Touring Chantilly, France - 2 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring Chantilly: Visiting an Art Treasure House outside Paris with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

After a great visit to the Equestrian Museum in Saumur (Anjou Region), my husband Laurent and I went to the Château at Chantilly (outside Paris and famous for horse races) to visit the gardens, art museum, and fancy stables across the street from the Château.

I like Chantilly and foremost for its connections with my favorite historical Renaissance man after Leonardo da Vinci, Anne de Montmorency.  He lived in Chantilly, but not in the most recent Château that occupies the spot.  Anne de Montmorency served six French kings from Louis XII to Charles IX.

Anne de Montmorency died at age 75 while fighting Protestants outside Paris in Saint Denis, a northern suburb of Paris now.  His opponents needed five sword wounds to finally topple him.

The current Château at Chantilly is the fifth one to occupy this spot and is built in a Renaissance style.  The Institut de France now manages the Château, the art collection, and the invaluable books treasures such as Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, which shows seasonal work for maintaining the fields and vineyards.

The 18^th century stables across the street were built by one of Anne de Montmorency’s descendants, who believed in reincarnation.

Louis-Henri de Bourbon believed he would come back to Earth as a horse and wanted to build stables that were worthy of his rank.  They were more beautiful than the actual Château I thought.

We walked back across the street to visit the gardens.   I thought I would like to own one of the homes that looked out over the Grand Canal towards the Château that we could see from the gardens.

I loved the painting collection, especially paintings such as Raphael’s Three Graces and Piero de Cosimo’s Simonetta Vespucci.  Simonetta wore jewels in her hair and had a snake coiled around her neck.

We visited the stables and discovered that you could book dinner parties there for your business.  I laughed, thinking that might be a statement on the current affairs in France for booking a party here.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Touring Fontainebleau: Visiting the "Family Home" Chateau of the French Royals and Napoleon by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring Fontainebleau: Visiting the “Family Home” Château of the French Royals and Napoleon by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

On another one of our weekend jaunts around the French countryside, Laurent and I drove out to the Château de Fontainebleau south of Paris.

We drove through the famous Fontainebleau Forest listening to Jean-Michel Jarre and Mylène Farmer music and songs on the radio.  The sunny weather with a crisp breeze made it a perfect day for visiting.

The forest around Fontainebleau teems with game and made it a favorite spot for hunting with the French royalty.  The French Kings lavished art on the château here to embellish what they called “the family home.”

The family home for Francis the First featured art by the 16^th century Mannerist artists from Italy named Il Rosso and Primaticcio.  These artists decorated the château at Fontainebleau with mythological art and stucco sculpture of human figures arching to the point of contortion almost.

The most dramatic part of Fontainebleau is the two-armed “Staircase of Farewells.”  A defeated Napoleon thanked his supporters on this staircase and went off to imprisonment on the Island of Elba.

We watched people feed the carp in the fish pond and enjoyed a walk in the garden.

Peacocks wandered around the grounds; reincarnated monarchs perhaps?

We went to an air-conditioned mall with bathrooms and ate at Flunch – they make homemade traditional French meals everyday.  We went shopping at the anchor hypermarket, bought candy, bought herbal shampoos at the pharmacy, and sandwiches for dinner.

Fontainebleau is fun.  I recommend it as an outing.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Touring Saumur (France) - 2 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring Saumur (France): Visiting the Cadre Noir Equestrian Museum by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

My husband Laurent and I ran home from work to go on a long weekend trip to the Loire Valley town of Saumur.  I cannot think of any drive that qualifies as so much landscape eye candy as this drive through the Loire Valley.

The cave homes along the Loire Valley charmed me as usual.  I wanted to own one of those “troglodyte” homes with their window boxes full of red geraniums cascading down in front of them.

“You can rent one for a vacation.  I do not want to own one.  They have spiders and centipedes in them,” Laurent said.

The romance of permanent air-conditioning and perfect temperature for storing wine wore off with the centipede remark.

The cave housing led us into downtown Saumur where we met Laurent’s friend from the air force when they had to do mandatory military duty in France.  (This mandatory military service has been disbanded now.)   We ate dinner that night in a restaurant called La Serre (The Green House) at the Hôtel Roi René.

Roi René was the King of Anjou from 1409 to 1480.  He was beloved by his subjects.  We drank an excellent, sparkling wine with our meal that gave us a touring idea for the next day.

We went to bed full and happy.  The next day we went on a tour at Gratien and Meyer, which produces a champagne-like wine that tastes like Asti Spumante from the Piedmont region in northern Italy that produces the red wine Barolo.

After the tour, we drank excellent Angevin wines with our meal.  Our cocktail was the sweet wine from Anjou called Quarts-de-Chaume.  The wine tastes similar to Sauternes, but it is much more difficult to find in the US than Sauternes.

For our starter dish, Laurent and I ate a seafood platter with Savennières wine.

Our main dish was roast leg of lamb that we drank with a Saumur Rouge.  For dessert, we had the French upside-down cake called Tarte Tatin followed by a strong espresso coffee.

After this meal, we visited the Angers château and the equestrian museum.  Saumur is famous for its Cadre Noir equestrian team. 

Saumur was once a Protestant stronghold, but the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 caused mass migration to regions with more religious tolerance: England, the Netherlands, Berlin, and South Carolina in the United States.

