French County Living (and some Dead too)

After leaving Tours we drove through the Loire Valley in the dark looking for our Chambres d'Hotes, or Bed and Breakfast, where we were to stay that evening.  We got SO VERY LOST!  

Now, let me just say, I really love most things about France.  But the one thing that I HATED in France are the roads and the way directions are given in France.  It is completely ridiculous and frustrating.  They still do it they way they did it in the dark ages, I think.

First of all, there are almost no intersections in France, only roundabouts.  Every stinkin' intersection is a roundabout.  There are few street signs anywhere, and the don't make much use of north, south, east, or west.  You can't just say "Take the I10 east, and get off on Washington Ave south."  No, that would be too easy.  You see, at every road coming off of every roundabout it is a bunch a signs pointing in directions of different towns.  So you come to a roundabout and drive around in the circle looking for the name of the town you need to get to.  If it is there, consider yourself lucky.  If not you keep driving in circles while trying to look at the map for other cities that might me in the same direction or general vicinity of the town you are trying to find, and with hundreds of little towns on the map, it isn't easy to guess which one was selected to be put on a road sign.  And at each road there might be 10 signs directing you where to go, and if you don't get all 10 signs read before you get to the street, you have to go around again... and again.  Then you finally pick a road and go for it, drive a quarter mile to another roundabout, and have to do the process all over again.  Dennis did most of the driving (because is is so very brave, though Dad did some too) and because I was the only one in the car who can still see fine print, I did the navigating which was a tough job!!!  It's not like I can say "Turn left on Elm street."  I had to say "when you come to the roundabout look for the sign for this, or, that, or that, or maybe it will say that... oh, I think that was it, go back around again and lets see."  We didn't get anywhere without having to backtrack several times.

To state my case, these are the written directions to our B&B that night.  From Tours take direction Saumur, then Azay le Redieu, then Chinon.  Approaching Chinon take direction Loudun, then la Roche Clermoult to Seuilly.  The manor is just past the Abbey.

That was clear as mud.  And it wasn't the hostess's fault.  That is just how directions are given in France.  There really isn't another way.  It is absolutely archaic and ridiculous.  I wonder how the GPS can handle that?  

Then once we found the tiny town of Seuilly, we had a heck of a time finding the Abbey in the pitch dark - its not like it had a sign.  Which old stone building was the abbey, and what exactly does "just past" mean?  Tensions were high and we were all tired.  It was nearing midnight when we finally found the place with the help of a reveler who was attending a wedding at the abbey, and went out for a smoke.  Yay!  By then, Sonja, our sweet hostess had decided we were not coming, and went to bed.  

Frustrated and exhausted I crawled into bed...

and woke up early to see this!   This was the delightful room I had been sleeping in!  The first thing I did was run to the window to catch a glimpse of the countryside that we had been driving in circles through in the black of night...

and saw THIS!  Really truly!  What a view!  What a treat!  What a way to wake up in the morning!

Here it is with my telephoto.  Seriously, can anything be more fabulous that to wake up to this?

Here are some pictures of our luxury accommodations.  Look at the HUGE old fireplace with the copper pots hanging in it. 

And that lovely fabric on the windows is toile - my absolutely favorite fabric, and the epitome of French.  Pitter patter goes my heart!

Matlesse bedspreads and lacy white linens, also very French.  I SO want to redecorate my room just like this.

Did you see those beams on the ceiling?  Perfect!!

The bathroom was just as lovely with blue and white decorative tiles.

And the shower was done in tiny blue tiles.  I showered with the window wide open to enjoy the view!  Oo la la!

Check out the view from my parents' room.  See the chateau?

Their room was equally gorgeous but very different with a canopied bed and a Persian feel.

As much as I LOVED the room, and wanted to stay in it all day, and pretend I was a princess in my bedchamber, I was also dying to explore the rest of the place.  This is our bedroom door - it opens out onto an old stone staircase!  I must be Rapunzel!

The staircase wound up a tower and was fabulous!  The stone steps were worn down in the centers from centuries of use.  What feet have worked their way up and down these steps so much that they wore down solid stone?

Looking up.

At the bottom, the stairway spilled into the dining room.  Tapestries, high back chairs, oil paintings of the countryside, and a chandelier.  Perfect!

And the cheery yellow kitchen.

Sonia set out quite a breakfast feast just for us.  Fresh crusty bread, Nutella, yogurt, muesli, milk, cheese, nuts, dried apricots and prunes, jams, and since we don't drink coffee, hot chocolate just for us.

