lundi 13 avril 2015

A week in Bordeaux (+dune du Pilat and St-Emilion)


Intro.(en français): Bordeaux la blonde (du moins, sa partie historique)! Des bâtiments faits de pierres de calcaire venues des environs, bien nettoyées, cette ville doit bien faire le million d’habitants, si on inclut ses banlieues (un quart de million, la municipalité elle-même, m’apprend-t-on). Je suis descendu dans le quartier St-Michel, tout à fait au sud du Bordeaux historique, quartier populaire, fait d’émigrés (essentiellement du nord de l’Afrique), et qui donne sur les quais et le cours (rue) Victor Hugo (on y retrouve la basilique St-Michel et la Flèche du même nom, de même que des restaurants pas chers autour de la place), à 15 minutes à pied de la gare, au 13, rue Le Reynard. (Chambre bien – de la terrasse, belle vue sur les toits du quartier et la basilique Saint-Michel et sa tour – en dépit des 2 chats et des 4 étages à monter sans ascenseur – à la décharge du propriétaire, si on lit bien, c’est indiqué sur le site internet !)
 
Day 1 (in English from there on): Fontainebleau to Bordeaux: by taxi (to Paris) and train (to Bordeaux – more than 3 hours; from Gare Montparnasse) in the afternoon. Dinner at the restaurant de la gare. Walked to 13, rue Le Reynard.

Day 2. Walked along the « quais » towards « la place de la Bourse », built starting in 1730 as the “place Royale” dedicated to Louis XV, (great square where this mixture of water and brume that is the “mirroir d’eau’ is located) is the heart of the “vieux Bordeaux”! This is also where the office of Tourism and of UNESCO’s “Bordeaux Patrimoine mondial” that tells the story of the architecture of the city, are located. Not far away is the “Place du Parlement” where I had lunch at one of the several restaurants that border the place (“Chez Jean”) and from where I started my long walk back to the B&B. First by the Grand-Théatre, built towards the end of the 18c – very impressive with its peristyle ”à la grecque”;  then, via la “place du Chapelet” (the Dominican church of “Notre-Dame”) and “le cours de l’intendance” (possibly the most beautiful street of Bordeaux, says the Michelin guidebook! It is a commercial street.), towards the “place de Gambetta”, more of a garden where people lie down on the grass (…and where the guillotine was set up during the Revolution – can’t be a better choice!).Walked along the major thoroughfare of “cours d’Albert” and “cours Aristide Briand’ (uninteresting!) that leads to the Place de l’Etoile” and the St- Michel neighborhood,

Dinner at Le Rizana; on a Moroccan kebab. In the neighborhood, on the “place St-Michel”..

 


Day 3.  Walked back to the Tourism Office for bookings and further info. Went to Cailhou gate, which was built as part of the walls, facing the harbor, that surrounded Bordeaux in the Middle Ages, and dedicated to the king (Charles VIII, the same guy who married secretly Anne de Bretagne at the Chateau de Langeais in the Loire – and who died of hitting his head on a lintel!) On to St-André’s cathedral, an “incontournable”, built during the 11 and 12c, and modified in the13 and 15c.Gothic style. Nearby the “tour Pey-Berland”, closed (worth seeing anyway!) The “Préfecture” (in the Palais Rohan) is nearby and a statue of Chaban-Delmas, prime minister and mayor for 30 odd years (in France, it is common: you can still occupy 2 political positions at the same time, that in spite of the current debate on this!) Walked down nearby rue Sainte-Catherine, a commercial street that goes to remind you of the same street name in Montreal except that here, it is a “piétonnière” …It leads to “place de la Comédie” and the “Bar à Vin” (the official CIVB – Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bordeaux) where I drank/tasted a 2010 Listrac-Médoc du Chateau Focas-Horten and a 2010 St-Emilion Grand Cru du chateau de Pressac, along with a plate of cheese (Gruyère de Savoie, un fromage fait de lait de vache du pays Basque, un comté et un Brebis vache!).

Did not know that Bordeaux was a stop on the “chemin de Compostelle”! Many French pélerins went by the city!  They went by la “Porte Cailhou”

Had lunch on the terrace of the Grand Hotel de Bordeaux, facing the Grand-Théatre.

Rested in the afternoon and had a light dinner nearby.