The Decorative Arts Museum interested me the most with its collection of enamelware from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.  There was also a luminous French porcelain collection from the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

The Equestrian Museum has displays about equestrian culture from all periods and cultures.  Horses have never interested me too much, so I probably missed much of the significance of the items on display.

I did understand that horses were like the tanks of their day.  The only people who could ride the horses were aristocrats and royalty.

Suggested Reading:

- National Velvet by Enid Bagnold

-- Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

- Le Cadre Noir de Saumur by Guillaume Henry and Alain Laurious

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Jean Vrolicq Game: The French Basque Country Travel Game Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Jean Vrolicq Game: The French Basque Country Travel Game Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Introduction

I named this French Basque Country Travel Game after Jean Vrolicq, a French Basque whaler who was born in St. Jean-de-Luz. 

The Basque Coast of France used to be a whaling industry town before transforming itself into a tourism venue for water sports, dining, and hiking.

The French Basque Country is located along the Atlantic Coast of Southwestern France.  It is famous for offering invigorating beach holidays; historical places to visit; restorative and nutritious meals; and mountain hiking. 

French Basque Towns to Visit

There are 6 towns to visit in this travel game with suggested foods to eat and buy as souvenirs:

-Bayonne

-Biarritz

-St. Jean-de-Luz

-St. Jean-Pied-de-Port

-Roncevalles

-Hendaye

-Bayonne

Many people choose to stay in Bayonne and drive down the Atlantic Coast as well as inland to the pilgrimage site of St. Jean-Pied-de-Port.

The main tourist sites in town are the Gothic Cathedral, the medieval Old Town with its narrow streets, and Basque Museum with its permanent exhibit of Basque oppression under Francoism in Spain.

Bayonne is also famous for its Bayonne Ham, which resembles Italian San Daniele Ham from the former Sud Tyrol (Austria) region in northeastern Italy.

-Biarritz

Biarritz is a seaside town on the Atlantic Ocean.  It is famous for the Hôtel du Palais where royalty of all nations stay when they visit town.

The town was originally a whaling port that has transformed itself into an exclusive resort with a surfing school for competitive surfers, designer clothing shops, and an aquarium with Blue Whales and Emperor Penguins.

-St. Jean-de-Luz

St. Jean-de-Luz is famous for being the spot where Louis XIV married Marie-Thérèse, the infanta of Spain, in 1660.  She made chocolate popular in France, because she ate it all the time.

There is a Maison Louis XIV there with 17^th century furniture to visit.

-St. Jean-Pied-de-Port

If you go to the foot of the Pyrénées Mountains from Bayonne, you will arrive at St. Jean-Pied-de-Port.  All of the French Camino de Santiago trails converge in this town, which serves as an entryway to Spain and Santiago de Compostella in Galicia, Spain.

This town is quaint and has many great spots for photos.

-Roncevalles

Going further into the Pyrénées Mountains, you arrive at the Roncevalles Pass where the French King Charlemagne was defeated.  The famous French knight Roland was killed here and is the subject of the French folktale The Song of Roland.

There is a 13^th century monastery here where you can eat called the Colegiata de Santa Maria.  Call ahead to make a reservation as it is the only place to eat in town.

-Hendaye

Hendaye is really a water sports town.  There are tons of surfboards with sails out in the water along with ocean scooters, water skiers, and condo-sized yachts.  Everyone is tanned, thin, and beautiful. 

I was looking for Paris Match photographers in this modern-day L’Aventurra film town.  (L’Aventurra was a ritzy, Italian holiday film by Michelangelo Antonioni.)

These are the places I would suggest visiting on a first visit of the French Basque Country.

French Basque Beverages

Some of the French Basque beverages you might want to try on your vacation and send home as souvenirs include:

-Izarra –

French Basque country liqueur made in Bayonne that comes in yellow and green versions.

-Irouléguy AOC Wines –

This French Basque wine comes in both red and white versions.

French Basque Foods

Some of the French Basque foods you might want to try on your vacation and send home as gift souvenirs include canned or boxed items such as:

-Jambon de Bayonne

Air-dried ham similar to Italy’s San Daniele from the former San Daniele region.

-Esplette Peppers

Esplette peppers are used for making pipérade sauce with tomatoes and onions for omelets and for making cheddar-cheese bread with “pimentos” or esplette peppers.

-Poulet Basquaise

This is chicken roasted with a variety of different-colored, mild peppers, tomatoes, and onions.  Irouléguy red goes well with this dish as it is light-bodied.

-Marmitako –

French Basque soup made with tuna and potatoes.

-Gâteau Basque –

This French Basque cake is basically a white, round cake (a Genoise) filled with either black cherry jam or pastry cream.

Suggested Basque Cookbook

The cookbook by San Francisco restaurateur Gerald Hirigoyen entitled The Basque Table: Tempting Food from the Pyrénées by Gerald Hirigoyen provides recipes for tasty and nutritious food.

Personal Note

My husband Laurent and I took this trip as one of our vacations when I lived in Paris (France) for seven years.  I was glad to have an air-conditioned car, because the French Basque country shares a border with very hot Spain.

There are many Basques in the American West, so it is fun to see where the ancestors of this ethnic group came from in France.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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