France: Senlis

On my last day of sightseeing in France, I went to the medieval town of Senlis, which at one point was the capital of France. A short 15 minute drive away from my hotel, it was easy to get to. Considering that a large garden fair was going on in the city park, I am lucky to have found a parking place. I headed to the inner walled city, which was practically deserted. Except for the few cars scattered about, the it could have been a rainy morning during the Black Death. No footsteps, carts, or birds disturbed the damp air.

Everything in France, with the exception of Paris, closes down between noon and 2pm and being jetlagged, I did not arrive in Senlis until 11:30. I started wandering about but quickly realized that no museum, restroom, or shop was open. To kill time, I headed for the cathedral, which had just finished its Palm Sunday services. In the middle of the nave, a priest was conducting a baptismal ceremony. I sat in back to listen to his chanting and his French. His melodic voice reverberated off the walls and practically shook the pews. What a wonderful demonstration of medieval acoustics. Imagine the uneducated peasant living in a hovel, coming here several times a week. The voice of the priest must have sounded like the voice of God itself and the high reaching vaults must have felt like heaven. Every time I visit Europe, I am drawn to the old churches and the Catholic ceremonies. I think if I lived there, I would have to convert. The church seems as much a part of the country as the language.

Senlis Medieval Images

Senlis is known for it narrow, cobblestone streets, and medieval airs. I found the reputation to be well deserved. After several hours of walking about on the cobblestones, my feet were aching. Like, Chantilly, I was surprised at how barren the town looked. No colorful signs or flower boxes extended from the walls. The whole area seemed to be in the grip of an eternal dreariness.

Another interesting door

After 2PM, and things opened again, I headed for the old capitol museum. This is a series of ruins inside a walled courtyard. The ruins were from old churches, towers, and governmental buildings. The nicer of the bunch has been converted into a museum of hunting, which was free with admission and only took 15 minutes to peruse.

The cathedral from the south

Interior vaulting

The east entrance

Machine gun impressions, reminding us that life if suffering no matter what era you live in

I also stopped by the tourist information center, which is in the Cathedral square and picked up a walking map of the town. I had found that I had walked most of the old town already and so decided to venture outwards somewhat from the old town to some of the newer areas. It did not take long to get lost because the route had me going up a well concealed staircase that skirted several buildings. Through careful backtracking, I finally found it. There are 4 walking tours through the town, so do stop by the tourist center for you map.

Exterior and interior of the hunting museum

I am glad that I took a couple of extra days before my conference, because once it started, I was a captive from 8am to 10:30pm and would not have seen a thing otherwise. My three destinations covered the gamut. The Chateau de Chantilly gave me a taste of the grandeur and decadence of the aristocracy, the Royaumont Abby peace and industry of the cloisters, and Senlis the narrowness (both physical and mental) of a medieval village.

A more modern part of the walking tour

greenway near the old walls

Once again I apologize for the quality of the photography. Time to get a new travel camera!

France: Chateau de Chantilly

The Chateau de Chantilly

The grand houses of Europe no longer evoke the bitter envy they must have once inspired in the groveling peasants who stood forever outside their gates but their architecture, whimsy, and expansive grounds still thrill. You can't walk through their high porticoes without secretly saying to yourself that if you had been born in that era, surely you would have been one of the lucky ones. Foolish delusions. Even today, we plodding tourists are no more a member of the privilaged classes than the grooms and maids were several centuries ago. Society is a pyramid and you and I dear readers are most likely not balanced on the apex. Welcome faceless minions to history.

The Chateau from the road into town

If you can handle the brutal dose of humility, a visit to the Chateau de Chantilly is a world class tourist destination north of Paris. It was a 10 minute drive from the location of a meeting I was attending, so I spent half a day wandering around the grounds, trying to stay awake after my 24-hour travel odyssey. The weather was cold and dreary, and the Chateau gardens were not at their peak but it was pleasant none-the-less. It is not difficult to imagine, the lavish and naughty (as only the aristocracy could be naughty) entertainment in the formal gardens and silk draped boudoirs. Now the stones are cold and the gravel pathways are tromped by an never ceasing troop of peasants from all over the world. The horror of it.

Note the mote and the riff raff gathering in the courtyard for their glimpse of the gilded age.

My only interior shot. This was the Duke's private chapel

Rather than try and write a whimsical history of the Chateau, I am just going to plagiarize directly from the site's website
(http://www.chateaudechantilly.com/chateauchantilly/uk/histoire.html).

The grand stables. This was the first building I saw when I came through the round about and I thought IT was the chateau. Some seriously pampered horses there.

A close up of the stables.

