Les Vaux-de-Cernay (21-22 July)

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Jen Price

During the cold dark winter months I spend a lot of time looking things up on the Internet. This past winter I had a specific quest in mind – locating places associated with Simon de Montfort and the Albigensian Crusade. One of the places I started was with the locations attached to people’s names. Simon, as we have established, comes from Montfort l’Amaury but it wasn’t so easy to find many other individual names. The records for this crusade speak in general terms about “the count’s men,” the Duke of Burgundy (a region for another trip), or soldiers from far away Flanders, England and Wales. Then, I suddenly remembered, that the chronicle account (biased in our hero’s favor) I most enjoyed was by Peter a monk from Les-Vaux-de-Cernay.

Here is what I had to say about this fellow in my dissertation (which I dusted off to read for this trip. Not bad, if I do say so myself).

“Peter of Les Vaux-de-Cernay – the author of the Hystoria Albigensis, an ardent supporter of the crusade, and from the spring of 1212 until 1219 an eyewitness to much of what he describes – was aware of men who had not fulfilled their vows and condemned them for it.”

So, in I typed “Les Vaux-de-Cernay” and what should pop up, but a website for a fairly luxurious hotel. Yes, gentle readers, we would be able to stay in the very place where our guide to the events of 1212-1219 had lived. The excitement was palpable, especially when we saw the menu of the restaurant.

Aside from our problems with the wi-fi and a brief rainstorm, our experience at the abbey was delightful. We stayed in the room named after the first abbot that was decked out in French country (read: old) décor.
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We cast open the windows for an amazing view of the church and oratory. The grounds are exquisite and one can quite imagine the life of prayer and work that went on here eight centuries earlier.

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I am also envisioning some sort of party. Could this be the location for the 50th birthday party? (I like to plan ahead?)

After dark we headed out to the church to invoke the spirit of Peter. All we got was a fit of the giggles and a mole sighting.
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The fog made it atmospheric and I am pretty sure Innocent III was having a blast.
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Dinner: a whole tray of cheese and a 14-year old apprentice waiter with a knife was the highlight of dinner. He was practicing his English, we were testing our stomachs.

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The Marvel of Mont St. Michel (18 July)

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Jen Price

Last night, a friend asked me what my favorite part of the first stage of Project Montfort was. Without hesitation I answered “visiting Mt. St. Michel and being able to see it and the view from the mount at sunset and sunrise.” Ever since I first laid eyes on an image of the Mount many years ago I have been entranced by the awesomeness of the natural setting as well as the architectural wonder that is the abbey itself. When I visited some fifteen years ago, the infatuation became full-fledged passion. Though it may be illegal, I would love to have some of my ashes sprinkled somewhere in the gardens so I could, atomically, be a part of this place. I am comforted by the fact that I do not appear to be the only one. The Celts held that this was the place that the souls of the dead were sent. In fact, as I sit here in the late afternoon sun of a summer day in Seattle (full of its own beauty) I find it difficult to express why I feel this place. Perhaps it is just one of those places we find in our lives that feels right? If you want to explore the island virtually and listen to a philosophical discussion I recommend the 1990 film Mindwalk

Anyway, I digress. This is a blog about our travels and so, what you need is a description of our time at what is known as La Merveille. Current estimates suggest that more than 2 million people visit the mount each year. Current efforts to protect the island and the natural habitat are detailed here. A significant number were present on this late Sunday afternoon. It was in the 80s and weaving our way up the Grand Rue to the monastery entrance meant weaving in between people carrying ice cream cones and fanning themselves with tourist brochures.
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There were a few sunburns in the making amongst the group of English teens on a school trip in front of us.

Though it is a bit of an exertion to make it to the top of the mount and into the abbey itself, P1020187

the view is well worth it.
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The Benedictine monks who resided here from the eighth century CE could be certain of keeping an eye on both their Norman and Breton neighbors as well as observe the glories of the bay.

Inside the abbey, it was blissfully cool. There are times when stone architecture makes sense and on a hot July day I had no complaints. We explored the abbey, empty of decoration, and perhaps because of this, somehow grander. One room gave us a hint that the original inhabitants would have found it much more colorful. Recently a 11th century painting as been uncovered and you see that our predecessors had a rich sense of color – something you begin to doubt after visiting one stone monument too many. I floated the idea of a more interactive visit with Vjeran and Juli and Julie (something we say more of at Fontevraud). Why couldn’t there be the odd monk walking around explaining the use of certain room? Why not have monks (actors) eating in the refectory? I suppose cost comes into it. But, I sometimes feel a dissonance between the observation of an empty building and trying to imagine it as it once. Don’t get me started on the idea of wasted empty space that could be used for habitation . . . that will end in ruin.

