Life in the Commuter Belt

Moret-sur-Loing, Sunday 6 July to Sunday 13 July

Just a couple of kilometres from the confluence of the Loing and Seine Rivers is the pretty town of Moret-sur-Loing and with a direct and frequent 40 minute rail service into Paris (Gare de Lyon) it is one of the many dormitory communities which lie on the outskirts of the city.  With its ancient town centre, lovely riverside location and proximity to the Forest of Fontainebleau,  Moret was an idyllic spot for our final week in France.   The wonderful Impressionist painter, Alfred Sisley, also thought so and lived in Moret for much of his life - we even had his piano the living room of our old and beautifully renovated house.  What a quirky place - three floors of creaky floorboards, narrow winding staircase, thick stone walls and a little courtyard garden.  Monsieur and Madame  Daime who greeted us on our arrival have certainly poured a lot of love and attention to detail into their restoration of this old building. This week it was lovely to have Cheryl's daughter Heidi and her husband Tim (who live in London ) come to spend some time with us.-

Beautiful Moret-sur-Loing

A Couple of Days in Paris

As Cheryl B. had never visited Paris, apart from a couple of hours at the start of our trip, this was the first visit on the agenda for the week.  We had vague directions to the train station and decided to walk - it was certainly a bit further than we thought, but we were in plenty of time for the train which passed through Fontainebleau and Melun.  From Gare de Lyon we took the metro to Hotel de Ville and began our day of sight seeing by crossing to the Ile de la Cite to visit Notre Dame Cathedral.  It seemed to be the day for school tour groups - many from the US  - so we joined the queue.  Notre Dame is always impressive and worthy of a visit.  Our next stop was on the Left Bank just opposite the cathedral - the Shakespeare and Company Bookstore.  The original store by this name which was frequented by the likes of Hemmingway and F Scott Fitzgerald was in a different location and operated from 1919 to 1940.  In 1951 the bookstore today know by this name was opened by an American named George Whitman and today it is owned by his daughter.  The store sells a huge number of English language books, both new and second-hand and is really funky, very small and very crowded - it is kind of a literary landmark in Paris. An interesting and very cool place to visit and buy a book.

English (American?) bookshop on the Left Bank

After a typical tourist menu breakfast in an outdoor cafe just off Boulevard St Michel we crossed back over the river on the Pont Neuf (which is now sadly also being defaced with locks like the neighbouring bridge, Pont des Arts)) and wandered along the Seine towards the Louvre, browsing the kiosks selling books, posters and souvenirs along the way.

Pont des Arts - hideous locks spoil this view!

We headed up the Rue de Rivoli and into the main courtyard of the Louvre, where Cheryl was keen to check out the glass pyramid entrance but not too interested in queuing to visit the museum.

Photo opportunity - Louvre

After a bit of a stroll through the Tuileries gardens we returned to the Rue de Rivoli, hoping to stop by at Angelina's for tea.  Sadly this iconic tea and chocolate shop was closed for renovations, so we jumped on the metro to check out the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees.  Nothing much to see on the Champs - just crowded and boring so we took the metro back to Chatelet and walked to Rue Montorgueil where we had lunch at one of the brasseries.  With lots of sales on at the moment we decided on some shopping and walked back past the Pompidou Centre to the BHV department store and the surrounding shops.  After a bit of retailing we walked along to St Paul area and had dinner in a restaurant recommended by the information desk lady at BHV.  A nice meal and we were only a few steps from the metro to get us back to Gare de Lyon for a rather late train home (and a bit of a walk in the rain back to the house).
Our second day in Paris, this time with Heidi and Tim, was much the same format.  Off the metro at St Paul,  breakfast overlooking the Place de Voges, a stroll through the Marais, a visit to the Fragonard perfume shop,  a little more shopping on rue St Antoine, then on the metro to Ecole Militaire for a viewing of the Eiffel Tower.
Before the tower we had a lovely lunch in Rue Cler - a very nice pedestrian street with all kinds of interesting food shops and market stalls.  The tower was surrounded by the usual queues so after a bit of a photo shoot we strolled along the Seine, visited a riverside brocante, (where Cheryl B found clip on Paris earrings for her granddaughter)

