26th June 2019, Exeter
We recently returned from a couple of months travelling around France, seeking out our friends and revisiting places that have become dear to us over the years. Neither we nor Modestine are in as lively a condition as when we set out on our travels fourteen years ago and with the heavy pall of concern hanging over Europe concerning Britain’s role after Brexit, travel is becoming far less enjoyable that when we first retired. We count ourselves lucky that our travels coincided with the time when Europe was at its best. We were able to travel freely, people were welcoming, the Euro was worth 62p rather than the 89p of today and Europe was a safe and happy place in which to travel, explore, meet people and enjoy friendship and hospitality. We have been very privileged to have travelled when we did.
We have been relieved and surprised at how warm the welcome still is as we travel around. Of course we have friends, real friends who always make us feel welcome and by whom we are accepted almost as family. It still takes us by surprise, oppressed and depressed as we feel back in England at the constant stream of political rhetoric assailing us fom the media. If we believed half of what we constantly hear back in England we’d be too nervous to think of crossing to our neighbours in France. The reality is that Europe still wants us to remain, even after we have all behaved so badly and so rudely towards them over the past two or three years. In one of the many colourful and lively street markets market in southern France on our latest visit people were pleading with us not to leave, saying we were still welcome and needed. As if we had any say in the matter!!
Fortunately Ian had taken photographs and made notes so what follows is based largely on these with a few interjections on my part.
Thursday 11 April 2019
We recently returned from a couple of months travelling around France, seeking out our friends and revisiting places that have become dear to us over the years. Neither we nor Modestine are in as lively a condition as when we set out on our travels fourteen years ago and with the heavy pall of concern hanging over Europe concerning Britain’s role after Brexit, travel is becoming far less enjoyable that when we first retired. We count ourselves lucky that our travels coincided with the time when Europe was at its best. We were able to travel freely, people were welcoming, the Euro was worth 62p rather than the 89p of today and Europe was a safe and happy place in which to travel, explore, meet people and enjoy friendship and hospitality. We have been very privileged to have travelled when we did.
We have been relieved and surprised at how warm the welcome still is as we travel around. Of course we have friends, real friends who always make us feel welcome and by whom we are accepted almost as family. It still takes us by surprise, oppressed and depressed as we feel back in England at the constant stream of political rhetoric assailing us fom the media. If we believed half of what we constantly hear back in England we’d be too nervous to think of crossing to our neighbours in France. The reality is that Europe still wants us to remain, even after we have all behaved so badly and so rudely towards them over the past two or three years. In one of the many colourful and lively street markets market in southern France on our latest visit people were pleading with us not to leave, saying we were still welcome and needed. As if we had any say in the matter!!
Fortunately Ian had taken photographs and made notes so what follows is based largely on these with a few interjections on my part.
Thursday 11 April 2019
Advancing years make it increasingly difficult to obtain travel insurance for longer trips abroad. Uncertainties over Brexit as we prepared to leave also meant that it was unclear whether we would require green cards, and it transpired that four kinds were available - the one that covered France did not also cover Spain, for example. However as advancing years also mean that extended trips become more of an effort, we settled for a two months stay in France. Jill's eye problems have made extended driving difficult and we found we were too weary at the end of a day to maintain the blogs. However Ian promised to take photographs and make notes as we went along. We decided to try to visit as many friends as possible and, as they have inconsiderately positioned themselves in the six corners of the hexagon there was still a fair amount of driving involved. So today we set off on the afternoon ferry from Portsmouth, arriving after a calm crossing at Ouistreham. Although it was dark Jill was familiar with the roads and we arrived in Caen at about 10.30.
Friday 12 April 2019
We settled into our familiar routine at Caen - coffee and fresh baguettes for breakfast followed by a visit to the market in Fosses Saint Julien and the Place Saint Sauveur where we wondered as always at the wide range of produce on sale. One thing we have not learned from our membership of the European Union is to cherish our local produce in the way that is done in towns large and small across France.
