Marta arrived in late August and we immediately set off for an adventure on Lac Léman, the French name for Lake Geneva. Our destination was Evian-les-Bains on the French shoreline across from Lausanne, which we reached by train from Paris. A quick taxi brought us to the passenger ferry at Ouchy. After a short cruise we were in the apartment leant to us by an acquaintance from the Women's University Club. It was up the hill from the Lake -- what seemed like a short stroll on the way down but proved to be a bit more arduous on the way back up with our arms full of groceries. Nevertheless, the view was spectacular and when we were sitting on the deck looking at the sky and the ferry on its way back to Lausanne at sunset, we couldn't have felt ourselves to be more blessed.
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| Carousel, Evian Waterfront |
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| Church, Evian-les-Bains |
Evian has a lovely waterfront walkway with restaurants and cafés of all types, a carousel and a fountain in which the children love to play. The center of town is a pedestrian zone and there are many things to see, including the church with its interesting painting, the casino where we enjoyed a very good dinner, and the City Hall, which was at one time the Lumière Mansion, built by the father of the inventor of motion pictures.
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| Staircase, Town Hall |
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| Lillies, Pré Curieux |
One day, we took the boat to a water garden called the Pré Curieux. It is on an old estate and attempts to both demonstrate and educate the public about the importance of wetlands. The first of the gardens we visited was a formal water garden in a pond full of water lilies and carp. Beyond that were wild areas and wetlands, re-created with great environmental sensitivity and a real eye for the beauty of a natural landscape.
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| Yvonne Garden of the Five Senses |
On another day, we took the bus to Yvoire, a medieval village a little further up the lakeshore. It is small, walkable, and beautifully preserved, with a little boat harbor and a small (relatively speaking) chateau. The owner has created a medieval Garden of the Five Senses, which was simply stunning. One area was full of fragrant plants, another of colorful ones, and so on. My favorite was the medicinal garden, with its shady cloister and a tinkling fountain in the center. It was so utterly peaceful there.
Our trip to Evian was memorable and we returned to Paris refreshed and ready for the rentrée (the official return from vacations) and the bustle of urban life. One of our best days was the visit to the Gobelin factory for a guided tour. Gobelin was a Renaissance dyer of great renown and it was around him that Louis XIV created the national company for the manufacture of tapestries and carpets. When you are expanding Versailles from something like 13 rooms to over 2,000, you can't afford to have the best craftsmen working for anybody else! Gobelin is still owned by the French government and produces three carpets and three tapestries a year -- chosen from designs submitted by French artists to a Commission whose job is to select the best ones. The finished products are placed in French government buildings here in France and all over the world (e.g. the embassies). There is also a group of craftsmen who work exclusively on the restoration of historical tapestries and rugs. Gobelin runs a school with students from throughout France who have shown an inclination and skill in hand making these items as they have been made for centuries. It was fascinating.
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Studio
Museum of Montmartre |
Another adventure was a stroll through Montmartre where we visited the Museum of Montmartre. This is a museum of the City of Paris (of which there are many) and it had a special show, an exhibition of art works (from posters to paintings to etchings) made in Montmartre during the last few decades of the 19th century, the time that Picasso was living there. It is in a house where several artists lived at different times and features a studio as it might have been at that time.
In spite of our full schedule, we were never too busy to stroll through a garden or stop for some coffee or tea and maybe a little gouter (a sweet of some kind). In this photo, Marta is enjoying some ice cream (it was quite warm) and a book.
Altogether a splendid time. Thank you, Marta!
Marta arrived in late August and we immediately set off for an adventure on Lac Léman, the French name for Lake Geneva. Our destination was Evian-les-Bains on the French shoreline across from Lausanne, which we reached by train from Paris. A quick taxi brought us to the passenger ferry at Ouchy. After a short cruise we were in the apartment leant to us by an acquaintance from the Women's University Club. It was up the hill from the Lake -- what seemed like a short stroll on the way down but proved to be a bit more arduous on the way back up with our arms full of groceries. Nevertheless, the view was spectacular and when we were sitting on the deck looking at the sky and the ferry on its way back to Lausanne at sunset, we couldn't have felt ourselves to be more blessed.
In spite of our full schedule, we were never too busy to stroll through a garden or stop for some coffee or tea and maybe a little gouter (a sweet of some kind). In this photo, Marta is enjoying some ice cream (it was quite warm) and a book.