Can you believe we got both rooms, and breakfast for about $200.  Not a bad deal!  You couldn't get a room like this for that price in the states.  Actually, you couldn't get a room like that at any price in the states, could you?

In the sitting room, there was a print of an old, old drawing of the tiny town of Seuilly (pronounced Sue-ye) done about 500 years ago.  The  Manior l'Abbaye  we were in is the bigger house in front of the church.  The church no longer exists.  The house was built in the 1400s, and was known as the Manor of the Chaplain.  The chaplain of the abbey lived here, in the very room with the big fireplace that we stayed in.  The front door had been the door at the base of the spiral staircase, and downstairs, where the living areas are now, was the barn with a big open arch right in the middle that served as a passageway into the churchyard for wagons and horses.  Can you imagine having a home with such a history?

I couldn't leave without taking a moment to paint the view from Mom's window.

This is the doorway at the bottom of the tower that served as the front door for the chaplain so long ago.

A view from the street
Our room is the open window. 

Don't you just love the ivy crawling its way up the exterior?

A view from the back.  The spiral staircase is in the tower.

What an inviting doorway.  Now THAT is curb appeal!

A French doorbell.  I want one.

Our room.

My parents' room.

A little something I spied in the garden.
In our need to explore this beautiful place, my parents and I got up early (early, hence no Dennis) to take a walk in the French countryside.

The sun was just coming up, and no one was to be seen anywhere.
My parents later told me that this little walk was one of the highlights of their entire trip!  I would have to agree.

The Loire Valley is loved for its mild climate and fertile soil.  See how the morning sun just makes those fields gleam in gold.

So very pretty!

Another view of the local Chateau.  Apparently every town in the Loire Valley has one.  I love the pointy blue slate rooftops!

We stood there on this quiet country road for a long time, just taking it all in.  The scenery was breathtaking, but there was so much more to take in.  The morning air was cool and perfectly still, and smelled like wildflowers and cut grass.  The only sounds we could hear were bees buzzing,  birds celebrating the sunrise, and roosters crowing periodically in the distance.   Just imagine it!  how I wish I could have taken a picture that included the sounds.  

That is when I suddenly realized that I love roosters!  I want one (but probably frowned upon by the BD Country Club).

After we got our fill, we continued our walk.

Wildflowers, French wildflowers to be exact, along the roadway.

Don't you want to take just a little peek into that window?

A quiet charming street.  Wait... is that a garage sale sign?  I got excited for a minute there!  How DO you say "garage sale" in French, anyway?

This must be my place!

I love the unmatched attic windows and the bright pink crepe myrtle!

Then I came around a bend... any guesses what I saw?

A cool old church, but an even cooler old graveyard!!!  My shutter button finger started to quiver in excitement!

Dare I cross into the gates of the graveyard?  Well.... since it was a bright sunny morning and not a dark and stormy moonless night...OK!

A backlit rusty iron cross.  

Could a graveyard even be any more perfect?  Really!

This one had been broken (perhaps in a war?) and since repaired. Cool!

These guys remind me of kids in the playground.  On of them just doesn't quite fit in with the cool kids.

What is it about crooked tombstones that makes me smile?  I think it reminds me of Disneyland (in fact a lot of Europe reminds me of Disneyland. Huh.)  I just kept expecting a boney arm with long fingers and shreds of shrivled flesh hanging on it to reach out from under the stone, and lift it open. Creeeak.  That would have been fantastic!

I just loved the delicate lacy iron crosses!  

The early morning light and shadows were exciting.  They made the graveyard come alive (no pun intended, hehe)

Dad was too chicken to come into the graveyard - even after a triple dog dare.  He went home.  Bok bok!

I love the cheery bright red shutterd window bathed in morning light contrasted with the shadowy dark old cross.  It says, "Life goes on!"

Along the wall was a stack of old tombstones.  Maybe they weren't being used anymore.  Hmm?

OK, ya, I realize that I have done a lot of posts about graveyards lately, but what can I say?  Something in me is just drawn to them.  In fact, I love them so much that I'm pretty certain I'll take up residence in one someday.  How about you?

 

Until then, I wouldn't mind taking up residence here.  I think I could really like French country living.  I decided to just sit here by this window and never leave.  Stage a sit-in.

But then I realized that Dennis wouldn't get very far without his navigator,...

and more of the French countryside was beckoning to be explored...

and beyond that...Paris!

So I said au revior to the Manior l'Abbaye, but will return often, at least in my dreams.