 


Day 4. It was devoted to the “Musée d’Aquitaine”, where I spent most of the day, which traces back the history of Bordeaux (from prehistoric times). Lots about all areas of its history (e.g. Eleonor d’Aquitaine” who started 300 years of wars between France and England by marrying  - she was divorced from Louis VII, the French king, at his initiative – Henri de Plantagenet, who was to become Henri II and king of England, and thus joining Aquitaine – to its advantage as the Brits bought all the claret – to the crown of England!) and the best collections I have seen so far on slave trade, not that Bordeaux was the principal place – in the 17 and 18c – where it took place (there was much more trade in England – in London and Liverpool for instance - and in some other European ports!) but the city’s prosperity was built on traded goods produced in America (mostly in the French colonies of the Caribbean islands) by black slaves!  

I had lunch at a café nearby, walked by the ‘tour de la Grosse Cloche”, and visited on the way back the large “basilique St-Michel” which was built over several centuries starting in the 14c (it is part of the UNESCO’s “Patrimoine mondial”). I stopped by the 15c Flèche, beside the basilica-the highest tower of all the south of Europe but did not go up!
 

Day 5: Day to St-Emilion.

St-Emilion’s jurisdiction extends to 7 other communes and covers some 7to 8000 ha (of which –one would have guess! – at  least ¾ are vines!):it is a small village nonetheless. About half hour by train from Bordeaux. Got there early: it was not 9am! Nobody in the streets! Had a coffee and brioches for bkfst at the local ‘boulangerie”.

Eventually walked up to the”Collegiale” and its cloister: nice specimen of 14c. Architecture!

Early lunch (carpaccio de thon and canard confit) at “L’Envers du Décor” (recommended in the Michelin – very good; full of English-speaking people!) 

Walked to the king’s tower; either Louis VIII’s or Henri III’s: there are speculations. But certainly early 13c! Went up on top: Good example of square donjon of the day; it housed the “hotel –de-ville” until the beginning of 18c.

Note that the ‘jurat” (local council) was abolished everywhere at the Revolution but reinstituted after the Second WW. (ceremonial in St-Emilion but real in Bordeaux, I understand!)

Went home, back to Bordeaux, by the 15:18 train…

 


Day 6: Beautiful and warm day. Went to Arcachon, by train(less than an hour to go) early in the morning. Lunch at the Cabestan restaurant. No public transport to the Dune on Sunday – I guess too early in the season; you could not say that by the crowd there was at the Dune itself! To go, shared a cab with American girl from Dallas (on an internship at the American consulate in Bdx) and a Chinese (doctor, on holidays, at Peking University hospital in Shenzhen!); The dune: huge accumulation of sand – at least 20 meters high – the largest I ever saw –climbed up by stairs!. Came back to Bordeaux by 4 o’clock train (51 min). Dinner (Italian) near Utopia  Place after film.

Day 7: Lunch across the river (Gironde) on a terrace that gives one the river, at the “Cafe du Port». Taxi to airport. Flight to Malta (via Barcelona) at 4:50pm. Arrived around 11pm…

 

Bordeaux, April 13, 2015

mardi 7 avril 2015

Chateaux de la Loire – April 2015


Chateaux de la Loire – April 2015

According to a publication, there are 71 of them (from Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne in the west, to Chateau de la Buissière in the east) ! We aim at seeing 3 or 4 at maximum. La Vallée de la Loire was made a UNESCO historical site (part of the “Patrimoine Mondial”) at the very beginning of the 21c

We visited Chambord on the way down, part of a long Easter weekend. Fascinating! Chambord is the largest and best known chateau! That kings could permit themselves to engage in such expenditures (François 1er in this case)! Was built over 28 years, we read - from 1519! According to plans Da Vinci would had had a say on (a pleasing hypothesis!) – He died nearby at Amboise, shortly before construction started. Leonardo Da Vinci, mentor to François 1er who brought him from Italy (Milano or Firenze!) In Leonardo’s dying years (Cynthia visited in March the modest mansion – Le Clos Lucé – in Amboise where he spent the last years of his life – from 1516 to May 1519 when he died, leaving behind there some of his giant machines and the Mona Lisa painting which he had brought with him – she (Cynthia) was quite impressed by Da Vinci!) Chambord was restored mainly after WWII, but also more recently 2006-09! François 1er stayed 18 times (for a total of 72 days!) at Chambord. Louis the 14th made it “habitable” later on (he stayed there 9 times, between 1660 and 1685).

