"The happiest place on earth"

Get email updates of new posts:        (Delivered by FeedBurner)

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Europe CNY 2012 - Day 11, Part 1 - Pérouges

"Either the United States will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States." - W.E.B. Du Bois

***

You might also want to check out: Balderdash: Europe CNY 2012 - Day 10 - Lyon (posted 4 hours ago)

Europe CNY 2012
Day 11, Part 1 - 29th January - Pérouges


This day I went to Pérouges, a preserved medieval village.

I woke up at 6:55am but decided to go back to sleep and wake up at 8:30am (there was a 8:12am train, a 8:38am with transfer and a 10:12am - if there'd been a 9:12am I'd have taken it). One bonus was I got

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Lyon

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Road I had to take down to get out of the hostel. Which was also, in reverse, the road I had to take up to get to the hostel.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Montée de Chemin Neuf

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Lyon (from a bit lower but still elevated)

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Anarchy sticker: "the only good system is a sound system"

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Cathedral

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Bad pun: "Life in yellow. Life in youthfulness"

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
The fine print on the train ticket: "All travellers have to be on board, at the latest, 2 minutes before the time of departure"
Ahh, efficiency! Maybe for German trains it's 1 minute.

As usual I had problems with my credit cards and SNCF (the national train company) machines. Luckily I had brought other cards, as usual. UOB Visa was alright but POSB Debit Mastercard and Citibank Dividend Mastercard didn't work. I think the problem was because Mastercard in Europe is in the form of Eurocard (it wasn't even a question of chips or PINs).

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Interesting irrigation syystem: wheeled supports hold up a very long pipe

From the Pérouges train station I had to walk to the village.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
"Road of Pérouges"

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Memorial to 2 war deaths

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
"Road under Grace"

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
"The abuse of catalogs is dangerous for my planet... THANK YOU for sparing my letterbox"
Nice try, appealing to conscience. I wonder if it's legally actionable if you spam one of these boxes.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
"One of the most beautiful villages in France"
I'm quite sure this list is a marketing gimmick

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Map of Pérouges

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Lower Gate

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
"Rue des Rondes"
Except for the lamps and flower pots, this could be a scene from a medieval village (which is why several movies were filmed here)

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Poem: "Pérouges l'antique,
Pérouges la merveilleuse,
Enchassée en tes murs
Comme une pierre précieuse
En ta simple beauté
A mon regard ravi
Ne saurai oublier
Même en fin de ma vie.
Pérouges
Robert Breban"

Translation: "Ancient Pérouges
Pérouges the marvelous
Entrench in your walls
Like a precious stone
In your simple beauty
In my enraptured look
Never will I forget
Even at the end of my life
Pérouges"

This was quite dramatic. I really liked the place, but not to this extent.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Window pots

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Rue des Rondes

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Church

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
War Memorial

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Upper Gate

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
"The most beautiful view of Pérouges"
This place was closed

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Church-Fortress

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
I was amused at this manifestation, in English, of car theft culture.

Arriving at the tourism office, I was shocked to discover that it was closed. Evidently The Rough Guide as well as the Tourist Office (and many of the other establishments in the village) did not expect anyone to come in winter. This was very weird, because Sunday is tourism day in all countries that I know of, where all tourist-oriented places are open - for domestic tourists, if nothing else. In fact this was why I had chosen to come on Sunday - The Rough Guide said it was closed on Monday. Grr. Instead the office was closed on weekends and public holidays.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Strange opening schedule:
May-August - Every day, 10-17h

March, April, October - Tuesday-Friday 10-12h/14h-17h
Saturdays, Sundays - 14h-17h
Except March (closed on Sundays)
Closed Mondays

September - Monday to Friday 10h-12h/14h-17h
Saturdays, Sundays - 14h-17h

November to February: Monday to Friday 10h30-12h/14h-16h30
Closed weekends

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
How to prevent car theft: "[You] are strongly recommended not to leave valuables inside of vehicles"

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Fortified Church

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Barbican

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Upper Gate

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Hand-written Message to Visitors: "To the Christians - perform a prayer of adoration before starting a visit
To non-Christians - to put out your cigarette, to cover yourself, to not eat inside (!) and to keep respectful attire
To all - to wear dignified and correct garb, to touch nothing and to only speak in hushed tones"

Presumably Christians get to smoke, prance around in skimpy clothing and eat inside.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
"[We hope] that the discovery of this place be for you a peaceful break for your body and your serene for your spirit"

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
"Church under video surveillance"

"He sees you when you're praying,
He knows when you're asleep."

