Carcassonne Encore

This weekend I headed out to Carcassonne again, but this time with Emily. It was fantastic. She and I have pretty much the exact same sense of humor, so I have six-pack abs now because of all the laughing. We got to the city and found out that the castle and church would be closing early, so hurried up to make it up into the city.

 I didn’t take a lot of photos of this trip, because I’ve already got most of those photos from the first time. But I did get some more of the castle in different lights. After the castle, it was time for me to go shopping. I wanted several items: a small tapestry, gauntlets, a rapier, a particular statue, and a piece of medieval clothing. The store that sold the clothing was gone completely, the stores that sold the rapier, gauntlets, and statue were all closed, and the store that sold the tapestry was out of the tapestries that I wanted. Well, bloody hell.

Shower instructions: Be ashamed!

  We checked into our hostel, which was actually within the fortified medieval city, then headed out to the lower city to find something interesting. Well, we found it: there was a small fair in the city. It was awesome, because it had all the classic midway games. But after you knock down the milk bottles, or lasso a rubber ducky, you had the option to choose an AK-47 pellet gun. Or a samurai sword.

 We got a quick McDonald’s dinner before looking for a public toilet. Emily paid and went in to use the toilet, then when she was done she did what many other people do out of kindness: she held the door open for me so I could use the bathroom without paying. The problem was that moments later the toilet started cleaning itself by spraying down the entire interior. I ran out of the bathroom while only suffering water damage to my feet. Emily laughed hysterically.

 We headed back to La Cité, took some pictures, and headed back to our hostel room. The next morning, I went some more shopping (La Cité seems to be the only place in France that doesn’t completely close on Sundays). Finally, I gave up on all my other buying goals and headed into another store where I found a couple of pieces of armor that I liked. Then, we hurried down to the train station to make the train to Toulouse.

 In Toulouse we headed over to the Jacobin church, where we took a look around the strange interior. Emily’s an art/art-history major, so there was a lot of discussion of the architecture and décor of the church before we headed out to the cloisters.

  The cloisters disappointed me a little this time because the refectory was closed, and the scriptorium and chapel were barred off by scaffolding. But it was empty and quiet, so it was a nice twenty minutes or so that we spent out in the cold.

 We hiked back across town to St. Sernin cathedral. That was the Romanesque one that I got to go into the crypts. This time I managed to get a photo of the reliquary which contains a “Shard of the True Cross.”

 Overall it was a fun weekend and was good to travel with someone again (it’s been about a month since I had a friend with me on a trip). And Emily was really good about listening to my history and contributing her art-history, so it was a very engaging weekend in general.

You learn something new every day

Happy Black Friday everyone, I hope you’ve all been celebrating this joyous day accordingly by trampling customers to death outside of department stores. It seems to me that France has somehow figured out that today is the first official day of Christmas, because suddenly it’s winter here.

The weird thing about fog in Pau? It doesn't burn off at all.

 As the title of my post implies, I learned something new today. Apparently, you can leave a USB flash drive in your pocket and put it through the washer and drier, and you won’t even lose the data you had stored on it. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle (G.I. Joe!).

So the real story today is that today was Turkey Day Part Deux for me and a handful of my classmates. Melanie, the resident Canadian, invited us to invade her house and partake of a delicious dinner in celebration of all things American.

Our lovely hostess.

 We had a lot of fun, and two of our professors joined us in the party. Madame Gely was funnier than usual (when she speaks English, she sounds very disdainful, and it’s hilarious). She had quite a bit to drink and then started trading curse words with all of the students (she taught us a few, but the funniest moment was her practicing the pronunciation of “mother-f***er”). Then, she moved on to her favorite music and asked us about any songs about loving America. She started by singing “I’m proud to be an American” but fell apart at the “where at least I know I’m free” part. Then she asked about Bruce Springsteen and started singing “Born in the USA,” which is when I corrected her that it’s actually a very un-patriotic song. She then went on to tell us all about a student in another class who really annoyed her. It was a completely different side of any teacher that I’ve ever seen, and it was awesome.

