In search of lost relatives

Friday 3 June

First thing drove to  Tralee, Co Kerry to check out archives there, for M's search for lost relatives. We were directed to the County Library, the family history section & bingo, straight away found the record of the marriage of Margaret Fitzmaurice & Michael Sullivan in 1856, parish recorded as Moyvane, which was one of the parishes narrowed down yesterday in Ennis. We also found lists of children baptised but parents seemed to be mixed up somehow.  We drove to Moyvane, really backtracking the way we had come & found the priest, what an experience, (least said soonest mended)  What I referred to earlier with transcription errors seems to have happened here as we found a baptism record for Margaret Fitzmaurice & the transcription had different parent’s names to the original – when we were allowed to see it – priest not exactly willing, now I understand that he is the custodian of the records but really! Anyway off the original entry of the marriage, got townlands of ……. which priest told us was about 5 ks down a certain road. Drove out that way & M determined to find an old house (any old house would do) about 5 ks down the road & take a photo of it. We stopped at little old house & the chap came out & talk about the luck of the Irish, it turned out that he had purchased the house from a Fitzmaurice! He directed us to the house of Gabriel F about 2 ks away & what a result for M, G not home but his wife was & was very welcoming & felt sure that  M was a relative, invited us in & cups of tea & got out the family history which had been done by the US branch of the Fitzmaurice family.

G came home & lovely chap, he is a published poet & was the local headmaster prior to retirement. We arranged to come back the next day & he would take us to the old family homestead which had been in the F family until just recently.

Kerry countryside more like English country & we took the ferry from Tarbet to Killimer & drove to Kilrush & found a B&B. Kilrush I understand was (along with Limerick) stepoff point for ferries from Ireland to Liverpool to board immigrant ships for Australia. Most unusually for an old Irish town, Kilrush has some very wide streets.

Tarbet ferry, Killimer in the distance

Wide main street of Kilrush Co Clare

Kilrush harbor

Had tea in Crottys pub  and we were having a little giggle about a portrait of a woman hanging on the wall who M thought looked like Mrs Doubtfire, turned out she was Mrs Crotty , the matriarch of the Crotty family & wellknown local musician & our giggles were a considered quite irreverent. Meal v good though, roast duck breast & veg , I said to M where’s the mash, & when I lifted the duck breast skin, there it was,  making the breast look very plump! Bit of a cheat.

Mrs Crotty

Plump duck breast for tea at Crottys pub

Thursday 2 June 2011 Co Clare to Co Kerry

Made an early start but decided we would visit the reclusive cousin first, just in case, he was up & dressed – quite dapperly(?) – we expected to find some some illkempt old hermit with matted hair etc. No family resemblance with him, (unlike your man Ger in the pub) & not sure what he was trying to tell us, but we managed to get out of him that back in 19^th c Linnane family had land & a cottage which was right on the roadside about 500m out of town on the Corrofin road.

Drove there & took photos, no idea if anything to do with Linnane forbears but all we had to go on.

Possible Linnane cottage (as advised by Fachy L) didn't look that old to me

Onto Ennis, the county town of Co Clare, & a lovely little city. The centre is all narrow little streets & old buildings, had fun finding a park, finally – after a couple of rounds – found a park in multistory carpark behind the centre of town and as we were walking into the department store to which carpark was attached, spied the reclusive cousin coming the other way with another chap – so smart togs were for a trip to town & he does usually hang around with hayseeds in his hair! 

Street in Ennis town centre

Ennis was the birthplace of James Costelloe, father of  Timothy. We easily found the Costelloe Real Estate & had a chat with David Costelloe, very charming, however he did not think there was any connection because as far as he knew his family originated in Kildysart. 

We then spent some time in the family history centre where the chap was most helpful, but to no avail for me, but for M he narrowed down the 4-5 parishes in Kerry that the Fitzmaurice name appeared, so that proved very useful later on.

From Ennis we drove to Shanagolden in Limerick, birthplace of M’s GG GF, Michael Sullivan. After making some enquiries managed to locate the priest’s sister (where he eats every night) but he had eaten already. A very kind lady, she rang him for us – he was busy preparing for a wedding & would be free at 8pm- then rang the pub for accommodation, lady there tied up & would ring back & confirm & then she recommended we go across the street for tea otherwise we would miss out & she would run across when she heard back from the pub, phew. A nice tea, fish and chips, a menu item which features often in Ireland – they love their fried food! Meanwhile priest’s sister came over to let us know, no rooms at the inn & she had booked us at the B&B at Foynes – just up the road – what a kind lady!