Riverside stroll

and then across the Place Concorde dodging the crazy traffic to Rue Royale.  After a little window shopping we arrived at a special destination - the famous patisserie, Laduree, home of the macaroon.  We were in for a lovely treat here - champagne coffee, and macaroons in the most exquisite tea room - so beautiful and elegant.  What a pleasant way to rest our weary feet. My concoction with rose flavoured cream was heavenly.  After our refreshments we engaged in some more window shopping as we wandered past all the designer stores in Rue St Honore and finally made our way into the gardens of the Palais Royale which are very secluded and pretty - lots of fountains, trees and flowers.  From here we took a walk through the Galeries Vivienne, a beautiful old arcade with a couple of very interesting book shops as well as some ritzy looking boutiques.  We strolled along Rue Reamur and then turned into Rue Montorgueil where we stocked up on some goodies for our dinner.  It was a bit of a mad dash for the metro and we hurtled through the Gare de Lyon, just making our train back to Moret-sur-Loing where we rewarded ourselves with our tasty purchases.

Fontainebleau
Just 10 km from Moret is the lovely town of Fontainebleau, famous for its magnificent chateau with sits right in the middle of the town.  Its extensive gardens and parklands provide lovely open air spaces for the locals to picnic and walk.  The roads leading into the town give a wonderful view of the chateau and gardens - it is certainly very imposing.

Fontainebleau Chateau

  We made a couple of visits to Fontainebleau, one for some shopping, exploring the town, and a really good Italian restaurant lunch and another for breakfast and a tour of the chateau.  The chateau is certainly a treasure trove of French history and is apparently has a bigger collection of furniture, art and artifacts of any other palace in France.   The first wing we toured was the Napoleon museum - many rooms filled with family, military and state collections from the Napoleonic era - so interesting and such beautiful displays.

Napoleon - military paraphenalia

   The second part of the tour took us through the grand and sometimes over the top rooms that were used by a variety of French monarchs, their wives and entourage.  Perhaps the most stunning room is the magnificent ballroom, although the decoration in some of the state rooms and bed chambers is also pretty amazing.

Slightly overdone bedchamber - did the royals have nightmares?

  Fontainebleau was a royal residence for eight centuries, being developed over that time to become the largest palace in France.  Although its collections were decimated during the French Revolution, Napoleon, when he became Emperor, loved Fontainebleau and made it his home base, carrying out extensive renovations and refurbishment.

Nursery of Napoleon's son - Empire style

  The abdication room remains as it was when Napoleon gave up the throne in 1814. The chateau has 1500 rooms and is set in 130 acres of parklands and gardens.  After visiting the interior we took a ride through the allees which radiate through the forest and circled the formal gardens in a horse drawn wagon. Highly recommended - a wonderful look back into French history.

All aboard for a ride through the park of Fontainebleau Chateau

Barbizon and Milly-la-Foret

Not far from Fontainebleau is the rather gorgeous village of Barbizon, famous not only for its beauty but also as the home of the Barbizon school of painting which favoured  a natural approach to landscape painting in the mid 19th century.  Painters such as Rousseau, Corot, Millet and Daubigny lived and worked in Barbizon.  We arrived late in the afternoon and the village was very quiet, with most of the little museums and cafes closed.  Nevertheless we enjoyed strolling through flower filled the streets and poking into a few cute shops.  The houses are quite grand in some streets, with lovely gardens - it is a stunning place.

War memorial and tourist office, Barbizon

 Many of the grand houses have a distinctly Victorian look and obviously date from the time when Barbizon was a mecca for art.   All around the town are mosaic murals depicting some of the most celebrated paintings from the era of the Barbizon School.

Mosaic of The Gleaners, Jean-Francois Millet 1857

  We found a picture-perfect grocery store with an owner straight out of a storybook and lots of delicious looking local products on sale.  Of course we stocked up on a few delicacies.

Old fashioned grocery store, Barbizon

 With its proximity to Paris I imagine that Barbizon is now a very up-market place to reside.  Did buy a couple of prints from an artist's workshop - lovely scenes of the town and a very charming artist, Erika Gage.
A little further on from Barbizon is the village of Milly-la-Foret, member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France association.  We arrived late in the day and discovered that it was market day - well to be fair, the tale end of market day.  There were still some stall holders selling their wares in the stunning market hall which dominates the centre of the village and dates from the 15th Century.  It is amazing that the intricate timber beams have survived so long.

