Paris ~ Sèvres ~ Loire Valley
(French) toast
Shockingly enough, we had been in France all this time and somehow had yet to indulge in the iconic French breakfast.
No, not the croissant – French toast. Or as we call it in France, “toast”.
Time to correct this gross oversight, with lashings of maple syrup to atone for our misstep.
Industry vs. Science
Today it seemed that spring had finally sprung. The first day we have ventured out without our big winter coats, to enjoy the spring sun!
Not nearly as hands on as the Amsterdam version, but fun nonetheless as we made a visit to the planetarium and learned the mechanics of how our bodies work.
There are some dedicated younger kids sections in the basement that we’ll check out on our next visit.
A drawback of la cité des sciences et de l’industrie from a kid’s (and this grown up’s) point of view is that it is much more industrie than sciences, and quite French.
Here the kids are playing a game where you watch a person get up in the morning and go about their day while you try to find all 82 ways they wasted energy and bang on them with your hand, turning their car into a bike, their hot shower into a cold one etc. Very French!
We found a little robot our size on the way out and persuaded it to do a little dance for us, but sadly couldn’t talk it into following us home on the metro to see Niamh who was finally back from Ireland, much to everyone’s delight.
Of Tintorettos and Domes
Monday morning, kids in school and Niamh and Simon fire out post the gym to the Tintoretto exhibit at the musée in the jardin de Luxembourg.
Neither of us had been to this museum before, and Tintoretto having spent his days painting in and around Venice seemed à propos.
We’ve become fans of the audio guides to get a better sense of what we’re looking at, and this was a good example, providing the backdrop of the competitiveness of artists in the city, the rise of his fame and atelier, his use of colour, perspective and scenes within a scene (such as Eve offering Adam an apple while they are seen being banished in the background
Of course, nothing works up an appetite like looking at 500 year old oil paintings, and trusty fourchette app uncovered Dome bistro nearby – another classic on the Parisian scene with stunning interiors, that neither of us had been to before.
No trouble for a table at lunch, and wait staff hell bent on pleasing. On seeing Niamh taste Simon’s fish soup they swooped on the table and served her up an extra steaming bowl, then left the terrine on the
Scallops with foie gras is a house specialty and not mucking around. It’s kind of like matter and anti-matter on a plate, the calories and anti-calories annihilating each other in the stomach. At least that’s what Simon told himself…
In the wars
Charles’ school is quite an urban environment, a bit like Sydney Grammar in Sydney.
At recess and lunch the kids all pile into the playground for semi-supervised mayhem. Most days this passes without incident, but occasionally a subset of them are taken to “grand cour”, the big playground down the road.
Here there is sufficient space to really build up a head of steam when careening around playing freeze tag, and that’s exactly what they do. The blend of quite small and quite large children all doing this in the one space leads to the inevitable outcomes.
Some weeks prior, Charles came home with a very large egg on his forehead from a collision, and this time his thumb was the victim. By dinner time it was black and blue and swollen to an impressive size.
French medical system reasonably easy to navigate – find a GROUP equivalent in your neighbourhood, who is likely located in the back courtyard of a residential building you need to squirrel your way into, and then getting an X-ray pretty straightforward once you finally have your vocab sorted out. Chalk one up to the French as the lab assistant at the lab we made it to right at the end of the day pulled some strings and found a way to get us seen without having to come back the next day. The Prefecture could learn a thing or two from her.
X-ray showed only a sprain not a break, so a bit of bandaging and a rest from writing for a few days was the cure. One more lesson from the school of hard knocks…
A different type of plaster band
Meanwhile, Simon experimenting with a different type of plaster band at sculpture class.
To build from the rock wall wire frames into plaster structures, you first wrap them in mesh bands that have been soaked in plaster, lightly moistening them wherever you want them to bend or stick.
That way you can convert wire frames into semi-solid structures that you can then “paint” with wet plaster to build up a solid surface and shape it how you want it.
Result at the end will be hollow plaster rock faces supported by wire frames that are embedded in the plaster base.
Aussies at the Zoo!
Our Wednesday adventure was a trip to the little zoo that is hiding right in the centre of Paris in the jardin des plantes.
Just the right size if you have a couple of hours free for a wander on a sunny Wednesday afternoon.
Aisling was feeling particularly springy that day and looking the part in her matching coat and sunnies.
Quick stop for lunch and a catnap on the way…
… and then first stop was the playground where Aisling was the Queen of the castle. Quickly followed by our first Aussie spotting of the day – a (small) mob of kangaroos enjoying the Parisian sunshine
Turned out Australia is surprisingly well represented in the little zoo in Paris, with Aussie fauna everywhere, including various varieties of large flightless birds. These cassowaries and emus are a long way from home but seemed excited to have some visitors from Oz to bring them up to speed on the latest in the cricket.