After tea down to the priest’s house -  amazing that one man needs a large two story house – anyway most accommodating  with the parish records but to no avail as we did not find Michael Sullivan in the records. Issue is with these records that they were transcribed from the original in a work for the dole scheme, original entries were in Latin, & as we found in later investigation, some errors ensued. Anyway had long chat to the priest about the state of the nation etc & he revealed that he loved Italy, it was his spiritual (and I don’t think he meant in the religious sense) home, in fact he got a call while we were there & said goodbye with ‘ciao ciao’  ….   Well!

By this time it was 10pm &  unsure about the headlights, lots settings & not really obvious, priest assisted with the comment  “You’ll be foine with those to Foynes”

4ks down the road to Foynes & accommodation very nice, said to M – this may cost more than usual budget!  We had a nightcap in the bar, where 4 older ladies were playing cards.

Foynes Inn, where we spent the night

Kilfenora Co Clare & the Burren

Wednesday 1 June 2011

Good night's sleep, basic accomodation, but clean, used by burren walkers, at breakfast we spoke to 2 couples who had been in the pub the previous night, we had thought perhaps German, however in the am sounded French & transpired they were from Strasbourg French Alps near German border & they were speaking a local dialect., bit French & bit German. The wives, about our age, one school welfare officer & other teacher, both retired, but husbands still working, teacher & forestry worker. Had a good chat over breakfast on the state of the nation, EU economy etc & one thing they mentioned which I thought was very interesting was that with the GFC various EU countries going bad, but Germany not among them & that this was of great concern to people of their parent’s generation who had been through WW2 & were already jumpy after the reunification of East & West Germany that once again Germany was big & strong! Hadn’t even occurred to me.

First up we went to the priest to see if he could offer any further info. But although we found the records in original book nothing further discovered. Priest – Father Crosby - was a classic, like out of Father Ted & he made a couple of calls for us on the spot – conversation went something like – in broad Irish accent – “Oive got a couple of Australians here wanting to find out about some fella called Linnane who lived here about 75,000  years ago”  He had no luck on his calls, but said he’d keep trying & call in at the hostel if he had any luck

Kilfenora main street

Kilfenora is the site of a cathedral dating to 12^th century, partly ruins, home to celtic crosses from that era, and the first cathedral in Ireland, there was an abbey there from 6^th century by a St Fachtnan. We investigated the graveyard around the old cathedral, plenty of Linnanes but no way of knowing if relations or not.
By that time Linnanes pub was open, Kilfenora is the home to Kilfenora Céilí Band, famous Irish music band, & long time member Kitty Linnane (now dead) is the present publican Gerard’s mother. Gerard was behind the bar & a distinctly tepid reception from "your man Gerard" when I explained my enquiry, ie how long his family had been in the town & what he knew about previous generations etc , his reaction went something like this “Well you are probably more interested in that than I am, I have plenty of cousins & I knew my grandparents”  M & I just looked at each other and I said to Ger – I will be back tonight & I have something to show you….  More later

Old cathedral ruins from 12th C Kilfenora

Field behind the hostel Kilfenora, note the celtic cross

Countryside around Kilfenora

Portal tomb in the Burren from Neolithic period, between 4200 & 2900 BC

The Burren - stony place - limestone pavement landscape

West coast Co Clare

We drove around the town & rural Ireland, narrow winding roads, lots of granite drystone walling as field fences, not many tall trees, and the few there were bent over by the wind. The Burren itself a real moonscape only dark grey. Looked at ancient burial tombs, quite a popular spot, buses & the lot, I hope not to meet one of the buses on the road, given the width of the road & whatever shoulder there is falls away to deep ditch. M commented that it was a pity they couldn’t find something to mine in the area to help the economy. I think that the burren is a protected geographical feature and helped the economy by tourism.

