this sign that I bought in the flower garden in Paris.

The weather has been quite cold for the last week--and looks to be the same going forward.  But I'm hoping to spend some time outside planting some flowers in the garden.

Although I am in a small village in the middle of France, the technology here is unbelievable.  We have a satellite dish that gives us British TV.  I have slingbox that lets me see TV from New Castle on my computer--and my brother Jim has Boxee Box that includes Slingbox, so I can actually watch TV from New Castle on the actual TV in the living room here--including shows I have taped on my DVR at home.  He also has MLB to watch ballgames, though most are played in the middle of the night French time.

And the internet is great so I have no trouble working from here.  Amazing!

All in all, a very nice place to spend time.

Bagnoles de l'Orne

On Monday, we went to a lovely town called Bagnoles de l'Orne.  It is famous for its hot springs/thermal baths that have been the destination of many rich and/or famous people since the days of the Romans.  Legend has it that Lancelot du Lac was from this area.  Of course, there are also legends that Sir Lancelot was from St. Fraimbault.

The town surrounds a beautiful lake.  On the lake is a casino and a great building called the Residence de Lac.  Here's the casino.

And the residence.  This must have been the height of fashion at one time.

The building faces the lake on the side we are looking at.  Note the grand staircase in front.

The main town revolves around a circle with a fountain.

As you can see from that picture, the town sits in a valley.  It could really be in the foothills of the Alps from the looks of some of the houses.

There are some really beautiful residences here.....

......

But near the church, up from the fountain, there are a number of buildings that look quite old but are abandoned and look to be ready to fall down.

You just wish there was unlimited funds to take care of these places.

By the way, I am still pretty jet-lagged and when we confronted these stairs in front of the church I initially said no way.

They go on for a ways down in front as well.  But eventually we climbed them and went into the church, only to find a miniature of a different church.....who knows why.

Never did get to the actual thermal baths.  I think I'll probably go back at some point and check them out.

Unfortunately, my days are cut short by the need to work starting at about 2PM (8AM on the East Coast).  I am thinking of going to Mont St. Michele on Friday when I have the day off.

More later.......

Domfront

  As I mentioned in my last post, I am in Saint Fraimbault right now so there can be suspense as to whether I got here OK.  I was so concerned about finding the Gare du Montparnasse (Montparnasse station) #3 that I left two hours ahead of time from my hotel to get to the station that was about half an hour away.

I had Googled the way from the hotel and the station and was looking at the paper with the directions on the corner about a block from my hotel when I was approached by two older ladies. One held a book and I thought she might be trying to convert me but it turns out they just wanted to help me find out where I was going.  But they looked at the map and listened to my terrible French and were totally confused about even where I wanted to go.  One lady was trying to send me back to the hotel.  I said merci and got on my way.

But as I followed the route it became clear that Google was giving me the car route rather than the walking one.  I think I went about five blocks out of my way and even at that I found myself above the station--in a park.  It was only because I heard the PA in the station that I had any idea where I was.  But I did manage to finally find my way there.  And there was this view that almost made it worth it. (Hope you can see the Eifel Tower in the background.  It's quite faint.)

I used to be almost fearless about getting around even in countries whose language I did not speak--I drove a car in Rome for God's sake--but those days are gone, I'm afraid.  I was so anxious about being on the right train, being able to have time to get off at my stop, that I did not enjoy the two-hour trip the way I might.  I'll be better next time.

So finally I got the Flers, my stop and Jim and Ceci were there to meet me.  I was so glad.  If they had not been there or if I had missed the train or even worse, gotten on the wrong one, I'm not sure how I would have straightened that out--but I did not have to find out.

The house is lovely, with a small room for the living room and dining room, and a good-sized kitchen on the main floor, two bedrooms and a bath on the second floor and a nice bath on the third floor--with a space that can be converted to a bedroom.  It actually could be used as a bedroom right now since the weather is nice, but it would be too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter without being finished.  We are looking into doing that soon.

I'm afraid I did not take pictures of the house or the town right away--I was too tired I guess, but they will be coming soon.

Sunday morning we drove to Domfront, known as the Medieval City because so much of the buildings from the 12th Century remain.  But there is also the ruins of a castle that was the home of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.  For those who have seen Lion in Winter with Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn, those are the two characters they played.  Now Henry was king of England and Normandy and I wondered why he was so fond of this place, which seems in the middle of nowhere, or at least it must have in the 12th Century.  But when you get there you understand.

Domfront (named after Saint Front believe it or not) sits on top of a hill with an almost 360 degree view of the countryside.  It would be extremely hard for an enemy to sneak up on you there.