Ancient covered market in Milly-la-Foret - still used by traders today.

  We found some wonderful fruit and had the best crepes made for us - mouthwatering.  Although Milly has some other attractions such as a castle, an old stone bridge and a  very picturesque church, we didn't linger after perusing the market - it had been a long day and the weather was deteriorating a bit.  Time to drive back to Moret and to enjoy a lovely dinner at the riverside restaurant, Auberge de la Terasse with its cosy atmosphere and picture windows overlooking the Loing River.

Auberge de la Terrasse - a lovely spot for dinner, even on a gloomy evening.

A Long Walk

The local tourist office advertised a 9 kilometre walk which follows a route frequented by Alfred Sisley on his painting expeditions.  Along the way are posters depicting various scenes he painted, located on the site where he actually worked on these paintings.

Poster of Sisley work on the site where it was painted, Moret-sur-Loing

  We had a map but the path is not marked in any way - the outcome being that our 9 kilometre walk turned out to be around 20 kilometres.  We took a wrong turning somewhere along the way!

Ready to ramble!  Leaving our house in Moret-sur-Loing

We crossed the river at Moret stopping to check out the old mills that stand mid way across.

Old mill, washhouse and weir beside the Moret-sur-Loing bridge

The route intended us to follow the Loing River to the confluence with the Seine River at Saint Mammes, cross the  Seine and continue along the Seine past Champagne-sur-Seine, recross to Thomery and then follow the two rivers back to Moret-sur-Loing.  It was a pleasant walk - a shady path with countryside, pretty houses, canal locks and barges.

Riverside path between Moret and St Mammes

St Mammes proved to be a very dreary town and the one restaurant where we considered for a lunch stop looked dark, dingy and unsanitary so we decided to pass.  On we plodded, mistakenly taking an uphill route through Champagne-sur-Seine instead of the riverside path.

Crossing the Seine at St Mammes

  This led us through rather uninspiring suburbs all the way to the next bridge.  Once on the other side we spotted a nice restaurant - alas, lunch service ended at 2 pm and we arrived just a couple of minutes before the kitchen closed.  With rumbling tummies we opted to walk up the into the town of Thomery in search of food instead of taking the riverside path back towards Moret.  Unbelievably this town of substantial houses and beautifully manicured gardens had no shops, just another bit of a bar where Kristy managed to buy a packet of crisps.  Now we were once again in suburbia and wandering the streets hoping that we were heading in the right direction.  To add insult to injury it began to rain - fortunately we had all packed umbrellas.  Tim consulted the GPS on his phone and decided to lead us in a generally downhill direction where he reckoned we would locate the riverside path - indeed he was right (eventually).  One thing we did come across by accident were the ancient walled gardens of the area which stretch over several kilometres and are mostly disused today.  Very curious relics of the past.  Dating from around 1730, these long narrow plots surrounded by high stone walls - in fact 350 km of walls - were where the Chasselas grapes were grown.   The vines were trained along the walls and vegetables and fruit trees grew in between.  It is amazing what you come across when wandering in France!

Chasselas grapes growing in old Thomery walled garden

  Well, finally re-regained the river path and then surprisingly came across a riverside camping ground with a cafe that was open.  We trudged inside to find a few locals sheltering from the rain and watching the Tour de France. The very cheerful chap behind the bar soon rustled up steaming pizzas and chips which we washed down with some good strong coffee. Wonderful! 

Now we are fed, we don't mind the rain!  Campsite cafe.

 Although it seemed that we were miles from nowhere we were actually only 20 minutes from home - it was nice to be back although we did enjoy most of the walk.  There are pockets of beautiful scenery interspersed with the signs that these rivers are still workplaces and at times the riverside is semi-industrial.  We rewarded ourselves with a nice dinner at the local Auberge restaurant - great food and a lovely atmosphere.

A Beautiful Ending to our Tour de France

Our last full day in France and lots of sunshine.  This morning Kristy, Cheryl, Heidi, and Tim hired bikes and went for a ride along the Canal de Loing that heads south towards Nemours.  Cheryl B, and I decided to explore Moret on foot and pack up a bit.  I made my way to the river and took the path upstream for a way.  There are some very pretty houses and gardens beside the water and a forest on the opposite bank.-

Riverside walk, Moret-sur-Loing

  Realising that I would soon be on the path we had previously walked I retraced my steps and explored the area around the bridge where the old mills sit amongst the weeping willows and the waters of the river tumble over the weirs.

