95. Riems. Notre-Dame de Riems

This is my last email.

We are in Reims, major city of the Champagne department, and at the northernmost point of the champagne wine region.  Population nearly 200,000 and 129 km north east of Paris.  

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and spent a lazy few hours strolling in a very beautiful and quiet city where we found the cathedral basking in late afternoon sunlight.  This is the most significant gothic style church in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Reims

It is actually quite a dark building, but as I have said, this glorious autumn afternoon painted it golden.

My photos do no justice to its beauty.  It is just so immense and so detailed.

Having withstood over 300 bombing raids during WW2 and numerous fires over generations, this magnificent church, which is celebrating 800 years of history, is succumbing to the ravages of weather and pollution.   

In some places the stone is very black and crumbling and the decoration and statues are broken or lost altogether.  Restoration work goes on ... and on … and on ... a slow and expensive business.  France has so much history that the budget for each individual site is obviously limited.  

Inside is too dark for photography.

For hundreds of years the kings of France were crowned at this very alter.

These are the fabulous stained glass windows by a very famous artist (Marc Chagall) commissioned about 15 years ago and paid for by the same mob who will be paid 2 billion AUD by the Victorian government to close down the Hazelwood power station in the Latrobe valley.  Good to see their profits going to some good purpose.

Marc Chagall

The next day (Monday), we puttered off around the city centre on the little tourist train.  It took us around the outside of the cathedral (at the alter end).

Blurry photos from a bumpy little train running over cobblestones ... you can see the scaffolding for the workers on one of the towers.

The three dark glass windows in the centre are the three by Marc Chacal I showed you inside.

I missed the golden angel right on the very top of the spire.

This was the archbishop's house - it is now the museum for the cathedral's treasures.  I think it is a UNESCO site in it's own right - but not positive.  We were too tired to go in to find out.

And because I don't have time to show you more of beautiful Reims, here is  a potted tour ...

The Hotel De Ville (town hall).

Medieval shops with residences above.

A bourgois town house.

And last but not least ....

It is 6pm and school is out!   This is city central, one street from the main business district and there was a lot of traffic in this street from 6pm until 6.15pm ... then it was all peace again. 

This school is equivalent to Geelong High School.  This is a lycee for big kids.  An ecole is for little kids.  Most lycees  finish the day at 6pm.  Most ecoles finish at 5pm or even 5.30pm.  All over France, it is strange seeing little ones (5, 6 or 7 years old) coming home at 5 o'clock or later.  I don't know what time any of them start in the morning - I'm never around then!

Tomorrow is our last day.  We'll take a leisurely drive to Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport via some of the war cemeteries in this area.  Access to the airport from the north is very easy.  We drop the car off at the Peugeot receiving centre, about 1 km from the terminal, and they drive us and our bags right to the terminal door.

Thank you for being my audience for the past five months. I really do appreciate it and I hope you have enjoyed my photographs and stories.  Please join me again in 2013.

94. Champagne. L'Abbaye de Fontenay. Part 2

We are at the ancient abbey of Fontenay, in the forests between the Burgundy and Champagne regions of northern France.

In this huge building on the eastern edge of the property, next to the stream, the monks established a forge or foundry.  This photo looks from one end of the long, rectangular building, to the other. 

This part of the abbey is an historical landmark in its own right.

Here is the huge chimney and fire, and the huge bellows. The wooden posts hold up a second floor in this section only.  I'm not sure what it was for.  This is the white part on the perspex model coming up.

To give you an overall idea of the building - here is a perspex model.  A very large rectangular building with a two story section (white) in only one area: - above the chimney with the fire and bellows.  
And to the side closest to the camera, which is the side of the building next to the stream, there is a covered water course/ canal/ channel with a mill wheel (green) at the far end.

Going back to the blacksmith's area.  

 

This is all happening in 1220.   

The monks are digging up a type of iron ore from the site, smelting it ... 

... and making a variety of tools that are in great demand and sold throughout the country.

And here is the hammer-mill or hydraulic hammer.  It's function is to hammer metal. 

The hammer-mill is operated (raised and then dropped) by this huge wooden axle with a castelated cog. 

The axle is turned by the water-wheel outside. Obviously the hammer-mill and the axle are not connected for safety reasons because the exhibit is unsupervised.  However the axle is being continuously turned (absolutely silently) by ...

the water-wheel.  

I have found a YouTube video showing the forge in operation.

Hydraulic Forge Fontenay

And it is surprising how such a small flow of water can turn such a large wheel and raise such a heavy hammer.  The paddles on the water-wheel are not very big and the stream of water coming down the hill at the rear (amongst the green ferns) is not very great.
And yet this was a very successful engineering model.

Walking back through the garden ...