The old parts of the town are very old.  The main street rises up the hill and is lined by very old beamed house like this one that was renovated to be an architect's office.

Here's another one that is very old.

The street is actually inside the old city walls, which had many torrets that are now private homes.  Here's a view of one of them from a courtyard off the street.

Later we saw those houses from the outside of the walls.

The old city has a number of bars and restaurants, though most were closed when we got there on Sunday morning.

At the top of the road was the City Hall (Mairie) where the mayor's office is.

And then across a bridge---over a road that replaced what once was a moat-- is the ruins of the castle--actually the keep, where many prisoners were kept.  I'm not sure where the living quarters were, but I do know that hundreds of years after Henry and Eleanor lived here, the minister of the king of France (Henri IV) blew up the place, probably because it was such in such a strategically strong location.

Here's the "keep".

And from another angle.

The rocks in the front were apparently part of a great hall that once stood there.

We walked back down the main road inside the city and saw a few homes that were of interest.  I really liked this one, right on a hillside with spectacular views.

But Jim liked this one better just because of the novelty of it, I think.

On the way home we stopped at this chapel--the site of the baptism of Eleanor's daughter Eleanor.

And I believe Thomas Beckett once said mass here.

It was certainly very well preserved.

Then we went home, had lunch and I went to work.  So strange to start working here at 2PM when the clock on my computer says 8AM, the time on the East Coast.

Next time, Bagnoles L'Orne where they have hot springs.

Paris, Deux

Sorry it has taken me a while to get back to the blog.  I am in St. Fraimbault right now, waiting for the news to happen in then United States (It's 3:38PM here-9:38AM on the East Coast) so I can write my newsletter.  I did manage to get the issues done yesterday, so I am pretty confident that this work arrangement will be fine, though I have to say I could really use a nap right now.

Anyway, getting back to my only full day in Paris on Friday.  I decided that, although this was my sixth or seventh time in Paris--I could not remember which--I would do some of the touristy things I had not done in a few years.  I got an online walking tour from Rick Steves of the Ile de la Citi and went on my way.  I took the Metro to the Citi stop, which still has the original Art Nouveau sign.

 The station was right next to the flower market where I bought a kitchen clock many years ago and where my sisters and nieces and I had a picture taken among the blossoms about ten years ago, I think.

So I made sure I bought something there for my new house.

I'm sure everyone has seen innumerable pictures of Notre Dame, where I started my walk, but here's a few more.

My favorite part of the cathedral is the statue of Saint Denis, who was beheaded by the enemies of the church but carried his head to a place fairly far off so he could die where he wanted.  So while all the other statues have their heads in the right place, so to speak, Denis is carrying his.

From the church I crossed the Seine to the left bank and saw this display on the bridge.  People are apparently expressing their undying love for each other with locks that they place on the bridge.  Perhaps there are other reasons as well,since the display is more than locks.  I've never seen anything like it, and I have not seen this in Paris before.

Then it was on to Boulevard Saint Michele, also known as Boul Mish, which is also the nickname for Michigan Ave. in Chicago, one of my favorite places.

Right off the road is the Place des Artists, with a lot of cafes that once entertained, and maybe still do, the  great writers of the time.  It was here that I got a good whiff of Frenchness from this accordion player.

A few steps down by the Seine I encountered the fabled Shakespeare & Company English language book store.  In front, an Asian model was posing, probably without the permission of the store, for a very determined Asian photographer.  I went inside for a little while and when I got out I noticed that there was a pile of International Herald Tribune newspapers and a sign that said "take one."  So I did.  Only later did I realize that the paper was dated December 13, 2011.

That's the model on the far right.  By the way, you can always click on the pictures for a larger view and then press escape to go back to the blog.

I had lunch in a cafe in the Latin Quarter, where Latin was once the main language, apparently....a long time ago.  I walked by the church of St. Severen (the French have so many saints I have never heard of!).  I loved the gargoyle water spouts.

As in London's Little Venice and Maida Vale, there appear to be quite a few people who actually live on the river in long houseboats, although these may be for tourist excursions.

I crossed back over to the Ile de la Citi to see the church of Saint Chappelle, which is really gorgeous inside with floor to ceiling stained glass windows.  You really can't see in any of the pictures how really detailed these windows are.  They are spectacular.

Some on the left of this picture are being repaired.  The church also has a rose window like Notre Dame.

There were many planted gardens in bloom in Paris but not nearly as many flowers as I saw last year at this time in London.

At this point I was feeling the jet lag and decided to go back to my hotel.  Here is the view from the balcony there.

Early Saturday morning I was up and making my way to Saint Fraimbault.