Around 4:30 pm we headed west to St. Malo to drop off our two intrepid travelers and returned to check in at the Auberge Saint Pierre (appropriate as a crusade can only be called by a pope and we all know the “special relationship” between the holy father and St. Peter). In thirty minutes we found ourselves seated outside on a terrace on the ramparts dining on fresh seafood (the large plate of seafood was one of the many food highlights on this trip).
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Sunset being so late we were able to walk off the three-course meal with a meander around the ramparts. The view was breathtaking. I kept having to stop and drink it in . . . sometimes things look so glorious you have to double-check your own eyesight.

Blowing bubbles over the bay.
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After a night’s sleep punctuated by the conversation of the local deliverymen and the crash of the weekend’s recycling, I rose at 5:30 am and had the mount to myself. Peace.

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I wandered around the ramparts and the gardens imagining a life spent in this one place. As this is not a dream easily attained I settled for a promise to return sooner than fifteen years.

Soundtrack: Dead Can Dance, Into the Labyrinth and Charlotte Gainsbourg’s IRM

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No matter where you go, there are Montforts and Crusaders (18 July)

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Jen Price

If there is one thing a medievalist likes, it is a good strong stone castle. So, on our way north towards Mont Saint Michel on Sunday morning it was unanimously decided to stop at a particularly fine example of this form of civic architecture (according to the Michelin Guide Vert) at Fougères.

The castle was built over the course of three centuries (12th-15th century) and is absolutely HUGE and, in surprisingly good condition. It has a killer moat and a delightful visitor’s center. Vjeran got us each an audio guide so that we could learn more about its history. My favorite part was the “voices of the past” where the narrator assumed a gravelly voice to act as a figure from the past. “I stood here and saw the soldiers attack with arrows.” I suspect it was more Monty Python than they had anticipated.

What did we learn?

–       Fougères, situated on a ridge (if all else fails and you want to find a castle, look up), is a strategic stronghold on the border between the counties of Brittany and Normandy. Therefore, people were willing to spend a lot of money on making it big and strong and stone. They did a good job.

–       My favorite king – who vowed to go on crusade several times but never got around to it – Henry II of England  (also Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes and Lord of Ireland) and who will forever, in my mind, look like Peter O’Toole in a Lion in Winter or Becket (take your pick), destroyed the original building in 1166 in his attempt to conquer Brittany. Not to worry, it was rebuilt.

–       In 1428 Fougères is sold to the Duke of Brittany by Jean II of Alençon (a fervent supporter of “burning girl”) to pay for his ransom asked for by the English.

We also learned that we were not too far off our “Montfort” path because a branch of the Montfort family was to take possession of the castle in the 14th (I think?) century and also because it was home to Hugh XI de Lusignan in the mid-13th century.

For those of you in the know, the Lusignans are – you guessed it – crusaders. Hugh VI of Lusignan, was killed in the Holy Land during the Crusade of 1101. Another Hugh arrived in the 1160s and was captured in a battle with Nur ad-Din Zangi. A later relative Guy would become king of Jerusalem. The Hugh who lived here built the impressive Mélusine tower which we climbed to the very top of for a pretty killer view. The tower was named after the mythical fairy whose marriage to Raymond of Poitou  was rumored to have kicked off the Lusignans’ bloodline. (Note: if you don’t have a prestigious background invent a relative who is some sort of sea-creature; mermaid, seal, big dragonfish, it doesn’t matter. This gives you street cred amongst your peers. If you don’t believe me, ask the Merovingians.) So, even when we are not looking for ties to our main topics on this sunny Sunday  THERE THEY WERE. Coincidence? Methinks, not.

Somewhat overcome by the heat, a plethora of spiral staircases, the view and lack of coffee we stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the way out where we learned all about the Breton specialty Andouille de Guemene. It is unanimous. Four out of four foodies prefer Louisiana style andouille.

Walking back to the car, we passed a meadow. It is here that Vjeran spotted a very rare sight – the Forrest Granny. We were lucky enough to see two fine examples of this elusive creature. We didn’t want to spook them, so no photos were taken. However, I am able to report that these Forrest Grannies were decked out in summer floral pattern housedresses and looked quite healthy. Rumors of their extinction have, I believe, been grossly exaggerated.

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We go on a proper pilgrimage (July 21)

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Juli Zurovec

Tours, the home of St Martin, was conveniently on our way to our final destination, Vaux de Cernay Abbey, so we thought we should stop and check it out. Tours was also a convenient stopping point for many medieval pilgrims on their way to Compostela to visit St James. Doubtless when our predecessors neared Tours, they probably thought the same thing we did: “This looks like a good place to eat, find a toilet, and buy some stuff!”