See if you can pick out the teacher.

 But, eventually I had to leave, because I have to go to sleep so that I can wake up in about 6 hours, because I’m going to Carcassonne tomorrow. I think I’m more excited to go this time than I was the first time. That place is awesome.

Thanksgiving

So today’s Thanksgiving, and there’s a lot to be thankful for. I guess the most obvious is that I’m in France. It’s been an amazing experience, even if my enthusiasm for the language has started to run out. And my whole family. Primarily my mother, because let’s face it, she did all of the work to get me here. But my sister, my dad, my grandparents, and all of my extended family have contributed and made this an amazing trip, going all the way back to the day I presented my thesis. God that seems so long ago.

But I guess the most immediate thing I’m thankful for is the friends I’ve made since I’ve been here. I really didn’t expect to find so many quality people here; I expected lots of spoiled rich kids and partiers. And there is a fair amount of those, but there’re also a lot of people that I just can’t picture not having as friends. It’s going to be quite an adjustment moving back home and away from all of them. They’ve kept me sane.

L to R: Emily, Stephanie, Elizabeth, and Jennifer

  Speaking of, we had the best Thanksgiving dinner tonight. Emily, Stephanie, Jennifer, Elizabeth, and Alejandra invited me to join them for dinner (and really, who am I to decline an offer from 5 women?) and we totally knocked it out of the park. Without the availability of an oven, I didn’t expect much, but we made for quite a spread: roasted chickens (turkeys aren’t available in France without a huge expenditure), mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, corn, bread, cheese, fresh veggies, apple cider, and a delicious caramelized apple dessert. Sure, I missed the family, it’s the first time I’ve celebrated Thanksgiving without having any family around. It puts things in perspective: I don’t know that I’ve ever appreciated Thanksgiving like I did this year.

Jennifer, Alejandra, Emily, Stephanie, and Elizabeth

 Tomorrow, round two!

Pre-Holiday Posting

So I know that I’ve been not so “blog-y” lately, but there’s a reason for that. School freaking sucks. I mean, it’s been about as boring as it’s ever been. But the good news is that this weekend I’ll be making a return trip to Carcassonne with Emily, which gives me the chance to work on my history/tour guide abilities some more. Really, I’m just excited to be traveling somewhere with a friend again, since it’s been more than a month since I’ve gone anywhere with someone to talk to. And, I get to do some Christmas shopping for myself, since I’ve pretty much handled the present situation for everyone else.

Oh, that reminds me, I’ll be home for Christmas, so that’s good. I’m ready to come home in the next two weeks really, but I’ve got to finish out the semester. It seems so far away at this point. It’s not that I’m tired of France, it’s that I’m tired of all the French. I don’t know that I want to do any French speaking for a while once I get back, I’ve had enough.

Spelunking

So there’s not been much to say lately. Today there’s not much more. I went on the USAC field trip to St.-Bertrand-de-Comminges and the prehistoric caves at Gargas. St.-Bertrand is known for its cathedral and its Roman ruins. Our stops were entirely guided, so there was no time to actually look around on our own, so there’s not a whole lot to talk about.

Baths with the cathedral in the background.

 St. Bertrand-de-Comminges was originally built in 72BC by the Romans. The cathedral is on the top of the mountain. It’s a decent church, but at this point, I’ve seen so many better churches. At least the choir in this one was accessible to us, and fully furnished.

Nothing says solemnity like singing.

 We walked down the hill to see the remains of the Roman Theatre (which was the first I’ve seen, but not at all an impressive ruin), then the Roman Baths (which weren’t anything really worth seeing, Rome and Bath have better baths), and a forum (not much either, Trajan’s was better).

Great spaces for your storefronts: oh wait, there's no market at all?

 We went to a family run farm/restaurant for lunch, which lasted almost two hours with soup, then salad, then chicken and potatoes, then cheese, then pie, then coffee. It was pretty awesome. But there’s not much else to say about it.