The day was awful - rain, wind, but we battled the elements (& the roads) up to Ballyvaughan, which was a very pretty little coastal village, (which I think was friend CH grandmother’s birthplace) From there we went onto Doolin & stopped for a cup of tea at the famed O’Connors pub. The place was fairly hopping at 3 in the afternoon, with people eating vast meals with once again the extra big bowl of mashed potatoes (as well as chips) Spoke to a couple from Ennis who had come out for a meal, discussed plan of driving along Cliffs of Moher, they thought too foggy and we wouldn’t see them, but we gave it try anyway & drove on…….until thick fog enveloped the car. No no, narrow winding roads, uphill, downdale & thick fog, I don’t think so.

It was quite late by the time we got back to Kilfenora, but the priest had left a note with Orla at the hostel, so we walked over to see him, he didn’t have anything extra to provide, though he had spoken to Gerard L’s cousin, who was a historian but reclusive type of chap. Information he provided however, unsure of the relevance.  Headed to Linnanes pub armed with the photos of great grandfather Timothy Costelloe, G not there but young chap behind the bar, who turned out to be G’s son, nearly fell over when he saw the photos, as TC & G as alike as peas in a pod, strong family resemblance (& not just because of balding head & beard!) Anyway G returned from funeral he had been at & after a while (yes it took some time – he was a hard nut to crack) he conceded that there may be some similarity. 

I had wanted to add the picture of g  gf TC (for comparison purposes) but it is a funny format & wouldn't link in, I will have to try later.

Orla from the hostel had told us that there was Irish music at Linnanes on Wednesday night, so we decided to eat there, but G said he hadn’t started it yet as business has been so quiet. (talking to others on the trip it turns out that pubs really suffering due to the economy, young ones get a slab from the offlicence & get tanked at home – much cheaper, who would have thought – in Ireland! Another B&B chap we spoke to later on, thought it was about time pubs suffered, they had been the root of all evil in Ireland, taking food out of the mouths of children etc)

The no music  being on at the pub was a bit embarrassing for us as we had passed on the info to the French couples at the hostel & they had come also,  Not to worry, had a chat with G & took some photos for Mum, she will be very chuffed and G asked for a copy of the photos which I will email when I get home. We had our first Irish stew for tea, very nice, meatier than I thought.

At this stage in the proceedings it dawned on us that we had only Thursday & Friday if we wanted to make use of local archive centres as it was a bank holiday on Monday & we flew home on Tuesday, so back to Vaughans pub to settle up with Orla so we could get an early start the next morning.

Off to the country,

Picked up the car at the airport, funnily enough the taxi fare to the airport was 18 euro, compared to 29euro in the other direction - strange. M went on about the rosary beads hanging from the mirror of the first taxi while the one who was cheaper was feckin this & feckin that all the way! Sixt car rental girl was red haired Irish girl & M insisted on getting a photo as first irish we had come across (this reasonably true as most in shops, tourist offices etc are from Poland or Eastern Europe somewhere.

Only way out of Dublin was on the M50 ring road and seemed to require a full round of it before any likely exit for Galway N4 which is funny because on the map it looks like we should have gone straight out left. In the end had to exit M50 & then come back on it to be on the right side for the N4 exit! Can only assume we missed it on the first round. We drove for quite a stretch on the N 4 before deciding to come off for lunch as no apparent freeway services. The country-side & town of Clane very picturesque, there was an Aldi in town so we picked up some of the biggestselling women's skincare in UK (for 4 euro!!!) and some Scottish spring water for the trip- also big bargain.  We had lunch in O'Briens cafe (an Irish chain) & witnessed for the first time the Irish penchant for serving potato crisps with sandwiches - they love their spuds! 