I should also mention that I was more than a little bit excited to visit St Martin. You see, my brother chose St Martin as his patron when he was confirmed and I was my brother’s sponsor. Slacker sponsor that I was, I never found my brother any St Martin paraphernalia. This was finally my opportunity.

There has been a church on the site of the modern basilica for at about 1600 years, which is a little bit crazy if you think about it. The modern building is only a fraction of the size of the medieval original, which like so many other churches, had been destroyed during the French Revolution. The towers of the medieval original remain, however, and help put into perspective just how huge the old cathedral had been.

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Inside the basilica, the shrine of St Martin was a surprisingly solemn place. So much so, in fact, that Innocent and Simon did not come out to have their photos taken. Of course, the atmosphere did not prevent me from being just a tiny bit obnoxious and lighting a gigantic candle and placing it right at the top of the stand. This one’s for you Nick!

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Being a good sister, I stopped at the basilica shop to buy St Martin tchotchkes for my brother and the rest of the fam. Little shop lady first tried to under charge me by 16 euro. I didn’t think my conscience could survive swindling the shrine of my brother’s patron saint, so I pointed out the error. Little shop lady was grateful and laughed, saying something about how she was bad at math (it was French, I only caught about half of it). She then proceeded to over charge me 16 euro. I was too tired and my French too awful to go through adding up my bill again, so I just gave up and called it my donation to the shrine.

Our pilgrimage complete we did a little eating and a little shopping and headed for the parking garage and Raoul the Merc. While we had navigated ourselves in to Tours without much trouble, getting out was not so easy. Stupid parking machines! They do not actually take our Mastercards or Visas! When will we ever learn? We managed to cause quite the traffic jam (complete with honking and yelling French people) at the parking booth. Jen had to run upstairs, and with the help of a very nice Frenchman, pay for our parking and run back down to me and Raoul, stuck at the gate. In the meantime, I got quite good at making crazy motions toward the ticket machine pretending like it was the problem and not me. Honestly, I think the lesson finally sunk in this time. We will never try to use our cards at gas pumps, toll or parking booths ever again!

Posted in Driving in France, Raoul the Merc | Comments Off on We go on a proper pilgrimage (July 21)

Visiting a few of our favorite medieval people (July 20)

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Juli Zurovec

Fontevraud Abbey has been on my list of places to visit for at least twenty years, maybe longer. Eleanor of Aquitaine and her husband Henry II were both buried there and Eleanor is my all time favorite medieval person (she even surpasses Simon de Montfort—really). So to say I was excited to visit would be a great understatement. Richard the Lionheart is here too. As an added bonus, we remembered that Raymond VII, count of Toulouse and chief troublemaker for the Albigensian crusaders, was also buried at Fontevraud. He was one of Eleanor and Henry’s grandsons after all. Remember we’re still on the Albigensian crusade trail!

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Sadly the abbey itself was basically destroyed during the French Revolution. The stained glass is gone, there are only tiny remains of paintings here and there on the walls. The original burial places of Eleanor, Henry, Richard and the rest are unknown. Only their effigies remain and these have been arranged in the nave of the abbey church. The effigies look sort of strange and out-of-place, but easy for tourists to find. We can’t complain too much though. We’re lucky to have the effigies and any of the abbey at all. Like so many other abbeys and castles in France, Fontevraud became a prison. Serving as a prison for about 150 years gave the abbey a second life, and a reason to keep the buildings standing so that history dorks like me can ooh and ahh.

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After an afternoon contemplating Eleanor and Henry (and Raymond too), we feasted. I went on chenin blanc overload and enjoyed a few glasses of some of my favorites, a sparkling Vouvray (my wine goal for the trip), a delicious Savennieres, and a tasty Chinon blanc that didn’t really go with my cheese but I enjoyed anyway. I only came home with a demi of the Savennieres. I wish I had room for more but sadly my suitcase was already bulging.

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Our bellies stuffed after our three (four?) hour meal, we thought we might explore the booming metropolis of Fontevraud. Good thing there weren’t any ax murderers or crazy ghosts of medieval types about because we would’ve been toast. About a block from our hotel it was pitch black. There were no street lights, no cars, not even any lights coming from the houses. Does anyone actually live in Fontevraud? We did discover, after peeking at a real estate office window, that homes in the area were very reasonably priced and Fontevraud is conveniently located not far from a number of area airports.

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I can’t imagine what might be keeping people away.

Posted in Abbeys, Crusaders, Food, Wine | Comments Off on Visiting a few of our favorite medieval people (July 20)

Bathroom Break! (July 20)

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Juli Zurovec

There are two inevitable events on a road trip. 1.) You’re going to need gas. 2.) You’re going to have to pee and not have any choice but to stop at the nastiest facilities on the planet. Where were the nastiest facilities on our trip? The public toilets at the parking lot of the idyllic Château de Saumur. No worries though, we came prepared with wipes and antibacterial lotion.