Old mill and weirs, Moret-sur-Loing

  It is delightful, with an ancient keep on one riverbank and little narrow lanes leading up to the town through holes in the town walls.  The centre of Moret is pretty well medieval and history oozes out of every stone.

Little passageway to the river - town walls, Moret-sur-Loing

  An interesting shop is the barley sugar shop which sells sweets made from a recipe which dates from 1623 - and lots of other goodies besides.  It is housed in a really old building adjacent to a really old church.

Barley sugar shop in one of the oldest buildings in Moret-sur-Loing

The cyclists returned and we made lunch using up as much food as possible (can't take it with us tomorrow) and we enjoyed eating in our little courtyard before setting off to explore the medieval city of Provins, about an hour's drive north east of Moret.

Lunch in our courtyard, Moret-sur-Loing

During the Middle Ages Provins was famed as a trade fair town - fancy that - and today the fortified medieval city sits atop a hill overlooking the more modern section of the town.  We began our visit at the bottom of the hill, at the Rosarie which is a beautiful garden dedicated to French roses, in particular the Rose of Provins.  The garden covers three acres and includes a gift shop and a tea room.  Unfortunately a small part of the garden was inaccessible due to minor flooding (lots of rain recently apparently) and many of the roses were past their best.  Despite this we enjoyed walking through the garden rooms and noted that the trees here are just as spectacular and beautiful as the roses.

Cheryl will be searching for the Rose of Provins for her garden at home

Naturally we had to have tea and cake sitting outside - lovely views across the garden to the old city on the hill (not really a city - more of a village I would say).

Tea-time at the Rosarie

Tim met a Brazilian lady and her son who appeared to be stranded and desperate to make the last train back to Paris so we offered them a lift (no taxis available).  Driving in convoy the trip turned out to be a somewhat nail-biting series of no entry streets, road works and the like.  We flew into the station with a couple of minutes to spare - and a very grateful couple of Brazilians were bundled out of the car.  Our  "streets of Provins" adventures continued with another series of directional blunders while attempting to find our way up to the entrance of the old city.  We tried driving along a cycle path, heading up a one way street the wrong way but managed to avoid pedestrians and finally reached a large, mostly empty car park at the top of the hill.  We could see the city walls across a field so figured we were in the right place.  It was a beautiful sunny evening and we strolled over the moat bridge (a moat on top of a hill?) and through the huge arched entry to the city.  There did seem to be more people leaving than arriving and the long street lined with beautiful old houses behind high stone walls was rather quiet.  Rounding a corner however we encountered a scene of great merriment - a beautiful tree lined town square encircled with restaurants, a very cheesy band playing on a temporary stage in the middle of the square adjacent to a large wooden dance platform and lots of people.

Getting ready for the evening festivities, town square, Provins

  All this with a backdrop of a medieval castle and keep.  Wow!  We were thrilled - what a place to enjoy our final dinner in France.  Provins is a UNESCO protected town and it is certainly very obvious why.  All the buildings are exquisite and the views are pretty awesome too.

Provins Castle

After exploring the pretty streets leading off the square we returned to the business of choosing a restaurant - they all had plenty of outdoor seating with great views over the large square.

Lovely little streets of Provins

  By now there were a large number of people arriving to eat and enjoy the festivities.  We chose a front line table at one of the restaurants and our waiter told us that tonight was the culmination of a week long festival in the town.  The tour buses had all departed by now and it was mostly locals out enjoying this balmy summer's evening.  We had very good food, even better wine and lots of fun joining in with the dancing.

The girls are still dancing - in front of the restaurant, Provins

  The music was of course totally corny and a group of line dancers did tend to hog the platform at times.  However it was a great evening for young and old and with a full moon contributing to the atmosphere later on it was magical.  Driving home well after 10.30 pm we were treated to the sight of fireworks in the night sky all across the farmlands.  Oh yes - Monday is Bastille Day - so what if the celebrations are a couple of days early!  We certainly could not have asked for a better ending to our holiday in France.

Bye the way - I found my perfect French village house for sale in Provins!