Potato crisps with wrap for lunch at O'Briens

Back on the N4 for Galway, but lots of fun getting off it for Kilfenora, (birthplace of my G GF) just couldn't get to it & the GPS useless as all the freeways  are new in last 4 years or so & maps are out of date, British Emily continually getting her knickers in a twist even when we came off the freeway she couldn't cope as the access roads had all changed as well & we couldn't get to the other side. In the end we had to go down to Ennis & come up again on R roads, went through Corrofin, the home of the notorious Antoinette, the self-proclaimed foremost genealogist in Ireland. Kilfenora when we got there around 6.30pm (work it out - we picked up the car at midday 6 hours to go 200 odd k) just like on google earth, found the pub & hostel - the only accomodation in town - basic but friendly, Orla Vaughan (In Co Clare pronounced Vah..horn) runs it & very Irish she was ..to be sure. These Vaughans may be relatives too as GG GM's mother was a Vaughan, but I didn't pursue it as they have so many relatives in the here & now, & don't appear to have much interest in the previous generations. We had tea at Vaughans pub next door, Orla's brother runs it, seafood chowder, very nice & were offered the choice of 2 white wines, one South American & the other Australian, trouble was it was McGuigans - that bastard, still chose it ,however as had to support Australian wines when we have the opportunity and believe me this does not occur often in Europe - all the cheapies are Sth American, most wine lists do have at least 1 NZ wine however, so how does that work? Appears to me Oz wine marketers are taking money under false pretences. 

Delicious seafood chowder in Vaughans pub Kilfenora, note accompanying chips

We chatted to the people on the next table, an older man & what turned out to be his two daughters, all so  so Irish. His wife had died 2 or so years ago, & they had two meals out together a week, one at Vaughans in Kilfenora & the other in a pub in Dooley. They had ordered roast pork which came with chips, large bowl of veg, plus big dish of mashed spuds as well (enough from 10 people) The man was wearing a little gold pin which turned out to be a temperance badge, no alcohol for 61 years, he had no gripe with alcohol as such, just what it did to families.

No alcohol for 61 years, doesn't look that happy about it!

Dublin Sunday 29th May & Monday 30 May 2011

O'Connell St,  Dublin

Straight into town Sunday am for breakfast at a place like Myers cafe (modern day version would be Ikea cafe) Place chockas of customers doing the full Irish breakfast, same as full English, on the way home from mass perhaps?

Purchased a ticket for the big green bus, valid for 2 days,  & did the first round, 1.5 hours, good live commentary, political of course. Pointed out GPO building in O'Connell St, which was used by the rebels in the 1916 uprising & you can still see the bullet holes; next - big statue of Daniel O'Connell, known as the liberator, he achieved emancipation for catholics in 1829 which gave them the right to preach & practice their own religion, speak their native tongue, gaelic, & sit in Parliament; Oscar Wilde's childhood house; ditto Duke of Wellington - who apparently was not proud of his birthplace, his quote "Just because one is born in a stable, it doesn't make one a horse" to which Daniel O'Connell replied that it did not preclude him from being an ass.

Statue of Daniel O'Connell, Dublin

Ha' penny Bridge over the Liffey, toll was halfpenny for 100 years

Lots of other stuff also, but on the next run we got off at  Trinity College & did a walking tour. Trinity College has 15,000 students, was built on land on order of QE1 in 1592, land had been a monastery which had been taken by daddy Henry 8th. Lots of anecdotes and stories, ie fellows (special professors) of the college have the right to walk on the lawn & graze a goat & bigest scandal in 1700's when 4 students threw stones at the window of an unpopular professor, he fired on them, but missed, so they went home & returned with guns & shot him dead.  They were expelled but not convicted as the judge ruled it was a student prank gone awry! Tour terminated at library for Book of Kells viewing, which was a big thrill also.

Fellow apartments building Trinity College

Next stop Dublin Castle & did the tour. This was begun in 1204 on order of King John, & was seat of English rule in Ireland, not much remains of original, just one tower, was burnt down & rebuilt in 1600's, interesting was the view of the English, as the civilising influence of the romans never reached Ireland they felt it their duty to do the necessary. (hence all the fun for the last few centuries) Apparently the Romans came & had a look, called it Hibernia - the land of eternal winter, & decided it wasn't for them.

State room in Dublin Castle

The Record Tower, only remaining tower of original mediaeval castle from 1200's

Another interesting anecdote was the statue of Justice on the gate, Not blindfolded - so justice not blind in Ireland, also facing into the castle, also rain drips onto one side of the scale causing them to be uneven. A ditty around town was "Statue of Justice, note well her stance, her face to the rulers, her arse to the people" or something like.

Statue of justice facing into Dublin castle grounds

SO cold had to warm up with Irish coffee

Very warming Irish coffee, .... it kept me awake, but worth it!