One of Niamh’s few true phobias is snakes (not unusual among the Irish!) but her kids seem to have the Aussie gene on this one so far, Charles enjoying the reptile hall and all its slithery inmates. Everyone of course loves a pink flamingo…
Just enough time to hitch a ride on a friendly hippo before we head out:
Fun family day out.
Kids stumbled upon a store selling lego figurines on the way back to the metro.
The minions (or “onions” as Aisling calls them) were a particular favourite.
Lunch of champions
On Thursday, Niamh and Simon snuck out for lunch at the Fontaine de Mars, a popular hangout for local politicians.
The lunch menu of the day said it all about the sophisticated palate of the French: half a dozen oysters, chocolate mousse and a glass of wine. Now that’s what we call a square meal!
Simon was inspired by the chocolate mouse for dessert idea, and we were both inspired by the glass of wine idea…
Museum of dismembered heads
After lunch it was off to the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac museum.
Mouthful of a name and a lot to bite off inside, too. Mostly indigenous art from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
It’s set in a little garden near the Tour Eiffel, and is an elongated boat of a museum with long winding ramps inside.
We liked it a lot more than we thought we would. Some really arresting art (not all of it sufficiently PG to qualify for the blog), well presented and with audioguides to help you understand the people and their cultures. Naturally an Australian indigenous section along with all the others.
Highlights included the floating heads…
Mazing carved art including this canoe, and a different take on the “money belt” – a long rope composed of tiny bird feathers that were both difficult to catch and laborious to make, making the rope highly valuable, and priced by the length. Not so practical if you’re up the shops buying some cockles, but came in handy in years gone by for a dowry.
Paris in Spring
What could say “Paris in the springtime” more than cherry blossoms under the Tour Eiffel?
Kids continuing to make the most of their time here. Charles stumbled upon crocheted covers for a set of bollards on the street, Aisling making a set of plasticine animals to practice her French with…
Sèvres
Charles’ school has an amazingly active parents’ association.
There seem to be an endless number of parents who are tour guides, art experts, artists or have connections around the town, so pretty much every week there are multiple interesting events to sign up for.
Continuing what was a busy week, we had signed up for a behind the scenes tour of the famous Sèvres porcelain factory just on the west edge of the city, not far from where we’re living.
Quick jaunt on the metro and a walk across the Seine, with the near-ubiquitous houseboats moored on the shore, to the entrance of the “Cité de la céramique”.
Sevres has an interesting and quintessentially French history.
In operation since 1740 or so, it has produced porcelain for the rulers of France, ranging from kings to presidents (whether of regular or jupiterian status). Fun fact, in 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres, the peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Allies at the end of World War I, was signed at the factory.
Now officially a state organisation, its mission is “to produce ceramic works of art using artisanal techniques, including both reproductions of old models and contemporary creations, both for state needs and commercial sale … maintaining a high quality of artisanry, while neglecting industrial scale mass production”.
As our guide proudly announced, they never work to deadlines.
Most of what they do now seems to be new dinner sets for each new prime minister and president of France, in accordance with their particular sensibilities.
Fantastic and rare chance to meet the artists and artisans who work there, walk all through the manufacturing facility that has been there for over 200 years and soak in the history and culture of deadline-free artistry.
The (near) original kilns built in 1877 to fire the porcelain are still there, and are now French historical monuments(!). Occasionally still fired up, they were last used 2 years ago.
Our guide proudly talked us through their operation and showed us one that was recently used with the original wood-burning techniques to get it up to 1300C – no mean feat.
We walked through the halls where the paint tints are stored, including the famous Sevres blue, and one of the ceramics artists showed us how works are recreated from the moulds that are kept for all the major works
One of the decorators showed us how the gold paste is pushed into the engraved plates, rolled onto a silk sheet and them transferred to the side of a bowl. After the silk is moistened and removed, gold dust is added to increase the sparkle.
This was a man who took his boulot seriously, as demonstrated by the reaction when a couple of the French mums decided to ignore the rather clear instructions about not getting too close to the porcelain…
All the waste goes into a special “gold bin” to be incinerated down so the gold can be recovered and recycled. The French taxpayers will be much relieved to hear this
The end results are extraordinarily beautiful in their artistry and attention to detail.
These pictures show a 1751 bouquet of flowers and an 1815 triumphal vase.
And for something more modern, a piece that had just been produced by a Japanese artist in residence. Not sure if she had a deadline to work to or not. Suspect not.
Amboise
Sèvres visit done, it was home for a record-breaking speed packing session, then off to Montparnasse to rent a car for our weekend outing down to the Loire valley. Why, you say? Why not.