Stayed at a B&B recommended by Canadians living in Fonty, “l’Ange est Rêveur” in Langeais. Room (one of 5) above a decoration store – very good! Full house for breakfast! Had dinner the first night we arrived at nearby resto, “Au Coin des Halles” (asparagus and gambas as starter with a half bottle of Sancerre for both of us, then chicken and salmon) – very fine dining!
 

Le lendemain, ai visité le Chateau de Langeais, bâti sur l’ordre de Louis XI par son contrôleur des Finances en 1465. Avons passé la matinée à visiter les intérieurs (15 salles) complètement et minutieusement rénovés avec ameublement par l’industriel et collectionneur Jacques Siegfried, son dernier propriétaire, au 19c. It was also the site of the famous (and secret!) marriage of Anne de Bretagne (15 years old!) and Charles VIII that attached definitely Britany to the kingdom of France in 1491; the marriage “scéance” is totally reconstituted with a good story! The Chateau is located in the center of town, near the B&B where we stayed. We visited, late afternoon, the park at the back of the Chateau; it showcased the remnants of the tower erected at the end of the 10c, along with a reconstituted medieval scaffolding. There is also in the park a belvedere from which one can observe the river (la Loire) and the Langeais bridge that spans it. 

After a copious lunch at the Colombien Hotel (on gigot d’agneau and a bottle of Chinon, a red from the 2010 cuvée!)  in Villandry, visited the chateau located there. Better known for its gardens, sumptuously deployed! Owned privately by the descendants of Joachim Carvallo, a local Spanish restaurateur, who bought the castle in 1906 and fully furnished it (it looks as if someone lives there!)

The following and last day, we visited Chenonceau. A marvel! Known as «le chateau des Dames» - Katherine Briçonnet, la bâtisseuse (with her husband’s money!) in the 16c, Diane de Poitiers (the king– Henri II – ‘s mistress), Catherine de Médicis, the wife of Henri II who chased Diane once a widow; Louise de Lorraine, the daughter (who mourned her king-husband, Henri III who died in a tournament!), and Louise Dupin, who saved the château from the Revolution! Catherine de Medicis built up into a gallery the long bridge that Diane had built on the Cher River. A quite spectacular chateau!. Well-preserved, with all the furniture and the paintings, tapisseries and other decoration!

 An extensive (and expansive!) lunch at l’Orangerie, on the grounds of  Chenonceau.


Drove back home via Orléans late afternoon!

Vallée de la Loire, April 7, 2015

samedi 28 mars 2015

Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.


Long weekend in Paris. To meet our friends, Cristina and Andreas, who came from Frankfurt ! Had dinner at Chez Fernand and lunch at Le Frank at the Foundation, with them. (we had dinner by ourselves at “Semilla” the second night - great food!)The Foundation…one of the last creations of Frank Gehry.


What an architect! Born in Toronto; Gehry lives in the US (Los Angeles, I think). Have seen his groundbreaking Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao – remarkable! And his remaking of the Ontario Art Gallery- splendid! I remember reading at the time that he was born across from the AGO!...


Back to the Foundation. Bernard Arnault, a longtime philanthropist and the chairman and CEO of the LVMH luxury goods group, decided to create it in the 90’s and commissioned Gehry at the beginning of 2000’s to build this wonderful structure (it was started in 2007, with an official opening that took place in October 2014)!


The building right now is the attaction! There are galleries inside (11 of them, on 4 floors) and the works shown are admirable, but currently people come to see the building! The few pictures we took shown here try to convey its originality but fail to demonstrate its “grandeur”!   He said he was inspired by a sailboat (there is a picture of that sailboat, the Suzanne, built in 1911 – you can see how!) and he built it on and surrounded it by water to create the impression that it is afloat- like a ship! He also took his inspiration from glass and metal structures of the 19c around the world, such as the Crystal Palace in London (build for that city’ Great Exhibition in 1851), and that city, such as the Grand Palais (built for that city’s International Exhibition in 1900, and still part of the landscape!).(I assume that the works of Victor Baltard would also have inspired him as well – but the 10 magnificent pavilions that he built in that style to house ‘Les Halles”. In the center of Paris, are no longer existing and have been demolished!)