 It was quite late by this time, so headed to O'Neills for tea again, place was chockas again, chose lamb shanks & once again a meal for a giant

O'Neills Pub Dublin, operating over 300  years

Interior of O'Neills pub

Lamb shanks for tea

But big tea Ok as we walked it off on the walk home, past the Rotunda Hospital which had been pointed out on the bus tour & was, wait for it.... the maternity hospital!

Samedi 28 Mai 2011 Au revoir Paris

Last day in Paris & we are all ready to move on, out for a final pain aux raisin & coffee over on Rive Gauche.

Favourite Boulangerie for cafe & pain aux raisin

Fun with the cases down the six flights of stairs & then bit of a drama on the RER to CDG as the line was closed & we had to get off the train at Gare du Nord & get to another platform, which one wasn't clear but we followed those with cases, pandemonium reigned supreme but it all came out in the wash & the Aerlingus flight was delayed anyway. Arrived Dublin airport (all very spiffy) at around 4pm ilo 3. Taxi to accomodation, driver gave us his version of Ireland today & reassured us the about our ancestors who came to Australia, they were not criminals, the criminals sent them, we didn't mention that we descended from free settlers, (as far as we know) He was also pretty vocal on the "feckin nigerians"
First impression of Dublin, ....yikes....could just be where the hotel is but pretty dire, of course we had no idea on nice areas to stay & this area Phibsboro is only 1 k out of town. Hotel itself is fine & we are very happy with our room etc. We walked into O'Connell St & had a look around but impression not improving, all so GREY, so many buildings of dismal grey granite & rubbish all around, I tried to make M feel better & said just like Italy, but she was looking at the people & thought that they looked the same, sort of dismal, look we have just come from the most beautiful city in the world & even Paris has it's ugliness! (Musee Rodin - according to M!)
Settled on O'Neills for tea, just down the street from Trinity College,  there has been a tavern on the site for 300 years, present day pub from 1800's I think. Anyway lots of action & when we got inside we saw why, carvery which served meals you could not jump over for 12 euro, we had roast beef with yorkshire & 100 veg. Very atmospheric pub, all wood & little nooks & crannies,  bulging with people - high excitement over soccer match blasting out from 3-4 big screens- MU & Barcelona - what that's got to do with Ireland I don't know. We made a decent dent on the giant's meal in front of us & staggered back to hotel, tucked up by 9pm

Jeudi 26 Mai 2011 La Poste

Over to Place Maubert Market for another go at the freshwater pearls, really what could we do? Then back to pack boxes of excess baggage to send home, didn't think this one out as La Poste chap neglected to tell us that price accelerates alarmingly once weight over 2 kg. In the end had to repack into La Poste box & couldn't have economy & all sorts of complications. Hope all this is going to make a difference to the case (& I haven't bought much at all, unlike someone else who shall remain nameless)
Lunch at Chez Janou near Place des Vosges ( another recommendation off the net) & really very good, we had the menu, tomato tart &  canard something - both excellent & tried the Kir - cassis - aperitif - yum.

On the way back, dropped into L'Occitane, M has taken it as personal challenge to get some free samples out of them in Paris to no avail as yet, but today we hit paydirt. M bought some lovely verbena cologne set for J, the young chap replaced the soap in the set a for a more expensive one as he was telling his future plans of writing poetry, in fact he was leaving work tomorrow to do so. I bought a serum. He then went on to give us a heap of samples while explaining his boss was a "beetch" & he sounded like he was glad to be leaving.  Mission accomplished,  as we sailed home, but who has the last laugh, we have more weight to carry.

Vendredi 27 Mai 2011 Last day in Paris

Today's Metro entrance Palais-royale Louvre, not the usual Art Nouveau

Well aware that this was our last full day in Paris we tried to squeeze in as much as possible, went over to Les Depots on Rue Vanue where I had had such luck with a torquoise bracelet, but must have been a fluke as everything tres tres.

We ate lunch at Polidor, one of the many places Hemmingway frequented, must have been quite a gourmand, we had the dish of the day, which they called haches parmentier & turned out to be shepherds pie, very nice. Funny thing was that 2 gentlemen sat at the other end of the table & ordered the same, but with a side order of chips!
.