Saturday 13 April 2019
Today we visited a garden centre on the outskirts of Caen with Geneviève to choose a plant to put in the pot we had purchased for her in England. After much deliberation she selected a hydrangea and we returned to pot it up and it now has pride of place in her front garden.
Conservateur de bibliothèque, prosopographe, voyageur et grand marcheur, Europhile,
amateur d'un petit verre de vin ... et jardinier au travail
Sunday 14 April 2019
Geneviève's brother Yves arrived back in Caen today, returning from visiting his son and family in Dubai. He has recently sold his house in Caen and has moved to Millau where we hope to drop in on our travels south.
Monday 15 April 2019
Our itinerary was only decided last thing, so it was a pleasure that we could arrange for our friend Claire to come over for tea in the afternoon and we were able to catch up on the developments with her children Marc and Katie, who had exchanged visits with our children Neil and Kate a quarter of a century ago. In the evening the dreadful fire in Notre-Dame was picked up by Yves on his mobile phone. We watched it live on television in disbelief.
We gathered around the television, incredulous that this massive stone building in the heart of Paris was burning as we watched! Even over the 14 years of our recent travels we have visited the church several times and I (Jill) can recollect the sense of awe entering through its massive doors as a six year old child. To see the tall spire burn and fall was stomach churning, even though it is only a later addition - an inspiration by the then minister for public monuments, Violet le Duc. Even if the spire is never restored it won’t seriously detract from the original building. Below are some pictures and reflections gathered together from other visits we have made to Notre Dame during our travels since retirement.
Tuesday 16 April 2019
We awoke to find that the fire was still not out but under control. The local morning paper Ouest-France had already put together a very full account.
Ouest-France report of fire in Notre-Dame, Paris.
The disaster set us hunting through our blogs for our own visits to Notre-Dame across the years,
In 2006 Jill wrote: "We made our way to the Ile de la Cité and Notre Dame where we explored the interior and sat to admire its massive 13th century pillars, beautiful stained glass windows, long central nave leading directly up to the high altar without a rood screen and its many tombs to the successive line of Paris's bishops and ecclesiastics."
In 2013 it was the 850th anniversary of the cathedral of Notre Dame. To celebrate, new bells had been cast and were on display standing in the main aisle of the cathedral, making an impressive site. Each one was huge, even the smallest weighing over a ton while the largest weighed nearer five tons. They were cast in Villedieu-les-Poêles in Normandy, about which the region is duly proud. Each bell had been given a name, usually that of the godparent. Apparently all church bells have godparents who have paid substantially towards the cost of casting. The existing bells had lost their tone over the years, becoming cracked and harsh. The new ones aimed to recapture the original sound. Quasimodo would have been delighted and also relieved to hear that the bells survived the fire unscathed.
Towers of Notre Dame, Paris
New bells, Notre Dame, Paris
Bell Anne Geneviève, Notre Dame, Paris
Notre Dame. The bridge in the foreground is smothered in
In 2014 people were queuing in the rain to visit Notre-Dame, gleaming white rather than the grimy black of earlier visits.
In October 2015 Ian visited Paris for a conference and wrote on 25th: "My last full day in Paris, which I started with a very strong morning coffee at a brass topped table in the exotic Centre Islamique, in the same complex as the main mosque, and continued across to the Ile Saint Louis, closed to traffic this Sunday, with a wonderful early morning view of Notre-Dame and the Ile de la Cité." This view could be seen with flames raging across the roof less than four years later.
View towards the Ile de la Cité and Notre Dame
Before moving on from Caen, together with our core of friends from Caen Libraries, we enjoyed lunch at the home of Marie Françoise in the heart of the city overlooking the towers of the church of St. Jacques. Benedicte, Odile and Gaston were also invited. Over a wonderful meal we talked of Notre-Dame, Brexit, the state of libraries and also caught up on each others news.
Wednesday 17 April 2019
We spent several days in Caen on our arrival and each day was a delight despite the sad thought that this could possibly be our final visit.