The security guard, that is.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Chapel of the Virgin

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Nave

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Overview of church, built in 1440.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
On the pillars

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
On the vault

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Vault

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Altar

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
On the aisles

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Chapel for prayer - Chapel of the Holy Sacrament

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Stained Glass, Detail

There's supposed to be St Andrew, La Vierge au Manteau (the Virgin with Mantle) and St Anne somewhere.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
"St George, Patron of Pérouges"

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Memorial for Sons of Pérouges lost to World Wars
For some reason WWII didn't hit them hard. Maybe it was due to the Vichy regime.

Exiting the church, I continued my promenade.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Window to takeaway galette (cake slices). Their recipe dates from 1912.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Village square. I helped those 3 men to take a video, freezing my fingers off in the process. 1 was from Spain, 1 France and 1 from Brazil so the video was narrated in 3 languages. They gave me their cards but didn't reply to my email hah.

I decided to go into the Galette place for some warmth and to sit down.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Menu. Sitting down inside increased the price for a piece of galette from €1,2 to €1,4. The accompaniments for the galette cost multiples of the galette itself.

The galette was liberally sprinkled with sugar, and like a thin sugar pie. It wasn't flaky, and was like a dry cake. My evaluation of the crumb was complicated by the sugar.

Strangely I was told that having the galette with food would raise the price to €6, with "le tupin de crème" (a pot of cream, in the Lyonnais dialect - tsk they used dialect on me).

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Fireplace. It was a bit scary sitting next to it, with the explosions.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Galette slice and a quaint medieval goblet of Ypocras, their apéritif to warm the blood. And some tea to warm up. Coke or Orangina were €5 for 25cl, but this apéritif was €6,5 for 10cl.

Ypocras was supposedly the apéritif of Charles VII. It was a bit bitter, like a stronger red wine with herbs. The description on the menu: "Ypocras unites marvelously the strength of wine, the sweetness of honey and the aroma of spices".

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Atmosphere

I think the first time I saw a French Maid outfit in France was in this place, Ostellerie du Vieux-Pérouges.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
A trace of modernity. But you never know who's used the towel before you...

Fortified by the tea, alcohol and snack, I headed out... and within 5 minutes was as cold as ever. People say alcohol is to warm oneself and for health, but really it's just an excuse to drink, I tell ya.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Prince's House

Unfortunately it was closed.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Peeking in

I then went to the Place de la Halle to look for a place to eat.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Corn cobs hanging

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Place de la Halle

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Rue des Contreforts

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Rue du Tambour

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Cock Sundial. It's not very useful since it only marks time from 10-14h. It's also marked: "I only will mark the time on days with fine weather"

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Le Relais de la Tour Menu
It was recommended by Petit Futé but after last night's dinner (which was recommended by them...)

Strangely one of the set menus lists as a first course a buffet (one plate, one round only: raw vegetables, warm tarts and cold cuts) but the second round is exactly the same thing, but with unlimited servings. I checked both languages and they say the same thing...

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Maison Cazin

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Rue des Rondes

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Map of the Crusades

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Ad for a labyrinth made of hedges

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Place endorsed by Le Club des Bons Vivants (The Club of People Who Live Well). Which was closed till 15th February. Even those who live well must go on holiday...

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Barrels in Alley

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Car in Lane

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
"No parking" (medieval font)

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Crest

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Door

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Window

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Creepers
Not all houses were occupied

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Cat, car

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usFree Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Beautiful house. This was made even more beautiful by the scent of cooking bacon. They forgot to close the door so the first shot is a nice contrast between modernity and the old house. Then they saw me taking a shot.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us


Google News and Google Play are tied to the SIM, so without rooting I was able to get access to apps not available to the Singaporean market.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Latest posts (which you might not see on this page)

powered by Blogger | WordPress by Newwpthemes