Never enough potatoes

Polidor for lunch, Hemmingway's ghost not inspire greater literary genius


We saw Carlotta about departure tomorrow morning as she was attending to some plumbing issue in the other little garret she rents out, this one is hers, not Desmond's. Probably a better option as bed not mezzanine arrangement, but 2 singles, one been trundle. Not a full kitchen however, just a little fridge & microwave

For our last night in Paris we decided to sample the restaurant on the other end of Rue Chanoinesse, Au Vieux, always very popular as we walk past  and apparently of great repute, in an old building 15xx, all exposed beams &  heavily carved furniture.
 

M & I having diner at Au Vieux, rather camp waiter, think Benny Hill

  Well quite an experience, the theatre of it more than the food, we had an chef's surprise menu, first up, vegetable crudites with dip (onion), next  little vegetable pancakes, next pate au maison with fruity chutney, next gazpacho, main was fish provencal for me & M chicken dish, dessert was pomme tart & cream. We had to go to the cellar & choose our wine, quite a range,( most out of our price range) We chose a medoc which was very nice. I wouldn't rave about the food, which was nice but we have had nicer in Paris, but the atmosphere & the waiters made it an occasion. Luckily we didn't have far to stagger home

Dimanche 22 Mai 2001 Monet's Garden

Over to Saint Lazare station first thing for train to Giverny - Monet's Garden, sounds easy doesn't, but no mean feat finding one's way from Metro to Grande Lignes, ended up having to come out of the Metro station completely & walk the long way round & entrance not blindingly obvious either as covered with building work, scaffolding etc. Pertinent that the train for Giverney (Vernon really) going from Saint Lazare as one of Monet's paintings was of the station with billowing steam from the trains, ...   OK probably not a coincidence as he would have used this station himself between Paris & Giverny!
Shuttle bus meets the train to transport the hordes. Garden just beautiful & very inspiring, can't wait to get home & get into it, have noted Monet's favourites.

Recognise that bridge? 

Waterlilies at Monet's garden - Giverny

Monet's house Giverny

Monet family tomb at Giverny church

Propeller from plane which came down in Battle of Britain 7&8/6/1944. This is a memorial for seven crew who lie in the Giverny  graveyard

M & I walked back to Vernon, 4 k's, by the river,    holier than thou.
Had run into American girl at Gare Sainte Lazare while trying to nut out the train to Vernon (Monet's garden -Giverny) & we sat with her on our return trip, turned out she was 53!!! , M & I feel she must have had some work done ...  unless disintegration has increased so rapidly for us in the last 5 years! - apropos nothing. The interesting part was that she was doing a blog about fashion in Paris whilst here for 10 days, approaching chic women on the street of Paris & asking if she can take their photo for her blog, no probs apparently - everyone wants to be a star! Her link is www.bienvestido.blogspot   (means the art of dressing well)

Made an abortive call to the Yveline at B&B La Grange I had previously booked by phone on Friday to confirm arrival time but she did not understand, thought I was trying to book again. "Eet's not possible, all fooel"  I persisted to no avail, asking her to check her bookings for my name, etc.

Back from Loire Valley & days behind

Lundi 23 Mai 2011

Managed to leave home in plenty of time for Gare L'Austerlitz to catch the train for  Amboise in Loire valley, mostly due to no milk, so no allbran. Still, good excuse for grande cafe & pain aux raisin at the station while we waited. Train full but very comfortable, 2 hour trip to Amboise. Amboise chosen as smallest town (around 10,000) with hire car facilities in the Loire valley. Bit of a scare when American couple behind us were asked to provide photo id , eg passport, ok for me as I had for the care hire, but M had left hers back at the garret - we just didn't think of it, anyway few digs in the ribs to M to keep her mouth closed & we just passed over our tickets & phew, all ok. Must remember on return journey, when the conductor comes, lips sealed & look like a local....as if.
Straight off the train to the Office de Tourisme, very obliging girl rang Yveline to discuss, yes she had our booking, it was as I thought, she did not understand me. We trotted down, 2 blocks from the Loire river, very old house on the corner, charming courtyard behind large burgundy gates, poor Yveline had a migraine (probably my phonecall to her the previous evening - M did say I harrassed the poor woman) Room & accomodation lovely & just what we wanted for the Loire Valley - character overload. 