Whisked the kids out of school, and straight onto the infamous French highways heading south. Sunny but chilly weather in the forecast, and our first target was Amboise, a town full of history and located fairly centrally in the Loire. How is this for picturesque:
A beautiful old fortified town set on the river, we arrived in time for a short exploration before dinner.
Aisling enjoying the evening sun, Charles exploring the streets and contemplating what style of suit of armour to buy.
Meanwhile lots of fun had down by the river, climbing on the stone walls…
And walking around the base of the walled chateau, gazing up at the gargoyles and planning our adventures for the next day.
Our hotel was a converted manor house, with about the most impressively decorated breakfast room our kids are ever likely to eat in…
And a fancy restaurant which we gamely took them to for a “quick” bite to eat, there being no other option handy in the immediate vicinity.
They coped pretty well overall with a first introduction to fine dining :-), then off to bed after a long day!
Chenonceau
Saturday morning and mist covering the grass in front of the hotel. Crisp start but sign of a sunny day to come! Kids in good form after a big sleep, and raring to go:
After a hearty breakfast it was off to Chenonceau, one of the more beautiful chateaux in the Loire:
The main chateau was built in the early 1500s by Thomas Bohier on the site of an earlier building. He made the fatal mistake of designing something a bit too desirable it seemed to us, as the chateau was appropriated from his son by king Louis I some 30 years later.
It then passed to Henry II who gave it to his favourite mistress, Diane de Poitiers – presumably to the chagrin of his wife Catherine de Medici, who after his death “swapped” it with the chateau de Chaumont. One of the more valuable barter exchanges in French history we wondered??
Beautiful tree-lined paths on the way in, easy to imagine making your way up them in a horse drawn carriage.
Reality is we nearly didn’t make it up them at all, as Aisling had a stomach upset (aka a “bomit”) in the carpark on the way in, but promptly declared she was feeling much better.
Enterprising staff had a set of rugged outdoor push buggies at the entrance, so she settled into one of those for the first part of the visit through the gardens and we were off to the races. Hardy soul!
Kids had a great time exploring the chateau, audio guides our new best friends for getting a better appreciation for the (many) intrigues in the chateau’s history. If you look closely in the picture on the left below, you can see how the initials H for Henry and C for his wife Catherine have been artfully combined by the chateau’s owner Diane to make a D…
The grand gallery supported by a series of arches across the river Cler was added by Diane and added to by Catherine. It was used in WW1 as a hospital ward, and some of the patients were said to have fished out the windows. It’s a stunning setting that was probably never put to a more practical use:
A striking characteristic of almost all the photos in our blog thus far is the absence of other people in them! You might think we achieved this by not showering for a week before venturing out of our house, but the reality is that by visiting these places off season and out of school holidays it’s amazing how quiet they can be even today.
Having explored the crooks & crannies of the chateau sufficiently, it was off to the maze, a big hit with both kids but especially Charles. Aisling by now had fully recovered herself (for the time being) and was flying along in pursuit of her brother.
Aisling was soon back into the wars while trying to follow Charles through an improvised short-cut through the middle of a hedge, and having to be carefully extricated from a tangle of branches, roots and mud. A few scratches to show for her trouble, and a mandatory costume change back at the hotel before continuing our day’s adventures.
Time to bid the amazing stories, views and vistas of Chenonceau goodbye for now.
Da Vinci Museum
Costume change complete, it was back out into the town of Amboise, to visit the Da Vinci museum. The museum is set in the Clos Lucé villa where he spent the final few years of his life in the early 1500s, at the request of King Francis I of France.
Our walk through the picturesque town took us past a cat as a big as a dog, but with swords at the ready we were the equal of all adversaries
The Clos Lucé has extensive gardens full of replicas of various inventions by Leonardo. Charles was strangely drawn to the tank and machine gun designs – perhaps not the first seven year old boy to show that interest:
And of course, lots more besides. Hands-in with an archimedes screw and a pulley lift:
As well as playing pooh-sticks on a nailless bridge and admiring flying machine prototypes:
Sometimes of course, the most fun is just playing tip on the grass, and sitting under an age-old tree thinking up your own inventions-to-be.
Never ending dinner
Saturday night and the kids ate early in town to save them from a second visit to the fine dining experience at the hotel!
Simon and Niamh gamely attempted the degustation menu – which was lovely but a decision they came to regret as the meal was threatening to push through to midnight when Niamh sensibly threw in the towel.
Great people watching (one couple tried no less than three different table choices during their meal – we’d heard of matching wines but not matching tables before!) and great food, but the kitchen weighed down by a large private party and couldn’t quite keep up.
Phew! What a week. We’re exhausted just blogging about it. Will be back with more in Week 14 shortly…