Elizabeth apparently hadn't thought of the "cut the cheese" joke until today.

 We then went to Gargas, which is an original prehistoric cave system with cave paintings. This was easily the highlight of the day, and one of the coolest things of the entire semester. I say “original” because many of the bigger, more famous caves are closed to the public. They’ve made exact copies of caves such as Lascaux for the public to tour. At Gargas we get to see the original. Sadly, this means absolutely no pictures.

The ever elusive Alejandra and Emily.

 Gargas lays claim to nearly half of the “handprint” paintings in all of France, 231 in total in the two caves. The two caves are very different, one being narrow and tall, the other being very wide and very short (I spent a lot of time bent over in the caves).

USAC looking at a boring Roman ruin.

 After that, we returned to Pau. We had another movie night (which is becoming a 3 times/week event instead of a weekly event) with a completely full house: Elizabeth, Alejandra, and Jennifer joined us tonight, so it was a lively night. Now, it’s bed time.

Here's a lesson for you...

If I were anybody else, today would have been a stunning failure. The sights weren’t exactly stunning, and I definitely overspent today. I mean, I really overspent today. But despite that, I had a whole lot of fun, because today I was able to just geek out all day. When I was on my break, I said that I was in Conqueror Country, well today I was in… Plantagenet Place? Angevin Area? I don’t know, the names don’t work as well here.

It's also Francois Rabelais's hometown.

 I’ve thought about this post more than any other I’ve done so far. I mean, usually I just sit down and take you through my day chronologically. Well today I say to hell with that, it’s boring. Today, you guys are getting a historical narrative, because I’ve got absolutely nothing better to do. No, really, I’ve got about six hours to kill while I sit here waiting for a train.

So back in about 1122, William X of Aquitaine had a daughter. He named her Alienore, but for reasons of habit, I’ll just call her Eleanor. When she was about 15 years old (in 1137), her father died, leaving her the duchess of all of his lands. Which were Aquitaine and Gascony. Which is about a quarter of France. The problem with that is, everyone was then out to kidnap, rape, and force marriage upon Eleanor in order to gain control of her lands. So William X’s final deed was to write to the King of France. He asked the King to watch out for his very powerful and very young daughter until she could find a suitable husband. Well, the King found a suitable husband for Eleanor, his son Louis. Louis and Eleanor got married, the king died, and Eleanor found herself the Queen of France.

On the left, Eleanor marries Louis, on the right they depart on crusade.

 The problem was that no one in that situation liked each other. Eleanor thought Louis was too “monk-ish” (Louis was actually the second son and spent his youth preparing for a religious career before his elder brother died), Louis didn’t like Eleanor because she wouldn’t give birth to a son, and all of the advisers of Louis hated her because she was too rambunctious (I mean important people like Suger and Bernard of Clairvaux). Eventually Louis decided to go on Crusade, and Eleanor refused to be left behind. They went to the Holy Land, where Eleanor may or may not have slept with her uncle, Raymond of Antioch. Eleanor and Louis argued over his suspicions, and a few years later (1152) the marriage was annulled. Eleanor was no longer Queen of France.

 That very same year (in fact, only about a month or so later) Eleanor found a new husband, Henry Plantagenet. He was Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, Count of Maine, and Duke of Brittany. So he owned about a quarter of France as well (the French king, by the way, owned Paris… that’s all). But she really chose well, because in addition to all of that, Henry became King of England in 1154, just two years later. Eleanor was now Queen of England, and is the only person in history to have been a monarch of both England and France. They primary home was at Chinon Castle.

Eleanor and Henry receiving a book from some guys.

 Eleanor and Henry got along well for about twenty years. Eleanor gave birth to seven or eight children for Henry, including five sons (she only had two daughters for Louis). William, their first, died by the age of 3. Henry, their second son, was crowned king alongside his father, but died of dysentery while on campaign at the age of 18 (take that Oregon Trail!). Their third and fourth sons, Richard (the Lionheart) and Geoffrey, spent much of their youths fighting rebellions against Henry, with Eleanor’s encouragement (1173-74, among others). And their fifth son, John, was Henry’s favorite, but was otherwise useless.