Courtyard garden La Grange B&B Amboise

Headed straight for Chateau Amboise & Clos Luce (pronounced clo lucy) as in town and walkable. Amboise was seat on Valois kings in medieval times when Brittany was still a separate country, so part of Chateau d"Amboise is presented as it was in medieval times when royal life migratory. Once royals decided Paris was a better place to be, it fell into disrepair & was then redone in the 19th c as country seat of Bourbon royal family & the kids were tucked away there. Most interesting part was that Francois 1st was a patron of Leonardo Da Vinci & LDV spent the last 5 years of his life there & is buried in the chateau chapel. 

Chateau d"Amboise

Troglodyte house on rue between Chateau d"Amboise & Clos Luce

On to Clos Luce, 10 minutes walk from chateau, which was Leonardo's home in Amboise (provided by his patron) lovely old red brick medieval house. Lot's of displays re inventions & ideas, in fact the large grounds a sort of theme park for Leonardo's inventions, bit crass, but quite welldone for that sort of thing.

Models made from Leonardo Da Vinci designs in Clos Luce

Clos Luce, Amboise -home of Leonardo Da Vinci for last 5 years of his life

By then time to pick up the hire car, just didn't realise it was so far away (looked close on the map) 5 k's later, with M following behind cursing me, we picked up our little Nissan Micra & took off. My first action was to turn on the intermittant wiper (going for the blinkers) & not be able to turn it off. Stopped it finally, only to have the rear window wiper wagging away in the rearview mirror, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Also could not find the cigarette lighter to plug in the GPS-checked the book in the glovebox & everything - in another language,  hope this doesn't happen in Ireland! Lots of fun through one way streets (narrow) back to B&B, we circled it 5 times before we could get to it, all with M offering great encouragement. Yveline's husband, Patric, helped with the street parking, as bit of a minefield, & very kindly moved his car to give us a park.  Cleanup & out for lovely tea at La Reserve (recommended by the girl in the Autoeurope office) in the shadow of the Chateau, went for glass of champagne - yum, mousseline of scallop, M - ginger chicken dish, me salmon with red wine/fish stock reduction, & both chocolate fondant.

Old street in Amboise - on way to tea

Chatted to a Dutch couple on the next table, they were farmers & were on the first holiday after many years of hard work, touring around for 5 months in a campervan with a Harley Davidson on the back!!!

Dutch couple travelling around with Harley on the van

Strolled home via the Loire river & now sitting up in bed listening to 2 chaps chatting as they walk past the window (right on the street) - all "je ne sais quois" &  "qu'est-ce que" M already asleep!

Mardi  24 Mai 2011

At peace with the world after glass or 2 of bubbles (ask me in the a.m) and emporter pizza back in the courtyard garden at B&B after heavy day of chateaux, end of the day

Fruits-de-la-mer pizza

Start of the day, usual french breakfast with cereal bowls, which of course to the uninitiated means cereal must be coming, not so French couple also staying knew the drill, big bowl of milky coffee for dunking of croissant and/or baguette, yes seems unreal in this day & age, particularly when the supermarket shelves are full of cereals, unless they are all for the tourists!
Anyway back to breakfast- fruit, juice, yoghurt, baguette, croissant with butter & jams. Poor Yveline still suffering from migraine, purely selfishly I was relieved to hear she thinks her back is out, ergo, malaise not caused by harrassment by guest.
Chatted to couple from Sacramento, husband an air traffic controller, wife with parks & wildlife (or equivilant), just had their shared 50th birthday, same day. For the record they thought the bowls may be for the fruit & yoghurt. Also at breakfast a couple from Milwaukee & then the French couple. Car had to be faced again & we did it , hopped in (right side of the car) & off to Chenonceaux, thought we had got there at the crack of dawn, 9.15, but so did the busloads of Japanese tourists, hordes of French school children etc, boy has this place has been developed as a tourist destination, perfectly presented & extremely well done, think Loire Valley Disney chateaux. That said enjoyed it for the second time, as history so interesting & evocative, ie King Henry 11 gives beautiful little chateaux to best mistress, Diane de Poitiers , king dies & queen, Catherine de Medicis, chucks out the mistress, mind you, obsolete mistress is given another chateaux in exchange, Chaumont-sur-Loire, another modest little hovel. By the time we gave the place a good going over it was 1.30, so we sampled the crepes on site, really quite nice, but I don't see crepes as takeaway as the French do, as they wrap it in paper & it sticks to the paper & also sticky fingers by the end.