"From 1386 to 1897, the domain was passed on by inheritance to different branches of the same family, without ever being sold. The ORGEMONT family (14th - 15th centuries), followed by the MONTMORENCY family (15th - 17th centuries), one of the most powerful families in the kingdom and which largely contributed to its development, especially in the time of Le Connétable (the Constable) Anne de Montmorency (1493 - 1567). A friend of kings François I and Henri II, he commissioned Jean Bullant to build the Petit Château. Later came the Bourbon Condé family (17th - 18th centuries), cousins of the kings of France, the most famous of whom, Le Grand Condé, entrusted the lay out of the grounds to André le Nôtre, and finally Henri d'Orléans, Duc d'Aumale (1822 - 1897), the son of King Louis Philippe of France."

Another view of the Chateau with the rain clouds looming

"The Duc d'Aumale inherited Chantilly from his great uncle, the Prince de Condé, when he was eight years old, in 1830. He had the Grand Château, which was razed to the ground during the French Revolution, reconstructed in order to house his magnificent collection of paintings, drawings, objets d'art, books, etc. In 1884, the Duc d'Aumale, who had no direct heir, bequeathed the Chantilly estate to the Institut de France, subject to the Condé Museum being opened to the public. The Duc d'Aumale's wish was for the estate to use, maintain and help restore this magnificent cultural heritage. Not only the Château and the Condé Museum, but the Grandes Ecuries, which has housed the which has housed the life museum of the horse"

A statue near the entrance with the stables in the background

The guest quarters near a private lake

The stables were under renovation while I was there, so I only got to peak inside. The exterior is more imposing than the Chateau itself. Personally, I enjoyed the exterior architecture more than the interior rooms and museum but the price of admission includes both.

Heading down the steps into the French garden and looking back at the Chateau

The mote on the garden side

I did have lunch in the La Capitainerie, which is contained with the historic kitchens of Vatel, the famous inventor of Chantilly Cream. The menu is buffet only. One could choose from a combination of h'dourves, entrees, and desserts. The h'dourves were by far the best. There was shrimp, cut meats, cheeses, and lots of bread. Sitting down in the throws of jet lag was dangerous, however, and after lunch I quickly moved on to the gardens.

The statue of the Constable on the grand avenue. That small cut in the trees beyond is a long avenue through which the King would arrive.

A corner

In the forest of the Chateaus is a petite Hameau or village, which was the model for the one at Versailles. The idea was to mimic the poor hovels of the poor. At Versailles, Marie Antoinette used to pretend she was a milkmaid. It might have gone better for her if she had spent time with the real people instead of Disneyland commoners. The interiors of these fake hovels were not dirty and poor. Instead they were the 18th Century equivalent of a Las Vegas theme hotel, wild, sensual, and wildly decorated. In the Hameau, reality never quite made an appearance.

A period statue. When will those bows come back in style?

In the latter part of the 18th Century, there was a trend away from formal gardens and towards a more natural view of nature. At this point a fake waterfall was constructed to mimic with wildness of France. I had to laugh at this artifice. Compared to the wilds of Colorado, this garden was as tame as a bedtime story.

A final view from out in the French gardens

Victorious in my ability to stay awake, I took one last glimpse of the Chateau and headed to my hotel and a most welcome hot shower.

Back from France

(left: the entrance to the Chateaux to Montvillargenne) I am behind in my blogging because of another spring storm in Colorado that prevented me from getting up into the mountains. Instead I stayed home and did my taxes . I also ended up on a week long business trip to northern France from which I have just returned. It is that subject that I will post on over the next week or so.

I was in France for a meeting at the Chateau de Montvillargenne, which is located near the towns of Chantilly and Gouvieux. I rented a car and drove around the area for the weekend before the meeting. It was cold and drizzly most of the time. Spring is late this year and all the greenery was still in hiding, which is a shame because this area is thickly forested and I was looking forwarded to walking in the woods.

The trip was long and exhausting, as international travel always is. I never did get over my jet lag. The hotel was intriguing from the exterior but nondescript on the interior. It is not a place I would recommend as a tourist destination, but it was very convenient as a conference location. The grounds were completely fenced from the surrounding area, so one really did need a car even to pop into town for dinner.

A close up of the entrance. In summer those vines are flushed out with greenery

Over the next few posts, I will describe a few of places I visited. I borrowed a small travel camera from a friend. I think it is starting to fail because most of the photos came out grainy. It was overcast most of the time, so I did have the ISO set to 400, which did not help. I've decided to post the photos and commentary anyway because I just can't help myself. Don't worry though, I have a couple of new trails in the queue this weekend that will hopefully add to my library of Colorado's pleasures.