Saumur is probably best remembered as one of the castles in the Tres Riche Heures du Duc de Berry, but we prefer to think of it as a one time residence of the crusader, Fulk III, count of Anjou. He wasn’t an Albigensian crusader but that’s ok, we still like him.

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The castle itself was closed for some very expensive renovations, but we were still able to wander the grounds and the courtyard. Sitting on a hill above the Loire, the castle has spectacular views of the surrounding countryside (a countryside full of chenin blanc! Yum!). It’s definitely worth a stop, even if you don’t need a toilet.

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Charlene the Charting Charolais

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Juli Zurovec

And this is how we decided to remember what the white cows all over France are called. Special thanks to Spunky for the fart joke and ruining Chartres for us forever.

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Dolmens in the Vendee (July 20)

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Juli Zurovec

After an incredibly tasty breakfast of pain au chocolat and local melon courtesy of Jen’s parents, Jen and I set of from La Tranche sur Mer in search of dolmens. Yes, not very medieval but our map said they were all over the Vendee, so we figured, why not? We had advice from Jen’s Mom and Dad and a vague idea where we might see at least one or two based on the little dolmen symbols on our Michelin map. So off we went.

Not long after we started driving down some twisty country roads, corn on either side of us, we spotted a dolmen, the Cour du Breuil dolmen to be exact. We nearly drove right by it.

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It was moderately impressive. Well it was if we pretend that it’s been there for a few thousand years and hadn’t been pushed together by some drunken farmers wanting to play a prank on stupid tourists. Innocent blessed it and we moved on.

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Slowly but surely…

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Juli Zurovec

Never fear! We are working to get our remaining posts and photos up.

For our photos so far:

MontfortProject at flickr

We’ve not sorted or captioned anything yet and I think we still have at least 400 photos to upload.

Enjoy!

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A pilgrimage can teach you humility . . . the tale of Rennes (July 16-17, 2010)

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Jen Price

The miracle of Chartres continued with our safe arrival at the Hotel de Nemours in the center of Rennes. This Breton city has an abundance of one-way roads and bus lanes. The miracle was that we neither had a head-on collision or received a ticket from the gendemarie. The reception clerk was very obliging and spoke the slowest French I have ever heard. Even Juli could understand him. This was a very good thing as we were able to ascertain that we needed to buzz the lower button to get back in late at night and that breakfast was at 8 am. Before we travelled (one at a time) upstairs to the 3e etage in the world’s smallest elevator, Monsieur handed over a bag of goodies from the bride (including a Breton version of Coca-Cola called Breizh. Yes, I was confused too.) and a card with a message from the one and only Dr. Vjeran “spunky” Pavlalovic informing us that he and the lovely Julie had arrived and were eating at a Chinese restaurant.

Juli and I decided that we would go with something more traditional and headed out to find a creperie. We were successful. I had a Crepe of the North (salmon, potato, and crème fraiche) and Ms. Zurovec the ham and cheese in a small wood paneled room. Afterwards we headed to the Bar Progress for drinks with our fellow UW alums Julie with an “e” and Vern. Vern was approached by a man older than my father to see if he would hand me over. Luckily, he decided he wanted to keep me. The bar may have been progressive at one point in time, but not on a Friday night in July. At 11:30 pm we went looking elsewhere and stumbled upon the Breton equivalent of the Cha Cha Lounge called La Cité d’Ys. I hadn’t heard Sonic Youth’s Dirt at full volume in many a year. Stories were told, Breton brew was consumed and before we knew it, it was closing time and we found ourselves walking back in the very quiet streets of Rennes.

In the morning after a dangerous breakfast buffet (why, yes, I WILL have a crepe and a pain au chocolat and a baguette and a yoghurt and . . .) Juli and I headed out to explore an arts and crafts fair that was supposed to be held on the Place de Hoche. No dice. Instead we found ourselves winding our way through late-medieval, some might say early modern, streets following the sound of bagpipes. After turning one particularly treacherous corner, we found ourselves in the middle of the Rennes food and flower market. And, dear readers, this is where the humility bit comes in to play. I found myself wanting to take pictures of all the melons, fruits, vegetables, crustaceans, sausages, etc. Now, you might ask why this was a problem. It isn’t save for the fact that I spend a great deal of my time making fun of tourists who walk through Pike Place Market snapping photographs of tomatoes and salmon as though they have never seen them before and getting in the way of those of us who do our food shopping there. It turns out that when you are visiting a new place those everyday items suddenly look more astonishing than they do at home. Or, perhaps, they are. In any case, Juli took pity on me and took pictures of the bounty of riches on display while I came to the realization that shipping home a crab was not going to be a possibility.

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