Front entrance to Chateau de Chenonceaux

Next chateau,  Chaumont-sur-loire, 10-20 k's away, not quite as developed but gardens huge & lovey setting high over the Loire river. Chateau had long history starting 1000, Catherine de Medicis mixed up in it again. Chateau decorated as it was by last owner -an heiress who married a Prince - from 1875 & it was a compulsory state acquisition from her in the 30's.

View

Fireplace with porcupine theme (emblem of Loius XII )at Chaumont-sure-Loire

Chateau Chaumont-sur-Loire

17th c majolica floor tiling at Chaumont-sur-Loire - came from palace in Palermo, Sicily

Next chateau another 20 k's, Montpoupon, low down on the commercial scale, but cute little chateau, all done out as hunting lodge, which of course a lot of these were, lots of forests around for deer hunting etc. We then wanted to look at a folly, Pagode de Canteloupe, which was only 4 k's from Amboise, well 50 k's later, and a lot of frustration, called it a day & headed for home, more frustration there as no parks near B&B, finally found one after 2 rounds of the town.

Chateau Mountpoupon - hunting lodge

Chatted to Ken & Bev from Milwaukee while we ate our pizza, Bev an ex-teacher (thought so even before she said) They had been to Chambord & Cheverney today, which is what we plan for  tomorrow.

Ken & Bev from Milwaukee

Mercredi 25 Mai 2011
Full house for La Grange again this morning, 4 couples plus 4 on bikes. I gather that this B&B is recommended by Rick Steves from what I overheard. Chatted again to Ken & Bev & they have been to Ireland 7 times (that put our minds at rest) & recommended Dingle on the Dingle peninsula  as good place to go  - put it on the list, M.  ate our full, same as yesterday, plus little sweet puffs (got to love those high gi carbs), paid Yveline (now recovered) 150 euro for the 2 nights & au revoir.

Off to Cheverny Chateau, reputed to be the most lavishly furnished, & really decor most complete, tres sumptious appointments. The family still live there & it has been in the same family  (the Huralts) for 600 years, although slipped out of their hans twice in its history, one incident being to KIng's mistress Diane de Poitiers  (mon dieu, she was good!) Style looked more like townhouse to me than chateau (  sleeping beauty)

Chateau Cheverney

Not sure how far it was from Amboise but it tooks us a good one & a half hours to get there, what with diversions & wrong turns, merde!

Wall panels at Cheverny - story of Don Quixote - by Jean Monier

Firedogs at Cheverny date from the time of Loius XIV

Ceiling at Cheverny

Fancy fireplace at Cheverny

On to Chambord - this one was started as hunting lodge for Francois 1 in 1519 & it is HUGE, 426 rooms with a double helix stone staircase, thought to have been the design of Leonardo Da Vinci. From the outside there is a hotchpotch of different shaped towers & turrets etc like it was designed by a committee which couldn't decide, inside & out tufa stone. The whole estate is now government-owned, national park, camping, picnicing etc.

Chateau de Chambord, a plethora of towers

Double helix stone staircase at Chambord

Interesting part on this one was  Duc de Bordeaux / Compte de Chambord - last of the Bourbons - owned it from 1821 & he was pretender to the throne, whiled away his time awaiting the restoration of monarchy and when the offer came, he refused to adopt to tricolor flag, so no dice. Place filthy with tourists (many buses) & schoolkids (French schoolkids have decent excursions, best I can remember from schooldays - mind you was a while ago - was bus to Melbourne to see play "Waiting for Godo"!)  Huge car park & of course we lost the car & continued to get lost all the way back to Amboise, only 2 incidents of road rage - directed at me, not by me, on the whole French quite tolerant drivers!  Delivered car to Europecar,  unscathed (well some nerve damage only) pleased to restore to more competent hands.  Taxi to gare for 7.02 train  back to Paris.
Impression of Loire Valley 2nd time around, bigger than I remembered, and also busier, could have been all the the extra k's done getting lost of course