Eleanor's Coat-of-Arms: Half from her Father, Half from her Husband.

 After the rebellions, Eleanor was thrown in prison for 16 years. Geoffrey died, leaving only Richard and John. Eventually Henry died, leaving Richard to inherit an empire which stretched from Scotland to Spain. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the Templars convinced King Guy de Lusignan (an old vassal of Richard’s) to attack the Muslim Sultan Saladin at Hattin (1187). Saladin crushed the crusaders and slaughtered every Templar he can find, including their leader Gerard de Ridefort, before taking Jerusalem. Richard departed on crusade, became a fast friend of the Templars, and inserted his own man as their leader, Robert de Sablé (1191). Richard eventually fails to re-conquer Jerusalem and had to return to England, where his brother John was trying to carve up his kingdom. But Richard is captured and held for ransom for three years in Germany. Eleanor, spending most of her widow-hood at Fontevraud Abbey, raised the ransom money and bought Richard’s freedom. Richard put John in his place and returned to his lands in France in 1195.

Richard, in disguise, being captured by the Germans.

 Richard died while attacking Chalus-Chabrol castle in 1199. John became king and the Angevin Empire built by his father Henry promptly began falling apart. Philip Augustus captured many important locations in Normandy and the Aquitaine, including Chinon in 1204. That same year, Eleanor finally dies of old age, and all that is left of Europe’s most interesting family is it’s misfit youngest son, King John.

I don't have a picture for John...

Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard I, and John’s wife Isabella of Angouleme all end up being buried at Fontevraud Abbey, earning it the name “The Royal Abbey.”

Clockwise starting with the upper left: Eleanor, Henry II, Richard I, Isabella.

 Fast forward about a hundred years, and Chinon finds itself at the center of another controversy. On Friday October 13, 1307 the French King Philip the Fair orders the arrest of every Knight Templar on the charges of heresy. It’s believed that his goal was to gain the immense wealth of the Templars. Pope Clement V, being the only real authority over the Templars, demands to meet with the leaders of the Templars, including the Grand-Master, Jacques de Molay. Philip tells the Pope that they are too ill to ride to Avignon as an excuse for throwing them in prison at Chinon.

So, of course, he put them in the tower with the secret escape tunnel. True story.

 The Pope’s emissaries visit Chinon and interview the Knights. Recently evidence has been found that the Pope forgave the Templars of all of their conceived crimes that year, but Philip exerted his influence and in 1312 the Pope dissolved the Order of the Templars. In 1314, Jacques de Molay and a few others were burned at the stake in Paris as “relapsed heretics.” The Templars held at Chinon actually left encoded graffiti, which to this day has not been translated.

Also, look for the Jacques de Molay a été brulé plaque from my first day in Paris

 Another hundred years later, and Chinon is at its last great huzzah. The French and English are embroiled in the Hundred Years’ War. Somehow the English convince Charles VI to recognize the English King as the King of France. The English King never actually takes power, but France is without a King. The Dauphin (or Prince) takes up residence at Chinon Castle. One day in 1429, he hears of an impending visitor. He doesn’t trust the visitor, so he devises a scheme to confuse her. The Dauphin switches clothes with one of the nobles of the court and poses as an anonymous courtier. The visitor enters and looks at each person one by one, before going straight to the actual Dauphin to introduce herself. Her name is Jeanne d’Arc, and she’s going to save France.

And really, who could blame her?

 So there you go, there’s the history of the places I’ve visited today. It’s amazing how things can become so intertwined, like with Richard’s involvement with the Templars in the Third Crusade and then his home castle becomes a Templar prison. It was ultimately a good day for me. Chinon Castle was less than I expected, a little disappointing to the normal tourist. Fontevraud Abbey beat my expectations, but I really thought it was going to be very boring. But, because of the history involved here (my favorite Knights as well as my favorite historical family) it was an overall exciting day.