 This is how the “Architecture Digest” describes the museum core in its review of the building: “…Underneath sits an assemblage of irregular volumes, known as the Iceberg, containing 11 galleries for art. The Iceberg is clad in luminous white panels of fiber-reinforced concrete, while the Verrière (as Gerhy referred to it) is held aloft by a network of steel trusses and wood beams in a bravura feat of architectural acrobatics…”

It sits at the edge of the “Jardin d’Acclimatation”,a  natural park in the “Bois de Boulogne” inaugurated in 1860…

One can write about it long, but best is to go and see it!.

Paris, 28 March 2015

mardi 24 février 2015

Firenze in February!


Michelin suggest 4 days to see Firenze (I refer to the city throughout per its Italian name, Firenze), but I have only 2 as I want to go to Pisa and Lucca by train 1 day, and my stay is shorten by 1 day due to flight cancellation!

 There is no better introductory comment to Firenze that I know of than this quote from the 1989 English version of the Michelin guide: “Florence is without doubt the city where the Italian genius has flourished with the greatest display of brilliance and purity. For three centuries from the 13C to the 16C the city was the cradle of an exceptional artistic and intellectual activity… (from) which evolved … modern civilization throughout Europe…” one could say throughout the western world…
 


I spent the week prior to my visit in touch with the B&B where I was going to stay (Residenza Johanna I).and in reading about Firenze in the books I had on the topic and on the Net! But when you get there, going down from the hotel, along Via San Gallo, all the way to Uffizi, and Uffizi itself, that is something else…!

I spent all the first morning at the Uffizi (see Wikipedia for a full description of the museum that I will not reproduce here – I could have spent a lot more time but one gets tired! You have to see it in tranches – we will be back!) (Better booked online beforehand to avoid wasting time waiting in line to get in – which was even true as early in the year as in February!) It is one of the finest museums in the world that I have been given to visit! Its reputation and facility of access would have been affected though, I read, by the terrorist attack in 1993… Such an abundance to see! Just skimming it! Giotto, Michelangelo, Caravaggio…and that temporary exhibition on “Gherardo Delle Notti”, what a spectacle!


I am glad it is only February: the crowd is already thick! I can only imagine what it is in July when tourists are swirling around in the summer months...!Lots of Asians (not to say Chinese!) en groupe ou en famille, but also a fair amount of Caucasians (I would think in majority Italians, but you can also hear a lot of English and some French that I can identify…

I had lunch at the Il Santo Bevitore, a suggestion from the Wallpaer City Guide on Firenze (p.040): risotto as primo, and I don’t remember as a secundo with a glass of red wine; I succumbed to dessert: some fruits (pineapple!), and a coffee. I decided to rest for the afternoon. And for the evening I had a quiet meal at the neighboring trattoria (Tiberio).

I spent the morning after at the Galleria dell’ Academia, one of the museums you have to see while in Firenze! So rich, aside from the famous David (you wonder: where is Goliath?), it has a section devoted to instruments of music: several strings (among others, a Stradivarius) and wind instruments, plus an explication on the invention of the harpsichord! (I bought a little guide written by the former director of the gallery).  


Then I had lunch at La Boussola on Porta Rossa, another suggestion from WallPaper (p 045). After some pizza and a glass of red, decided to go and climb up the dome of the Duomo; its building by Brunelleschi in the 15C is fascinating! It’s a double shelled structure – no one thus far, until Brunelleschi, had find a way to cap the cathedral (which is pretty non-descript except for its exterior, made of white marble and green, quite impressive!). Attention though: to climb up there is some 450 steps to the top (464 to be precise), and it is pretty tight, between the 2 layers, at the very top! But it offers a magnificent view of Firenze! There is also a great view from the top of the lovely Campanile, designed by Giotto (he died shortly after) and built up by the end of the 14C (again some 400 steps to the top!) There is also the Baptistery (all wrapped up, for restauration I would think!) you could still admire the doors facing the cathedral (The “Gate to Paradise” as they got to be known after Michelangelo’s saying!) (The Museum dell’ Opera (inside the cathedral) was closed until the end of the year, also for renovation)


Finally, a walk to Santa Croce, east of the Pallazo Vecchio, a church that gives on one of the oldest squares of Firenze! It is the church of the Franciscans, completed in the second half of the 14C; very large but empty (single spacious nave); it has a great choir (the stained glasses) but the real interest for me is that it contains the tomb of Machiavelli…and a great (but simple) cloister!

