France
:
Introduction
[This section is in the earliest
stages of development:
28 December 2006
]
Since my first trip overseas, to
Paris in April 1970, with my father and brother, I have
visited
France
many times, often annually.
By car, I have travelled around
much of France both zipping along the autoroutes,
such as those from the Channel Tunnel to Paris, and from Paris to the Cote d’Azure at 130km/h (although my
Toyota Carina overheated on the Autoroute du Sol in the sweltering August sun), and tootling along the smaller regional roads, such as the road
lined with first world war cemeteries that runs up through the Somme valley.
It is, in my gently immature frame of reference, a matter of pride that I have
driven into, through, around (and under)
Paris
on quite a number of occasions. I have flown to
Paris
several
times, and via
Paris
once, but never taken an internal French domestic flight. I have caught the
railway train to
Paris
from
Victoria Station (sic) in
London
several times – but not
Eurostar – and subsequently trains
from
Paris
to
Nantes
,
Cahors, the
Cote
d’Azure,
Strasbourg
,
as well as to
Madrid
(
Spain
)
and
Munchen (
Germany
).
I have been on the sea ferry crossings from
Kent
and
Sussex
to
Calais
,
Boulogne
,
Dunkirk
and
Dieppe
,
but never to
Roscoff or St
Malo.
To the north of Paris, the
medieval town of Lille
lies in the heart of the economically down-at-heel industrial north of France.
Despite valiant attempts by the local tourist board to present Lille as tourist destination, the
brooding unfriendliness of the town in August 1998 will dissuade me from
returning for many years. However, in August 1999, I was fortunate enough to
engineer driving north along the autoroute from Paris
to Calais, along with about a
million Parisian people, and witnessed totality of the solar eclipse (whilst
awe-inspiring, I also found the experience rather disturbing). Moving clockwise
around the compass, I have visited Reims
(1993), albeit only briefly, and Chateau Thierry (1980s) in the Champagne
region. Also in Champagne
district is Epernay,
where, along with my father and brother at Easter 1970, I visited the 'caves'
of Champagne Mercier, a well-known champagne producer. Further to the east, I
have admired the depth of architectural history in Strasbourg
(1980s and 1997), with its picturesque canals and eclectic collection of
diplomatic buildings. Southwards, I visited Grenoble overnight in 1997. Whilst
I feel certain that the town is a-buzz with excited skiers in the winter, I
thought it rather seedy, and found little to commend
it during a summer thunderstorm with not a vegan meal to be had anywhere.
I have not visited Lyon, although I have driven past
it a few times. I do not know whether it has much to commend it as a tourist
destination, but I intend to find out one day.
I know Provence,
in south-eastern France, a little better now, having
made several visits to the Cote d’Azure,
most recently in July/August 1998. The Cocteau exhibition in Menton is okay. Better is strolling along the Monte
Carlo waterfront. Best is swimming with the fish in the sanctuary
off Larvotto beach at 07:30
on an August morning (1996). Inland from the Cote d'Azure ,the
'villages perchées' are worth seeing, of which Roquebrune (where my step-niece lives) is a fine example.
The Chagall gallery in Nice is a must for Chagall
enthusiasts. The Fondation Maeght
is a modern art gallery at St Paul
(near Vence), set in Provencal countryside, with
sculptures inside (e.g. Giacometti) and out (e.g. Miro), and many other works of twentieth century art. I was not hugely impressed by my first visit, but I shall
undoubtedly return and hopefully gain a deeper impression. Grasse is a pleasant town offering
a perfume museum and a sales-orientated tour around the Fragonard
perfumerie. I found the brooding atmosphere of
Marseille rather grim, and whilst there are a few buildings of interest, I
doubt that visiting them is worth the risk of having one's car stolen - a
strong possibility by all accounts (as warned by local residents!).
Avignon
has the Palais des Papes,
the most impressive part of which I considered to be the
piazza at the front. (Do not visit if you are wheelchair bound.) There is, of
course, the broken bridge over the river ("Sur
le pont d'Avignon, ...") but entrance is pricey, there is nothing much
to see, and access for disabled people is non-existent. In complete contrast,
the Pont du Gard near Nîmes was excellent, impressive, free, highly photogenic,
and deservedly a World Heritage Site. Arles, a Roman town immortalised by Van
Gogh, is not as exciting as I think it ought to be (there are some excellent
views of Arles in the feature film Ronin, starring Robert de Niro and
Sean Bean).
In August 2005 I visited cosmopolitan
Toulouse
(la ville rose) and sampled food from its
vegetarian restaurants. The Space Centre is well worth a visit, particularly for anyone who follows the activities of the various space agencies around the world. Although not as impressive as the Kennedy Space Centre, it is both a good deal closer to the UK, and the entrance fee is much cheaper. The trip to Toulouse was part of an extended visit to
Languedoc
,
taking in Albi, Castres and
Carcassonne
, but sadly not Montpellier
.
Like so many other people, I was entranced with the romance of medieval troubadors composing their Occitan poetry, and peaceful Cathars cocking a snook at
Rome
.In fact, there was not a lot of Cathar evidence to be found. True, the Cathar heresy all happened a long time ago. I was, however, disappointed that the moniker is used in much the same way that 'Land of the Prince Bishops' is used of Durham - attractive but meaningless. I did visit one formerly-Cathar village. What impressed me most was its remoteness, and the degree of obsession required by the Roman Catholic inquisitors to hunt down these villagers and sentence them to death.
I first saw the Pyrennees from 33,000 feet while
flying to and from
Barcelona
at Easter
1999. I had little desire to visit the ski-slopes, but
wanted to explore
Roussillon
.I should like to have seen some wildlife: bears, wolves, lynx, eagles, but that no doubt requires moving away from centres of population and main roads. Visiitng the prehistoric caves was a bit of a non-starter with a wheelchair, but an excellent prehistoric theme park was not a bad substitute. A more authentic experience was bathing tired feet in the Roman bath at Ax-les-Thermes, the bath being fed by a spring of hot water. Although Andorra was only a few miles further up the road, the traffic was heavy and slow-moving, and the light was slowly dimming to crepuscular.
Moving northwards on the map from
Languedoc
, I visited Brive la Galliard and Cahors in
the Lot valley (1980s), close to the ever-popular Dordogne
.
Here, there are caves with rock paintings undertaken by prehistoric dwellers
and places where the rock has been worn away by
hibernating bears. The countryside around here made for excellent country rambles. North-westwards, I went to
Nantes
and to Brittany in Easter 1983,
including camping near Carnac,
with its ancient standing stones (not dissimilar to those at Avebury, Wiltshire, England).
p.g.h@btinternet.com