... past this cascade of water which is behind the foundry and which is fed by the water passing the water-wheel. 

Under another plane tree. This time a spanish version ... and a lovely tree it is!

Past the last of the buildings, now used for private functions.  

These buildings all had religious significance within the Abbaye, but once the property transferred into private hands, some of the buildings had to serve as domestic residences.  

Can you see the tail-light of a car peeping out from behind the hedge?  I think this is the manager's house.

And finally, out through the abbey's bakery and pilgrim's dormitory ... better known these days as "the gift shop".

Our final stop is Riems, in the northern area of the Champagne region, and 130 km north east of Paris.  We have almost finished our fantastic five month tour of France, Spain and Italy.  A couple more emails in the next day or so and then I'll sign off.

93. Champagne. L' Abbaye de Fontenay. Part 1

While we were in the southern Champagne area, we took the opportunity to backtrack in the direction of the Champagne-Burgundy border area, to visit this fabulous UNESCO World Heritage site, the Ancient Abbey of Fontenay.

The entry to the abbey has always been through this gatehouse.  Because it was an abbey, outsiders we not generally permitted.  So the job of one of the brothers, and his dog, was to man the gatehouse.  

Today it is a lovely entrance to the walled cloisters, which cover several acres of lovely gardens.

The Abbaye was originally built in the early 1100's and added to over the years.  It is surrounded by forest and the dukes of Burgundy kept their hunting dogs here.  A small river runs through the property and the monks farmed trout here.

The entire property has been privately owned for a very long time.  Imagine the cost of maintenance.  The grounds alone employ 11 gardeners.  It gets 120,000 visitors a year.  At 10 euros per person that wouldn't cover wages.

On the left, the abbot's house.  On the right, part of the cloister.

The facade of the church.  Nothing fancy here.  This order was Cistercian and followed St Bernard. They were into minimalism.  That means no decoration and NO heating!

And a gravel floor!

Only one statue - Our Lady of Fontenay.

This building is HUGE!  And no decoration.  Nothing to tempt the mind to wander during long, dark, freezing cold prayers.

This is the dormitory where the monks slept.  Just a straw bed and a table.  The loos were miles away!

This is the chapter house, underneath the dormitory.  While restoration work is underway on a small section, the whole building is in wonderful repair.

This is the beautiful courtyard, entirely enclosed by the cloisters on two sides, the abbey on the third side and the abbot's house on the fourth side.

Paul is perusing his map in front of the abbot's house (two storey).  The one storey building (on the left) held the toilets and the kitchen.  Fresh water for both is piped under this courtyard.

Fires were kept burning in these two huge fireplaces, presumably for cooking and hot water.  These were the only sources of heat in the whole structure. The heat was not piped or ducted anywhere else in the building.

The building on the left is the infirmary with a garden of medicinal herbs.

The small windows above are in the dormitory.  The larger windows at ground level are the chapter house and common room.  On the right is the church.  The bell, on its minimalist tower, drops it rope into the end of the dormitory.  Presumably next to the bed of the duty bell ringer.

L'Abbaye de Fontenay

Oh, the garden was lovely.  Just can't help myself.

But ..... as well as growing medicinals, raising vegetables, farming trout and tending the duke's dogs, the monks quarried iron ore near the site and established a foundry!  

Next - The legendary forge of Fontenay.

92. Champagne. Essoyes - Renior's Atelier

Although we had visited Essoyes previously, and seen Pierre-August Renoir's atelier (studio), we decided to go again as it is such a beautiful village in the middle of the southern Champagne region.  

We had tried to book a week's accommodation here but there were no apartments available; only an hotel and a chambre des hotes (B & B).  There's a business opportunity for you, Paul!

Champagne region - Essoyse

The village of Essoyes is on the Ouche river, and is very pretty.

Renoir lived here in his later years, from 1901 onwards. 

This is the house where his favourite model, Gabrielle lived.  That's her in the painting with Renoir's son, Jean. 

This is the studio Renoir built in the bottom of his garden.

There are no art works in the studio, only photographs.  Obviously, his works are all in private or public collections around the world.

This is a photograph of a sculpture of his wife.

This is a photograph of a portrait of Julie Manet, daughter of painter Paul Manet.

Renior always looked old.  In this picture he was in his sixties and in the one below, in his fifties.

Renoir-Essoyes

This is the inside of his atelier (studio).  The wooden floor is strewn with paint. The light is fabulous.

And this is the new Renior centre, owned by the city but created with private money, including Renior family money.  One of his son's was a movie director, one a writer and a granddaughter is an actress.  It is reasonably hi-tech and I was so intrigued by the audio-visuals I forgot to take any photos inside!  Well worth the visit.