To close the day, what better than some music: one hour or so with Malher’s lieders, interpreted by Sara Mingardo (contralto), and the ensemble Musici Aurei, directed by Luidgi Piovano (direttore), at the Teatro della Pergosa (sala Saloncino) under the parrainage of the Amici della Musica, Firenze!.

It was overcast all the time I was in Firenze, but who cares!

Firenze, February 24, 2015

lundi 23 février 2015

Pisa & Lucca, always in Toscany!


Pisa & Lucca (Toscany) – February 2015
Took the day off Firenze, to go to explore other cities in Toscany! Took the “early” train (9:28!) for Pisa where I walked to the sites (the train station is in the south, the sites, in the north – you have to cross town!) I admire the leaning tower (as part of the “Campo dei Miracoli”, that is with the church and the baptistery – there are also the cemetery (Camposento) and museums to visit). Quite spectacular: all made of white marble! Full of tourists that enter from the west gate – some trying games (stopping the tower form falling, etc.) while taking pictures (mostly with their cell)…

Walked back to the train station to go to Lucca. Quiet city, surrendered by walls (it has been “aménagé: you can walk or run around the city on the walls!)  the Church of San Michele in foro is wonderful!

This is the birthplace of Puccini (there is a statue and a piazza dedicated to him!
 
Lunch at a restaurant I picked by chance (the one I had decided upon – La Buca i San Antonio – was closed (this being a Monday, I should have known!).
Firenze, February 23, 2015

It’s getting cold! So jump in the train back to Firenze around 5:30pm!
 

 

 


lundi 2 février 2015

Valletta, Malta's Capital!





Ai passé quelques jours à Valletta, une ville à peine 10 minutes de l’aéroport pour collecter un depot auprès des douanes et peut-être choisir et acheter un auvent…

Saw a Maltese film, « Simshar » d’après le nom du bateau: in Englsih but made by Maltese, with Maltese money and shot in Malta; the story of a young boy who dies after their boat (his father survived but the grandfather and the African hired hand die) capsized; apparently after a real story… Saw much earlier that day a film on the story of Valletta…

Had dinner, at the Hotel’s (Castille) suggestion, at Ambrosia the first night, and at Sfoglia, on Sunday night (at the suggestion of Chris at Ambrosia – most restaurants are closed!)…

Valletta was founded in 1565, four hundred and fifty years ago! The year of the Great Siege of Malta! Once the Turks had left Malta, the idea was to build a new city. It was built on a grid (the first time in history!), under the aegis of Jean de la Villette, the Grand Master of the St-John’s order who would give his name to the city (and died in 1568), with the assistance of an Italian architect, an adjoin of Michelangelo. It was built on the land across the harbor and the St-Angelo fort, from where the Turks had settled and attacked the fort for many years, the fort where the knights and the Maltese had taken refuge.

Malta has a history that goes back to the 4th millennium before J. C.! It was occupied by the Phoenicians, and the Romans (they called it ”Melita”). The Knights of St-John came to Malta in 1530 (it was given to them to by Charles Quint, for the price of one or two falcons – that they presented to the king of Sicily). They had resisted to the Turks (of Saladin the Magnificent), but succumbed easily to the soldiers of Napoléon, in 1797, who was on his way to Egypt! The French stayed until Napoléon was defeated by Wellington at Trafalgar, and Malta remained a British colony since then, until it acceded to independence in 1964 (the British Navy left the country definitely in 1979!)

Getting ready now to be the “Capital of Culture in 2018”! Entrance to the city being renovated by local architect Renzo Piano – very modern, using local stone (which makes it look “old” like the rest of the city…!)

Walking around the city (went to the 9:15 mass at the Co-Chatedral…); looking at possible real estate deals…

Valletta, Feb 1, 2015

samedi 31 janvier 2015

De passage à Paris…


RDV médicaux (à l’Hotel-Dieu pour le sommeil et au Vertiges Center pour les étourdissements!) à Paris. En profite pour voir l’exposition « Splendeurs des Han » au musée Guimet! Le lendemain, descendons à l’Hôtel Abbaye dans le 6ième, et dînons en compagnie de Josette, au Chardenoux des Prés (excellent!), tout près

Paris, le 31 janvier, 2015